Linux-audio-user August 2014

linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org

104 participants
91 discussions

by renato

Hi, since I've seen this problem mentioned here before, I just wanted to give a heads up regarding this program I've recently discovered, tmsu. It lets you tag files, and you can later use these tags in any program, since it will create a virtual filesystem (using fuse), with directories for tags and queries (like "show me all field recordings of stormy weather done in 2013", provided of course you tagged the files with the relevant information), all on the fly (to create a query you just create a directory). It seems very nice for the task, very KISS, though I have just played shortly with it http://tmsu.org/ have fun, renato

10 years, 2 months

sound fonts/patch files

by LM

I'm trying to find some sound fonts/patch file sets to use with programs like Timidity and to figure out what licenses they're available under. Of course, there's the freepats collection ( http://freepats.zenvoid.org/ ). freepats-20060219.tar.bz2 has GNU GPLv2 license. Am also looking for other collections with Free licenses. I ran across timidity_tiny at http://edge.beemulated.net/utils/index.php which looks really interesting because it's lightweight. However, was unable to find a license with it. Tracked earlier copies of the files down to KDEMultimedia's kmidi which says the license on kmidi is GPLv2 or later. With further checking, I found out many of the files were from timidity_wow_samples.zip, timidity_drums_samples.zip, timidity_base_samples.zip. One sample was from propats 3 collection. Not finding much on licensing for any of those files. Does anyone have suggestions for lightweight (or other) instrument collections/patch files/soundfonts with Free licenses? Thanks.

10 years, 2 months

QMidiArp-0.5.2 released

by Frank Kober

Hi, QMidiArp 0.5.2 has just seen the light of the day. It brings mainly two improvements. One is a comeback, that of tempo changes on the fly, and that now includes also tempo changes of a potential Jack Transport master. Also the Jack Transport starting position is finally taken into account, so that QMidiArp should be in sync also when starting the transport master not at zero. The second one is Non Session Manager support, mainly thanks to the work done by Roy Vegard Ovesen! Note that for compiling in NSM support you will now need liblo as dependency. Enjoy, and enjoy LAC in Graz this year Frank ________________________________ QMidiArp is an advanced MIDI arpeggiator, programmable step sequencer and LFO. Everything is on http://qmidiarp.sourceforge.net qmidiarp-0.5.2 (2013-05-09) New Features o Tempo changes are again possible while running, both manually or by a Jack Transport Master o Jack Transport position is now taken into account when starting, QMidiArp used to start always at zero o Muting and sequencer parameter changes can be deferred to pattern end using a new toolbutton o Modules in the Global Storage window have mute/defer buttons o Global Storage location switches can be set to affect only the pattern o Non Session Manager support with "switch" capability (thanks to Roy Vegard Ovesen) General Changes o NSM support requires liblo development headers (liblo-dev package)

10 years, 2 months

Lightweight WM that can be used without any issue with audio applications

by Ralf Mardorf

I switched from Xfce4 to JWM. JWM does work with all apps excepted of QjackCtl. Often I need to kill QjackCtl, because the Connect window always is above all other windows and it's impossible to close it. I don't want to use a tiling window manager or a WM that is nearly as bloated, as DEs such as Xfce4. What WMs do you use? A lightweight DE would be ok too, as long as it isn't unstable and has got no dependencies to GNOME software. Bad coded stuff like Enlightenment is a complete no-go. I want to handle windows with the mouse, they should be free to overlap and I don't want to experience issues, even not issues that happens seldom, workspaces should be editable. JWM is nearly perfect, excepted of the QjackCTL issue.

