[linux-audio-user] Re: Re: Distros and Desktops

[Maluvia]

>  I would never want to run a 'dedicated' audio distro 
>because, like many, my hardware is used for other things as well as 
>audio production (posting to this mail list for instance).  

This is where partitioning comes in so handy.
One can then pretty much have it all - a general purpose partition for online/network functions and other general purpose functions such as graphics, printing, etc.
A designer would probably want a dedicated graphics partition, and I find it convenient to have a build partition.
This way, you can have a dedicated audio OS on one partition, without sacrificing your ability to perform other functions via the other partitions.

I would like to see a really small dedicated audio OS that can run entirely out of RAM, and even be booted off a CD.
I like the way Puppy Linux does this, but there are several other, perhaps better, ways this could be accomplished as well.

>In regards to performance, on modern day hardware, especially if 
>selected with audio production in mind, sub 4ms latencies are not only 
>possible but also not that difficult to achieve, even when enjoying the 
>luxury of some asthetically pleasing eyecandy, which should not, in 
>itself, be discounted so easily...  I find an attractive interface to be 
>creatively inviting, more pleasurable and thus more productive (at least 
>in my case) to work with than a simple terminal or even minimal 
>graphics.  I know that starts crossing the line into pc-as-an-instrument 
>but that's the way I feel.  I rarely sit down and fire up my hardware 
>with a complete work of music in my mind.  I will have a few concepts to 
>work with, or more likely to explore and experiment with, but for me 
>much of the creative process happens *while* I am sitting at my 
>computer, and an attractive interface plays no small part in that.

This is a very interesting perspective, and remarkably consistent with Carlo's 'computer as instrument' vision.
I just had not thought of it this way, since we (my husband particularly :) ) would prefer for the PC to become just another audio hardware component - and as simple to use.

I really think you guys ought to get together, take this focus and blend it with Samuel Delaney's sci-fi idea: the 'Syrinx' - an electronic instrument capable of producing not only audio, but visual and olfactory signals as well.
(Near the end of the book, Lorq von Ray even uses it as a weapon to destroy his nemesis, Prince Red - sort of reminding me of the ancient 'war harps' wielded by the Tuathans. :) )
Absolutely incredible book - on my all-time top 10 list.

Seriously - you guys design a working Syrinx and we'll be the first to buy one!

- Maluvia