[LAU] outfitting a computer for songwriting in linux?

[Brent Busby]

Len Ovens <len at ovenwerks.net> writes:

> On Sun, 26 Jul 2015, Karen Lewellen wrote:
>
>> I would much prefer the pci option than using USB for this, yes.
>> second  I am going to put the computer together for this purpose,
>> meaning nothing has been chosen.  Laughs on  the soundblaster idea,
>> but I am new to this not realizing what good pci cards are supported
>> by debian in general.
>
> As you are only interested in MIDI, and audio is not needed. The old
> ensoniq audio pci cards are one of the best solutions (using the "game
> port") and they are known as one of the best quality 16bit
> cards.

For Midi (not audio), I think the problems of USB have been greatly
exagerated.  It's true that USB has some problems with being on time.
However, unless you're doing some kind of sequenced techno where
absolutely solid as granite note intervals are wanted, I really doubt
you're going to notice the lag much.  For manual keyboard playing,
you're really, really not going to notice.

USB is by far the most convenient way to get Midi connectivity on a
modern Linux PC.  I use it for sequenced music driving many external
hardware devices, and on the occasion that I actually do hear some lag,
it's because I'm the one producing it, and I really doubt anyone else
actually notices.  Sometimes the lag even turns out to sound (to me)
more musical than robotic time would have, even in sequenced music.
(Then again, I like analog synthesizers that aren't always strictly in
tune all the time either, so I kind of like that sort of thing.)

> However, PCI is not a forward looking solution so this and the
> delta1010 really are obsolete. It is possible to find a computer with
> pci slots still, but it does take some work.

This took me by surprise, as it's been a long time since I've done this
shoping for myself.  (I'm all setup, so I haven't looked in awhile.)
You're right, almost all the pro PCI audio recording (not Midi)
solutions seem to be pretty much gone!  I did expect that regular
classic PCI cards would have gone away, since 32-bit PCI is basically
Stone Age technology at this point, but...I have RME's PCI-E card
connecting to a Multiface II external box, and to my shock, you can't
even get PCI-E cards anywhere either?  Why??  64-bit PCI-E is the best
solution, and not obsolete hardware at all!

Nontheless, it looks like you're right...  Everybody's going USB, even
though I think everyone used to pretty much agree that given the choice
of PCI(E), Firewire, or USB, that USB was pretty much the worst possible
option.  (I've been on here long enough to remember that, so no one tell
me that's wrong all of a sudden...  If I had a nickel for every thread
on here warning people to stay away from USB if they have a choice...)

Now, it looks like USB recording interfaces are all we have, so we don't
have a choice.  That ain't good at all.

> The computer side: Use an Intel CPU. The person setting it up should
> be willing to find out which of the USB ports on the computer should
> be used for this (have their own irq) and which usb ports should
> therefore never be used for anything else (often two usb ports are on
> an internal hub).

Why would it matter if it was AMD?

> available. So the distro should be fitted with a lowlatency
> kernel. Your tech will have to find out which other things need to be
> turned off for glitch free sound (some wifi setups for example... many
> are just fine)

That may or may not be necessary on recent kernels.  I'm running a
regular Linus kernel with full pre-emption turned on, and I seldom get
an xrun.  I'd only go for an RT kernel if your system isn't behaving
without it.

-- 
+ Brent A. Busby	 + "We've all heard that a million monkeys
+ Sr. UNIX Systems Admin +  banging on a million typewriters will
+ University of Chicago	 +  eventually reproduce the entire works of
+ James Franck Institute +  Shakespeare.  Now, thanks to the Internet,
+ Materials Research Ctr +  we know this is not true." -Robert Wilensky