[linux-audio-user] Re: Re: Distros and Desktops - Linux-audio-user

24 Feb 2006

...
   I would never want to run a 'dedicated' audio
distro
because, like many, my hardware is used for other things as well as
audio production (posting to this mail list for instance).   
This is where partitioning comes in so handy.
One can then pretty much have it all - a general purpose partition for online/network
functions and other general purpose functions such as graphics, printing, etc.
A designer would probably want a dedicated graphics partition, and I find it convenient to
have a build partition.
This way, you can have a dedicated audio OS on one partition, without sacrificing your
ability to perform other functions via the other partitions.
I would like to see a really small dedicated audio OS that can run entirely out of RAM,
and even be booted off a CD.
I like the way Puppy Linux does this, but there are several other, perhaps better, ways
this could be accomplished as well.
...
 In regards to performance, on modern day hardware,
especially if
selected with audio production in mind, sub 4ms latencies are not only
possible but also not that difficult to achieve, even when enjoying the
luxury of some asthetically pleasing eyecandy, which should not, in
itself, be discounted so easily...  I find an attractive interface to be
creatively inviting, more pleasurable and thus more productive (at least
in my case) to work with than a simple terminal or even minimal
graphics.  I know that starts crossing the line into pc-as-an-instrument
but that's the way I feel.  I rarely sit down and fire up my hardware
with a complete work of music in my mind.  I will have a few concepts to
work with, or more likely to explore and experiment with, but for me
much of the creative process happens *while* I am sitting at my
computer, and an attractive interface plays no small part in that. 
This is a very interesting perspective, and remarkably consistent with Carlo's
'computer as instrument' vision.
I just had not thought of it this way, since we (my husband particularly :) ) would prefer
for the PC to become just another audio hardware component - and as simple to use.
I really think you guys ought to get together, take this focus and blend it with Samuel
Delaney's sci-fi idea: the 'Syrinx' - an electronic instrument capable of
producing not only audio, but visual and olfactory signals as well.
(Near the end of the book, Lorq von Ray even uses it as a weapon to destroy his nemesis,
Prince Red - sort of reminding me of the ancient 'war harps' wielded by the
Tuathans. :) )
Absolutely incredible book - on my all-time top 10 list.
Seriously - you guys design a working Syrinx and we'll be the first to buy one!
- Maluvia