Hello, all, I'm a new subscriber to this list, but I've been a long time linux user, even using audio for quite some time. I want to move up to "the next level", and am having problems. I tried to gather information from the list archives, but I didn't get too far, thought I'd just ask. I have 3 basic questions for now. I'll follow them with additional background information that you might need to answer the questions. 1. M-Audio Quattro, can it be made to work? I now know nobody seems to have a very high opinion of it. I am having problems using it (surprise). I'm running Fedora Core 3, with some stuff installed from CCRMA. Kernel is 2.6.11-0.3.rdt.rhfc3.ccrma, /proc/asound/version gives: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.9rc1. I used the sample Quattro asoundrc file from alsa-project.org (in a message from Patrick Shirkey from 2002), and the example arecord command lines given (like arecord -r 44100 -c 4 -f s16_le -D q4 -d 5 /home/xxx/q4.wav). I seem to still have endian problems -- playback sounds like a bunch of loud white noise unless I reduce the input level to something very low -- which I assume means I get most samples to fit in the least significant byte with zeroes elsewhere. I've read about some patches, but it seemed like they should have been already incorporated? Is there at least one person out there that has this interface work (well?) for them? If so, I'd be very interested in exchanging email with you. 2. Is a 700 MHz athlon a reasonable system for a few tracks of audio with Jackd and Ardour? I gave up on the Quattro for a while, and installed a SoundBlaster Live Value. I got it to work quite well. But I'm getting xruns all quite often from jackd (version 0.99.36) with ardour. Asside from installing the planet CCRMA kernel, I haven't begun to really try and optimize settings yet. But I'd like to know what I can reasonably expect from this older system. (As I mention below, it has "only" 192M of RAM, maybe that's a factor.) 3. Can ALSA use a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 to get 24 bit audio? Can it do four channels in and four out simultaneously? I don't have the money to spend on a better supported Pro level audio interface right now (assuming I have to give up on the Quattro). But I think I want something a bit (few bits?) better than the SB Live, so I won't be disappointed down the road at the audio work I do today. But I saw an old message that said the 24 bit converters were different than the 16 bit converters, and that they weren't supported yet. Did they become supported at some time? Thanks in advance for any replies! Here's some DETAILS that may fill in the blanks: I've been running linux for a long time; I have some Slackware 96 disks, that may have been my first linux load at home. Actually ran Novel Unixware at home before that, and have run various versions of Red Hat (4 through 9) and now Fedora. My main linux machine is much faster, but does some server things for the rest of the house (mail service, file service, DNS, etc.) that I don't think I want on the same system I'm using for audio work. I've now started to believe I should migrate all that low-priority stuff off to a lesser machine, but don't have a whole lot of spare time on my hands to make such a change... The 700MHz athalon system has only 192M ram, which might contribute to my xrun problems. It dual boots with Win98. I intend to make it my dedicated audio system. (If this proves too slow, I've been thinking of putting together a new machine to be a MythTV box, and I could probably make that a dual purpose machine, sometimes running mythtv, sometimes running audio.) As far as what to record into it, besides my son who's starting to play guitar: I have a couple of synths (Ensoniq VFX and Roland JV-1080), a few mics (best ones are two shure sm58s), a Mackie MS-1202 mixer (original, not newer VLZ), and a Behringer DDX3216 digital mixer with ADAT interface card, that I picked up when it went on blowout pricing, just after I purchased the Quattro. An audio interface that worked with linux and had an ADAT interface would be REALLY SWEET with this setup. But I don't think I can afford the RME stuff. (If there's any place I can help apply pressure to get Emu to release the details of the 1212M card, sign me up!) I also have my turntable and cassette deck hooked up so I can make CDs and MP3s of my old albums. And I have a MiniDisc recorder that I've done some "bootleg" style recordings of musicians at my church, that I then run into the computer and make CDs from as well. Up till now, for most of my recording to computer I've used a program I wrote myself (by the dates on the files, goes back to 1997!) when I couldn't find anything linux based with VU meters for recording. It is a simple, console and OSS based application, strictly 16-bit 44.1k stereo, and it is far surpassed by the stuff that's out there now. But I am used to it... I have a small script that follows recording the wav file with two passes of sox to calculate the scale value and then normalize the file -- if no scaling needs to be done, I usually assume I clipped somewhere and go back and re-record. That worked on a 100MHz pentium, so I expect I should be able to do similar things with a 700MHz athalon and current software, but I might be wrong which is why I ask. My needs right now really don't reach much past what one could do with a cassette porta-studio, or the current digital equivalents. I just have this stuff I've accumulated, and want to make it useful! My wish to go to 24 bits is based on this: my target is 16 bit CDs, and I want a few extra bits resolution so I can record low enough to not worry about clipping, and still have (pretty much) full 16 bits resolution after normalizing. So even 20 bits is probably enough, and I figure an SB Audigy 2 might not have the greatest noise floor but would probably still meet those needs. If anyone's read this far, let me know if that sounds spot-on, or misguided. I bought the Quattro after checking the Alsa soundcard matrix. But I didn't do a google search until after I had problems getting it to work. I'm thinking maybe the matrix should be edited and have that entry marked as not having the greatest success rate! Again, thanks to all of you for your time in reading this, and for any help you provide! --> Steve -- Steve Wahl steve@xxxxxxxxxx Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. -- Perlis's Programming Proverb #58, SIGPLAN Notices, Sept. 1982
