Linux-audio-user January 2025

linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org

9 participants
9 discussions

Not all XHCI (USB-Controllers) are made equal

by Florian Paul Schmidt

Hi! This mail is just a heads-up about a finding discovered with the help of the linux-usb mailing list and which I thought some other people might benefit from. If this is nothing new to you, then please do ignore it. Background: The USB audio class 2.0 specification dictates that isochronous transfers (i.e. audio frames to/from an audio interface) happen every "micro-frame". USB micro-frames are 125 microseconds (us) apart. 125 us = 0.125 milliseconds (ms). The majority of USB audio interfaces (at least those that I have) use synchronous audio-streaming, i.e. the sample clock is derived from the bus clock. There are definitely interfaces that use e.g. adaptive or asynchronous modes and this discussion would have to be altered for these. Given the case of synchronous mode isochronous transfers at a sampling rate of 48000 Hz (= 48 kHz) this would correspond to 6 audio frames per USB micro-frame. 48000 frames/second * 0.000125 seconds = 6 frames So in principle a very well behaved audio interface attached to a very well behaved USB controller sitting in a well tuned system _should_ be able to achieve a minimum round-trip latency of 2 * 6 frames = 12 frames or 250 us. This leaves out additional buffering inside the audio interface and additional latency by anti-aliasing and reconstruction filters. The first caveat to above in the context of Linux: The snd_usb_audio driver does not seem to support period sizes of just 6 frames. It _does support 12 frames though, which is nice. And here is the other caveat which lead to the title of this mail: Some controllers are behaving "worse" than others. There's this little thing in the XHCI spec which amounts to the following: The XHCI can specify in a register how many micro-frames have to buffered at all times for outgoing isochronous endpoints. The Intel XHCI in my ASRock N100dc-itx main-board for example request a whole USB frame (which corresponds to 8 micro-frames or 1 ms) to be buffered at all times. Another XHCI that I have (a Renesas controller) only requires one micro-frame. This has direct consequences on the kind of period sizes and number of periods that are usable on these controllers. These consequences don't explain everything but at least you know that you can't ever get better than this limit. For example for a period size of 48 frames I need to use 3 periods on the Intel controller (resulting in 3 ms round-trip latency), but for the Renesas I can use 2 periods at 48 frames (resulting in 2 ms round-trip latency). On the Renesas controller even 2 periods at 24 frames works fine (1 ms round-trip latency). I can lower the latency on the Intel controller by using a smaller period size but more of them as long as the buffering requirement of the controller is satisfied. One stable setting is for example a period size of 24 and 5 periods which results in a round-trip latency of 2.5 ms. So what's the take-away here? In some cases, if you are chasing stable low-latency operation using a USB audio class 2.0 device it might just be worth installing a different XHCI in your computer (the above mentioned Renesas controller is just a PCI-Express card which sits in a slot in my N100DC-itx board) that is better behaved than the one you currently have. Another take-away is that the above limitation only applies to the outgoing direction (playback). If all I was interested in would be the capture direction then 2 periods at 48 frames would work fine even on the Intel controller. Kind regards, FPS

5 days, 20 hours

jackd problems after resume

by Peter P.

Hi list, Since a while (recent kernel or other package upgrades?) I am experiencing serious problems with jackd after resuming from suspend. Eg. trying to play back audio files via mpv yields mpv somefile.flac (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac 2ch 44100Hz) Cannot read socket fd = 13 err = Success CheckRes error JackSocketClientChannel read fail Cannot open mpv client JackShmReadWritePtr1::~JackShmReadWritePtr1 - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock At which point the command hangs. The card used is an Edirol UA-25 connected via usb. I can quit the hanging mpv with Ctl-c, upon another invocation the error persisits but mpv gracefully attempts alsa this time. Qjackctl, which was used to start jackd in the first hand place, is unresponsive as well. I for now kill jackd as root three times to regain control over it after every resume. How can I go about to debug this further? The above problem is with jackd2. Switching to jackd1 will show a slightly different problem upon resume: Using 100% CPU and being unresponsive either. I posted about this in jan/feb 2024 By the way: I can't search in the mailing list archives as the search engine on linuxaudio.org throws a lot of "502 bad gateway" or "504 Gateway Time-out" errors at least for lac and jackd lists: https://lists.linuxaudio.org/hyperkitty/search?mlist=linux-audio-user%40lis… Thanks! Peter

