The linux DAW thread

[Caleb]

When going to configure the usb audio device in configure your computer I get only the option to "Set current driver options" which gives me a dialog box with empty fields. To be honest I wouldn't know what to set for any of these values.

Well I got things up and running with XT2 (Linux). Haven't tried any Windows apps yet because I haven't installed WineASIO - that's my next step.

What I did notice was that I couldn't get under 100ms latency with my USB Audio device, but managed to get down to about 17ms latency with my shitty onboard sound.

I don't have a realtime kernel implemented yet though.

I'm sticking with PCLinuxOS for the moment because I quite like the setup and I'm a little more comfortable with where everything is. I'll come back to the others later.

Before I start looking at realtime kernels, I'll check out the WineASIO. I'll start with XT2 for the moment and see if I can get it up and working.

Regards
Caleb

[Count_fuzzball]

I have a pretty old versions of wine, and jackd, yours should be better, yet Reaper is coping well with
Zynaddsubfx

LinuxSampler (giga-format sounds) and zynaddsubfx multi-timbral work together now! Hunt down those soundsets with GIGA versions included!!!

What this glokraw? You're running the zynaddsubfx VSTI in linux under wine in Reaper? Why not just run it natively?

EDIT: And am I to understand there's Giga versions of zynaddsubfx presets out there? Weird...

[glokraw]

Quick reminder, after wine and wineasio are installed, run this command:

wineprefixcreate -it sets up the folder .wine in your /home/caleb

You'll then need to enter this command:

regsvr32 wineasio.dll. It will confirm success. Easy money.

Lastly run this command, winecfg -this opens a pretty basic config panel for some window parameters. In the audio area, choose alsa, not jack, as strange as it may seem at times.

Cheers

[Caleb]

Quick reminder, after wine and wineasio are installed, run this command:

wineprefixcreate -it sets up the folder .wine in your /home/caleb

You'll then need to enter this command:

regsvr32 wineasio.dll. It will confirm success. Easy money.

Lastly run this command, winecfg -this opens a pretty basic config panel for some window parameters. In the audio area, choose alsa, not jack, as strange as it may seem at times.

Cheers

Yes - this is where it all starts falling down again.
I just get "No audio drivers" when I run XT2. I can't even do a sound test in winecfg. I get an "Audio Test Failed" message.

When I run winecfg I get this in the terminal:

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dsnoop.c:593:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open) unable to open slave
fixme:mixer:ALSA_MixerInit No master control found on UA-101, disabling mixer

I think the last line is referring to the UA-101 midi port and can probably be ignored.

Regards
Caleb

[glokraw]

I have a pretty old versions of wine, and jackd, yours should be better, yet Reaper is coping well with
Zynaddsubfx

LinuxSampler (giga-format sounds) and zynaddsubfx multi-timbral work together now! Hunt down those soundsets with GIGA versions included!!!

What this glokraw? You're running the zynaddsubfx VSTI in linux under wine in Reaper? Why not just run it natively?

EDIT: And am I to understand there's Giga versions of zynaddsubfx presets out there? Weird...

Poor grammar on my part, to clarify, linuxsampler and its qsampler gui would crash on my
setup when I loaded zynaddsubfx. Linuxsampler is what loads and plays the giga format files, not zynaddsubfx, but the two are a powerful pair.

It is tricky for me to run windows vsts in wineasio at the same time as running native
linux synths like zynaddsubfx. There is a proper order to load things, disconnects and re-connects to perform in qjackctl, and your mileage may vary, since no two earthlings have the same jack, wine, wineasio, kernel, distro, window manager, security barriers, vst host/version, application version, graphics toolkit versions, and its a
holy moment when it all comes together to use for making a song So part
of what I said is to give hope to the fearless, and part a heads up that something that failed before, works ok now. Sorry for the confusion

[Caleb]

Hmmm - I got XT2 to run in WineASIO - but not through Jack and a WineASIO driver. It's just working with the DS sound drivers through my onboard card.

Are you sure I shouldn't be selecting the Jack drivers in winecfg?

- nope that doesn't work either. Hmmmmm.

Next question - should I be compiling my own WineASIO or should be package available in the repository be fine?

