LinuxMusicians

Hartmut Noack has reviewed the Linux beta:

http://www.linux-community.de/Internal/ ... fuer-Linux

In German only. Very thorough review, with some enticing screenshots.

Gruess,

dp

Do the Windows and Mac versions also use Java and PortAudio?

If so, interesting decision, they will meet a lot of criticism probably.

I have been waiting for this.

I guess I'll wait a bit longer and see if the PortAudio issue turns out to be huge.

:sigh:

falkTX wrote:Saw it earlier today, was deeply disappointed to see it uses PortAudio for the engine and Java for its GUI.
It's one of the worst combinations for a pro-audio app...

PortAudio is known for having issues with JACK, a good example is Audacity.
I seriously hope Bitwig doesn't have the same issue as Audacity, where it closes the jack connection when you stop playing, like really...

I have to wait and see how it behaves, but right now the excitement I had for trying it has vanished.

Does this mean we should discourage the Nootka dev from moving to portaudio over the qt thing he is using? He's trying to do the right thing and fully support JACK, and he mentioned recently at his bug report that he was considering portaudio (given the pulse problems currently).

I understand that Portaudio can make things a PITA for routing audio connections around, but what does that mean for MIDI and Jack Transport?

falkTX wrote:

SR wrote:I understand that Portaudio can make things a PITA for routing audio connections around, but what does that mean for MIDI and Jack Transport?

I don't about MIDI (which should be accomplished with PortMidi I would guess), but PortAudio doesn't support Jack Transport. And neither does RtAudio btw.

If Bitwig then does not support JACK Transport, then it won't be a full-fledged part of a GNU/Linux studio. I find a lot of things about it intriguing, but I think I'll keep to putting my limited money toward FLOSS developers rather than proprietary.

I think I'll keep to putting my limited money toward FLOSS developers rather than proprietary.

Not really an open source vs proprietary issue (although I get your point) - this is just about questionable software engineering decisions (possibly) and that happens just as much in free software as it does in proprietary. As for port audio vs proper JACK support, you really have to try very hard to screw things up in the way that some supposedly JACK compliant applications which use port audio do. Using the JACK API directly almost enforces sensible client application behaviour by its simplicity. Audacity (as far as I can tell) still disconnects from JACK / removes its ports when you stop / play, as does the VLC media player, which makes them totally unusable with JACK.

LinuxDSP: To be clear, I don't begrudge you the mechanism of being proprietary in order to ensure funding. You seem like a responsible, respectable developer. I don't want to be dogmatic, so I guess I mean: for me to put $ toward proprietary software, it takes a lot. I expect real quality integration, not half-assed crappy support, and I expect honorable systems (for example, REAPER isn't crippleware or draconian DRM or anything else especially objectionable, nor is LinuxDSP for that matter).

So, when in doubt, I hesitate to fund proprietary developers. But when I'm convinced of their real honor, integrity, and support, then I may patronize them if the product is worthwhile. I'm still exploring all the options anyway.

FWIW, I mentioned portaudio vs rtaudio to the Nootka dev and he decided to change his mind and go with rtaudio. He's also being very responsible and plans to look into the JACK API and really make sure to do things right!

Please remember also that for example Mixxx uses Portaudio. Still, it is very stable program and I've had zero problems using it. Routing is easy and connections persistent. So Portaudio doesn't mean stuff like Audacity or VLC. It's just how they have implemented it. Personally I think Bitwig may be great. I really think those engineers know what they're doing. And nowadays you can't compete in commercial side with crappy music software. You have to do things right.

I'm very interested about Bitwig, and asked them about Jack Transport support. They promised that it will be present in later versions. They also added Jack Session support to their wishlist after I asked it. I still don't expect too much.

I hope someone (other than G Translate) would translate that article into English.