Linux...anybody using it?

[urlwolf]

reaper fails to keep the winasio > jack connection. I can see it disappearing and coming back in catia.

Plus it doesn't expose midi ports in that alsa tab in qjackqtl. No wonder midi doesn't work.

What I find funny is that even though it's not listed on the alsa tab, it is listed in the app, as enabled. Maybe they don't use alsa midi?

After spending money, and more importantly, time, I cannot say I've been able to record even a single note. Trying all kinds of apps.

[urlwolf]

OK, after applying the magic formula ("Have you tried turning it off, and on again?") I got reaper to listen to midi.

It is clipping occasionally, though.

It could be any setting on jack. Or it could be the "reaper on linux" problems. I don't see xruns, so I take the clipping is not because of buffer/sample rate?

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but, is there a manual for this stuff? milking information from IRC and forums is not efficient.

[urlwolf]

This could also be reasynth clipping, nothing wrong with the entire audio architecture.

Having stablished that midi works at least in reaper (no green light anywhere), why does pydaw stay mute?

here's the STDOUT:

Registering osc.udp://hpappy:18003/dssi
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pytracks , loading
f_result->in 0
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 34
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/ray_v-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pybus , loading
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pyaudio , loading
v_open_project: Found transport file, setting tempo from file
v_audio_items_load_all: loading a_file: "/home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pyaudioitem"


Completed v_open_project in 0.110000 seconds

pydaw: OSC URL is:
osc.udp://hpappy:18003/dssi/pydaw

host: Ready
start_gui with osc path osc.udp://hpappy:18003/dssi/pydaw
Calling UI from /usr/lib/pydaw2/pydaw/python
PYDAW_qt called...
arg1: osc.udp://hpappy:18003/dssi/pydaw
arg2: pydaw.so
arg3: pydaw2
arg4: pydaw
arg5:
base_path = /dssi/pydaw
Sent osc.udp://hpappy:10053/dssi/pydaw to /dssi/pydaw/update
pydaw: got unhandled OSC message:
path: </dssi/pydaw/update>
pydaw: arg 0 's' "osc.udp://hpappy:10053/dssi/pydaw"
pydaw:
v_pydaw_parse_configure_message: key: "os", value: "/home/jack/pydaw2/default-project"
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pytracks , loading
f_result->in 0
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 34
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/ray_v-cc_map.txt
f_result->in 2
f_result->outs 2
f_result->controlIns 47
f_result->controlOuts 0
f_file == /home/jack/pydaw2/lms_modulex-cc_map.txt
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pybus , loading
v_pydaw_open_tracks: File exists /home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pyaudio , loading
v_open_project: Found transport file, setting tempo from file
v_audio_items_load_all: loading a_file: "/home/jack/pydaw2/default-project/default.pyaudioitem"


Completed v_open_project in 0.120000 seconds
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "pydaw.py", line 5938, in <module>
global_open_project(default_project_file)
File "pydaw.py", line 5837, in global_open_project
this_transport.open_transport()
File "pydaw.py", line 5130, in open_transport
self.region_spinbox.setValue(int(self.transport.region))
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '2 MIDI 1 ~ 20:0'

[codec_spurt]

5. They bloated out Reaper with a bunch of dumb features and way too much configurability by "letting the inmates run the prison"

One flew over the REAPER'S nest.

"Nurse Ratchett, I want my MIDI!"


Love the REAPER to bits btw. Use it for those times when nothing else will do. So hold your horses. I didn't even know they did a Linux version.

[jeffh]

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "pydaw.py", line 5938, in <module>
global_open_project(default_project_file)
File "pydaw.py", line 5837, in global_open_project
this_transport.open_transport()
File "pydaw.py", line 5130, in open_transport
self.region_spinbox.setValue(int(self.transport.region))
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '2 MIDI 1 ~ 20:0'

Ah.... That's the problem...

If you can connect PyDAW to your MIDI controller via QJackCtl, that should allow you to record... Could you please post the output of these 2 commands so that I can figure out how to fix it?

Code: Select all

aconnect -i

Code: Select all

aconnect -o

While I'm at it, I'm going to take additional steps to ensure that the ongoing ALSA MIDI shenanigans can't wreak havok on anything else by moving it to it's own file...

