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Post

lukeoftheaura wrote:are the plugin builds linked in the top post still the lastest versions to beta test?
Some are but not Repro and Diva if I remember correctly

Latest Diva at the time of my writing if I have the latest is
Build 5541

Repro 6824


/Anders
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glokraw wrote:I get this when loading Repro-5 from linux Reaper,
a n empty gray gui, and a stream in the terminal of:

xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable

(on pclinuxos, with official nvidia driver,
and nvidia 9400 pcie video card, and

xcb-util 0.4.0-3
libxcb 1.12-4

Other U-he plugins and the vst sundries are loading fine,
just not Repro1 and 5.

BUT...after removing the pair of new linux Repro's that are now failing,
I reinstalled the single release of (just) linux Repro-1,
and it works fine, so something in the newer graphics scheme
is not right.

Repro 5 windows version works OK in wine/reaper, with official nvidia driver

and also in Mint 18 with Bitwig-8-Track, using the nouveau driver.

But, in reaper, both wine/windows and linux versions, text and labels are skewed to the right
by about 30%, but the text is centered fine in Bitwig-8-Track in Mint 18

Hope you're all having Christmas fun, being snowed in here with Repro 5,
is quite cool...so keeping wood on the fire.
Cheers
I installed Bitwig-8-Track in pclinuxos,
an rpm based distro with official nvidia driver support that works.

So in Bitwig, the new Repro 5, and 1 both work,
while in reaper, they open a blank screen., other U-he linux items all work.
In Bitwig, there is about a 1 or 2 second lag
when initiating or changing some controls.
For example, if you switch to the tweaks page,
and go back to synth page, the first synth knob you turn will have a lag,
but the following knob turns don't lag.

In bitwig, in the R5 preset panel, the arrow keys have no lag when moving
vertically, but you can't move horizontally among the preset lists,
while you can move horizontally in R1. Using the mouse to change among
multiple preset lists is far slower than the l/r arrow keys.

Also, in R1, if you switch between the presets and some other gui area,
and come back to the presets, you can't switch among lists horizontally,
without first selecting a preset with the mouse, even though a preset
is already highlighted when you switched back.

In Bitwig, the text is displayed centered correctly, unlike in linux reaper,
or windows reaper in wine, where it is offset to the right about 30%
But the reapers in Mint 18 don't have the lag in the controls.

The other U-he synths have no lag, in the same session.

...sigh...but cheer up, glokraw, picking nits with hot coffee
and chocolate treats, while discovering new sounds,
still beats shovelling snow by a wide margin. :hyper:
Merry Christmas



I
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Glokraw, the previous build also did work for you right?
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Regarding my missing presets, I figured out that I have to install repro-1 first before installing repro-5, then they appeared, and also the missing keyboard at the bottom. So I removed repro from ~/.u-he, then installed repro-1 (6640), then repro-5 (4365).

I do have quite a "crude" looking preset browser, but I take it that this is a work in progress (in all, but especially on linux), so I will let myself be surprised in the future.

Thanks and congratulations on doing a good job abique! Can't be the easiest thing in the world to figure out the right way of supporting the bewildering amount of distros and installed runtime libs!
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Thanks, abique, for your great effort and openness towards the community!
Now I've tested the 6824 build on my Debian 9 system.

In Carla, which I don't really use that often, it shows up and seems to work perfectly fine. New preset browser, everything. Both Repro-1 and Repro-5.

In Qtractor, the beloved DAW where I spend my days and do almost everything, the GUI won't show up.
Just a blank window. Qtractor gives me the following message:

