[linux-audio-user] Advice for new users?

[Darren Landrum]

It seems to me another issue to keep in mind, is whether the softsynths can 
produce output better than 16bit/44.1khz (or 48khz). That's one of the nice 
things about all of the softsynths that Sage rattled off that work in Cubase 
SX.

The last time I checked, SpiralSynthModular could not output any better than 
16/44.1. I don't know if this is being worked on or not, or if I'm wrong 
altogether. As for many of the others, including Bristol, I can't find any 
reference to a final digital audio output spec on their respective websites.

As far as plugins go, LADSPA set its specs as 32bit float, with no 
specification for sample rate, but I'm under the impression it can handle 
96khz. So, if the host app handles audio in the same way (32bit float), then 
you can process all of your audio that way, then dither it to whatever final 
format the app can handle. (As an aside, an open source developer on the Mac 
had claimed to write a dithering algorithm in BASIC that tests and works 
better than Apogee. I will try to track this down again, and let everyone 
know where it is, if they are interested.)

Although it can be argued that you don't need better than CD quality for your 
sources (some awesome recordings were made on first rev ADATs), some of us 
really like to push the envelope, and we also like the nice high quality we 
get from dithering down from 24 bits. Kinda like resampling a large image in 
GIMP or Photoshop to get a nice-quality lower-res one.

Just my two cents, and my first post to this list. :)

Regards,
Darren Landrum
"Consul"


On Wednesday 09 October 2002 14:05, Sage wrote:
> > > > I'm thinking it would really be nice if somebody programmed a wrapper
>
> (like
>
> > > > Cakewalk's DXi wrapper for VST instruments) that could run windows
> > > > VST instruments via WINE and translate the output to work with JACK. 
> > > > That
>
> would
>
> > > > certainly solve a lot (if not all) of my problems, and possibly many
>
> others'
>
> > > > as well.  Think this is even possible?
> >
> > ive been thinking about this a lot lately. need to check out the xine
> > and mplayer code, to see how to load dll's like that.
>
> Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about! :)
>
> > even if it was, i
> > dont think it would be such a great idea. using jack instead of plugins
> > is bound to incur greater overhead (?). surely a ladspa - vst things
> > would be more suitable?
>
> Damned if I know.  My knowledge of LADSPA and JACK are very limited - I'm
> just playing the ideas man here, and a wrapper in which one can use his
> Windows VST synths, be it done with JACK or LADSPA, seems to me an
> incredibly useful idea.
>
> It might not be the best or most efficient solution in the end, but it
> would be a fantastic crossover solution.  Those of us with expensive and
> well-made VST synths (and no suitable Linux-based substitute) wouldn't have
> to give them up.