[linux-audio-user] dual-core and jack question

[Ken Restivo]

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On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 02:54:28PM +0100, Atte Andr? Jensen wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I'm considering getting a dual-core desktop machine for audio work. But 
> I'm wondering how well the two cores would be used for audio work. For 
> instance can clients running on different cores connect to the same jack?
> 
> Apparently I'm pretty ignorant concerning dual-core in the first place. 
> Is there any online info I should/could read that would give some 
> insight on how an audio environment is setup and performs on dual core?
> 

My advice would be: be very careful before choosing your hardware. 

If I were doing it all over again, I'd have first checked with the developers of jackmp, jackd, and all the important hardware-dependent drivers (i.e. your audio card), and find out EXACTLY what CPU, motherboard, and peripherals they have, and purchase *only* an exact clone of their hardware. Unless you want to be on the bleeding edge and/or have great coding/debugging skills.

The problem is that jackd apparently only uses one CPU, so the other CPU is basically running "everything else" that isn't jack-related or RT. Good, but not great. jackdmp seems really promising, is apparently is multithreaded for use on dual-core machines,  but I haven't been able to use it yet because its freebob support has only been recently added. It probably won't be shaken out until someone can give the developers a machine with the same CPU as I have, and I don't have that kind of money sitting around.

That said, after shaking stuff out, and lots of great help from the developers, I've figured out where my limits are (no more than one softsynth at a time, no more than 3-4 LADSPA plugins at a time), and I am happily making music on a Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz with 2GB RAM. 

But if I had to do it all again, I would have just bellied up to the bar next to one the developers, and told the bartender, "I'll have what he's having".

- -ken
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