Code: Select all

/home/user/Desktop/Repro1.log 
no deskTopFile found 
creating shell plugin
creating plugin id: 1968332593
preset=initialize
Trying setUniqueID(1968332593)...
setUniqueID (1968332593)
ProcessDescription.inputBusses 0
ProcessDescription.channelsPerBus 2
ProcessDescription.outputBusses 1
Repro-1 ID 75525F31
Preset Directory: /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Presets/Repro-1
Saving registration code to /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Support/com.u-he.Repro-1.user.txt
HOST 'Qtractor'
API 'VST2'
Starting REVISION 6824
Repro1_AudioMan::createModules() id: uR_1
AM_SourceModuleSelector::addSourceOption( name Host Clock, inModuleID 0) sourceCount: 0
AM_SourceModuleSelector::addSourceOption( name Keyboard Gate Clock, inModuleID 0) sourceCount: 1
AM_SourceModuleSelector::addSourceOption( name LFO, inModuleID 0) sourceCount: 2
testing Wavefolder VF
-0.9791435
-0.9783733
-0.9775742
-0.9767452
-0.9758850
Using vector extension SSE3
size: 3276800 Drench: Drench
new instance of  AM_PreferencesAudio created for Repro-1 # 1
DEFAULT FILE 1 7E10C1A
Warning! AudioPreferenceExtractor::setPreference didn't find matching preference for "NKS Colour Fit"
Warning! AudioPreferenceExtractor::setPreference didn't find matching preference for "NKS Auto Map"
Repro_Globals sleepyOnPref == NULL 0
Repro_Globals hqOnPref == NULL 0
AM_LatchKeyboard::setLatchMode( 0 )
Repro_Sequencer::setParameter id == REPRO_SEQ_BANK_INDEX! current bank 0, in value 0.00
value < params_Info[ id ].minValue MainTab Layer Memory -1.00 < 0.00
value < params_Info[ id ].minValue FXKeysTab Layer Memory -1.00 < 0.00
Repro_Arpeggiator::initialize()
Repro_HostClock::setHostUsesRegularBufferSizes(1)
AM_SourceModuleSelector::reset() called
Repro_HostClock::reset() called
Repro_HostClock::reset() myData->lastFrameworkQuarter 0.00
Repro_HostClock::reset() globals->currentQuarter 0.00
AM_KeyboardToClock::reset() called
loadPreferences() - Repro-1
void AM_AudioMan::createMidiPrograms()
Preset from 'Repro-1'
void AM_GridCircuit::setParameter ( int &id, float &value, float &sampleRate )
found module outside rows/cols: Lyrebrd
copying to 0 2: Lyrebrd
found module outside rows/cols: ResQ
copying to 0 3: ResQ
found module outside rows/cols: Drench
copying to 0 4: Drench
AM_AudioMan::reset()
AM_SourceModuleSelector::reset() called
Repro_HostClock::reset() called
Repro_HostClock::reset() myData->lastFrameworkQuarter 0.00
Repro_HostClock::reset() globals->currentQuarter 0.00
AM_KeyboardToClock::reset() called
publicparams path: /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Support
getMidiAssignPath(): /support/com.u-he.Repro-1.midiassign.txt
READING midiAssignFile
Preset from 'Repro-1'
void AM_GridCircuit::setParameter ( int &id, float &value, float &sampleRate )
AM_AudioMan::reset()
Preset from 'Repro-1'
Preset for rev 5230 loaded into rev 6824, Revision
void AM_GridCircuit::setParameter ( int &id, float &value, float &sampleRate )
couldn't set Tune: Micro Tuning:TuningTable to default value
AM_AudioMan::reset()
SKT 18HeMX25
LATENCY Repro-1:16
AM_VST_base::suspend ()
done AM_VST_base::suspend ()
ALERT: can't find param VCC KeyP
AM_VST_base::getSizedWidth GUIScale 1.00 -> 1200
AM_AudioMan::reset()
AM_VST_base::resume ()
AM_AudioMan::reset()
done AM_VST_base::resume ()
AM_VST_Editor::getRect 1200 x 600
AM_VST_Editor::open
CONNECTIONS_PER_PARAMETER: 8
SHM does have shared pixmaps. Using xcb_copy_area().
Failed to create xcb pixmap: BadDrawable
AM_View_ControlsRegistrar instanceCounter: 1
LEDParam 27
PAGEParam 28
PagesOn 32
Starting REVISION 6824
void AM_AudioMan::createModules()
Using vector extension SSE3
create viewMan 64796208
Preset Directory: /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Presets/Repro-1
Before ViewMan->initialize()
AM_ViewMan::initialize
new instance of AM_PreferencesView created for Repro-1 # 1, 54975088
numInstances 1
AM_PreferencesView::getSetupPreferences: NO PREFS LOADED
AM_PreferencesView::getSetupPreferences: NO PREFS LOADED
AM_AudioMan received INTERCOM_MESSAGE_REQUEST_AUDIO_PREF but didn't find matching preference for message: NKS Auto Map
AM_AudioMan received INTERCOM_MESSAGE_REQUEST_AUDIO_PREF but didn't find matching preference for message: NKS Colour Fit
DEFAULT FILE 1 7E10C1A
AM_AudioMan::setPreference called but didn't find matching preference value for "NO"
AM_AudioMan setPreference called but didn't find matching preference for "NKS Colour Fit"
AM_AudioMan::setPreference called but didn't find matching preference value for "NO"
AM_AudioMan setPreference called but didn't find matching preference for "NKS Auto Map"
sqlite log installed.
Preset Directory: /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Presets/Repro-1
Preset Directory: /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/UserPresets/Repro-1
Repro_HostClockProcedure -> new samplerate: 48000.00... calling reset
Repro_HostClock::reset() called