[urlwolf]

Got a VSTi working (synth1). No immediate problems.
This is the first success in a while .

If reaper works as a host for VSTis, this could be all that is needed. I don't plan to record external audio.

Jeff: re:the pots on pydaw. I find the skeumorphic design making it difficult to visually get the big picture. The silver pots add noise to what I care: the position of the red marker.

In synth1, the pots are black and the marker is red. It makes it easy to get an idea of how the sound is made, even though the pots are much smaller than ray-V.

[jeffh]

Love the REAPER to bits btw. Use it for those times when nothing else will do. So hold your horses. I didn't even know they did a Linux version.

It gets the job done for sure... I just see no future in Windows and by extension Reaper, and even if there was a future in the post-Windows8 world, I still don't think Reaper has much of a future regardless

[jeffh]

Got a VSTi working (synth1). No immediate problems.
This is the first success in a while .

If reaper works as a host for VSTis, this could be all that is needed. I don't plan to record external audio.

Jeff: re:the pots on pydaw. I find the skeumorphic design making it difficult to visually get the big picture. The silver pots add noise to what I care: the position of the red marker.

In synth1, the pots are black and the marker is red. It makes it easy to get an idea of how the sound is made, even though the pots are much smaller than ray-V.

I actually plan on drawing rings around the sides/tops knobs to indicate their position, like quite a few other plugins do, I just haven't gotten around to it yet... I think that should adequately address your concerns...

[codec_spurt]

The one that has the arrows in the input field to increment and decrement the number of bars. This was the only thing that made it consistently hang or disappear. But it was ok when the seq was stopped.

Oh........................

Actually, that's pretty much just an indicator of the current playback position, not a setting for how many bars to loop...

Crap, that wasn't meant to be changed during playback, it probably is crashing because of it, my bad... Currently the only loop settings are Region, Bar and None, but I will eventually have more granularity to it (young software, excuses, excuses, blah, blah )...

But I will at least fix it so that it won't allow changes during playback, because obviously there should never be a way that users can crash the application...

Just to clarify, this is where I mean, not where I think you mean.

Btw, it would be good to include in the documentation that there is a minimum of 4 bars and a maximum of 16 - some people (like me) might think things are not working properly when they can not input values outside of these bounds.

Just out of curiosity, what values did you want to set it to, and why? I can change the allowable range, I just didn't think that anybody would want one smaller than 4 or bigger than 16....

Well, 2 bars are very often used, by I think everyone. If it is a pattern and a pattern is a maximum of 16 bars then that is a design decision and I can go with that. It would be good if you could set it to what you want though without having to rely on the regions and therefore work in a totally linear fashion. Just one big long scrolling page. So definitely it should be able to set a minimum of two, and ideally a maximum of unlimited or say 1024 or something similar.

And talking of 'bounds'. Back to the whole starting at '0' thing. This IS confusing. I can understand why as a programmer this comes naturally to you, but I just want to say (one last time), most of your users will not have the programmer's mindset and get confused when they see '15' in the timeline when they are really on bar '16'. It confused me anyway, even after programming arrays myself. Different mindset.

Yeah, that's actually a remnant of the interaction between the programming side of the house, how the data is stored and so on... Programming wise it's not feasible to make it one-based instead of zero-based, but I can make the various tools and timelines one-based, but I haven't done it yet just because it's HUGE undertaking and I've had bigger fish to fry...

But I do see your point...

No worries. Makes sense.

Yes, I figured that out. Not such a problem for 'young software'.
No, I don't know what was happening before, but this is what I meant:
When you would add new audio tracks, the region markers would change and were nonsensical to me at least. When I closed and reloaded PyDaw2 then they corresponded correctly to the regions/bars. I am talking specifially about the Audio Seq page and the timeline at the top that changes depending how many bars you have in your region.

If that makes sense. Sorry, like I said, I should have made notes and took screenshots, but I got so into making the music that I just ploughed on with that. You can take that as a compliment, btw.

Screenshots please, I think we're probably not experiencing the same thing

Sure, will do next time. No biggie.

I'm glad you liked it

That's really what I'm going for, software that more accurately reproduces the hardware workflow and sound... You know, like not spending a whole day setting up your project, just picking it up and playing with it... and the hardware "instant sound quality", ie: relatively few knobs, but every combination of knob positions sounds good, rather than the software mentality of "a knob for anything and everything, let the user find the 0.01% of knob position combinations that sound good....

