I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

What other apps and distros do you use to round out your studio?

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tramp
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by tramp »

Are you in the audio group?

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id -nG $USER
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Digital Larry
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by Digital Larry »

tramp wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 5:02 pm Are you in the audio group?

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id -nG $USER
Looks like it.

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gary@gary-MacBookPro:~$ id -nG $USER
gary adm cdrom sudo audio dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare
gary@gary-MacBookPro:~$
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by CrocoDuck »

Digital Larry wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:53 pm Faust- I just used one of the included examples. I hadn't even looked at the code before, I just built it. Says it's using a deprecated library.
Not sure if anything at all will change, but try this:

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dm = library("demos.lib");

process = dm.reverse_echo_demo(3);
It uses a recent demo. Also, try to compile it with GTK GUI:

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faust2jack
That works well on my system.
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by thetotalchaos »

Hi @Digital Larry
Ubuntu Studio (especially the recent versions) is set to optimize audio performance out of the box. You really don't need to change anything in the system. Ubuntu Studio is already set off.
In fact the way to actually boost the performance and minimize the xruns, is to stop networking, during your music sessions and to look and check off any startup modules and services, that you don't use.

Let me mention the things that you shouldn't do. Don't use external repositories. Particularly don't use KXStudio repositories for anything more than a backports repository. KXStudio handles audio slightly differently. That could lead to a mess of settings, that try to overwrite each other. I have seen it in this forum. So many people complaining, how their sound does not behave as expected. And they don't realize that they have overcooked their food.
Another thing you shouldn't do is to prefer upstream over stability. You should make a production machine as stable as possible. The only unstable thing should be you.

PS:
lilith wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:50 pm Did you optimize the system for real time audio? One of the most important things is to set the CPU governor to performace.

This script tells you where your system can still be optimized: https://github.com/raboof/realtimeconfigquickscan
tramp wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 5:02 pm Are you in the audio group?

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id -nG $USER
lilith wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:39 am You have to edit your limits.conf file in /etc/security/
There is no need to do that. Ubuntu Studio is already optimized for realtime audio out of the box. No system administration needed.

Best regards, Totalchaos
Last edited by thetotalchaos on Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by lilith »

thetotalchaos wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:32 pm Hi @Digital Larry
Ubuntu Studio (especially the recent versions) is set to optimize audio performance out of the box. You really don't need to change anything in the system. Ubuntu Studio is already set off.
In fact the way to actually boost the performance and minimize the xruns, is to stop networking, during your music sessions and to look and check off any startup modules and services, that you don't use.

Let me mention the things that you shouldn't do. Don't use external repositories. Particularly don't use KXStudio repositories for anything more than a backports repository. KXStudio handles audio slightly differently. That could lead to a mess of settings, that try to overwrite each other. I have seen it in this forum. So many people complaining, how their sound does not behave as expected. And they don't realize that they have overcooked their food.
Another thing you shouldn't do is to prefer upstream over stability. You should make a production machine as stable as possible. The only unstable thing should be you.

Best regards, Totalchaos
Does this also account for networking via LAN?
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by thetotalchaos »

lilith wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:43 pm
thetotalchaos wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:32 pm In fact the way to actually boost the performance and minimize the xruns, is to stop networking, during your music sessions and to look and check off any startup modules and services, that you don't use.
Does this also account for networking via LAN?
Yes it does. Theoretically not as much as WIFI, but more than you believe. Linux-RT and Networking really don't like each other. I remember UbuntuStudio 9.04 was one of the last version with realtime kernel by default. And when i tried to open something a little more big with Firefox, the whole system freeze. And at the same time it had one of the best audio performance, that i can remember.
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by lilith »

