Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Re: Plug-in API progress?
From: Paul Barton-Davis (pbd_AT_Op.Net)
Date: ti syys 28 1999 - 22:25:44 EDT
>> One application for really needed multitrack recording could be a recording
>> of a concert or a play. I guess 16 tracks is then quite minimum number
>> of channels.
>
>Indeed. And that's also an application where you *really* need high
>reliability.
Yeah, so high that Studer or OMB will charge you an incredibly large
amount of money to provide it.
As much of an audio evangelist for Linux as I might be, I don't think
that 48 or 64 track recording consoles have ever been built around
generalized microprocessors, and I suspect that because of the
reliability issue, they likely never will be. One of the more
expensive 24 track (analog) consoles I've seen has modular strips in
it, and this is apparently highly sought after, since real studios
can't afford to lose the whole console if there is failure in a key
component. modular strips reduce the chances of this by a large
amount- making the whole based around a single motherboard with 1 or
more CPU's on it will likely get someone pretty pissed off when there
is a problem.
The places that do this kind of thing with *digital* mixers, at least
for now, are also the kind of places that are going to want to run
real hardware consoles, and its going to be a while before Linux or
any other non-custom OS is going to be capable of running that kind of
beast with 48 or 64 channels of 48KHz+ audio. No self-respecting or
even semi-intelligent recording engineer is going to settle for a
couple of physical faders and a monitor or two.
I did see a Paris system at AES with 4 monitors and 4 control surfaces
(48 tracks) running on a Pentium III in one of those cryo-cooled boxes
allowing it run at 800MHz. Ensoniq rhetorically asked if this was the
most powerful DAW ever built ... I can't imagine anyone being willing
to use it for live recording of a professional event, and for lesser
events, the number of channels is probably down around 16.
On the other hand, running, say, 3 RME Hammerfalls (3 x 3 ADAT = 72
channels), with the DAC(s) in some hardware digital console, and Linux
as the raw HDR seems pretty feasible.
--p
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