[LAD] hard realtime performance synth

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010, David McClanahan wrote:

> Where to start? I have a Dell 7000 laptop and I'm wondering if it can be a
> music synthesizer(something like a Minimoog). If not, why not?

Of course.  The major contenders are linuxsampler, 
fluidsynth, and zynaddsubfx.

Are you trying to build your own dedicated synthesizer on 
top of linux?  Like the Korg OASYS?

> 1. Implement a synth on a hard real time platform. RTAI or RTLinux. Such a
> system would boot up as a dedicated synth aka cut out stuff unnecessary for
> other than sound control/production

I would suggest using something like Debian with an RT 
kernel.  A bare-bones Debian install has a small footprint, 
and there are several RT kernels avail. for Debian.  It's 
also easy to add/remove packages without crippling the 
system.

I've heard good things about ArchLinux, too... WRT it's 
ability to configure the distro to your needs.

> 2. Characteristics of  a synth could be set while in a normal Linux
> environment.

Are you wanting X11, or not?  That's really the biggest 
question.  If you /do/ want X11... then I'm not sure what 
you're trying to accomplish, here.

FYI, with some synths (esp. linuxsampler), you can run the 
synth in a headless (no monitor) environment and control it 
over ethernet with the OSC protocol.

-gabriel