thetotalchaos wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:52 pm
lilith wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:43 pm
thetotalchaos wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:32 pm In fact the way to actually boost the performance and minimize the xruns, is to stop networking, during your music sessions and to look and check off any startup modules and services, that you don't use.
Does this also account for networking via LAN?
Yes it does. Theoretically not as much as WIFI, but more than you believe. Linux-RT and Networking really don't like each other. I remember UbuntuStudio 9.04 was one of the last version with realtime kernel by default. And when i tried to open something a little more big with Firefox, the whole system freeze. And at the same time it had one of the best audio performance, that i can remember.
Ok, I will check that, maybe that's causing my xruns.
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Digital Larry
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by Digital Larry »

thetotalchaos wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:32 pm Hi @Digital Larry
Ubuntu Studio (especially the recent versions) is set to optimize audio performance out of the box. You really don't need to change anything in the system. Ubuntu Studio is already set off.
In fact the way to actually boost the performance and minimize the xruns, is to stop networking, during your music sessions and to look and check off any startup modules and services, that you don't use.

Let me mention the things that you shouldn't do. Don't use external repositories. Particularly don't use KXStudio repositories for anything more than a backports repository. KXStudio handles audio slightly differently. That could lead to a mess of settings, that try to overwrite each other. I have seen it in this forum. So many people complaining, how their sound does not behave as expected. And they don't realize that they have overcooked their food.
Another thing you shouldn't do is to prefer upstream over stability. You should make a production machine as stable as possible. The only unstable thing should be you.

...

Best regards, Totalchaos
Thanks very much. Indeed, I am probably unstable! :D The system seems to be working OK now. I haven't installed any other repos or backports but of course I did download and compile Faust from code, otherwise I would not have it!

Anyway, I will turn off networking/WiFi unless I need it for something. Kind of a shame as I had hoped to use OSC.

Cheers,

DL
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Digital Larry
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by Digital Larry »

I'm still occasionally getting into a situation where, for example, I'm running a Zita reverb generated by Faust. Audio starts glitching/chattering. I close the Zita app. No change. I stop Jack. No change. I restart Jack. No change. I reboot the system. OK that helps, but wow, is there no way short of rebooting to get back to square one?
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by tramp »

don't use jack-dbus, use jackd ( the old way)
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by Digital Larry »

tramp wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 3:49 pm don't use jack-dbus, use jackd ( the old way)
OK, I'm following this. The onboard audio sometimes gets detected as Pulse Audio but I have no intention of using it, just the USB Audio I/F. Does the advice in this article seem OK to you?

https://we.riseup.net/nikgnomic/jack-ca ... hout-d-bus
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by tramp »

Basically yes, but, it is possible a way more smooth:
https://github.com/brummer10/pajackconnect
However, I wouldn't refer to pulse audio, I refer to have the jack daemon under your control, or have it under the control of dbus. Regarding the need of reboot to solve buffer under/overflows.
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by Digital Larry »

OK, I'm still messing around with this old Macbook Pro. It is an A1278, using the i5-3210 (2.5 GHz) and 4 GB RAM.

Generally speaking I can set the buffer to 512, 2 buffers, 48000 Hz sampling rate, and xruns/glitches are infrequent. It's fairly easy to get the CPU load too high. For example, using two envelope controlled flangers and a phaser block. This really doesn't seem like all that much to me. Yet CPU goes to about 65% and if I add another flanger, xruns start to go wild.

Now I'm willing to get something with more oomph but I'm a little surprised at how little I can actually get out of this thing. Btw everything's written in Faust. I don't know if that causes a problem or what. My impression was that it was supposed to be relatively efficient.

Another thing I notice is that this process is running that appears to have something to do with an 8-output audio interface that I never use and don't really want. How do I get rid of it? I know how to kill it, I just don't know what's starting it. Keep in mind this is Ubuntu Studio, and would seem to be associated with some Jack-Pulse bridge setting but I can't figure out how exactly to turn that off.

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 2096 ?        SLl    0:02 /usr/bin/zita-j2a -j PCH,3,0-out -d hw:PCH,3,0 -r 48000 -p 256 -n 2 -c 100
 
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Re: I just want a stable Linux desktop to develop and run Faust programs

Post by rghvdberg »

That's the jack alsa bridge
Use Ubuntu Studio Controls to disable it.
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