Re: [LAU] Linux-audio-user Digest, Vol 17, Issue 25

Send Linux-audio-user mailing list submissions to linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to linux-audio-user-request(a)lists.linuxaudio.org You can reach the person managing the list at linux-audio-user-owner(a)lists.linuxaudio.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Linux-audio-user digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: monitor shot, need advice for a new one (Eric Dantan Rzewnicki) 2. Re: headphones (Florin Andrei) 3. Re: headphones (Florin Andrei) 4. Re: headphones (Florin Andrei) 5. Re: headphones (Mark Knecht) 6. ZynAddSubFX chagneing tempo in an instruments effect ? (Svend-Erik Kj?r Madsen) 7. Re: headphones (Florin Andrei) 8. [ANN] Qtractor 0.2.0 (frolic demoiselle) is out! (Rui Nuno Capela) 9. Re: headphones (schoappied) 10. Re: headphones (The Other) 11. Re: headphones (Mark Knecht) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:24:18 -0500 From: Eric Dantan Rzewnicki &lt;eric(a)zhevny.com&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] monitor shot, need advice for a new one To: Dave Phillips &lt;dlphillips(a)woh.rr.com&gt; Cc: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;20080717162417.GC29690(a)zhevny.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 10:23:31AM -0400, Dave Phillips wrote: A man walks into his kitchen and opens the refrigerator door. Sitting there looking at him is a rabbit. Astonished, the man exlaims, "What are you doing in there?!?" To which the rabbit replies, "It's a Westinghouse, isn't it?" To which the puzzled man replies hesitantly, "Yes ...". "Well, I'm westing," explains the rabbit. but, seriously, I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster 225BW, too, and am perfectly happy. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:54:22 -0700 From: Florin Andrei &lt;florin(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org Message-ID: &lt;487FBF8E.9090706(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Mark Knecht wrote: Previously I was speaking in general. But on the particular topic of listening to bass, I would appreciate some more insight, since I'm not a bass player. So, if you're practising bass guitar, do you want your headphones to emphasize bass, or do you want them to be flat? A lot of the phones mentioned here are flat, or even a bit light on the bass side. Most of the Sennheiser, the AKG K 240, to some degree the Grado - all these are pretty flat, they don't emphasize anything, or not in the bass range at least. I only know of one phone that is very accurate and has a pretty full bass - the Beyerdynamic DT 880, but at $320 it's beyond the price range mentioned by the OP. So, do you want the bass over-emphasized when practising it? (OTOH, if the phone is accurate, even if it has a thin bass, I guess it can be corrected in the preamp. But again, I'm not a bass player.) -- Florin Andrei http://florin.myip.org/ ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:56:29 -0700 From: Florin Andrei &lt;florin(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;487FC00D.1010301(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed schoappied wrote: I don't know, I never tried it. Read the review on headphone.com if it has one. -- Florin Andrei http://florin.myip.org/ ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:14:34 -0700 From: Florin Andrei &lt;florin(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;487FC44A.4070102(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed schoappied wrote: I would not attempt that as long as I intend to live a long and happy life. :-) Look at the attenuation factor. A sealed phone should be between -10 and -20 dB, is my guess. But anyway, the difference is the back of the acoustic membrane. Sealed phones - the back moves in a closed box. Open-air - the back is in an open cavity. There might actually be holes on the outside of the phone, through which you may actually see the membrane (not always). Music is music, and an accurate phone is an accurate phone. What works best for one kind of music should work for any other kind. I think the so-called "phones for classic music", or whatever, are a commercial gimmick. The phone should not do anything. Quite the opposite, the phone must get out of the way and just be a pure conduit for the sound, it must introduce as few changes as possible. The only exception might be when you're doing special work. E.g., you're mixing the tracks and you need a _very_ revealing phone to spot any defect. Something like a Grado might help. I don't know what happens when playing the bass guitar. Do you want the bass emphasized? I'm not a bass player so I can't answer that. Otherwise, just get the flattest and most accurate ones you can afford, and learn to trust them. Like Mark said, it often helps to get two or three phones over a period of time, if you can afford them, and use each one of them as needed. The black ones are the 280 Pro. I have one of those. It's a very good sealed phone. It's flat and laid-back; people used to cheap bright phones are usually not impressed. It's like eating super-hot food for many years, tons of black pepper and what not, and then you go back to a subtle, refined, normal diet - your taste buds are shot and you may not feel any taste for a while, which is a paradox because actually only now you have any chance to feel the real taste of the food, instead of the fire from the black pepper. I hope that makes sense. It's something that happens to a lot of people when they listen for the first time through flat accurate phones. -- Florin Andrei http://florin.myip.org/ ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:35:30 -0700 From: "Mark Knecht" &lt;markknecht(a)gmail.com&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;5bdc1c8b0807171535h7d226fa8n8f14c64a6ab1aa03(a)mail.gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 2:54 PM, Florin Andrei &lt;florin(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; wrote: In my mind you want the response flat to a bit emphasized in the bass region. There are really two things operating here: 1) Fletcher-Munson tends to drop the bass if you're not listening loudly. 