[linux-audio-dev] about MIDI timing...

[Chris Cannam]

Clemens:
> Most sound cards don't have an internal timer that could be used for
> MIDI timing.  ALSA uses whatever timer is configured, the default for
> this is the RTC timer.

It is?  For ALSA sequencer queues?  I thought the 
default was system timer.  Maybe it just depends on 
the modules you have loaded. 

My impression from Rosegarden users' reports has 
been that trying to use the ALSA sequencer with the 
RTC timer (something I've never bothered with myself: 
I always use a 1000Hz system timer) is a reliable way 
to lock up your system completely, with most kernels 
from about 2.6.13 or so onwards.

I've been meaning to investigate with the latest ALSA 
source and at least make a decent bug report for 
ages, but you know the way it is, there are only
sixty hours in the day.  It would be wonderful if some 
excellent person had fixed it in the meantime.


Chris