10 years, 3 months

A short story: from zero to recording the drums in a budget

by Carlo Ascani

Hi guys, I own an acoustic drum, and I wanted to record it. My set looks like this [1], and I wanted 8 mics to record it. So, starting from *just* the drums, I bought everything I needed: 1. The Mixer I got a second hand Soundtracs Topaz Micro (I used its Inserts as Direct Outs) for 220 euros 2. The PC I got an IBM Thinkcentre 8215 for 50 euros 3. The converters I got an Echo Layla 20 for 50 euros, it has 8 analog ins and it is really well supported by alsa. 4. The Monitors I got a pair of second hand KRK Rockit 5 for 150 euros 5. Cables and mic stands Got them for around 250 euros 6. The mics I got an Audix D6 and a Sennheiser e609 for kick, a Revox m3500 and a Beyer m610 for the snare, two Sennheiser e609 for the floor toms and a pair of Sennheiser e614 as overheads. The total cost of those mics (second hand) is 600 euros. So, the total price of the whole thing was around 1320 euros! Here are some audio clip of the result, dry recording [2] and processed with some eq, compressor and reverb [3] So guys, what do you think? If I would improve the quality of my recordings, where should I spend more money? PS: I suck at playing [1] http://carlorat.me/drumset.jpg [2] http://carlorat.me/noproc_session.ogg [3] http://carlorat.me/proc_session.ogg -- Carlo Ascani | carlorat.me skype: carloratm irc: carloratm@freenode

10 years, 3 months

html5 audio through jack

by Iain Mott

Hi list, I'm thinking of updating some of my web pages to use multi-platform flash/html5 audio players, at present they use flash only and won't play on iPads for example. Due to some problems I was having with pulse audio in relation to my HDSP interface I have recently disabled it and all my audio is running via jack/alsa and the HDSP interface. With flash in firefox, there are no problems and the audio plays. My .asoundrc is configured with the following: pcm.rawjack { type jack playback_ports { 0 system:playback_1 1 system:playback_2 } capture_ports { 0 system:capture_1 1 system:capture_2 } } pcm.jack { type plug slave { pcm "rawjack" } hint { description "JACK Audio Connection Kit" } } pcm.!default { type plug slave { pcm "rawjack" } } HTML5 players in firefox don't play however via jack. When pulse was enabled, HTML5 content would play through the computer's built-in sound card. Now that it's disabled I can't get it to play through jack. An example page with a HTML5 player is here: http://www.html5tutorial.info/html5-audio.php Any suggestions please? A modification of the .asoundrc? I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 Thanks,

