Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Newbie introduction
From: Lloyd R. Prentice (pai_AT_tiac.net)
Date: Thu Apr 11 2002 - 22:35:11 EEST
Many thanks, Paul, for your prompt response! What a nice welcome to this list.
Paul Winkler wrote:
> Motherboard soundcards are kind of a crapshoot.
> Let's try to refind what you mean by "quality".
> Do you have specific requirements for specs?
> e.g. 24-bit, 96 kHz?
Not yet.
I did a bit of analog audio work many years ago so I'm generally familiar with
analog specifications. But I'm new to digital audio and haven't yet internalized
all of the specs and technical terms. I do understand a bit of the theory of
digital encoding, but not much about current technologies and products.
> IMHO that would be overkill for your application. I suspect
> plain old 16-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz audio would be fine for you.
My final product will be voice over the web. Ideally I'd like to deliver audio
quality at least as good as any of the popular streaming audio sites. If it
sounded to a web listener like NPR over FM I'd be delighted.
> More important questions:
> 1) Do you need digital in or out (e.g. SPDIF)?
In the short term, I don't think so. I'm not so clear about later down the line.
I'm imagining that ulitmately I'll have one or more workstations devoted to
recording, editing and mixing audio content. Recording might involve a few
microphones and a telephone line feeding into a mixer. Are there sound cards that
accept multiple analog inputs? Or would it be simpler/less costly to use an analog
mixer that, in turn, feeds into an audio production workstation?
The production workstations would probably also handle and file format conversions
needed. I imagine that I'd then have some kind of audio file server which would
stream audio out onto the net.
> 2) How many analog inputs do you need at once?
In the short term, probably only one or two. When I get into production I imagine
I would be mixing up to, say, six or eight signals..
> 3) How many analog outputs do you need at once?
One, at least, to feed into a monitoring circuit. An output for earphones would be
nice.
> 4) What do you consider an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio?
> 70 dB? 85 dB? >100 dB? There's a wide range here...
I don't have the experience to judge. Again, through the learning curve stages it
may not matter that much. But when I get into production it may matter more.
> 5) Do you need a laptop solution? (very few options here for linux)
Not for now.
> 6) What's your budget?
I'd like to keep costs down to $500 or less while I'm climbing the learning curve.
But will spend what's needed once I feel that I'm ready to go into production.
> If you can give definite answers to those, we can narrow down
> the field and give you some good compatible soundcards to look at.
Sorry to sound so vague. But I've already learned much from your questions.
Perhaps you could recommend two cards -- one that would see me through the
learning curve and one that would deliver solid professional sound for the long
term.
> Then there's the issue of drivers. IMHO you want to go with ALSA,
> not the built-in kernel drivers. Why? Because ALSA is the future:
> it's been integrated into the 2.5 kernel, so whenever 2.6 comes out,
> we'll have ALSA by default. Also, ALSA gives much better support for
> advanced card features, such as cards with lots of channels.
>
> That said, ALSA can be intimidating to install for the linux newbie.
> It's actually not hard, it's just that the docs are a bit spotty.
> If you want, I or somebody else here could walk you through it when
> you get to that point.
I've been reading about ALSA. I believe that the latest S.U.S.E. distribution has
integrated it. I much appreciate your offer to help install it. I'll look into
S.U.S.E. and study to docs, then see where I stand.
> I'm assuming you mean such tasks as editing, post-processing, etc.?
> What tools have you used on other systems? Give us a better idea of
> what you need these tools to *do*, and how you want to use them.
I haven't used any of the digital audio tools, so I don't know what's possible,
what to expect, or what can be integrated to into a productive work environment.
Years ago I cut 1/4-inch tape with a razor blade and stitched it together with
sticky tape; used analog graphic equalizers and filters and stuff.
So I presume I need tools to record sound clips, convert across a useful variety
of file formats, listen to clips stored in different file formats, equalize and
mix sound clips, archive sound clips.
Imagine a panel discussion such as you might attend at a conference at one end of
the audio chain and many listeners across the web at the other. Ulimately I'd like
to be able to produce and stream audio in realtime such might occur over through a
live radio broadcast; in the short term I'd be happy to produce the audio off-line
and stream it as an archived file.
> Welcome to the list!
Again, many many thanks, Paul. I much appreciate the help.
Best wishes,
Lloyd
>
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