KVR Audio

DRMR · Post by **DRMR** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:07 am

After trying ALL the distros I've been back on Debian stable since many years. Of course I end up compiling some software myself (I do quite some software development and testing), but that's fine. I like the reliable and stable base and if something runs on Debian stable it'll run pretty much everywhere.

Kind of done with the whole "distro wars" thing, just give me a stable base that doesn't fall over at every other major update.

Combined with KXStudio repositories and some manually compiled or installed software it's been working absolutely great for me. At the hackerspace I'm running a Devuan system (Debian without systemd), but I might change that for plain Debian as I've had some minor issues with it.

Personally I only buy software that actively supports my OS, which these days is only more and more. Only some freeware stuff I'll run using yabridge/wine, but I'm not going to pay someone to subsequently not give me any support. Between Qtractor/Ardour/Zrythm/Bitwig/Reaper/Renoise/Waveform I have all the DAWs and functionality I could want and with companies like Pianoteq, U-He, Audiodamage, TAL, Tracktion, and many more, there are plenty of "premium" plugins to get (on top of the hundreds/thousands of opensource plugins).

Main issue is typically with hardware that isn't class-compliant, so just don't buy any of those.

lokomotiv · Post by **lokomotiv** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:34 am

audiojunkie wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:26 pm Furthermore, Mint Linux is still using an ancient kernel—IIRC, they still use kernel version 5.4. A lot of the best audio related updates didn’t start hitting until 5.12.

Old libraries has been the main issue for me with Mint. On Mint forums it's generally seen as a good thing because new libraries can have bugs. Stability seems to be the main focus. For music production though, it's been an obstacle to get things working. Everything's running smooth now, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't close to going back to Windows at certain points.

dellboy · Post by **dellboy** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:11 am

GaryG wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 12:21 pm
dellboy wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:33 am There is no need to change to Linux, just make a bootable SSD hardrive like I have with some sort of Linux on it.
Out of curiosity is this a USB connected drive? I've booted Linux plenty of times from a stick and it seems to work fine (though no massive projects yet) but have it in my head that if I went this way I should use a faster drive... Cheers.

A word of caution.

Up until yesterday I had Mint installed to a USB hard-drive. If I unplugged it from my PC, Windows booted automatically. But yesterday I deleted Mint and installed Fedora. I then deleted that and installed Ubuntu 22.10. The result is that now when I unplug the USB drive I am left with just Grub as my bootloader which has installed to my windows partition. I obviously did something wrong.

I can still boot into windows when Ubuntu loads, but this is not what I wanted. Ubuntu has taken over my Windows system and if I unplug the USB hard-drive I am left with just the bare Grub boot-loader and Windows does not boot.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:06 pm

DRMR wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:07 am After trying ALL the distros I've been back on Debian stable since many years. Of course I end up compiling some software myself (I do quite some software development and testing), but that's fine. I like the reliable and stable base and if something runs on Debian stable it'll run pretty much everywhere.

Kind of done with the whole "distro wars" thing, just give me a stable base that doesn't fall over at every other major update.

Combined with KXStudio repositories and some manually compiled or installed software it's been working absolutely great for me. At the hackerspace I'm running a Devuan system (Debian without systemd), but I might change that for plain Debian as I've had some minor issues with it.

Personally I only buy software that actively supports my OS, which these days is only more and more. Only some freeware stuff I'll run using yabridge/wine, but I'm not going to pay someone to subsequently not give me any support. Between Qtractor/Ardour/Zrythm/Bitwig/Reaper/Renoise/Waveform I have all the DAWs and functionality I could want and with companies like Pianoteq, U-He, Audiodamage, TAL, Tracktion, and many more, there are plenty of "premium" plugins to get (on top of the hundreds/thousands of opensource plugins).

Main issue is typically with hardware that isn't class-compliant, so just don't buy any of those.

Well said! I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Debian. If I wasn’t using Fedora, I’d be using Debian—probably Debian Testing.

dellboy · Post by **dellboy** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:17 pm

I wanted to be able to use Linux on a USB3 C SSD hard disk and for it to be fully portable and be able to plug it into any computer, and have Linux up and running anywhere. I had messed up my first attempt, so I had to reinstall windows and remake my Ubuntu 20.10 USB hardisk. I now have what I wanted - a fully portable Linux distro on a hard disk which can be written to and act like an installed OS. Ubuntu 20.10 is an early beta release, but pipewire is up and running and is great. It has turned my audio interface into a multiclient interface on steroids along with a graphical interface which can be wired in any way you want. I also have lower latency thanI do on windows.