10 years, 3 months

Re: [LAU] Session management with NSM

by Harry van Haaren

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 8:32 PM, Philipp Überbacher <murks(a)tuxfamily.org> wrote: > Thanks a lot for your reply Harry. Cheers, be careful to not remove the list from replies: its good to keep everything in the archives for future reference :) >> That's the correct way to handle this, as far as I know. Its useful to >> have different directories on one system: it allows subdiving your >> available sessions into groups like "albums" or >> "projects-with-certain-people". Although I agree it feels a little >> clunky, its quite powerful and useful. > > There could also be a subdivision in the NSM GUI. Well, the current way > is certainly the simpler implementation, not sure it's simpler for the > users :) Sure, and my original suggestion was a "stepping-stone" type idea, with hopes to improve the workflow furthur, once this has become the "biggest" issue NSM has :D >> > 2. Adding programs to sessions through the GUI ("Add Client to >> > Session") is the only way? Is there no way to attach running clients >> > or at least have some comfort like tab completion to add clients? >> NSM does not support this "attach" workflow, but tab completion or a >> list of available (fully supported) NSM clients would be a good >> improvement on workflow. This should be discussed as to how best >> implement it: i'm not sure. > > Right, a list of supported Clients would also be nice, however, I see > two problems: > 1. The list would need to be updated somehow, and even then it would be > a bit problematic because different distributions ship different > versions of the software. NSM might already list a program as supported > while the installed version of the program does not yet support NSM. > 2. The other programs, audio or just related, should ideally also be > listed, and that task is impossible. Actually this might be possible to solve with a "packaging" trick as such: have programs install a file into a specific location (that is currently *not* used by any program) to denote its NSM support. I'll suggest installing a file in /usr/share/nsm/ , and if there's a file there, then the filename without extension represents that a program is capable of NSM. This would require *all* NSM clients to explicitly add an NSM file. Perhaps other developers more involved in packaging / "feature-announcing" will have a better idea here, I'm all ears, my suggestion above is just that: a suggestion. >> > 3. Jack and NSM. How do you handle that? It is possible to start >> > jack through NSM proxy and I guess it is OK to do that as long as >> > jack reliably starts before jackpatch (something I'm not sure of). >> > First I had just jackpatch in there and it started jack for me with >> > a whole lot of options that are unfamiliar to me and probably not >> > needed. >> >> I imagine that NSM will launch said JACK apps, and if one is set to >> "start JACK" on jack_client_open() in its code, then it will start >> JACK with the settings in ~/.jackdrc Perhaps the inclusion of a >> "Start JACK" type client with particular settings can be implemented >> in order to handle this? I'm open for suggestions too. > > That seems to be what happens, and its a race. In my experience > jackpatch wins the race against jackd, so I have to start jack before > the session. > A start_jack client could be useful, but from what I have seen all we > really need is the possibility to start a client before the others. > The simple way would be a timeout, but you'd still have the > race. Ideally there would be some way to tell NSM that jack has > started and is ready. I have doubts that this is possible with plain > jack1 and NSM proxy, maybe a special start_jack client could help here. NSM doesn't *explicitly* require JACK to be running actually: its probably its most common use right now, but setting an explicit dependency on JACK should be avoided. Perhaps a flag could be introduce on a per-client basis, that represents "start-before-others". This way, a "jackd" or "start-jack" client can be loaded before the rest. Or even two or more "before-others" clients could set up whatever needs setting up, before "normal-time" NSM clients are loaded. Again, welcome input from users / devs. >> > 4. CLI clients. Are they generally not supported? I added the lv2 >> > host that was recommended to me (jalv) and had to do that through >> > the NSM proxy, so the settings won't be saved even though the >> > plugin (fabla in this case) can save its settings. This sort of >> > defeats session management. With all the CLI tools we have it would >> > be a pitty if that was generally not supported. On a sidenote, can >> > someone recommend a plugin host that is supported? >> >> CLI clients are supported just like clients with a GUI, there is no >> difference to NSM. The issue you're encountering here is that JALV >> currently doesn't support NSM, which is something that I agree needs >> fixing. I'll put JALV NSM support on the TODO, its something I've >> lacked myself too. > > Ok, great. Does a CLI NSM client exist that I can try? None that I know of right now: Indeed JALV needs NSM, and jalv (the command line version) will then be such a client. > I also noticed that JALV keeps hanging around > after I close the session it is part of, is that expected behavior? This can be fixed by sending the "SIGTERM" in the lower part of the "nsm-proxy" configuration dialog (where you fill in "jalv.gtk", and the arguments to load a certain plugin). >> > Well, that's it for now. Last time I heard about NSM I got the >> > impression that it takes care of session management once and for >> > all, but the first half our gave me a different impression. >> OpenAV stands behind NSM: I'm willing to do my best to cooperate with >> project developers to implement NSM in various programs, and improve >> the workflow of session management. >> >> If there's any furthur questions, please ask, in the mean time, I'll >> try code up some NSM :) -Harry > > Thanks a lot for your help Harry, we have used crutches for session > management long enough. Agreed, lets try fix this together with the communit in the next weeks, and never look back ;) Cheers, -Harry

10 years, 3 months

Disabling IRQ #19

by Peter P.