Repro_HostClock::reset() myData->lastFrameworkQuarter 0.00
Repro_HostClock::reset() globals->currentQuarter 0.00
Repro_VCFProcedureExp Reset 1 - myParams->voiceSleepy 0
inGamma == graphicsGamma - 2
NO INITIAL SCALE, try to load default scale
GUIScale on init by default ui scalse from prefs 3 -> 1.00
Repro-1 VST telling Qtractor about 16 samples latency
preset scan completed in 0.115 seconds.
AM_ViewMan::initialize before loadSetup 585.58
LOADING /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Data/Scripts/Repro-1.txt
filename default
loadSetup /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Data/Scripts/Repro-1default.txt
LOADING /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Data/Scripts/Repro-1default.txt
filename Repro-1_orig.txt
loadSetup /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Data/Scripts/Repro-1_orig.txt
LOADING /home/user/.u-he/Repro-1/Data/Scripts/Repro-1_orig.txt
AM_View_MidiAssignMenu::AM_View_MidiAssignMenu number of graphics: 3
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: FontSize
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: FontVOffset
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: gapYRow
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: gapXColumn
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: rowHeightFactor
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: headerOffsetY
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: offsetXRowIndex
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthScrollbar
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: offsetXScrollbar
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthParamName
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthChannel
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthControllerNr
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthMode
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthResolution
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthDelete
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthAddButton
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: widthDeleteAll
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: offsetXDeleteAll
AM_View_AbstractTableControl::notifyPropertyChanged: deleteAllPane
AddToGroup predefinedGroups: 108281760
AddToGroup predefinedGroups: 108281760
AddToGroup predefinedGroups: 108281760
AddToGroup predefinedGroups: 108281760
AM_ViewMan::initialize after loadSetup 600.19
DEFAULT FILE 1 7E10C1A
AM_AudioMan::setPreference called but didn't find matching preference value for "NO"
AM_AudioMan setPreference called but didn't find matching preference for "NKS Colour Fit"
AM_AudioMan::setPreference called but didn't find matching preference value for "NO"
AM_AudioMan setPreference called but didn't find matching preference for "NKS Auto Map"
AM_ViewMan::initialize after loadPreferences 600.72
AM_AudioMan received INTERCOM_MESSAGE_REQUEST_AUDIO_PREF but didn't find matching preference for message: NKS Auto Map
AM_AudioMan received INTERCOM_MESSAGE_REQUEST_AUDIO_PREF but didn't find matching preference for message: NKS Colour Fit
AM_ViewMan::initialize before collectPreferencesFromControls 600.77
AM_ViewMan::initialize before AM_Message_ViewInitialized 600.83
AM_ViewMan::initialize after AM_Message_ViewInitialized 601.93
AM_ViewMan::initialize after scheduleModulatorActivityUpdate 601.99
AM_ViewMan::initialize ended 601.99
After ViewMan->initialize()
SHM does have shared pixmaps. Using xcb_copy_area().
Failed to create xcb pixmap: BadDrawable
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: ...host (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: ...host (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: ...host (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: ...host (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
SHM does have shared pixmaps. Using xcb_copy_area().
Failed to create xcb pixmap: BadDrawable
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
extern_setParameter with NULL value
11 messages Queued (11.00)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
AM_Message_PresetChanged did not find preset. name: initialize.fxp (/home/abique/develop/u-he/workspace/sources/AM_View/AM_View_PresetSelector.cpp:186)
time since ViewMan started 620.20
first draw time since ViewMan started 633.31
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
/ AM_VST_Editor::open
extern_setParameter with NULL value
extern_setParameter with NULL value
Repro-1 VST telling Qtractor about 16 samples latency
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
SHM does have shared pixmaps. Using xcb_copy_area().
Failed to create xcb pixmap: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
Unhandled X11 event: 0
Unhandled X11 event: 0
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
xcb_shm_put_image_checked: BadDrawable
Well, at one point there the message turns quite predictable, but this is anyway the whole message.

