On Friday 20 June 2003 08:07 am, Andy Sy wrote: * OSS is deprecated and ALSA becomes the default. * Mixed bag. Some OSS drivers are still more mature. * I think...
Yup. Xine seems to be more stable using OSS audio driver plugins instead of ALSA. My CMI8738� PCI sound card will occasionally "hiccup" on random occasions using ALSA, but not often and unpredictably. The sound card plays smooth using OSS drivers. * On a side note not directly related to 2.5.70, I * also discovered some kewl Linux Audio related projects. * JACK and LADSPA. JACK (JACK Audio Connection Kit) is * low-level plumbing that allows coordination between different * sound-using apps. It does stuff similar to artsd and the * other sound daemons (and I think, Cakewalk's Rewire) but is * supposed to be really low-latency and suitable for high * end audio work. LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer Simple Plugin * Architecture) does stuff similar to VST... i think this * has something to do with audio effect plugins. * * Unlike the situation wrt GUI toolkits, the Linux audio * community seems to have a smooth API path. OSS is * deprecated, ALSA takes over. JACK and LADSPA seem to * be widely accepted as the defacto standards without much * competition. * * The linux audio scene is burgeoning! The goodies are just * amazing (direct to hard disk recorders, sequencer systems, * softsynths, software DJ mixing, and much much much more), there * are way too many to mention here. Just check out these metalinks: * * http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/lad/faq.php3 * http://sound.condorow.net/ Thanks for the links Andy! I never imagined that Linux audio apps can be developed in as little as 3 years time (I thought that Linux audio development will take about 5 years). I use my computer as an audio-MIDI workhorse in Windows 98� before, but the BSODs are too numerous to get any decent work from the machine, and multitasking is plug-and-pray in 'doze systems. No matter how high you poke DOS, drivers, and other programs in the upper memory bracket (UMB), or splurge on insane amounts of RAM, the audio programs will always crash. :-( It's encouraging to see how open source development is speeding things up with Linux. I remember when Apple Macintosh� was the core platform for audio apps like Opcode� and Mark of the Unicorn�. When Windows arrived, it took almost 7 years to achieve the development and porting of Mac apps to the Windows platform. After that period, MIDI timing (using MIDI time clocks) are still a nightmare to synchronize in Windows. Audio work is a computer multitasking feat, since I have to synchronize Cakewalk� MIDI sequencing with audio samples and loops, while doing realtime effects processing on the audio signal (the usual reverb, gating, bandpass filtering, distortion, flanging, etc...) and seamless crossfade moves (fade-in, fade-out) for audio files. While MIDI signals are very light on processor cycles, audio processing is a cpu-intensive workload (understandable, since DSPs are much suited to this type of work). The softsynths and software virtual synthesis apps are also processor-demanding, given that it uses software emulation in place of hardware oscillators, filters, sample-playback, sample stretching and keymapping. It helps tremendously using Linux as an OS layer due to its superior multitasking abilities and crash-free operation. I look forward to the day when somebody can virtualize an entire Korg Trinity Workstation in Linux, while simultaneously running virtual DSP programs applying realtime effects to the raw audio signal. I look forward to the day that whenever my "grunge' neighbor picks up his Eric Clapton Stratocaster� and Zoom� digital effects box to do the Red Hot Chili Peppers "wah-wah" crunch, I can also pick up a Yamaha� classical guitar, feed the audio transducer signal to a virtual effects processor in Linux and produce the same realistic "wah wah" sound. The neighbor then screams "You have a vintage Les Paul� in your closet?" Kewl. He he he :-) The goodies makes me salivate to try JACK and LADSPA. I've heard that JACK is analogous to DRI in XFree. It directly accesses the hardware to reduce latency. That's very good news. Reducing latency is the greatest problem for audio processing and MIDI synchronization. Audio processing will really fly when Linus officially incorporates the preemptive kernel patches in the stock kernel. A poor, financially-strapped audio enthusiast like me can afford to experiment with open source alternative versions of the same expensive apps like Cakewalk Rewire� and VST�. Using Linux for digital audio recording and manipulation is also good news. Would you recommend using XFS for storing large .wav files with sizes beyond 2GB? optimus IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds, unless proven in court to be the rightful trademark of SCO/Caldera. The brand names mentioned in this email are the registered trademarks of their respective companies. Mentioning them in this email does not imply endorsement on the part of the email's writer, since the email writer is not a major recording artist like Gordon Sumner (aka Sting) or Adam Clayton (aka Bono), nor a marketing representative for the companies of the aforementioned products. 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