Of course, it would be ideal if you could make it portable as well, but there's plenty of time for all that!

Yeah, it's definitely a priority to have those kind of things, we'll get there soon enough...

Sure thing. It's a different paradigm to how most DAWs work as you have noted it is not based on the copy Cubase model. Similar to how FLStudio is different to the Cubase model, but different of course. Then again all of them have Piano Rolls, but it probably wasn't Steinberg that invented that in the first place. Shame they didn't have copyright from the old days of automated piano working on 'punch cards'. Someone's children's children might be making a lot of money now. But I digress...



cheers.

[codec_spurt]

Alsa midi connected to pydaw, still no midi nor lights.
I bought the io2 mostly to get midi. I'm sure it works on win, too lazy to try now...

Maybe time to buy a USB master keyboard?

Here's another reason to disregard linux for audio. On the linuxmusicians forums and wiki, it clearly says "Buy the io2, by all that is holy! this one works on linux." Yeah, right. Maybe it did at some point in time, for some user who didn't need midi.

I admire what you are doing Jeff, and I'll keep fighting till I can record a track on pydaw, but things are not looking good. I've been on linux for years, and this is difficult for me. A windows user will have started trashing things in forums about 2 weeks ago...

I haven't tried using midi from a keyboard yet. I actually have an io2 hanging around gathering dust somewhere. Decent enough little external interface. Not the best preamps of course, but that is just being stupidly picky, it's a winner in its price range. Do you have the express version of the io2? I didn't know it works on Linux - I really will have to give it a go, if for no other reason then I can play my music or whatever through my monitors which I can't do at the moment, unless I want to come out of a mini-jack headphone socket!


Btw, I didn't pick up whether you have installed to hard disk or USB. Or a removable drive maybe? Just curious. I admire you persistence. Then again, anyone that uses Linux is a bit of a masochist in the first place anyway.



Takes one to know one and all that. This almost turning into a competition.
Bit like Endurance for DAWs. J/K. It's great fun!





cheers.

[codec_spurt]

[

I actually plan on drawing rings around the sides/tops knobs to indicate their position, like quite a few other plugins do, I just haven't gotten around to it yet... I think that should adequately address your concerns...

What is the pixel size of the knobs? I've been making up quite a few knobs in KnobMan. Some with that kind of Ableton 'ring' effect you mention. I could let you have some if you're interested. I think the ones I have are 60x60 mostly with some smaller ones. I don't know if it is easy to change the size - haven't got that far yet. Still I could send you a link to what I have and if you fancy any, I could knock them up in no time, if there's no other option.

They are very accurate and precise. I don't mind donating them to the project. Let me know.


cheers.

[urlwolf]

This is ubuntu 12.10 on HD, with the KXstudio repos, 3.5lowlatency kernel.

After playing with synth1 for a bit more, it's not free of problems. Notes stuck generating noise, for one. This is solved by changen the preset.

[urlwolf]

There's a quite annoying random clipping sound even on synth1, reaper. No associated xruns. I wonder if this is what most people experience?

Jeff, is this what you meant by 'reaper on linux, not worth the time?'

[jeffh]

There's a quite annoying random clipping sound even on synth1, reaper. No associated xruns. I wonder if this is what most people experience?

Jeff, is this what you meant by 'reaper on linux, not worth the time?'

Part of it, yes... I haven't attempted Reaper on Linux in over 6 months, so pardon the lack of remembered details of my response.... But yes, loads of audio/MIDI related problems, terrible performance... I pretty much used NI Komplete 7 with very few other plugins, some of Komplete worked OK, some of it worked badly, some of it not at all... I think invariably you will find it's not worth the trouble, plenty of people really wanted to use Reaper on Linux and gave up, and very few still advocate it...

But it was essentially the deal breaker was sluggish graphics most of the time (which seemed to vary by WINE version, and could be specific to my GPU), and the fact that dropouts started happening at very low CPU load with ~20ms of latency on a beastly 8 core desktop that was hard pressed to exceed 20% CPU usage running a huge project in Windows with 5ms latency and no dropouts...

[jeffh]

What is the pixel size of the knobs?

Any size, they will be scaled by the GPU as appropriate