Is this Linux setup good enough?

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

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Chipfryer
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Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Hi again folks.

Currently I am running Linux Mint 7
1 Gig Memory
AMD 64 CPU
Dedicated hard drive for music.
M-Audio 2496 soundcard.

Here is what I propose to do, could anyone offer suggestions or correct me if you see something please?
I am going to use Ardour/Audacity/Jack Audio. (although I've had some issues with Audacity under Ubuntu in the past...)

I need Midi Vst's really and have found some Linux one's but here's the real question:
What configuration setup would I need to use to make this setup work without too much hassle? I'm a little unsure of the alsa setup/M-Audio/Ardour config so any info on that would be gratefully received.

I do intend to have a more powerful computer sometime but just for testing and hopefully recording in Linux allowing me to play around with it would be awesome.

Thanks very much.
SR
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by SR »

I'd suggest getting more memory, but I don't know how much you plan on doing with this setup. It definitely won't hurt and memory is relatively cheap.
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Hi SR thanks for the reply.
Yes I think thats a must for sure although compared to Windows Linux runs on a much more level note, at least I found so in my time using it.

I intend to go the whole way eventually steering clear of Windows in all honesty. (By this I mean to where I am currently using windows). All I have to do essentially is swap out the M-Audio card into a test box I suppose and give it a whirl.

Many thanks again for your reply.
SR wrote:I'd suggest getting more memory, but I don't know how much you plan on doing with this setup. It definitely won't hurt and memory is relatively cheap.
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GarryO
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by GarryO »

Hi, Chipfryer. To get the most out of using Ardour for example you'll need a real-time capable kernel.
I'm not familiar with Linux Mint ( though I've heard good reports) but it seems you can use Ubuntu packages with it. See:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaud ... 60328.html
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Hi Gary very helpful thank you.
Yes Mint seems as though its a walk in the park frankly. Why anyone other than gamers and some special software users won't switch I've no idea?

Thanks again for your help, I'll get reading on this and make plans for a real test.
GarryO wrote:Hi, Chipfryer. To get the most out of using Ardour for example you'll need a real-time capable kernel.
I'm not familiar with Linux Mint ( though I've heard good reports) but it seems you can use Ubuntu packages with it. See:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaud ... 60328.html
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spm_gl
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by spm_gl »

The M-Audio card works very well with alsa/jack. So if you only need stereo in/out, use it.
--- Spreemusik ---
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Thanks Spm on the card.

Ok I looked for a real time kernel on the link you provided but I get.

cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:

*** From all repositories.
Not going to be easy is it :D

Thanks again.
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Sorry for the cross post.
I did find kernel 2.3.28-3-rt in the Ubuntu repositories and can now choose that from grub so I'm getting there.
The usual:
Could not connect to JACK server as client
Appears.

On starting 'Rosegarden' (I chose this for midi compatibility) I get.. "Could not connect the Jack Server"
As above I suppose?
Another message states
Helper programs not found:
kdialog
I looked for this in synaptic but on reading I had to install
kdebase-bin which includes kdialog.

After this I restarted Jack and Rosegarden
Still seeing >>> Could not connect to JACK server as client.
However it seems my helper programs are now installed through Rosegarden with no error messages.

Looking good so far. Posted of course to help anyone else with Mint just in case.
Now to the error message from Jack.

Many thanks.
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GarryO
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by GarryO »

The "could not connect..." message suggests that something else is hogging the the soundcard.
Try disabling the sound server in your desktop settings.
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Hi Gary thanks.
When I turn off real time in Jack Audio error messages vanish but as I understand it so far I need that on right?
I cannot find sound server from desktop. I'll do some reading, many thanks again.
GarryO wrote:The "could not connect..." message suggests that something else is hogging the the soundcard.
Try disabling the sound server in your desktop settings.
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by GarryO »

Hey Chipfryer try this:

Open an editor as root ( e.g. sudo gedit ) and open the file /etc/security/limits.conf
add these lines, then save:

@audio - rtprio 98
@audio - memlock unlimited

log out and log back in again, then see how jack works with real time enabled ( yeah you need that).

what this does is allows you to have real time privileges up to a priority of 98 and allows audio apps to lock memory so it can't be grabbed by something else.
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Hi Gary, thanks so much!
On thing I want to ask please.

Do I add this without the # marks?
I notice in this file all other lines are marked as such.
Many thanks again.

Chippy.
GarryO wrote:Hey Chipfryer try this:

Open an editor as root ( e.g. sudo gedit ) and open the file /etc/security/limits.conf
add these lines, then save:

@audio - rtprio 98
@audio - memlock unlimited

log out and log back in again, then see how jack works with real time enabled ( yeah you need that).

what this does is allows you to have real time privileges up to a priority of 98 and allows audio apps to lock memory so it can't be grabbed by something else.
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GarryO
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by GarryO »

Yeah , without # marks.
# is a standard marker for comment lines in linux, these lines get ignored.

Let us know how this works out. There's a couple more tweaks you can do after this and then you should be rock-solid.

Do you really fry chips? I could just eat a nice big fat cod & chips :D
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

Fry Chips?
Erm no :roll:
Until last year I hadn't fried a PC component. Ah them were the days..... :D
It was a good run however and that is the reason for the name. :mrgreen:

This worked! Thanks so much Gary.
Ok on to other things tomorrow. I'll also post a link to here from my website. ITS REALLY IMPORTANT that folks know Linux can do it too. I'm a staunch supporter and frankly love the way it works, it just seems normal to me.

Do some testing tomorrow and I'll get back on this.
Many thanks again.
GarryO wrote:Yeah , without # marks.
# is a standard marker for comment lines in linux, these lines get ignored.
Let us know how this works out. There's a couple more tweaks you can do after this and then you should be rock-solid.
Do you really fry chips? I could just eat a nice big fat cod & chips :D
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Chipfryer
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Re: Is this Linux setup good enough?

Post by Chipfryer »

I installed the M-Audio 2496 card this morning. Setup midi through Rosegarden (Told it to use M-audio) Then I get this message again?

JACK compiled with System V SHM support.
cannot use real-time scheduling (FIFO at priority 10) [for thread -1210722624, from thread -1210722624] (1: Operation not permitted)
cannot create engine
09:12:24.477 JACK was stopped successfully.
09:12:24.478 Post-shutdown script...
09:12:24.479 killall jackd
jackd: no process killed
09:12:24.924 Post-shutdown script terminated with exit status=256.
09:12:26.776 Could not connect to JACK server as client. - Overall operation failed. - Unable to connect to server. Please check the messages window for more info.

I notice the real time line in this message... I did switch it back on under Jack, when I turn it off again all is well again. Hmmmmm :roll:

I'll play with it some and see if there are other people having the same problem.
Many thanks again.
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