2) Most people have never used a sound pressure meter to determine what volume to listen safely. 3) Even if they have it's difficult when using headphones without special equipment. 4) Over time folks tend to listen at lower levels if they are going to protect their hearing. 5) All of that adds up to less bass when listening 6) To practice bass get a headphone with some extra emphasis in the bass areas, keep the volume down and enjoy. That's a possibility also. Please note that for the record I don't know what headphones are accurate. I own AKG's, Sony's & Sennheiser's. I've never owned Grade or Beyer Dynamics but would like to get a set on day. Comparatively the Sony's have more bass so it seems a good match for his task. I think lots of rock bass players (Squire, McCartney, Rutherford, Lake) sound good in these headphones whereas the other headphones they don't stand out as much. - Mark ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:44:17 +0200 From: Svend-Erik Kj?r Madsen &lt;sv-e(a)sv-e.dk&gt; Subject: [LAU] ZynAddSubFX chagneing tempo in an instruments effect ? To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;1216334657.3588.14.camel(a)linux-fin4.site&gt; Content-Type: text/plain Hi I have found one of the factory instruments useful for a new project. It's the Resonance Synth from the Synth group, but the echo tails comes a little to fast, they are about tempo 120 and I would like them to be 100 or even lower, how can I change that ? I've been fidget round with the instrument editor without any luck so far, and I do not understand how it works at all, I just want to play :( Help is much appreciated. Thanks in advantage /Sv-e ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:47:52 -0700 From: Florin Andrei &lt;florin(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;487FCC18.7050107(a)andrei.myip.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Paul Coccoli wrote: Well, there you have it. Everyone is different. That is the only other negative comment I hear about Grado. I don't care too much about that. Yes, they're not like the HD 600, which you can fall asleep with and sleep through the night with them on (been there, done that) and in the morning you forget you had them on (until you get up and start walking and the cord yanks them back). But it's not like they're going to rip your ears off or crush your head either. They're fine for me. But some people do complain about the ergonomics. OTOH, somebody will always complain about something. I've heard there are some custom earpads for them, but I could never motivate myself to actually investigate that. And who knows, the custom pads may change the response and throw them off balance. So why mess with something that works fine already. -- Florin Andrei http://florin.myip.org/ ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:20:42 +0100 From: Rui Nuno Capela &lt;rncbc(a)rncbc.org&gt; Subject: [LAU] [ANN] Qtractor 0.2.0 (frolic demoiselle) is out! To: linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org Message-ID: &lt;487FD3CA.2050009(a)rncbc.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Qtractor 0.2.0 (frolic demoiselle) is out! ------------------------------------------ Qtractor is an audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application written in C++ with the Qt4 framework [1]. Target platform is Linux, where the a Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) for audio [2] and the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) for MIDI [3] are the main infrastructures to evolve as a fairly-featured Linux desktop audio workstation GUI, specially dedicated to the personal home-studio. Qtractor is free open-source software, distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) [15]. Author: Rui Nuno Capela <rncbc at rncbc dot org> Weblog: http://wwww.rncbc.org Website: http://qtractor.sourceforge.net Project page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor Download: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.2.0.tar.gz Executive summary: - Multi-track audio and MIDI sequencing and recording. - Developed on pure Qt4 C++ application framework [1] (no Qt3 nor KDE dependency). - Uses JACK [2] for audio and ALSA [3] sequencer for MIDI as infrastructure. - Traditional multi-track tape recorder control paradigm. - Audio file formats support: OGG (via libvorbis [6]), MP3 (via libmad [7], playback only), WAV, FLAC, AIFF and many, many more (via linsndfile [4]). - Standard MIDI files support (format 0 and 1). - Non-destructive, non-linear editing. - Unlimited number of tracks per session/project. - Unlimited number of overlapping clips per track. - XML encoded session/project description files (SDI). - Point-and-click, multi-select, drag-and-drop interaction (drag, move, drop, cut, copy, paste, delete, split) - Unlimited undo/redo. - Built-in mixer and monitor controls. - Buil-in connection patchbay control and persistence (a-la QjackCtl [13]). - LADSPA [5], DSSI [11] and native VSTi [12] plug-in support. - Unlimited number of plug-ins per track or bus. - Plug-in presets, programs and chunk/configurations support. - Audio/MIDI clip fade-in/out (linear, quadratic, cubic). - Audio clip time-stretching (WSOLA-like or