1 week, 6 days

Slow performance of linuxaudio.org servers

by Jeremy Jongepier

Hello, On 1/20/25 18:11, Peter P. wrote: > By the way: I can't search in the mailing list archives as the search > engine on linuxaudio.org throws a lot of "502 bad gateway" or "504 > Gateway Time-out" errors at least for lac and jackd lists: > https://lists.linuxaudio.org/hyperkitty/search?mlist=linux-audio- > user%40lists.linuxaudio.org&q=resume This is because the mail.linuxaudio.org server is a bit under-powered. And it's under-powered to keep the costs low. If people are (still) willing to donate then I should offer an option to do so I think, that might help increasing the performance of the servers a bit. What is the best option for receiving donations these days? Best, Jeremy

1 week, 6 days

[ANN] Qtractor 1.5.2 - A New-Year'25 Release

by Rui Nuno Capela

Greetings, Qtractor 1.5.2 (new-year'25) released! Change-log: - Duplex MIDI Clock mode is not allowed anymore. - Immediate and consecutive plugin parameter changes are now merged into a single undo-able command, reflecting only the first value change in the series, dropping the previous old algorithm, which was dead wrong if not utterly defective. - Unique track names resolve to the first line only. - Help/Shortcuts... Search tool gets implemented; all changed MIDI controller shortcuts are reverted to their previous settings, when discarding or dismissing the dialog. - Fixed missing MIDI SPP in some cases. Description: Qtractor [1] is an audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application written in C++ with the Qt framework [2]. Target platform is Linux, where the Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK [3]) for audio and the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA [4]) for MIDI are the main infrastructures to evolve as a fairly-featured Linux desktop audio workstation GUI, specially dedicated to the personal home-studio. Website: https://qtractor.org https://qtractor.sourceforge.io http://qtractor.sourceforge.net Project page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor Downloads: https://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor/files - source tarball: https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-1.5.2.tar.gz - source package (openSUSE Tubleweed): https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-1.5.2-9.1.rncbc.suse.src.rpm - binary package (openSUSE Tubleweed): https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-1.5.2-9.1.rncbc.suse.x86_64.rpm - AppImage [7] package: https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-1.5.2-9.1.x86_64.AppImage - Flatpak [8] package (thanks Hubert Figuière): https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.rncbc.qtractor Git repos: https://git.code.sf.net/p/qtractor/code https://github.com/rncbc/qtractor.git https://gitlab.com/rncbc/qtractor.git https://codeberg.org/rncbc/qtractor.git Wiki: https://sourceforge.net/p/qtractor/wiki/ - static rendering: https://qtractor.org/doc http://qtractor.sourceforge.net/doc https://qtractor.sourceforge.io/doc - user manual & how-to's: https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-manual-and-howtos.epub https://download.sf.net/qtractor/qtractor-manual-and-howtos.pdf License: Qtractor [1] is free, open-source Linux Audio [5] software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL [6]) version 2 or later. References: [1] Qtractor - An audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer https://qtractor.org https://qtractor.sourceforge.io http://qtractor.sourceforge.net [2] Qt framework, C++ class library and tools for cross-platform application and UI development https://qt.io/ [3] JACK Audio Connection Kit https://jackaudio.org [4] ALSA, Advanced Linux Sound Architecture https://www.alsa-project.org/ [5] Linux Audio consortium of libre software for audio-related work https://linuxaudio.org [6] GPL - GNU General Public License https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html [7] AppImage, Linux apps that run anywhere https://appimage.org/ [8] Flatpak, next-generation technology for building and distributing desktop applications on Linux https://flatpak.org/ See also: https://www.rncbc.org/drupal/node/2722 Enjoy! - - - rncbc aka Rui Nuno Capela

