Audio Recording

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weav
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Audio Recording

Post by weav »

Hi All,

I'm fairly new to this whole endeavor, but I was hoping to get some advice or at least the correct terminology to use when trying to figure this out. I have a streaming server where I am using an old M-Audio Delta 1010 to record and stream 6 independent channels that get packed into a 5.1 surround sound signal. I have been checking up on multi-channel recording and come upon the fact that the pci-based recording solution seems to have been dropped some time ago. I'm curious as to where it has gone for right now. If i wanted to record 8 independent channels and pack them back up into 1 multi-channel stream, what kind of audio device do i want to use? As I said earlier i'm having trouble figuring out the correct terminology here. I think I want an Audio Recording Interface, but then i'm having trouble telling how close to real-time the USB based interfaces can be (The Delta 1010 is pretty much real time). I've done a lot of google searching and just ended up more confused than when I started.

Sorry if this is too general a question, just a pointer to a good starting point would be helpful.

Thanks,
-Weav
asbak
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Re: Audio Recording

Post by asbak »

Your research presumably sourced information from the Windows/Mac domain, and over there support and software for PCI devices is probably long-gone.

I don't have the knowledge to understand exactly what it is you need to do but the 1010 should work fine on Linux afaik.
http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/m-audio_delta

So there's no reason why one shouldn't be able to record with it. There are potential issues with PCI slots, particularly on newer motherboards because they don't have native PCI any longer. It's bridged from PCI Express. I have an Asus P9D-X (bridged PCI) which seems to work OK with my PCI card but I'm no expert. If you have an old computer with a native PCI slot this shouldn't be a potential issue.

USB interfaces which are real-time in Mac & Windows are real-time on Linux too (provided that they are Linux compatible). Typically this means they need to be class compliant devices, of which many are.
Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
weav
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Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:33 am

Re: Audio Recording

Post by weav »

Thanks for the information asbak. I think i wasn't clear enough. I already have the delta 1010 working on ubuntu doing exactly what I want. I'm thinking of trying to update it to a more modern set of hardware, since if it ever dies, I'm not going to be able to replace it easily. I'm trying to figure out what exactly I can/should replace it with. Are all usb audio interfaces going to be good enough for real-time recording and streaming (IE very low latency)? If so, which have the best linux support, since I use linux servers to handle basically all my home infrastructure.

I tried to get the delta 1010 working on windows, but I could not find a way to repacking the separate recording channels (they showed up as 5 different stereo recofing channels) into one virtual device on windows (I spent a month trying this). I gave up and switched to linux and alsa has this functionality pretty easy (figuring out the right configuration for the asound.conf was not all that easy, but i knew it was possible given the flexibility it provided).
GuntherT
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Re: Audio Recording

Post by GuntherT »

From what I've read, the Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 or 18i20 is a good choice for multichannel USB on Linux. These devices are reported to work with the ALSA mixer on a kernel 3.19 or newer.
asbak
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Re: Audio Recording

Post by asbak »

I don't really know which USB interfaces have the 'best' Linux support. I don't think any of them have much, if any, official support for Linux.

Having said that, class compliant USB interfaces generally work (there are loads), and typically (for me) that means getting usable latencies of around 8msec (as displayed by qjackctl) which is adequate for 'real time' imo.
It can go lower, but then there's more of a xrun risk and for me it isn't worth it. Your best bet is to look at the ALSA hardware matrixes and search the forum for posts on USB models which people use and are known to work.

There are also RME 9632 or 9652 HDSP PCI and PCI-Express cards. The PCI version works in Linux, I think the PCI Express version will also, but check at their forums if somebody would be kind enough to confirm this.
If it has to be USB, the RME Babyface works afaik... but do some research to confirm.

If you're worried about the existing card dying, eBay's full of ads for s/h 1010's. Spares seem to be relatively affordable.
Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
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