[LAU] master levels (and dithering)

[Fons Adriaensen]

Ralf, we (readers of this list) are used to your occasional
fits, to hearing for the zillionth time about your troubles
with Brauner, and that only two of the eight ADAT channels
of your sound card are usable.

What you have been writing recently is different. Gratituous
drivel about how bad Linux is for audio, without any hint of
evidence and without any reasoning behind it. 

Some examples from the last days:

> JFTR I've got loss of sound quality issues when using Linux,
> that I don't have when using professional or even consumer
> digital hardware or even 4-track analog tapes with Dolby C.
> IMO there's something broken, at least on all Linux machines
> I used and I'm still using.

> If I record an ALESIS D4 cymbal with Linux, the result is week.
> If I record it with a consumer DAT recorder, there's no audible
> difference to the original sound. Even a 4-track cassette player
> with Dolby C still sounds better, than the Linux recording
> (tested with TerraTec and RME cards).

> Linux dithering is a PITA, it adds annoying audible noise, no
> stand alone consumer gear, no proprietary DAW and especially
> no professional gear comes with such audible dithering noise.
> Is there usable dithering available for Linux?

> If you mix e.g. all your Qtractor tracks and master them to a
> stereo Qtractor track, this digital mix does cause a loss of
> sound quality. If you should be that hearing-impaired, that
> you even are unable to notice this, then take a look at
> spectrograms. Likely there's a very old thread somewhere in
> the Qtractor mailing list archive. It's not a Qtractor issue,
> it's a jackd issue.

What's wrong with you ? 


-- 
FA

A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)