<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.18.3"> </HEAD> <BODY> On Sat, 2009-07-04 at 17:54 -0700, Paul DeShaw wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE> Hello, Have either of you been able to use JACK with the built-in sound on your 1st gen MacBooks? </BLOCKQUOTE>     after lots of testing/playing, i was able to get it to work reliably, though with weird crackling on some configs.  i have not used it recently (i have an external FireWire Edirol Fa-66 interface that works well with UBS 8.04 Hardy).  i took some notes on it actually, in case people needed help in the future.  i worked from a blog that had lots of good info: <A HREF="http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2008/06/04/jack-on-the-macbook">http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2008/06/04/jack-on-the-macbook</A> <A HREF="http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2008/06/10/my-studio">http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2008/06/10/my-studio</A> the main trick was changing a "position_fix" parameter in <TT>/etc/modprobe.d/local</TT>, though i did discover some weirdness depending on the settings.  here is the summary of my different position_fix settings: JACK position_fix <UL> <LI>position_fix=3 <BLOCKQUOTE> ALSA/Pulse - crackly JACK - solid </BLOCKQUOTE> <LI>position_fix=2 <BLOCKQUOTE> ALSA/Pulse - clear JACK - delay/XRUNs </BLOCKQUOTE> <LI>position_fix=1 <BLOCKQUOTE> ALSA/Pulse - no crackle on headphones, speakers sometimes.  could be speakers or crackles may disappear running sirq script (i.e. updates real time priorities of important audio processes JACK - solid </BLOCKQUOTE> <LI>position_fix=0/commented out <BLOCKQUOTE> ALSA/Pulse - works/clear </BLOCKQUOTE> <UL> <LI>JACK - delays/XRUNS </UL> </UL> the 2 issues i was having were: <UL> <LI>consistently on my MacBook, in UBS i often get some various crackling using the internal sound adapter, more noticeable in the speakers than headphones.  this could be a problem with the levels, but i could never quite get it cleared up.  when i was using Mac OS X, there were no crackles.  playing with the position_fix seemed to make more/less crackles as indicated above <LI>when JACK would work (depending on position_fix), the left channel would simply provide no output when in real time mode, either playback 1 or 3 (speakers 1/2, headphones 3/4 on my MacBook).  however, this problem kind of fixed itself in some update, which i believe was when i starting using a PPA provided by Khashayar at <A HREF="https://launchpad.net/~khashayar/+archive">https://launchpad.net/~khashayar/+archive</A> </UL> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE> Sometimes I'd just like to do a little editing or whatnot away from home. I don't have a portable interface; it's built into a MIDI keyboard controller.  Not something I want to lug around.   But when I try using the built-in card, no matter how I tweak the settings in JACK, I get a ton of either xruns or hardware wakeup errors.  Do you know a way to fix this?  If not, can you recommend a portable interface that works well with the MacBook and Hardy? </BLOCKQUOTE>     i use the internal interface for editing on the road, but i have an Edirol FA-66 that i think is great.  when i had not seen the light, and still using Mac OS X/Logic, it never gave me any problems.  with GNU/Linux, i get even better latency than was possible with Mac OS X/Logic, and the interface works well (only with FreeBob... i have not gotten FFDAO to work yet, but that may because i am using such an outdated system) still.  the only problem is that the FireWire bus seems to get messed up after long recording sessions, or long pauses with JACK running but doing nothing.  this could be because i record to an external FireWire drive on the same bus, which from my Mac days was better (latency-wise) than recording to the system disk.  so, sometimes i need to unplug everything from the FireWire bus.  Edirol was always good with support, and i use it and the GNU/Linux MacBook at gigs for live effects.  all no problems.     hope this helps.  i have learned the hard way that it seems Apple products are best at running Apple software.  though a long-time GNU/Linux user, i got a Mac to do music (at the time FLOSS music production was not where it is now), but quickly found it was just too much of a compromise of my principles.  since, i have been making music with FLOSS software on the MacBook, but it has been painful at times.  next time, plan on going with a laptop that supports FLOSS software/open specs/etc., like system76 or Los Alamos computers. peace, w <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE> Thanks, Paul D. </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>