I did this by following carefully the instructions found here...................
https://itsfoss.com/intsall-ubuntu-on-usb/

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:17 pm

lokomotiv wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:34 am
audiojunkie wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:26 pm Furthermore, Mint Linux is still using an ancient kernel—IIRC, they still use kernel version 5.4. A lot of the best audio related updates didn’t start hitting until 5.12.
Old libraries has been the main issue for me with Mint. On Mint forums it's generally seen as a good thing because new libraries can have bugs. Stability seems to be the main focus. For music production though, it's been an obstacle to get things working. Everything's running smooth now, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't close to going back to Windows at certain points.

The Debian family of Distros (including Mint) runs about 2 years behind Arch. If I wasn’t wanting all of the new technology as soon as I can get it in a stable and easy manner, I’d probably be satisfied with stable myself. But there has been a huge leap forward in Linux development recently that has made music production so much easier, so I like having the newest stable technology right now.

dellboy · Post by **dellboy** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:24 pm

audiojunkie wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:06 pm
Well said! I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Debian. If I wasn’t using Fedora, I’d be using Debian—probably Debian Testing.

Are you using Fedora just like it is - straight out of the box? Or have you installed gnome-tweaks or something to make it more usable? Or do you actually like it the way it is with the empty desktop?

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:35 pm

dellboy wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:11 am
GaryG wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 12:21 pm
dellboy wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:33 am There is no need to change to Linux, just make a bootable SSD hardrive like I have with some sort of Linux on it.
Out of curiosity is this a USB connected drive? I've booted Linux plenty of times from a stick and it seems to work fine (though no massive projects yet) but have it in my head that if I went this way I should use a faster drive... Cheers.
A word of caution.

Up until yesterday I had Mint installed to a USB hard-drive. If I unplugged it from my PC, Windows booted automatically. But yesterday I deleted Mint and installed Fedora. I then deleted that and installed Ubuntu 22.10. The result is that now when I unplug the USB drive I am left with just Grub as my bootloader which has installed to my windows partition. I obviously did something wrong.

I can still boot into windows when Ubuntu loads, but this is not what I wanted. Ubuntu has taken over my Windows system and if I unplug the USB hard-drive I am left with just the bare Grub boot-loader and Windows does not boot.

That’s a quite common occurrence, and is usually repairable. Do a search for something like: Restore windows 10 bootloader. It’s been several years since I dual booted Windows (I just use Linux at home), but I seem to remember that running Windows system repair fixes it automatically. There shouldn’t be any problem with having both the Windows bootloader and GRUB.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:38 pm

dellboy wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:17 pm I wanted to be able to use Linux on a USB3 C SSD hard disk and for it to be fully portable and be able to plug it into any computer, and have Linux up and running anywhere. I had messed up my first attempt, so I had to reinstall windows and remake my Ubuntu 20.10 USB hardisk. I now have what I wanted - a fully portable Linux distro on a hard disk which can be written to and act like an installed OS. Ubuntu 20.10 is an early beta release, but pipewire is up and running and is great. It has turned my audio interface into a multiclient interface on steroids along with a graphical interface which can be wired in any way you want. I also have lower latency thanI do on windows.

I did this by following carefully the instructions found here...................
https://itsfoss.com/intsall-ubuntu-on-usb/

Very cool! The ability to use your Linux on any computer is quite handy!

dellboy · Post by **dellboy** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:46 pm

audiojunkie wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:35 pm There shouldn’t be any problem with having both the Windows bootloader and GRUB.

Its not what I wanted. I do not want either a dual boot machine or have need to have Grub installed to my windows os. I have now solved the problem and can now just unplug Linux and go back to my windows only machine. Linux works great in a portable package and seems pretty much the same as if it was installed.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:50 pm

dellboy wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:24 pm
audiojunkie wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:06 pm
Well said! I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Debian. If I wasn’t using Fedora, I’d be using Debian—probably Debian Testing.
Are you using Fedora just like it is - straight out of the box? Or have you installed gnome-tweaks or something to make it more usable? Or do you actually like it the way it is with the empty desktop?

