Am 08.03.2013 11:02, schrieb Ben Bell:
On Thu, Mar 07, 2013 at 07:28:46PM +0100, Jeremy
Jongepier wrote:
On 03/07/2013 06:45 AM, david wrote:
Yah, but which one sounds better - Windows or
Linux? ;-)
Linux of course if you have to believe the audiophile forums.
Well obviously. Anyone with ears can tell you that.
More importantly, does a vintage kernel sound better than a more recent one?
I've been doing some testing and the results are pretty clear, not that
they should surprise anyone who knows anything about recording:
1) Older kernels sound much warmer than newer ones.
2) Kernels compiled by hand on the machine they run on sound less sterile
than upstream distro provided ones which also tend to have flabby low
end response and bad stereo imaging.
3) As if it needed saying, gcc4 is a disaster for sound quality. I mean,
seriously if you want decent audio and you use gcc4 you may as well be
recording with a tin can microphone.
The compiler alone can improve any audio-software a lot.
But remember, that the chain is only as strong as its weakest segment.
Try to make sure, that the source code for your apps and drivers is
written in vi, if possible with code-highlighting switched off.
Highlighted code will inevitable cause artifacts in your audio
(everybody knows pink noise OK?). Code written in Emacs may or may not
make the driver sound sterile. To be sure you could print the code
(vintage needle printers are your best choice) and retype it without
highlighting in vi (vim and other compromised derivatives of vi cannot
be trusted either).
4) Kernels sound better after they've been worn in
a bit. Don't expect your
newly built 2.4 kernel to have that warm sound until you've run with it
for a few weeks, but for a really classy sound here's a trick: compile the
kernel and then put it somewhere safe (ext2 partition, obviously) to mellow
for a month and then boot into it at the last minute before you start
recording an important session. Your clients will thank you.
Ben
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