[linux-audio-dev] Audio/Midi system - RT prios..

[Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas]

On Friday 30 December 2005 17:37, Werner Schweer wrote:

> The ALSA seq api is from ancient time were no realtime threads were
> available in linux. Only a kernel driver could provide usable
> midi timing. But with the introduction of RT threads the
> ALSA seq api is obsolete IMHO.

I don't agree with this statement. IMHO, a design based on raw MIDI ports used  
like simple Unix file descriptors, and every user application implementing  
its own event schedule mechanism is the ancient and traditional way, and it 
should be considered obsolete now in Linux since we have the advanced 
queueing capabilities provided by the ALSA sequencer.

You guys are talking here about MIDI timing, considering only the event 
scheduling point of view, as if Rosegarden or MusE were simple MIDI players. 
Of course, playing beats on time is a required feature. But my bigger concern 
about MIDI timing issues is when you are *recording* events. Here is where 
ALSA queues, providing accurate timestamps for incoming events, are so good.  
It could be the absolute winner if problems like the audio synchronization  
and slave MTC synchronization were solved likewise.

Regards,
Pedro