Dear List, I have a strange and unreproducable error on my laptop, that halts the entire audio system randomly about once every three weeks. Jackd quits, with it all clients, and dmesg says: [21684.947293] irq 19: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll"option) [21684.947303] Pid: 194, comm: irq/19-ehci_hcd Not tainted 3.2.0-4-rt-amd64 #1 Debian 3.2.54-2 [21684.947309] Call Trace: [21684.947327] [<ffffffff81098889>] ? __report_bad_irq+0x2c/0xb5 [21684.947336] [<ffffffff81098c6d>] ? note_interrupt+0x16f/0x1f2 [21684.947344] [<ffffffff81097969>] ? irq_thread_fn+0x32/0x32 [21684.947351] [<ffffffff81097969>] ? irq_thread_fn+0x32/0x32 [21684.947358] [<ffffffff8109783c>] ? irq_thread+0x106/0x201 [21684.947367] [<ffffffff81097736>] ? irq_finalize_oneshot+0xb3/0xb3 [21684.947378] [<ffffffff81062ee4>] ? kthread+0x78/0x80 [21684.947385] [<ffffffff8103f2fa>] ? get_parent_ip+0x9/0x1b [21684.947395] [<ffffffff8136a0f4>] ? kernel_thread_helper+0x4/0x10 [21684.947405] [<ffffffff81062e6c>] ? rcu_read_unlock_sched_notrace+0x2a/0x2a [21684.947412] [<ffffffff8136a0f0>] ? gs_change+0x13/0x13 [21684.947417] handlers: [21684.947429] [<ffffffff81096e34>] irq_default_primary_handler threaded [<ffffffffa003d483>] usb_hcd_irq [21684.947473] [<ffffffff81096e34>] irq_default_primary_handler threaded [<ffffffffa025a85a>] ips_irq_handler [21684.947485] [<ffffffff81096e34>] irq_default_primary_handler threaded [<ffffffffa04d62cd>] snd_hdsp_interrupt [21684.947498] Disabling IRQ #19 The sound card is an RME Multiface via an ExpressCard in a Thinkpad X201s. The card itself had been working reliably since more than ten years by now (not with the ExpressCard though). Running on Debian RT Kernel. I have no way to set/change the IRQ assignments in this BIOS. Interrupt 19 is shared by modules ehci_hcd:usb2, ips, snd_hdsp, where the two others are USB and the thermal subsystem. I assume ehci_hcd:usb2 denotes the second USB bus. If this is correct, there are no devices connected to it at the moment, according to lsusb (except for USB hubs). Web research has shown that people suggest using the kernel option "irqpoll" or disable "threadirqs", use "noirqdebug" or "irqdebug" options (apparently quite expensive in computation), or the irqbalance package. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=133327 gives a hint about deinstalling laptop-mode-tools, which I am running, and which made the problem go away for the poster. As the error occurs so infrequently, I can not yet verify if any of these help, and am hoping for some hints or experience from this list. Please, any help or ideas are desperately needed, as this is a production system that is used in live shows in front of large audiences, and I absolutely need to resolve that error. Thank you for all ideas, best, Peter

10 years, 3 months

Successor/replacement for RME HDSP+Multiface?

by Peter P.

Dear Community, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for audio interfaces that could be venerable successors to an RME HDSP+Multiface. I am using mine since over ten years, and hence prefer to stick to laptops with ExpressCard slots, but am curious in general if this is still one of the few pro mobile interface for Linux users. The following features would be required: -Operation on laptops, either through PCMCIA, ExpressCard, USB, Firewire -Stable low-latency operation under Linux -16-18 channels of I/O each, eg half of them analogue, the others digital. thank you for any hints! best, Peter

10 years, 3 months

Audio File to Graphic Thumbnail in Command Line?

by Kevin Cosgrove

I have a huge number (about 2400) of 0.5GB WAV files from live 24 track recordings. 10-40% of the tracks on some recording sets are not needed, an unused vocal mic stashed off stage. I have been using the RMS function in SOX by command line to help me determine which files are not useful. A low RMS level tends to indicate less usable signal. But, this doesn't always work. For instance, it can miss that great minute long harmonica solo during the hour long show. Peak levels don't help, because frequently a drummer will slam something loudly enough to falsely mark the file as useful, when it's actually not. Looking at the audio waveform with Ardour or Audacity seems foolproof. But, it's also way too much work to use a GUI application on that many files. I would like to run a script or program on the set of files and produce something like an Audacity or Ardour waveform graphic to be stored in a PNG (or similar) associated file. Does anyone know of something close to out-of-the-box ready to do this? I did find these possibly helpful links. http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/octave3/octave_263.html https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Waveform_Viewers-Plotting_Large_Analog_Data Thanks... -- Kevin

10 years, 3 months

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Linux-audio-user August 2014