To be honest I don't really know what would make a VST appear nicely in Carla, but fail to open in Qtractor on the same machine. But I'm not a developer. So maybe someone else has an idea.
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I'd love to know if the static linking of the plugins made anything worse for anyone?
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(this post is actually a bit off topic, so if you're only interested in the Repro-build, just move ahead.
if you're interested in distros and audio optimization, this might be of interest:)

As it's Christmas and this thread is a nice place to be at the moment, as there is also a small discussion about distros for audio here, and as I was a bit harsh towards Ubuntu based distros for audio production earlier - here's a little story from my life:

I did actually use Ubuntu Studio as my everyday OS for sound and music for 2,5 years.
I wanted something steady and reliable, made for audio, and I found confidence in the officialness of the Ubuntu name.
And of course with long latency it works well for production, as do any distro. So I spent my days there, and trusted this official Ubuntu audio OS.
Until that day in 2016.

Me and a friend were doing a live performance for national radio, broadcasting for quite a few tens of thousands of listeners, and also in front of an audience of 100-150 persons.
During the rehearsals there had been a worrying amount of xruns popping up, even though the setup was fairly lightweight. I didn't feel too confident in the system, so to be safe I set frames/period to 128 - we performed with a noticable latency. Really quite uncomfortable.
And then, in the middle of our performance, Ubuntu Studio's (lack of) realtime optimization gives me the mother of all xruns:
The loudspeakers go dead silent for six - 6 - seconds. No sound. Try to pause a song for six seconds and see how long that is. It's an ocean of time!
Everything is silent, the radio, the audience, my head. And suddenly the sound kicks back in shocking everyone.
My computer shows xruns running down the screen, I'm ashamed and stressed, but we manage to end with a certain kind of grace.
It's the most embarrasing moment of my career.
I'm really happy no apple loving mac musician was there to make fun of me, 'cause I would definitely have cried.

That night I broke up with Ubuntu Studio.
I realized it's more of a Xubuntu packed with audio software than a professional audio distro.
Sorry if I'm hurting anyone by saying so, but try yourself: Boot up a live version of a distro with good realtime performance, for example AVLinux, connect a guitar or a microphone to your computer, set latency really low, see all the demanding effects you can play around with without xruns. Try the same in Ubuntu Studio. In my experience the difference is really quite big.
With that said: If you're not performing live, but producing music and can bear latency - Ubuntu Studio or Mint or any distro will do just great. Not everyone needs a good realtime kernel.

This is where my strong feelings regarding Ubuntu based distros, their low latency kernels and audio performance comes from.

My friend and I did a similar radio perfomance just last week, this time with my Debian 9 system with Debian's rt-kernel. Same computer. The setup was a lot more demanding, for example with several instances of Presswerk. I set frames/period to 64 to be safe, could probably have done it with 32, but we didn't have any noticable latency anyway. And during the 4 hours my machine was running, there wasn't a single xrun, nor was I ever afraid something could happen. It's just really reliable.