I like the clean default gnome3 look which Fedora provides. I use my 2-in-1 laptop as both a tablet (for casual media consumption) and as a laptop when I’m doing real work. I have no problem with using gnome tweaks. I just haven’t needed it lately. The beautiful think about linux is that there are many desktop environments just like there are many distros with differing goals and priorities. No one is required to use what I use—they can use what they are comfortable with.

If I didn’t use a 4k touchscreen monitor, I’d possibly explore my options more. But at this point in time, Gnome seems to be leading for touchscreen use, and works better (for me) than other desktop environments.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:52 pm

dellboy wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:46 pm
audiojunkie wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:35 pm There shouldn’t be any problem with having both the Windows bootloader and GRUB.
Its not what I wanted. I do not want either a dual boot machine or have need to have Grub installed to my windows os. I have now solved the problem and can now just unplug Linux and go back to my windows only machine. Linux works great in a portable package and seems pretty much the same as if it was installed.

Yeah, I saw that. I was composing my response to you while you were posting yours. You beat me.

glokraw · Post by **glokraw** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:07 pm

DRMR wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:07 am Personally I only buy software that actively supports my OS

Only some freeware stuff I'll run using yabridge/wine, but I'm not going to pay someone to subsequently not give me any support.

Personally I only buy software that actively supports music-making.
The OS is just a toolbox, and the linux toolbox is unlocked, and it's easy to doll it up and organize the shelves and drawers.

I've never gone shopping for support. Between demos, and internet comms, it's pretty easy to figure out what's gonna work, and what might be risky, so I only buy the tempting risky ones when massively discounted.

I don't use linux in a 'day job', so there will always be far more that I don't know, than what I do. My allegiances are to creativity, using what works without driving me crazy, within the budget,
while condidering benefits from the developer's team's comments, tutorials. and demeanor.

So if a friendly informative person/team provides great sounds in a logical display, at a realistic price, ....ka$$$CHING$$$

Beyond that, what ain't broke ain't goin' in for repairs

Cheers

DRMR · Post by **DRMR** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:24 pm

I've been using Linux for everything, both work and creatively, for over 15 years now. I'm not going to switch OS just because there is some specific software or plugin that only runs on it. So yes, only vendors that support my setup get my money. It's a very simple economic equation for me.

For very specific things (looking at you Arturia) I spin up an evaluation copy of Win10 in a VM with USB pass-through so that I can program certain hardware devices with their respective software. Which happens maximum once a year.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Mon Jul 25, 2022 10:58 pm

Big big big news!!!!

PREEMPT_RT Might Be Ready To Finally Land In Linux 5.20

https://www.phoronix.com/news/520-Ma...ime-PREEMPT_RT

After years in the works, the "PREEMPT_RT" support for building a real-time Linux kernel might finally be mainlined for the upcoming Linux 5.20 cycle if the last few remaining bits are reviewed/signed-off on in time for next week's merge window.

The Linux real-time patch series has been getting smaller with time and quite close to crossing the finish line with just around 50 patches to be merged. This allows for building a real-time / fully preemptible kernel off the mainline code for embedded Linux systems.

For years there had been talk of PREEMPT_RT coming "soon" to mainline but ultimately didn't pan out. The Linux RT developers were held up by funding.

The change this year though was Intel acquiring Linutronix as the Linux consulting firm heavily involved in the PREEMPT_RT patches.

Now today the word is that PREEMPT_RT could be ready for Linux 5.20 if the last two blockers are sorted out this week. Sebastian Andrzej Siewior of Linutronix wrote on the kernel mailing list:
a polite ping for the series. This is one of two road blocks to get RT enabled in v5.20. I don't want to add any pressure just point out that I can't sit still for days since the end is near

Sebastian

That patch series are two signal/ptrace related patches needed for the PREEMPT_RT series. We'll see over the next two weeks during the Linux 5.20 merge window if the PREEMPT_RT patches are all aligned to finally be merged and there are no last minute issues or objections from Linus Torvalds or other key participants.

Changing to Linux for music making