[linux-audio-user] Easy question about a single app workstation

[Taybin Rutkin]

On Fri, 11 Oct 2002, Frank Barknecht wrote:

> Another thing to consider is using ressource friendly applications.
> Make something like sWM (www.small-window-manager.de) or at least
> blackbox your window manager, use Vim not Emacs, Dillo not Mozilla,
> M. Eddington's minibar not the Gnome/KDE-Panel, mc not Nautilus and so
> on.

This shouldn't make a difference in latency.  When Ardour is run in
realtime mode, any slowdowns will only make the GUI sluggish.  They
shouldn't affect the audio.  And hey, this is why I run linux, so that I
can have mySQL, apache, and all running in the background.

Your advice probably holds true for programs that aren't so easily swapped
out, such as window managers though.

Also, in response to your question about why smaller buffers are better:
Yes, a larger buffer reduces dropouts and can be really handy for
recording live.  But, the buffer introduces a delay.  So if you were to
record one track, and then try and play that track back while recording
another track sync'd to it, a large buffer would make it really difficult.

It's hard for me to explain, easy to demonstrate.  Just set jack to use a
large buffer and then try recording a couple tracks in Ardour.  You'll
see.

Taybin
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