Regards
Caleb

[glokraw]

Hmmm - I got XT2 to run in WineASIO - but not through Jack and a WineASIO driver. It's just working with the DS sound drivers through my onboard card.

Are you sure I shouldn't be selecting the Jack drivers in winecfg?

- nope that doesn't work either. Hmmmmm.

Next question - should I be compiling my own WineASIO or should be package available in the repository be fine?

Regards
Caleb

Since you've got what it takes, you can compile the latest wine, and wineasio,
the newest wine is around 14 releases ahead of the conservative one in the repository. And it can't hurt to try the various options in configuration apps. Have root run alsaconf after wine is compiled...

http://www.winehq.org/

Use the 'remove completely' option in synaptic to be rid of the existing wine/wineasio, rename your .wine to oldwine,
in case you reinstall by synaptic later, you can copy over some things.

These are .dll I added to make certain things work, like Zebra
gdiplus
mfc42
mfc71
msvcirt
msvcp60
msvcp71
msvcr80
msvcsv60
Also I get these same errors in a working maudio 24/96 with ext2Core:

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dsnoop.c:593:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open) unable to open slave
fixme:mixer:ALSA_MixerInit No master control found on M Audio Audiophile 24/96, disabling mixer

there is an lsusb command, install lsusb if its not there yet, to point out detections of usb items, maybe run it before and after the edirol is plugged in, and compare the diffs...

When this gets all ironed out, there will be a sales spike of edirol interfaces!

[Caleb]

I'm pretty sure that fixme:mixer: error is just objecting to a midi interface as I've read something about that before.

Not sure about the other two though.

I will try and install all those items. I'm really going to have to write my own "How-To" on this once I'm done. If I ever have to put this together again (eg. on my laptop when I buy it), I'm really going to have to know what the hell I'm doing or I'll just have to go through all of this again.

You've helped quite alot though so I'm hoping you "stay on the line" as I continue working with this.

I always knew that getting things set up in Linux was going to be hard. This is the way Linux is. I suppose I could have concentrated on JAD, 64Studio or Ubuntu Studio from the start and maybe bypassed some issues, but I think there are some benefits going in this direction as I need to get used to troubleshooting. In Windows you don't often have to think about this stuff which is nice, but maybe having to know where everything is can have its benefits later on.

Funny thing is - I work with Unix and I always use Komodo on my laptop to edit files on the UNIX server because I'm avoiding VI like the plague. I hate that thing.

But strangely enough, while I've been working with Linux I've just been using VI (well VIM actually I guess) because it's simple to activate while navigating around in the directories in a terminal session. Consequently, I'm becoming a little more comfortable with VI.

Am I slowly becoming a *NIX person afterall?

Regards
Caleb

[glokraw]

snip

I always knew that getting things set up in Linux was going to be hard. This is the way Linux is.

Am I slowly becoming a *NIX person afterall?

Regards
Caleb

Its not so hard with supported hardware, the old m-audio 24/96 makes things
super easy, nvidia graphics work without fidgeting, and Yamahas with real midi
ports are always ready. And old...

As for speed of assimilation, I'd suggest Redhat send you an application before Novell snags you!

On a cheerier note, I tried Rakarrack, the linux multi-multi fx processor that was based on code from zynaddsubfx, and its a stonking hawg of a processor...everything from ambience on flute, nylon guitar, and sax, to turning an EP into a growling phasing distortiomonster. I was able to get it sharing the airwaves with Cantabile12Lite, and ZebraCM leads over top of a mindbogglingly twisted layered clean/distorted guitar patch. It is such a mess that I can't get out of work tomorrow, and I'll need some road-rage remedies to get home soon enough. Its got a tiny little button in the upper left to turn on the fx, I kept looking for the BIG button

[Caleb]

Yeah I think that after Redhat find out that I just trashed my Linux install somehow and I'll have to completely reinstall it again, their desire to have me in their ranks will quickly disappear.

Yep - that installation is now over and I'll have to start again.

I did try to build and install Wine with it's 7000 dependencies and managed to get that done albeit without OpenGL support because I couldn't find the headers it was complaining about.

