Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Linux audio questions...
From: Paul Barton-Davis (pbd_AT_Op.Net)
Date: to loka 28 1999 - 22:31:32 EDT
>Bascially, what I'm trying to do is use Linux box with the primary
>intention generating a complete CD of electronic ambient music using no
>MIDI devices other than a controller
fairly reasonable.
> - most music will probably be coded
>in csound.
fairly restrictive :)
> What I am particularly curious about is the use of csound in
>realtime when driven by a sequencer, I'm hoping to use KeyKit. Is this
>possible or has it been known to work?
it can be done (i've done it), but i would not call it particularly
nice. csound isn't really all that fast, and its handling of real-time
MIDI is not its greatest asset. But it can be made to work, either
using a special kind of file called a FIFO to act as the MIDI output
for KeyKit and the input for csound, or using the default sound driver
set's "virtual MIDI port".
if you want csound to do complex stuff, you'd better plan on doing
quite a bit of non-real-time synthesis.
> I'm also wondering how csound
>functions as a virtual sampler.
not particularly interesting because its so low level, though its
definitely possible to make it do anything you might want. it just can
take a lot of effort to get it all right. also, fancier things like
pitch shifting, although they exist, use not particularly good,
somewhat dated algorithms.
>Eventually I'm hoping to digitally transfer field material recorded with
>a DAT recorder, it seems like the only possible sound card available
>that might do this supported under OSS is the Sonorus Studi/o - does
>anyone have some experience with this card?
no experience, except for reports that the OSS "beta" driver is "buggy".
but you're wrong about it being the only possible card. if the DAT
recorder has an S/PDIF port, you can spend $39 on a Hoontech SoundWave
NX, use the patches just posted to the ALSA development mailing list,
and do digital I/O with that card's S/PDIF port. Otherwise, spend a
little bit on a S/PDIF-to-T/DIF converter (i think T/DIF is a pretty
common standard for DAT recorders) and still use a cheap card. If the
recorder just has an ADAT port then ... I'm not sure.
it seems fairly unlikely that the STUDI/O will ever have (1) open
source drivers, which will likely be a problem from time to time as
the kernel driver interface changes and (2) may never have
particularly good drivers. Why ? (a) 4Front Technologies (the driver
writers) focus on consumer cards (b) the switch to ALSA as the
standard Linux kernel sound drivers (c) the possible emergence of
the RME Hammerfall as the serious option for people who want to do pro
audio under Linux.
>I'm very curious also if anyone has completed any commercially released
>CDs using Linux as the sole platform for composing and recording.
No, but I am about to set up a digital corner in pro-studio that will
(soon or immediately) only run Linux. We'll have an RME Hammerfall as
the main I/O point (fed by 2 Apogee D8000 A-D converters).
--p
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