via librubberband [9]), pitch-shifting (vib librubberband [9]) and samplerate conversion (via libsamplerate [8]). - Audio/MIDI track export (mix-down, merge). - Audio/MIDI metronome bar/beat clicks. - MIDI clip editor (piano roll). - MIDI instrument definitions (a-la Cakewalk(tm) [15]) - JACK transport sync master. - MMC control surface enabled. - Configurable keyboard shortcuts. Requirements: Mandatory: libqt4 [1], libjack [2], libasound [3], libsndfile [4], LADSPA [5]. Optional: libvorbis [6], libmad [7], libsamplerate [8], librubberband [9], liblo [10], DSSI [11], VST-SDK [12]. Disclaimer: Qtractor is still in some alpha stage of development, although already functional it surely has a plenty of lurking bugs. It also lacks some features that some might find critical in the application field. All is not lost, as the following are among the ones planned to be worked on in the times to come (not in any particular order): - Automation and MIDI controller mapping. - Session/project templates. - Puch-in/out and loop recording (takes). - Audio clip cross-fading. - Audio effect send/return aux. inserts. - Clip locking, muting, normalize (gain). - LV2 plug-in support. - JACK MIDI support. - Tempo and key signature map. - Paste-repeat command. - MIDI SysEx manager. - MIDI event list editor. - MIDI editor (piano roll) draw mode. - MIDI groove/swing quantize. - OSC interface. - Scripting. - Etc. etc. Change-log: 2009-07-18 0.2.0 The Frolic Demoiselle - MIDI clip filename revision logic is now introduced, thus avoiding the proliferation of several numbered SMF's on each edit/save; some lurking bugs were exposed in the MIDI clip externalization method but promptly squashed. - Fixed a mouse release event glitch while in drag-and-drop items in the Files tree list widget. - A dummy plugin type option has been devised, just to bear with some troubled behavior of the lovely JUCETICE plugins (View/Options.../Plugins/Experimental/Dummy VST plugin scan). Bad news are that all, yes all as in every native VST plugins, are indistinguishable from being just pure audio effects, either mono or stereo, whatever, and thus all being considered full-blown stereo VSTi instruments (which are the vast mainstream and rather interesting majority, nevertheless:). - The plugin selection dialog (Add Plugin...) now features the option whether the selected plugins should be activated on insert. - Mixer strip titles now have distinguishable type icons, either for audio or MIDI, and shown on all buses and track strips. - Major optimization breakthrough: muted audio tracks aren't streamed any longer, saving precious CPU cycles from decoding, resampling, pitch-shifting, time-stretching, plugin effects, whatever. - Incredible as it might be, audio/MIDI track record monitoring is now mixed (or merged) with rolling playback content, thus not as mutually exclusive between record and playback states anymore; also, track mute/solo states doesn't apply to recording material anymore. - Main form timer slot gets corrected and now independent of current process buffer-size in regard to JACK transport synchronization. - All file references in session state file are now stored as relative paths to main session directory. - DSSI/VSTi plugin presets can now be explicitly recalled from file (ie. Open/load preset) through this new tool button whether visible while in the generic plugin form. - Due to some trouble with newer Qt >= 4.4 applications regarding font size configuration, a new global user option is now available to the rescue: View/Options... /Display/Base font size (default is no-op). - Logarithmic scale is now taken into effect by control parameter sliders, in the generic plugin editor dialog as provided by LADSPA and DSSI plugin types. - MIDI track bank/program does not default to zero (PC#0) anymore. - Second attempt for Qt4.4 build support, regarding the bundled atomic primitives, now corrected and way more seriously :). - Long due DSSI/VSTi plugin host implementation has taken shape for MIDI instruments (eg. soft-synth plugins); DSSI reached its full host implementation and VSTi is already kicking as well (HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL). - DSSI/VSTi plugin presets may now be stored to external XML files, which should include all parameter values and configuration data chunks, taken as proper state snapshot and subject for recall. - Dedicated audio output bus option is now also accessible for all MIDI instrument plugins, either set globally as a default mode in View/Options.../Plugins/Instruments or in the plugin context menu for MIDI tracks, as an undoable command. - Fixed a potential crash-exception due to freeing a null-pointer, raised on some ever stringent platforms and while adding tracks to empty sessions, which is the same to say this was crashing more than always:). - Loop turn-around is now taken care of, as this has been found missing and causing noticeable gapping when un-muting or changing MIDI track events while in playback. - An off-by-one bug was fixed while inside MIDI cursor backward seek method, which was missing all other events that have the same exact onset timing. - Attempt to load Qt's own translation support and get rid of the ever warning startup message, unless built in debug mode. (transaction by Guido Scholz, while on qsynth-devel, thanks). - Only one application instance is now allowed to be up and running, with immediate but graceful termination upon startup iif an already running instance is detected, which will see its main widget shown up automatically (Qt/X11 platform only). - Clip fades have now a slight transparency. - Avoid loop read-ahead on initial audio clip loading. - Messages file logging makes its first long