On Fri, 4 Mar 2011 09:07:58 -0500 Thomas Vecchione <seablaede@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Answers inline below... > > On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 2:49 PM, Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote: > > > Hello Kim, > >> > >> Yes I know that article, which is very biased I think, but I was > >> referring to your article on CDM in which you state that for music > >> production on Linux one only needs ALSA (or FFADO for FireWire) > >> and JACK. > >> > > > > I see - this is correct and true - until one encounters other legacy > layers > > which might present problems -- I have a vague memory of needing to > > add a Jack<-->ALSA midi bridge for Yoshimi synth as well as some > > sort of OSS ALSA mod for some other app to work - sorry but details > > are fuzzy - > > > > > Just look at the fun that is PulseAudio for many people these days. > It is getting better but isn't there yet. > > > > and also true is that one can use a distro that makes all this > > invisible to the user and streamlines the work needed to set up a > > workflow and get things customized but finding these other > > (sometimes arcane) distros is not all that easy -- the low hanging > > fruit is Ubuntu Studio which is rife with issues and no easier to > > use really than installing Ubuntu and setting up your own workflow > > with apps and utilities - which is what I have done because I > > didn't want to switch to another distro i.e. staying with Ubuntu > > was easier and didn't interrupt my busy work schedule etc etc > > > > And here is the big thing, touched on later as well with the > crapplications comment. > > Linux is competing against itself in this regards. > > Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio are two of the most troublesome distros for > audio in general. If it isn't lack of proper configuration, it is > lack of proper packages, very out of date packages, etc. These also > happen to be the best known and most publisized versions of Linux out > there and like it or not, when people that aren't already involved or > have researched Linux hear the word Linux, this is what they think > of. This is generally the first distribution someone tries, and > their first thoughts are, "Well if this which is supposed to be the > best of Linux can't do basic things like allow me to start Jack, the > rest must suck". > > I will repeat, Linux is competing against itself. The sad thing is > that Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio have larger crews behind them, but > because their focus is so varied they aren't often tuned well for > audio. Maybe sometime it will get better, but until then, people are > going to go with the terms they know(Ubuntu == TheBestOfLinux if not > Ubuntu == Linux) and are ALWAYS going to walk away dissapointed > because in order to do even basic things that even WINDOWS(Much less > Mac) can do out of the box they have to 'hack the system'(Terminology > courtesy of our tech media) just to get the basics working, much less > the more advanced things like realtime preemption. > > Until something can be done about that, there is only so much point in > competing with even a now defunct product to be honest. > > Seablade > Jack doesn't work out of the box on Ubuntu? From what I can remember it did for me. Of course there was the usual period/frames/buffer tweaking but that's unavoidable isn't it? For me Ubuntu worked well for Audio except for one thing: keeping up to date. Many linux audio apps are changing fast and comipiling often, using checkinstall which didn't allways work, was hell. It's much easier now with Arch. cheers renato _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
