A Good Linux Distro For Music Production?

[edrickblade]

the Linux gods must be smiling on me as i've now been purely avlinux for three weeks with only one real issue (native chow tapemodel plug won't initiate) and that's with next to no previous experience. My cheapo class compliant interface just worked, my arturia kb and novation launch control just worked with no drivers (easier than windows for the latter...) , just about all the windows plugs i bridged work fine (but that's a bonus, can't moan programs designed for a totally different OS don't work)

Haven't even had to really configure anything either, my IF showed up in Jack, tweaked the buffer as you would in windows and that was it. Probably are things I can tune but even hogs like large Cardinal patches run fine currently.

I think you just need to take your time, ask on forums, get to know the file system (approaching it with a Windows mentality is bad, I found that out )

So, yeah, totally possible to make music with Linux, sorry some people have so much trouble but a blanket statement 'it doesn't work for music' is just not true.

What do you recommend, pure ALSA or Pipewire?

[edrickblade]

In fact, I only generally recommend the following be done for most people:

1. Configure rtprio and memlock limits

2. Add self to the Pipewire group

3. Change audio card profile to Pro Audio mode

4. Configure samplerate and buffersize

5. Boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full (if needed)

What do you recommend, pure ALSA or Pipewire?

[edrickblade]

In fact, I only generally recommend the following be done for most people:

1. Configure rtprio and memlock limits

2. Add self to the Pipewire group

3. Change audio card profile to Pro Audio mode

4. Configure samplerate and buffersize

5. Boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full (if needed)

How to Configure samplerate and buffersize in Pipewire and to make boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full ?

[GaryG]

What do you recommend, pure ALSA or Pipewire?

Jack



Remember ALSA is the basic low level driver (like asio) and pipewire and jack are audio servers working above that to connect different clients together etc.

I use just Reaper 99% of the time and started off using ALSA, worked fine but the host will grab the driver exclusively so if you want to watch a quick youtube video then you'd need to make changes. So I started to use Jack instead.

I haven't used Pipewire as Jack is working fine for me so far, I believe it's the future the way people talk, I did watch one video by that Unfa guy, he got it all working but not for newbies I'd argue.

[audiojunkie]

In fact, I only generally recommend the following be done for most people:

1. Configure rtprio and memlock limits

2. Add self to the Pipewire group

3. Change audio card profile to Pro Audio mode

4. Configure samplerate and buffersize

5. Boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full (if needed)

What do you recommend, pure ALSA or Pipewire?

It will have to depend on you. If you have Pipewire and want to bypass it, that requires more steps and is a pain in the butt (at least for me ). If you use Pipewire, you can still choose routing to ALSA by choosing pipewire-alsa. I personally don’t bother with bypassing Pipewire. I’d say try both and choose what you personally like best. That’s the great thing about Linux—you can do what you want, how you want.

[EnGee]

What do you recommend, pure ALSA or Pipewire?

Jack



Remember ALSA is the basic low level driver (like asio) and pipewire and jack are audio servers working above that to connect different clients together etc.

I use just Reaper 99% of the time and started off using ALSA, worked fine but the host will grab the driver exclusively so if you want to watch a quick youtube video then you'd need to make changes. So I started to use Jack instead.

I haven't used Pipewire as Jack is working fine for me so far, I believe it's the future the way people talk, I did watch one video by that Unfa guy, he got it all working but not for newbies I'd argue.

Alsa is great but I have the same problem you had (driver exclusivity). I will try the Jack server and see how the latency works as I fed up by not releasing the driver. Thanks for the reminder

[dellboy]

Pipewire has been a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting it to make the audio behave in a similar fashion to OSX audio and be multiclient, but out of the box its not working like that. So watching a youtube video and having a DAW open at the same time is not working on my system.

[audiojunkie]

Pipewire has been a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting it to make the audio behave in a similar fashion to OSX audio and be multiclient, but out of the box its not working like that. So watching a youtube video and having a DAW open at the same time is not working on my system.

You just don't have things set up correctly yet. Be patient with yourself.

[audiojunkie]

In fact, I only generally recommend the following be done for most people:

1. Configure rtprio and memlock limits

2. Add self to the Pipewire group

3. Change audio card profile to Pro Audio mode

4. Configure samplerate and buffersize

5. Boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full (if needed)

How to Configure samplerate and buffersize in Pipewire and to make boot with kernel parameter /preempt=full ?

Here's a post I made earlier that explains the commandline way to do it:

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=25768

Here's an alsa trick:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=2702910

Here are a couple of GUIs that can help you:

https://discourse.ardour.org/t/simple-p ... -ui/109207

Additional note--Make sure you have the Pro Audio profile selected in Pavucontrol.

[audiojunkie]

Here's another explanation:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire ... ack-server

[audiojunkie]

For those who don't want to read the links, here's the commandline gist:

Set a specific sample rate and buffer size?

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-rate <samplerate>
pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum <buffersize>

Confirm the actuall sample rate and buffer size?

pw-metadata -n settings

Reset pipewire to the default configuration?

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-rate 0
pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum 0

[audiojunkie]

Here's another reference directly pointing out available Pipewire GUIs:

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.ph ... 3b#p160196

[audiojunkie]

Here's some good info on what the Pro Audio profile does:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire ... io-profile

[audiojunkie]

More information on the Pro Audio profile:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxaudio/com ... iguration/

[Largos]

Pipewire has been a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting it to make the audio behave in a similar fashion to OSX audio and be multiclient, but out of the box its not working like that. So watching a youtube video and having a DAW open at the same time is not working on my system.

Are you connecting the DAW to alsa in it's setting? That will make the DAW be the only thing you can use. If so, connect to JACK, you'll be connecting to pipewire that way.