overdue appearance, with user configurable settings in View/Options.../Logging; options dialog was slightly rearranged and moved the Plugins section into a new tab page. - Audio/MIDI drifting correction was missing its own correct and due (re)initialization whenever playback is (re)started; also, MIDI metering synchronization has been fixed once again. - Fixed session cursor backward seeking, specially applicable when playback passes the end of overlapped clips. - Fixed potential crash when opening bogus audio files. - Time-stretch FIFO buffer implementation is now made generic, as template, fixing a destructor memory leak in the process. - Include legacy headers, stdlib.h and string.h, where necessary to build with stricter gcc/g++ >= 4.3. References: [1] Qt4 (core, gui, xml), C++ class library and tools for crossplatform development and internationalization http://www.trolltech.org/products/qt/ [2] JACK Audio Connection Kit http://jackaudio.org/ [3] ALSA, Advanced Linux Sound Architecture http://www.alsa-project.org/ [4] libsndfile, C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/ [5] LADSPA, Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API http://www.ladspa.org/ [6] libvorbis (enc, file), Ogg Vorbis audio compression http://xiph.org/vorbis/ [7] libmad, High-quality MPEG audio decoder http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/ [8] libsamplerate, The secret rabbit code, C library for audio sample rate conversion http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/ [9] librubberband, Rubber Band Audio Time Stretcher, an audio time-stretching and pitch-shifting library http://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/ [10] liblo, Lightweight OSC implementation (needed for DSSI GUI support) http://liblo.sourceforge.net/ [11] DSSI, an API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces http://dssi.sourceforge.net/ [12] VST SDK, Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology (see README.VST) http://www.steinberg.net/ [13] QjackCtl - JACK Qt GUI Interface http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net [14] GNU General Public License http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html [15] Cakewalk (by Roland), powerful and easy-to-use tools for Windows-based music and sound production http://www.cakewalk.com/ Cheers && Enjoy. -- rncbc aka Rui Nuno Capela ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:31:05 +0200 From: schoappied &lt;schoappied(a)gmail.com&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones Cc: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;488062D9.7090407(a)gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Mark Knecht wrote: That's a good point... what is good for practising bass... Maybe this one. It got nice reviews and they have extra emphasis on the bass.. http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/all-headphones/sennheiser-hd-2… mmhh ------------------------------ Message: 10 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:11:50 -0500 From: The Other &lt;sstubbs(a)shout.net&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;1216386710.3792.5.camel(a)localhost.localdomain&gt; Content-Type: text/plain Yamaha RH-5Ma monitor headphones. Around $50 US. Semi-closed cup design, so you can ride your bicycle. Weight 5.8oz Sensitivity 98dB/mW Frequency Response 20Hz-20kHz Works for me. Stephen. ------------------------------ Message: 11 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:47:53 -0700 From: "Mark Knecht" &lt;markknecht(a)gmail.com&gt; Subject: Re: [LAU] headphones To: schoappied &lt;schoappied(a)gmail.com&gt; Cc: linux-audio-user &lt;linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org&gt; Message-ID: &lt;5bdc1c8b0807180647o4701487di1180ce2fc488beee(a)mail.gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 2:31 AM, schoappied &lt;schoappied(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: I think there are too many issues here to pick one out by looking at web pages. A number of folks have given you suggestions for headphones that would more or less meet you 50 euro criteria. The issue is that not only do your headphones need to sound good, they need to feel good if you're going to wear them for extended amounts of time. You're not really going to figure this out without finding someplace where you can try a few pair out so go look for that. You might also check out the 'Best Headphones' section of your web site for their guidance. They like a Grado model in that price range and their frequency response chart for the Grado does look better, at least to my eyes. Also, I was reading about their favorite headphone, a Denon model, and they made the point that it doesn't sound all that good with portable music devices. Only once they match it with a high end headphone amp does it really shine. Now, my point is NOT that you should buy a high end amp, but that you need to listen to the headphones you are interested in using the same equipment you intended to drive them with. Anyway, enough talk. Go listen, make sure the sound is reasonable, and then buy a set and work with them. I've made the point on this list a few times that I bought a $1000 set of studio monitors over Ebay. Good reviews, folks liked them. They arrived and I hated the sound, but I'd spent my money. I was disappointed for a couple of months, but over time I both got used to their sound and also got educated in placing them more effectively. Now I actually like their sound and do good mixes on them, but it wasn't that way in the beginning. Cheers, Mark ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user End of Linux-audio-user Digest, Vol 17, Issue 25 ************************************************