2 weeks, 2 days

[ANN] Vee One Suite 1.3.0 - A New-Year'25 Release

by Rui Nuno Capela

Greetings, The 'Vee One Suite', the 'gang-of-four' 'old-school' software instruments, * synthv1 [1] as a polyphonic subtractive synthesizer; * samplv1 [2] a polyphonic sampler synthesizer; * drumkv1 [3] as yet another drum-kit sampler; * padthv1 [4] a polyphonic additive synthesizer. Are here released for the New-Year'25 recycle... All still delivered in dual form: - a pure stand-alone JACK client with JACK-session [5], NSM (Non/New Session Management [6]) and both JACK MIDI and ALSA MIDI [7] input support; - a LV2 instrument plug-in [8]. Change-log: - Just another Vee-One's release for the New Year... - Last current element is now preserved and selected on preset and/or LV2 plug-in load (host permiting). (drumkv1 [3] only) - LV2 Plug-in: element parameters as legacy input control ports are not automatable nor addressable from the host anymore. (drumkv1 [3] only) - LV2 Plug-in: avoid making offset and loop range changes as regular parameter updates, which marked the host's state dirty (modified). (applies to samplv1 [2] and drumkv1 [3] only) The 'Vee One Suite' are free, open-source Linux Audio [10] software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) [11] version 2 or later. **synthv1 - an old-school polyphonic synthesizer [1] ** synthv1 1.3.0 (new-year'25) released! synthv1 is an old-school all-digital 4-oscillator subtractive polyphonic synthesizer with stereo fx. LV2 URI: http://synthv1.sourceforge.net/lv2 website: https://synthv1.sourceforge.io http://synthv1.sourceforge.net project page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/synthv1 downloads: https://sourceforge.net/projects/synthv1/files - source tarball: https://download.sf.net/synthv1/synthv1-1.3.0.tar.gz - source package: https://download.sf.net/synthv1/synthv1-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.src.rpm - binary packages (openSUSE Tumbleweed): https://download.sf.net/synthv1/synthv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm https://download.sf.net/synthv1/synthv1-lv2-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm - AppImage [9] package (JACK stand-alone only): https://download.sf.net/synthv1/synthv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.x86_64.AppImage git repos: https://git.code.sf.net/p/synthv1/code https://github.com/rncbc/synthv1.git https://gitlab.com/rncbc/synthv1.git https://codeberg.org/rncbc/synthv1.git **samplv1 - an old-school polyphonic sampler [2]** samplv1 1.3.0 (new-year'25) released! samplv1 is an old-school polyphonic sampler synthesizer with stereo fx. LV2 URI: http://samplv1.sourceforge.net/lv2 website: https://samplv1.sourceforge.io http://samplv1.sourceforge.net project page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/samplv1 downloads: https://sourceforge.net/projects/samplv1/files - source tarball: https://download.sf.net/samplv1/samplv1-1.3.0.tar.gz - source package: https://download.sf.net/samplv1/samplv1-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.src.rpm - binary package (openSUSE Tumbleweed): https://download.sf.net/samplv1/samplv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm https://download.sf.net/samplv1/samplv1-lv2-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm - AppImage [9] package (JACK stand-alone only): https://download.sf.net/samplv1/samplv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.x86_64.AppImage git repos: https://git.code.sf.net/p/samplv1/code https://github.com/rncbc/samplv1.git https://gitlab.com/rncbc/samplv1.git https://codeberg.org/rncbc/samplv1.git **drumkv1 - an old-school drum-kit sampler [3]** drumkv1 1.3.0 (new-year'25) released! drumkv1 is an old-school drum-kit sampler synthesizer with stereo fx. LV2 URI: http://drumkv1.sourceforge.net/lv2 website: https://drumkv1.sourceforge.io http://drumkv1.sourceforge.net project page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/samplv1 downloads: https://sourceforge.net/projects/drumkv1/files - source tarball: https://download.sf.net/drumkv1/drumkv1-1.3.0.tar.gz - source package: https://download.sf.net/drumkv1/drumkv1-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.src.rpm - binary package (openSUSE Tumbleweed): https://download.sf.net/drumkv1/drumkv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm https://download.sf.net/drumkv1/drumkv1-lv2-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm - AppImage [9] package (JACK stand-alone only): https://download.sf.net/drumkv1/drumkv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.x86_64.AppImage git repos: https://git.code.sf.net/p/drumkv1/code https://github.com/rncbc/drumkv1.git https://gitlab.com/rncbc/drumkv1.git https://codeberg.org/rncbc/drumkv1.git **padthv1 - an old-school polyphonic additive synthesizer [4]** padthv1 1.3.0 (new-year'25) released! padthv1 is an old-school polyphonic additive synthesizer with stereo fx. padthv1 is based on the PADsynth algorithm by Paul Nasca, as a special variant of additive synthesis. LV2 URI: http://padthv1.sourceforge.net/lv2 website: http://padthv1.sourceforge.net https://padthv1.sourceforge.io project page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/padthv1 downloads: https://sourceforge.net/projects/padthv1/files - source tarball: https://download.sf.net/padthv1/padthv1-1.3.0.tar.gz - source package: https://download.sf.net/padthv1/padthv1-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.src.rpm - binary package (openSUSE Tumbleweed): https://download.sf.net/padthv1/padthv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm https://download.sf.net/padthv1/padthv1-lv2-1.3.0-7.1.rncbc.suse.x86_84.rpm - AppImage [9] package (JACK stand-alone only): https://download.sf.net/padthv1/padthv1-jack-1.3.0-7.1.x86_64.AppImage git repos: https://git.code.sf.net/p/padthv1/code https://github.com/rncbc/padthv1.git https://gitlab.com/rncbc/padthv1.git https://codeberg.org/rncbc/padthv1.git References: [1] synthv1 - an old-school polyphonic synthesizer https://synthv1.sourceforge.io http://synthv1.sourceforge.net [2] samplv1 - an old-school polyphonic sampler https://samplv1.sourceforge.io http://samplv1.sourceforge.net [3] drumkv1 - an old-school drum-kit sampler https://drumkv1.sourceforge.io http://drumkv1.sourceforge.net [4] padthv1 - an old-school polyphonic additive synthesizer https://padthv1.sourceforge.io http://padthv1.sourceforge.net [5] JACK Audio Connection Kit https://jackaudio.org/ [6] NSM, Non Session Management (legacy) http://non.tuxfamily.org/nsm/ New Session Manager https://new-session-manager.jackaudio.org/ [7] ALSA, Advanced Linux Sound Architecture https://www.alsa-project.org/ [8] LV2, Audio Plugin Standard, the extensible successor of LADSPA https://lv2plug.in/ [9] AppImage, Linux apps that run anywhere https://appimage.org/ [10] Linux Audio consortium of libre software for audio-related work https://linuxaudio.org [11] GNU General Public License https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html See also: https://www.rncbc.org/drupal/node/2721 Enjoy. - - - rncbc aka. Rui Nuno Capela

