Please grade my setup...

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OccinticLady
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Please grade my setup...

Post by OccinticLady »

Image
Hi all,
So, attached is a pic of my setup.
As you can see:
- two separate PC's that act as synth (the one) and sampler (the other) both with a MIDI keyboard, done for load balancing...
- a mixer
- a PC with Ardour to record the whole thing.
Soundblaster out to mixer to soundblaster in.
The quality is...not really good.
The overdub lags
in short, it's not optimal.
Where can I improve?
Thanks
Melissa
PC's : Dell 32 bit as synth, Dell (P50?) as sampler, recording PC : a mini mac...
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LAM
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by LAM »

Hi @OccinticLady,
It's not clear what software you are using: which synth? which sampler? which recording software?

Unless you want a standalone workflow, and you have very CPU intensive programs, I think you should be able to do everything on the P50 i guess.

One idea could be using a DAW, like Ardour, and connecting one keyboard to the synth tracks, the other keyboard to the sampler tracks, and recording your MIDI if you are using plugins, or just the audio if you are using standalone programs, all in the DAW itself.

If you want a modular approach you could use Carla to load your synth or sampler plugins (or even standalone programs if they are JACK apps), and using some jack tools or Audacity to record your session.

in mix, nobody can hear your screen

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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by OccinticLady »

Hi,
Thanks for the input.
I should (indeed) have mentioned the software.
As sampler, I use Specimen, as synth I use ZynaddSubFX and AmSynth.
The DAW is Ardour, it's good...and it uses Jack.
Audacity is somewhat hard to configure for me.
What does strike me is that the sound only happens when Ardour runs and has a track primed for recording...
Of course, I do realise, that when I want to use soundblasters, I need to get top material...
I had a Lynx-One once, never got it running...still have it, somewhere...
And lastly...I have come to realise I may need to invest in better hardware for the record box...
Melissa
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by LAM »

Specimen is abandonware, it has been replaced by Petri-foo (last update 2012?) as far i know, unless you need very specific features you can replace it with more modern applications or plugins, look at:
http://linuxmusic.rocks/category/sampler-trigger
http://linuxmusic.rocks/category/drums
If you want to stay with Petri-foo you can load into Carla and use Carla into Ardour.
Carla has an experimental feature where you can load JACK apps, like Petri-foo, as they would be plugins. :D

For synths you are good, they works well in Ardour or Carla.
This setup doesn't look like something that could strangle the P50 CPU.

If you plan to use Ardour and you setup things well you should be able to play and record without problems, you arm the tracks you want to record and you are done.

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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by OccinticLady »

LAM wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:56 pm Specimen is abandonware, it has been replaced by Petri-foo (last update 2012?) as far i know, unless you need very specific features you can replace it with more modern applications or plugins, look at:
http://linuxmusic.rocks/category/sampler-trigger
http://linuxmusic.rocks/category/drums
If you want to stay with Petri-foo you can load into Carla and use Carla into Ardour.
Carla has an experimental feature where you can load JACK apps, like Petri-foo, as they would be plugins. :D
Yikes, just like me to be über-retro... :lol:
I should replace Specimen, then.
Basically, it boils down to adopting a workflow used for a while: write the music (somehow), record one track, rewind, record the next track and so on, and then mix-down. Just like I did with my Fostex, way back.
Not to bad :)
Thanks a ton :)
Melissa
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by LAM »

I wanted to add that Ardour has internal MIDI and audio routing, In your case, for example, you can specify which MIDI input go to which track, so i think is possible to record live if you prefer to do it like that.

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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by khz »

Instead of the mixer you could connect the PC's via netjack or netadapter. For ~more details see: viewtopic.php?p=95720#p95720
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by Kott »

Hi,

I think the only way to improve is to put all in the one PC.
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by tavasti »

I see 3 possible options what could be done to improve your sound quality, here is all of them, from my humble opinion, best to least best.

1) what other people have been saying, putting all to one computer would be good thing.

2) in case there is performance problem, I would try netjack, passing audio in digital form from one pc to another via ethernet. So instead of converting digital audio to analog with lofi sound card, passing it to mixer and then converting that analog to digital with lofi sound card, keep all digital all the time. And Ardour will be your mixer. This way you could record all tracks separately, mix your tracks afterwards as you like, use automation, etc.

3) Get better audio interfaces. Proper 4-channel audio interface to your recording computer would also eliminate mixer.
LAM wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:56 pm If you want to stay with Petri-foo you can load into Carla and use Carla into Ardour.
Carla has an experimental feature where you can load JACK apps, like Petri-foo, as they would be plugins. :D
I have tried this, at least when I tried petri-foo as plugin with carla did not work. But petri-foo is using jack, so it is fully accessible and routable in jack, so no need to make it behave like plugin. Only difference is that you need to load patches to petri-foo separately, but when comparing to current OPs setup, that is sure not a problem.

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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by LAM »

tavasti wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:34 am
LAM wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:56 pm If you want to stay with Petri-foo you can load into Carla and use Carla into Ardour.
Carla has an experimental feature where you can load JACK apps, like Petri-foo, as they would be plugins. :D
I have tried this, at least when I tried petri-foo as plugin with carla did not work. But petri-foo is using jack, so it is fully accessible and routable in jack, so no need to make it behave like plugin. Only difference is that you need to load patches to petri-foo separately, but when comparing to current OPs setup, that is sure not a problem.
Petri-foo starts in Carla when launched with "Take control of main application window" option disabled (Carla 2.3).

But yes, being a JACK application could be very well used the traditional JACK way. :D

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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by OccinticLady »

Netjack, nifty. Sadly not in the repo anymore. I may need to build it from source. But I do like the concept.
And yes, way better hardware...way way better. A minimac may not cut it...
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Re: Please grade my setup...

Post by khz »

This is included in jackd.
The commands are there:
netjack == jack1 and jack2
netadapter == jack2

#FAQ: what are the differences between JACK 1 and JACK2 >> https://github.com/jackaudio/jackaudio. ... ack1_jack2 - Oh the information is gone :-(
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