Sorry is this post is ruining the thread, but I hope someone found the story of my most embarrasing moment on stage a little useful, perhaps even a tad entertaining.

Merry Christmas to all of you!
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krans wrote:(this post is actually a bit off topic, so if you're only interested in the Repro-build, just move ahead.
if you're interested in distros and audio optimization, this might be of interest:)

As it's Christmas and this thread is a nice place to be at the moment, as there is also a small discussion about distros for audio here, and as I was a bit harsh towards Ubuntu based distros for audio production earlier - here's a little story from my life:

I did actually use Ubuntu Studio as my everyday OS for sound and music for 2,5 years.
I wanted something steady and reliable, made for audio, and I found confidence in the officialness of the Ubuntu name.
And of course with long latency it works well for production, as do any distro. So I spent my days there, and trusted this official Ubuntu audio OS.
Until that day in 2016.

Me and a friend were doing a live performance for national radio, broadcasting for quite a few tens of thousands of listeners, and also in front of an audience of 100-150 persons.
During the rehearsals there had been a worrying amount of xruns popping up, even though the setup was fairly lightweight. I didn't feel too confident in the system, so to be safe I set frames/period to 128 - we performed with a noticable latency. Really quite uncomfortable.
And then, in the middle of our performance, Ubuntu Studio's (lack of) realtime optimization gives me the mother of all xruns:
The loudspeakers go dead silent for six - 6 - seconds. No sound. Try to pause a song for six seconds and see how long that is. It's an ocean of time!
Everything is silent, the radio, the audience, my head. And suddenly the sound kicks back in shocking everyone.
My computer shows xruns running down the screen, I'm ashamed and stressed, but we manage to end with a certain kind of grace.
It's the most embarrasing moment of my career.
I'm really happy no apple loving mac musician was there to make fun of me, 'cause I would definitely have cried.

That night I broke up with Ubuntu Studio.
I realized it's more of a Xubuntu packed with audio software than a professional audio distro.
Sorry if I'm hurting anyone by saying so, but try yourself: Boot up a live version of a distro with good realtime performance, for example AVLinux, connect a guitar or a microphone to your computer, set latency really low, see all the demanding effects you can play around with without xruns. Try the same in Ubuntu Studio. In my experience the difference is really quite big.
With that said: If you're not performing live, but producing music and can bear latency - Ubuntu Studio or Mint or any distro will do just great. Not everyone needs a good realtime kernel.

This is where my strong feelings regarding Ubuntu based distros, their low latency kernels and audio performance comes from.

My friend and I did a similar radio perfomance just last week, this time with my Debian 9 system with Debian's rt-kernel. Same computer. The setup was a lot more demanding, for example with several instances of Presswerk. I set frames/period to 64 to be safe, could probably have done it with 32, but we didn't have any noticable latency anyway. And during the 4 hours my machine was running, there wasn't a single xrun, nor was I ever afraid something could happen. It's just really reliable.

Sorry is this post is ruining the thread, but I hope someone found the story of my most embarrasing moment on stage a little useful, perhaps even a tad entertaining.

Merry Christmas to all of you!
Thanks for sharing.
This matches my experiences as well. I am moving towards Debian.

/Anders
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I understand what you say, yet I don't really think that a real-time kernel is required at all.
If you are fine with 128 or 256 block size at 44100Hz, then it should be all fine with a properly configured vanilla system.
Also make sure that your cpu is in performance mode:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance

Then about making a full distribution, I think it is a bad idea, it is way too much work. The right approach (IMO) is to take an existing one and put a repository on top of it, so you get the update of things like gnome, kde, ... and you can focus on the audio layer.

If you're an Archlinux user, just follow this wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Professional_audio
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krans wrote:... the mother of all xruns:
The loudspeakers go dead silent for six - 6 - seconds. No sound.
After many years of live performance way back when, we came to the conclusion that if anything can go wrong it will during an important live performance.

We used to always duplicate everything in a way that you could switch over to the alternate setup when something failed.

