Linux Users, anybody here using Linux version 6.12 yet?

[mjolnir]

My OS doesn't yet offer Linux version 6.12 except for an experimental one.
Is anybody here using Linux version 6.12 yet?

I'm kind of excited for the future to see if I notice any MIDI latency improvements or whatnot.

[j_e_g]

I don't think there's been any recent major work on the linux usb stack. Therefore, you probably won't see a difference.

[mjolnir]

I don't think there's been any recent major work on the linux usb stack. Therefore, you probably won't see a difference.

Ah, thanks.
Thankfully one of the previous kernel updates seemed to fix some of my problems of an earlier system config.
I'm just wondering if I'm going to notice anything from the RealTime integration. Of course, maybe I won't since I'm already running a RT kernel LOL duh silly me

[uOpt]

I ran 6.12, see my other thread.

Didn't notice anything that would affect music. Worked fine.

[BertKoor]

[...] to see if I notice any MIDI latency improvements or whatnot.

[pedantic] The latency of your MIDI data is probably fine. [/pedantic]

Your OS kernel usually tries to keep out of the way of real-time applications. I wouldn't expect any significant influence from a minor version upgrade.

What mostly influences (round-trip) latency of audio is the audio buffer size (which you can set in either your DAW or the config of audio driver / support stuff) and intrinsic quality of your audio device. For instance integrated sound of your motherboard might add more latency than an external (semi-pro) audio interface.

If you have specific issues you want fixed, someone might take a look... if you provide more specifics about your whole config.

[mjolnir]

Thanks BertKoor. Generally my system is OK.
The only time I get too much latency for sure is with certain MIDI programs in WINE.
But native Linux Reaper seems to be OK as long as I use ALSA. Sometimes I wonder though, since Reaper seems to have more problems than my other programs with MIDI quantizing (auto or afterwards). When the buffer was too big, I really got wonky quantization results.

I'm not really complaining, it's too hard to explain. But every time I upgrade REAPER or change up my system, I get different (usually better) results.
At one point I think I had forgotten to install RTMIDI, and after I installed it the system was doing better for audio for me. I didn't even know I needed it until I read a tutorial and noticed it in the repo database.

I wish I could say that I have strictly methodical approach to Linux, but after all these years I'm still kinda trial and error like.
Anyways, I'll try to stop spamming these threads. Sorry about that.

[j_e_g]

RTMIDI... was doing better for audio for me

I think you mean RtAudio when you're talking about "audio". MIDI isn't audio. MIDI is "control data" (instructions passed between musical instruments that understand what to do with those instructions).

RtAudio is just a thin wrapper over ALSA's MMAP audio playback API (typically used by WIndows softwware that has been hastily ported to run on Linux). And MMAP is the most efficient way to playback digital audio on Linux. Alternatives such as Jack, Pulse Audio, and Pipewire add extra buffering, process context switching, error handling, syncronization, and other extra overhead which increases latency.

Typically, you'll find that software which lets you use RtAudio (or ALSA MMAP mode directly) yields the best audio (wave) performance.

Note that MMAP and RtAudio deal with digital audio (ie, wave file) playback only. They have nothing whatsoever to do with MIDI.

If you're indeed talking about "RtMidi", then you're refering to how efficiently MIDI instruments respond to the MIDI "instructions". ALSA has 2 MIDI modes called "raw" and "sequencer". (Jack has a third choice that sits on top of either of ALSA's 2 modes, called "Jack MIDI"). Without getting into too many details, suffice it to say that sequencer mode has more overhead (is slower than) raw mode. (And JACK MIDI can be even more overhead). Like with audio, RtMidi is designed to use ALSA's faster MIDI in/out method (raw mode). Most software defaults to using "sequencer" (or Jack MIDI) mode. If a program offers the choice of RtMidi, then it can result in less latency for MIDI. This is especially true when using MIDI with external MIDI gear (as opposed to plugins).

In conclusion, if latency is a big concern, you want to favor software that can be set to use ALSA's MMAP mode (or RtAudio) for audio, and raw mode (or RtMidi) for MIDI.

[mjolnir]

I messed up; I meant that my MIDI got better when I installed RTMIDI, something I had forgotten. the delay in some programs was unbearable but it went down after than and some other system changes, including new kernel.