trial and error

[Gustin Johnson]

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Hamish Low wrote:
> hi,
> 
> I've been trying to get a fully working setup for linux audio for a 
> really long time.  Partly my delay was not having the right gear, I 
> spent 6 months trying to get one soundcard that wasn't supported (though 
> the list had said it was) working and then, with help I've been able to 
> get some sound out of my system now with a Presonus Firebox.
> 
> Still I have problems, partly I guess because I'm not a techie, but I've 
> been stubborn enough to keep trying all this time.  Anyway the point I'm 
> at now is that I can boot up into the realtime kernel - I need to go 
> into a failsafe gnome session as then flgrx doesn't start up (it's 
> really greedy with processing power, but when I'm not making audio it is 
> very useful and looks great), and compiz-switch only turns off the 
> effects, it doesn't free up the processor. 
> 
> I open the Ubuntu Studio Controls and enable raw 1394.  What percentage 
> should I put the memory lock at?
> 
> I run a little start up script
>  > jackd -R -dfreebob
> 
> because for some reason I can't start the Firebox/freebob with 
> qjackctl.  But after running the script I can start qjackctl and jack is 
> already running.  I then start up some applications, they all appear in 
> the ALSA tab, nothing appears in the MIDI tab and sometimes the audio 
> ports are visible in the Audio tab and sometimes not, it seems random.  
> So sometimes I'm able to link the apps to my soundcard, and sometimes not.
> 
> I've been able to do a few things, link my midi keyboard to a synth to 
> jack rack and record it in Ardour.  Record some guitar with a microphone.
> But the whole system is so unstable that it's almost unusable.  Every 
> 2-5 minutes the system will crash. 
> 
> Perhaps my whole system is not up to spec, i've got a laptop with 1 gb 
> RAM, and 1.7ghz M processor, it's a few years old but it should still be 
> kick-ass enough to run a stable system.  It is 32-bit though and it 
> sounds like others are running more stable systems on 64-bit computers.  
> I'll get one when this laptop dies, but i hope that won't happen for 
> years and years to come.
> 
> Anyway I just want to make some sound.  I've invested so much time and 
> money so far.
> I really want to make music using these great open source apps and 
> contribute by raising linux audio's profile in the process.
> 
> What, if anything am I doing wrong and how can I have a fully stable 

fglrx and ie1394.  On my DAW I use neither.

> system on this laptop?

I have the fancy sound card (RME 9652 which is in a word simply awesome)
in a desktop machine.  My laptop does some editing and mixing after the
fact and it is pretty stable but it does not have a very good audio
device.  The latency is workable with a MIDI keyboard.

I would disable CPUfreq while doing audio work.

Since you already have the Presonus I guess replacing it is not an
option (I have yet to have success with FFADO/FreeBob).  Disable network
manager.  Keep an eye on running services (htop/atop are good for this).
 Disable things that you don't need, such as apache and mysql (if you
have them running).

If possible do not use fglrx.  I know it is pretty but what is more
important?  For my DAW I use the plain 2d only ati driver.

> Is it even possible?
> Should I switch back to Windows until Presonus help out the FFADO people?

I would not wait for this.

> Or until I can afford a new system...

> It seems I spend all my time messing around with things trying to make 
> it work, making enough progress here and there to make it seem like I'm 
> getting somewhere when I'm not really getting any music made.

Reminds me of Cubase SX and Win2k/XP.  This experience is what drove me
to a FLOSS solution.  Think of it as an investment.

> Anyway, I fully see the massive potential that linux audio has, far 
> beyond the limitations of proprietary software, and respect to the 
> people who are working on the applications.
> 
> Any advice appreciated.
> 
> Hamish
> 
Hth,
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