We would only get a momentary glitch that way and not have to stop to fix anything.

Things were far less reliable back then and so your experience was quite common.
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abique wrote:I understand what you say, yet I don't really think that a real-time kernel is required at all.
If you are fine with 128 or 256 block size at 44100Hz, then it should be all fine with a properly configured vanilla system.
Also make sure that your cpu is in performance mode:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance

Then about making a full distribution, I think it is a bad idea, it is way too much work. The right approach (IMO) is to take an existing one and put a repository on top of it, so you get the update of things like gnome, kde, ... and you can focus on the audio layer.

If you're an Archlinux user, just follow this wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Professional_audio
Setting CPU to performance helps a lot but I have experienced x-runs due to frequency changes even in performance profile. If the CPU is stressed and getting too hot, it will be clocked down regardless and then things might get bad. That can ruin a live performance or some other process in the computer runs amok and stress the CPU too much.

I usually run 256 blocks but test sometimes down to 32 to make sure things have enough headroom.

I agree that realtime kernel is not a requirement and I don use one myself. What I have noticed is that a well working rig with FireWire is usually much more stable and predictable than USB stuff. At least that's my experience so far.

Anyway I think the static linked Repro and z2.8 will be amazing when the last glitches are dealt with. Thanks for the great work and Merry Christmas

/Anders
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abique wrote:I understand what you say, yet I don't really think that a real-time kernel is required at all.
If you are fine with 128 or 256 block size at 44100Hz, then it should be all fine with a properly configured vanilla system.
Oh yes, I agree.
For those not doing live stuff, not using realtime effects, not dealing with live vocals and so on, but merely producing, editing, using midi, there's no need for a realtime kernel or very low block size. Then I'd say "Use Mint! It's the most complete distro I know." :)
mclstr wrote:We used to always duplicate everything in a way that you could switch over to the alternate setup when something failed.
We would only get a momentary glitch that way and not have to stop to fix anything.
Smart!
If someone knows a clever way of doing this with Jack and a Linux setup, please let me know. :wink:
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abique wrote:I understand what you say, yet I don't really think that a real-time kernel is required at all.
Nope! Please do not take this advise for mission-critical systems.
abique wrote: If you are fine with 128 or 256 block size at 44100Hz, then it should be all fine with a properly configured vanilla
Fine for how long?

A realtime-kernel is all about reliability and can provide you with guarantees. It's the opposite of high-performance systems. Vanilla Linux may run without x-runs and at a lower DSP-load 99.9% of the time but never 100% (neglecting hardware failure). "low latency" kernels may be good enough for tasks where infrequent deadline misses are tolerable (most home-recording or mixing falls in that category). But taking it on stage and feed a PA with it?

The kernel is only one aspect though, still it's the basis of everything else in software land.
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Update on the latest build [6824] Ubuntu/BitWig/Ardour: no noticeable change. Sound is fine, UI is unusable [have to click 8 times on "presets" for example for the mouse input to be noticed].

Thanks for all the help!
Last edited by ejgallego on Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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krans wrote: For those not doing live stuff, not using realtime effects, not dealing with live vocals and so on, but merely producing, editing, using midi, there's no need for a realtime kernel or very low block size. Then I'd say "Use Mint! It's the most complete distro I know." :)
Well, I don't do live but it's impossible to record acoustic guitar with headphones without low latency. A slight delay throws things off, chords, fingerpick and solos. So I measured latency using a jackd utility and an audio cable running from one out to one in of the 1010LT card and adjusted buffer size and otehr params with this. Of course, this was done after installing the Mint low-latency kernel.

I also from time to time run a track out to the Lexicon MX200 unit, or a full mix to the VLA2 stereo tube compressor and record/export in real-time, in Mixbus32C.

Not perfect though, as there are some glitches from time to time in Bitwig. None in Mixbus32C. I think Bitwig does not handle audio/MIDI events as well, but then, I might try a Debian rt kernel one of these days. While keeping Mint.

The bottom line, yes, using Mint with low latency needs.
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