[LAU] perhaps why some of us have more trouble w/ pulseaudio than others (ICE1712/M-audio delta problem w/ pulseaudio)

[Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas]

On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, you wrote:
> On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas <
>
> pedro.lopez.cabanillas at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, Paul Davis wrote:
> > > > IMHO, the obvious solution would be for them to simply stop wasting
> >
> > their
> >
> > > > time on PA and make an existing and better solution (JACK) better.
> > > > ;-)
> > >
> > > i don't think you are clear that JACK and PA are attempting to solve
> > > different problems.
> >
> > It would be nice if you make a similar public declaration about Jack MIDI
> > and
> > ALSA sequencer.
> >
> >
> > http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/faq/start#qwhat_is_the_difference_between_jack
> >-midi_and_alsa-midi
> >
> > "The short answer:
> >  Jack-Midi has been introduced to extend/replace alsa-midi
> >  [...]
> >  They currently co-exist."
> >
> > Looks like somebody dreaming of world domination.
>
> JACK MIDI, ALSA Sequencer and Pulse Audio are not related in any obvious
> way.

MIDI and Audio are not directly related, either. 

> It is indeed true that JACK MIDI is "intended to extend/replace the ALSA
> sequencer". The problems addressed by ALSA's sequencer API are, so the JACK
> MIDI crew claim, better solved in user space in a manner substantially
> similar to the way that JACK MIDI attempts to solve them. I personally
> believe that the existence of the ALSA sequencer API is just a result of a
> combination of the limits of (and ignorance about the possibilities of) the
> Linux 2.2 kernel. If you don't believe you can do realtime stuff in user
> space (which arguably was true in 2.2), then of course you put something
> like ALSA sequencer in the kernel.

The ALSA sequencer API may be implemented in user space, offering a way to 
existing applications to be used with the new sequencer in a transparent way. 
That would be nice and consistent with our (Linux audio users) priced freedom 
of choice. I know that it is not the easy path, but would be consistent with 
the efforts of the ALSA people providing an OSSv3 compatibility API.

Not only that, but Jack MIDI forces to the MIDI applications to always be used 
subordinated to an audio stream. Even when you don't want to use digital 
audio at all, because your MIDI sources and receivers are all external 
musical instruments.

Another drawback is that if you want to succeed replacing an existing API, you 
need to provide at least every functionality provided by the old one, and do 
it in a nice way that can be adopted easily by the developers. I understand 
that the ALSA sequencer API is huge and cumbersome, but the minimalist  
approach of Jack MIDI may be just another mistake in the opposite direction.

Regards,
Pedro