Now the dust has settled and I've made a selection of open-source software that works together effectively in a digital audio workstation, how do we go about supporting the developers who create and maintain these excellent tools?
A disturbing feature of the open-source community is the inclination to keep on hand a vast array of software tools, seldom learn to use any of them to their fullest potential, and avoid the topic of reimbursing the authors of all this software for their efforts.
I owe a debt of gratitude (and some cold hard cash
) to the developers of Audacity. Although it looks like I may not need it in my Ubuntu Studio DAW, it has been a principal tool in crafting my sound over the last three years. In Windows, it (along with the LADSPA plugins) is my audio mastering application.
It is time to start giving back to these committed individuals so they can continue their excellent work - what would be an appropriate amount in this case?