[LAU] Hardware synths

[Rob]

On Tuesday 04 December 2007 21:39, David Olofson wrote:
> Be warned though; those VIA Cx and AMD Geode CPUs found on most
> fan-less boards aren't anything like workstation CPUs. Incredible
> power *per Watt* - but you'd need to run one at several GHz to get
> anywhere near the slowest Socket 775 Celeron you can find.

I was running the Vaz analog synth simulator and some Yamaha or Roland 
software GM synth on a Pentium 100 almost a decade ago.  The Via and 
Geode chips are pretty weak, and I'm sure Jack and various Linux 
background tasks add some overhead, but is Fluidsynth really that 
much more CPU-intensive?

And for what it's worth, you can get micro-ATX boards that take 
Celerons and Athlons.  I'd stay away from that Via stuff myself if I 
were doing anything other than a web surfing terminal.

Rob