Any musicians using Linux?

[bigtomrodney]

I run Ubuntu but installed some of the Ubuntu-Studio meta-packages which gave me lots of stuff, including a realtime kernel. The only downside to using the realtime kernel is that the proprietary version of Virtualbox (which has better virtualisation) doesn't have a kernel module available. Asides from that it's unnoticeable and all my Jack applications run great.

[minthaka]

You're right, I've tried Ubuntu Studio too, and it's great. But I would like to have an all-in one distro, since if I used one partition for audio, one for all other stuffs, which are working better than with Ubuntu...
Anyway, I've recompiled the kernel using the modified .config file of the rt-kernel, setting the kernel frequency to 1000Hz, but either no use.
There are programs like Traverso, I could not even start. Hm, I don't know...

[fingal]

I suspect Moe was right when he suggested that 'Mandy' is the wrong distro to use for high level audio tasks. We are talking about a distro which is heavily slanted towards casual desktop users (like me), so I don't think your all in one idea is going to work.

Also, Mandriva's kernel is heavily modified; it has a lot of stuff added on just for that distro, and 'rolling your own' kernel is - I suspect anyway - likely to break a lot of things.

I'm curious about this one though, as I play guitar and have thought about recording a few things using Linux. However, I've never followed through with that vision.

A question: isn't this a very CPU intensive task? I've been thinking that you would need x2 chips, or a similar option.

[Manchunian]

A question: isn't this a very CPU intensive task? I've been thinking that you would need x2 chips, or a similar option

It depends what you want to do. My wife uses this machine (specs in my signature) to run Rosegarden and lovely, jovely Band-in-a-Box. The latter pushes things a bit, but that's because I need to use Wine to run it. Both of these apps run badly with low timer resolution, in fact Rosegarden doesn't work at all. I think for what you want to do, you don't need anything special.

Also, Mandriva's kernel is heavily modified; it has a lot of stuff added on just for that distro, and 'rolling your own' kernel is - I suspect anyway - likely to break a lot of things.

This may very well be true. It's one of the things that I don't like about Mandriva (and Suse for that matter). I find it not a very effecient distro.

[minthaka]

Mandriva is O.K from my part. It isn't slower than other distros, I can even say that the 2008 Spring is faster than 2007 was. I was trying to use the kernel for 2007 but it won't go. From other part, I didn't see anything like Mandriva 2008 Spring during my 2 years Linux experience: it's fast, stable with good applications. I can rely on it better than Ubuntu, which one seems to me always being in development rush.
Basically the desktop kernel is better than it was for the last year. With the default kernel for 2007 I couldn't even record a single stereo track with Audacity. For now I'm able to record 2-3 stereo tracks with Ardour, but with xruns.
I can't run the JACK server in realtime mode, and that's a great handicap.
Fingal have asked about the CPU consumption:
I don't understand why does it work so slowly. In Windows it's a common task, I had ASIO driver for my Audigy 2, used (warezed) VST plugins like Guitar Rig, for more than 10 stereo tracks with 4ms latency. If I compare that with the Linux reality, I don't see the whys. It should not be such a heavy burden for system at all!
My last question:
If somebody knows, that some program just will not work with the present kernel, it would be better not to have packages for this certain platform, isn't?
Ubuntu Studio is good, I have installed it last night, still I always have a feeling of fragility with Ubuntus.

[minthaka]

With help of beautyful people at Ardour's forums I've solved the thing:
@audio - rtprio 99
@audio - memlock 250000
@audio - nice -10
I had to set these options in /etc/security/limits.conf file and to add myself to audio group. After the restart, I could record at least 7 stereo tracks with no xruns and 5ms latency!!!!!
The "all in one" works!!!