2 weeks, 3 days

[Music] In the face of the |world (melodic Drum&Bass/Soundtrack)

by Jeanette C.

Hey hey, I'd like to share In the Face of the World: https://youtu.be/MVHFCxuSG4o Expect heavy hitting drums, modulating chord progressions and even a bit of polymetric sequencing in the background. Or: just dark, dramatic electronic music. On the Linux side I used Yoshimi, LinuxSampler and Csound, as well as Midish and Nama (of course). I hope you can enjoy it. Best wishes, Jeanette -- * Website: http://juliencoder.de - for summer is a state of sound * Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMS4rfGrTwz8W7jhC1Jnv7g * Audiobombs: https://www.audiobombs.com/users/jeanette_c * GitHub: https://github.com/jeanette-c You know I'm one of a kind, There'll never be another me <3 (Britney Spears)

2 weeks, 4 days

Music experiment shows how a concert can draw you into a community

by David W. Jones

<https://phys.org/news/2025-01-music-concert-community.html> Just in case you still attend concerts. Do you? --- David W. Jones gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com exploring the landscape of god http://dancingtreefrog.com Sent from my Android device with F/LOSS K-9 Mail.

2 weeks, 4 days

KVR January music cafe contest

by Will Godfrey

This month it's a free-for-all. Any synth/voice/washboard? combination no more than 3 minutes. Usual rules. No prizes. Just fun and a chance to hit the number one spot. -- Will J Godfrey {apparently now an 'elderly'} https://willgodfrey.bandcamp.com/ http://yoshimi.github.io Say you have a poem and I have a tune. Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.

2 weeks, 4 days

Rock art involved acoustics and performance, too

by David W. Jones

Rock art acoustics: South African study suggests that a distinct echo attracted ancient artists back to one site <https://phys.org/news/2025-01-art-acoustics-south-african-distinct.html> --- David W. Jones gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com exploring the landscape of god http://dancingtreefrog.com Sent from my Android device with F/LOSS K-9 Mail.

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Linux-audio-user January 2025