The build was successful, but then I was having trouble with building WineASIO. I needed a header from Steinberg and had to sign up to get it. Unfortunately, the activation link they sent me didn't work and I was running out of steam.

In the end I did a "make uninstall" on Wine and thought I might look at it again later.

OK - then I started having problems. Synaptic somehow no longer existed. I manually found the rpm that apparently was missing (did some web searching) and used rpm to install it. That seemed to work - however Synaptic still seemed to refuse to find itself.

I thought a reboot might be in order - and that was the end of PCLinuxOS. I could no longer boot the OS.

Before that catastrophe I did manage to get 17 ms latency on my USB audio through the native version of EnergyXT2 and I did manage to get the midi working as well. This was encouraging for a non-realtime kernel. I'm assuming that realtime will get even better performance.

This may bode well for live performance if I can't get similar performance using Wine/WineASIO combination.

But excuse me now while I completely start again.

Regards
Caleb

[glokraw]

Yeah I think that after Redhat find out that I just trashed my Linux install somehow and I'll have to completely reinstall it again, their desire to have me in their ranks will quickly disappear.

Yep - that installation is now over and I'll have to start again.

snip

Caleb

Schucks, I do trash mine at least once a month, and thats on slow months when there's a shortage of cool new stuff for us 'try and fry' folks. At least if you choose not to reformat /home, most of your settings will still be there. I can't say I've ever heard of synaptic disapearing, but when fully assimilated, you'll have an open sided desktop, with a host of kwikchange SATA drives, each bristling with a different latest greatest linux, taylored to the needs of the moment.

[Caleb]

I actually think I'll take this opportunity to install 64Studio instead to have a look at it.

I want to install different distros on my USB hard drive but so far I'm having trouble configuring my GRUB menu to boot Puppy in a partition on the external drive. So I don't want to go through the hassle of installing bigger distros there if I'm not even going to be able to boot them if you know what I mean.

So I'll probably just wipe things clean with a 64Studio deployment and see if I get things like WineASIO up and running more readily.

Regards
Caleb

[Caleb]

Yay - I had quite a bit of success with 64Studio.

I have some more basic issues like the fact that I can't set the screen resolution to anything higher than 1024x768 which is a problem I only seem to have with 64Studio. The other distributions are fine. I'm wondering if this is a Gnome thing.

Also I find the usability of the desktop to be poor in comparison to the other distros I've tried. Again - probably Gnome. I can't even seem to edit the Gnome menu although it allows me to enter a menu "editor".

However, in terms of my Roland UA-101 and the installation and use of XT2 and Reaper using Wine along with the use of native Linux XT2 I would have to say that 64Studio knows what "out of the box" means. I didn't have to install or do any tricky configuration at all.

I think I should continue with this distro for the moment because it's lack of hassle means I can spend more time evaluating it as a studio/performance rig and less time stuffing around.

I do like PCLinuxOS still though and might install it as a 3rd OS on my laptop when I get it. It looks like it might make a good desktop replacement - not as happy with 64Studio for that.

Regards
Caleb

[glokraw]

Yay - I had quite a bit of success with 64Studio.

snip

Regards
Caleb

Thats pretty great news! To help defeat the resolution, you can use multiple desktops, or workspaces, as Gnome calls them, by adding the applet "workspace switcher" to your taskbar. Once running, right click on preferences and choose the number of workspaces you prefer.
I use four, and can usually drag extra vst interfaces to the extra desktops, and run extra instances of linux Vkeybd, connected with qjackctl, so I can edit and test without always going back to the main DAW desktop. You can check Debian repositories for a better match to your video chipset after you record some songs! You can also drag that taskbar to any side of the screen, or add more of them if desired.
Cheers

[Caleb]

Actually - I got around the resolution thing by altering the xorg.conf in /etc/X11 to default to 16 bit depth and I manually added the resolution that I wanted to the file.

Hey presto! Now I've got the resolution I wanted.

I also found Alacarte to edit my menus a bit better.

The distribution seems to be based on Debian Etch. I'm actually wondering at what point I should be updating to Lenny. This is the wonderful world of Linux where you can always be confused with choice, choice and then more choice.

Regards
Caleb