Just an update:  I built a completely new system last week.  The system I was using before was an amd64 phenom2 6-core system with ATI graphics.  I did a bit of research and found that generally, it seemed that Intel-based systems out-performed AMD systems quite handily, so I decided to test it out.

My new system is an Intel Ivy-bridge i7 system with Intel 4500 integrated graphics.  Everything in this box is new.  I'm using gentoo, and built the kernel from scratch, so as to not have anything from the old system (along with any potential mis-configurations causing problems) leak over to the new system.

The first program I put on the system was ardour and mixbus.  I copied an old session from the other box over, and loaded it up.

When I was finishing up this session originally, on the old computer, it was pegging the DSP meter at 95%-100% consistently, causing me all sorts of headaches.

The same session loaded up on the Ivy-bridge system hit it no higher than 55%.  That made me smile.

Then I tried to export.  This is with Mixbus 2.1, by the way.  To my surprise, it exported just fine.

I then tried to load and export another one, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.  Turns out, it was a fluke.  It didn't export, and exhibited the exact same behavior as the old computer.  No exporting, the same error messages, etc...  No big session was able to be exported since that first one.  Made me want to say a few choice words.

Anyway...  That's the update.  I was hoping this problem was isolated to some stupid configuration problem specific to my box, but it wasn't.

The good news is - the i7 processor seems to be doing *much* better than the amd phenom2 was.  I'm excited to start recording with this new box!

I'll probably end up going back to JACK1 due to the exporting problem.  Hopefully it doesn't have as many xruns with Intel as it did with AMD.

--Jason


On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 6:22 AM, Harrison Mixbus <mixbus@harrisonconsoles.com> wrote:

Hi Jason,

I've been keeping an eye on the list, hoping that one of the JACK devs would shed some light on this.

We use Jack2 on OSX and Windows, and exporting seems to work fine there.  All of our Linux development and test systems use Jack(1).  I suppose we need to set up a linux test system with Jack2.

I'll keep you updated.

Best,
Ben Loftis
Harrison Consoles


Just an update on this...

I just created a full project with a combination of 39 tracks and busses with A3, and with Jack2 everything exported just fine.  I haven't been able to export anything but very small projects with mixbus and Jack2.  The issue definitely seems to be related to mixbus, Jack2 and the size of the project.

--Jason

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 1:34 PM, Jason Jones <poeticintensity@gmail.com <mailto:poeticintensity@gmail.com>> wrote:

    I'm cross posting, including this to the JACK mailing list.

    On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 1:09 AM, Jason Jones
    <poeticintensity@gmail.com <mailto:poeticintensity@gmail.com>> wrote:

        Hey guys..  I recently acquired a RME Raydat interface (works
        like a *charm*, and I love it!), but ever since I installed
        it, I'm getting a random error when I try to export my tracks,
        and it's driving me bonkers.

        Previously to installing the Raydat card, I had used ardour
        for approximately 10 years, and have never experienced this
        problem.

        The problem is about 75% of the time, when exporting, the GUI
        will just sit there and do nothing, maintaining the "export"
        button depressed continually.   Within QJackctl's "message"
        window, I see the following error:

        JackEngine::XRun: client = ardour was not run: state = 2

        JackFreewheelDriver::Process: Process error

        00:31:20.920 XRUN callback (1).


        The remaining 25% of the time it exports just fine, without issue.


        Needless to say, this is extremely frustrating.  Googling the
        problem returns nothing but the snippet of code which contains
        the error message itself, which can be found at the link below:


        http://www.trac.jackaudio.org/browser/jack2/branches/pipelining/common/JackFreewheelDriver.cpp?rev=4306


        Any help would be greatly appreciated.  If more info is
        needed, please let me know what I can get you.


        Also, thanks to everyone who assured me that the Raydat card
        works well under Linux.  It really does work like a charm.


        Regards,

        --Jason

        www.advancedbudgetstudios.com
        <http://www.advancedbudgetstudios.com>




    I've since found that this problem only occurs in Jack2.  Jack1
    exports 100% of the time just fine, but I've found that Jack2
    (aside from the export problem) works much better under high
    stress.  Most of my projects contain a high number of tracks /
    plugins / etc... Thus, high stress.  It'd be very nice to go back
    to Jack2, but not being able to export pretty much kills any
    usefulness from it.  Any ideas at all?

    Thanks in advance.

    --Jason