Re: [linux-audio-dev] Re: What Parts of Linux Audio Simply Work Great?

On Sat, Jun 18, 2005 at 11:57:16PM +0200, Christoph Eckert wrote:

> I also dislike the idea of dividing the users to pros and
> amateurs. Am I a pro? Certainly not, I'm just a hobbyist. And
> I'd be glad if some day I could install any distro, plug in
> my guitar, fire up jack-rack and start jammin.
>
> We all agree that an AC '97 chip is not the best solution to
> do so, but as soon as its successor HDA will spread (which
> works at 48000kHz per default), things could change.
>
> Even pros tend to buy cheap hardware, and the difference
> between consumer and pro cards will decrease. Look at me and
> Frank Barknecht. We're both using a relatively cheap consumer
> USB card on out notebooks.

A number of issues have been mixed up in this debate:

1. 'cheap' vs. 'pro' audio cards.

I do agree there is a large category in between, usually named
'prosumer', and that these are used by 'professional' (as defined
below) people.

2. 'entertainment' vs. 'production' applications.

I think we can all agree that developers of these two types
of apps have different requirements. The first want to keep
things as simple as possible, both for themselves and the user,
probably require multiple sample rates mixed transparently, etc.
The second group want as little as possible between their apps
and the HW, unlimited interconnection freedom, well defined and
mininal latency, and they will not compromise on audio quality.
 
And following the suggestion to use a different login for
'personal' and 'professional' use, and the reactions that
triggered:

3. 'amateur' users vs. 'professionals'.

Since a took a clear stand on this matter, let me define what
I mean by a 'professional' in this context: someone who makes
a living by providing a service to customers who pay for it.
I still maintain that someone in this position will not mind
logging in as different users for his personal and pro work.
He / she will probably use different machines anyway. It's
just a matter of 'best practice' and professional conduct.

> > As was already pointed out, prosumer and professional users
> > will in all probably have two different audio cards anyway.

> At least for the hobbyist (and I can speak for them):
> disagreed :) .

That's a mix up of 2. and 3. A hobbyist is an amateur doing
production work (and I mean nothing negative by that !)

Now given the two following options:

A. Extend Jack to accomodate all the diverse needs of the
   desktop developers, and request them to use it for all
   applications,

B. Provide a layer on top of both Jack and ALSA (as for
   example the jackified artsd), and recommend that for
   desktop apps,

then for me it's clear that I would prefer B. It would
provide a solution for at least three types of users:

- desktop audio only: run the server on top of ALSA and
  don't bother with Jack.

- audio production workstation (no 'desktop entertainment'):
  just run Jack as we already do.

- those in between: run the server on top of Jack.

-- 
FA