The card I'm looking at building my system around is the LynxOne. I can get a good deal on it (well, $250.00 barely used, from a friend). I'm still researching it before picking it up, as its drivers are released through a commercial company, and sometimes it looks like a card 'supports Linux', but you may have to pay more for access to the driver, etc.

And thanks, Skinny Honkie, for the consistently inspiring and knowledgeable posts. I'd have to cite you personally as being at least partially responsible for my current lack of desire to sleep.

Simply by researching GNU/Linux and audio, I have learned more practical information about how computers process audio (and other, deeper processes) than many common primers on the subject relate. Even if you aren't planning on using the Linux kernel, simply reading the reports and testing methodologies will further your knowledge in this field of applications. And get you pretty pissed off about how things are impractically engineered to fall in line with marketing models.

For the cheapsters, there is a Korean soundcard that lists for 39 bucks new that, apparently, performs very well under Linux. The manufacturer even coded a driver, free, for just this purpose. I can't remember the name, but it is a popular one right now.

I think I might've mentioned this before, but the M-Audio cards like the 2496, delta 1010, and for that matter any other card I know of made using the VIA Envy 24HT aka Ice Ensemble aka Delta chipset, are very solidly supported. I honestly can't think of a better cheap card than the 2496, if you want to do some dorking around. They have very flat response and can gang (2,3,4) together sociably if you want to add extra inputs.

skinny honkie wrote:I think I might've mentioned this before, but the M-Audio cards like the 2496, delta 1010, and for that matter any other card I know of made using the VIA Envy 24HT aka Ice Ensemble aka Delta chipset, are very solidly supported. I honestly can't think of a better cheap card than the 2496, if you want to do some dorking around. They have very flat response and can gang (2,3,4) together sociably if you want to add extra inputs.

Do you know if this chipset circumvents all the issues I've been reading about concerning sync and multiple cards? I might be barking up the wrong tree with my choice of cards...at least, there isn't a whole lot of information on it one way or the other. I'm almost considering using the LynxOne for 'mastering'/output, while buying a few of those cheap Korean deals for multitrack input...but I keep running across the master clock/sync issue.

Later: is this sort of post better off in the Tech Room?

Rayj - The Envy24 isn't the silver bullet for multiple card setups, but the fact that it's very solidly supported is a big asset. The key on a linux box running multiple soundcards is to use jack, use PCI slots that don't share resources, back off the latency, and make sure the HDD's are running fast enough - use hdparm to bench and adjust if necessary. Jack is a sample accurate sound server, so if the buffer is big enough, Jack'll take care of the sync. Latency has a kind of dragstrip character, and there can be a real reluctance to increase the buffer size from a lot of digital audio folk, but you've got to be pragmatic about it and target reliable buffer settings, not fast buffer settings. Having an insanely small buffer is really only essential if you do a lot of overdubbing, so you won't lose too much by increasing the buffer size.
I'd strongly recommend that you pony up for a 1010LT or similar ($100usd-ish) instead of going for multiple 2496's (or multiple anything elses) in the first instance, it's just simpler on every level. Being able to throw a second card in there is just a handy trick to keep up your sleeve. The Lynx is a really nice card, I had an L22 a while ago, and I only had it installed briefly but it was the best sounding digital audio card I've owned. Right about that time, I started working at a place with a lovely selection of tape machines, and I eventually ended up hocking the Lynx and I haven't missed it. Nowadays I only record digitally if I wake up at 5am and have a killer riff in my head, I'll grab my acoustic or sing into the POS onboard mic on my laptop for the sake of getting the notes down before I forget them.

Later: Yeah, maybe it is better off in the tech forum, but maybe we could bring this thread back into the normal general discussion tone by pledging to roll our own distro and calling it Iron QueefDragon Linux. I'd install a distro called Iron QueefDragon Linux.

Just starting to get more into Ubuntu. Last night I partitioned one of my XP boxes and set it up for a dual boot with Feisty Fawn. Spent a while getting ATI video drivers, Automagix2, etc.

The interface is a little tiring on the eyes though. Must be all that brown.

Damn. I should have read the JACK documentation earlier...JACK doesn't like VIA chipsets. Well, that's not a big deal. I'll just use this motherboard for the garbage scow system. I've always liked the VIA...

My goals for computer use in audio are as follows:

1. a 'realtime' vocal/sound effects processor. Only need stereo for this...hell, mono would work. A little bit of latency isn't necessarily an issue, for my particular implementation. It will require support for MIDI control of effects parameters, optimally with the Behringer BCF2000 (unfortunately, this BCF2000 has weird driver support). It would, ideally, also run as a sampler for occasional sounds triggered through MIDI via a Roland D-8 drum brain. This, however, is an unnecessary option...it just might be fun.

2. a multitrack recording interface. Musically, the goal is to simply record up to 8 channels simultaneously, without printing effects to the tracks. Pretty simple. I've always used computers simply for scratch recordings, but I've found that the better performances typically emerge in practices, so having a decent multitrack recording setup for practices is a good way to go.

I like playing with softsynths and whatnot, but it isn't terribly critical. Only really good for producing 'experimental' recordings, the like of which are absolutely all over the place, and often done to better effect. These days, if I want to produce 'experimental' stuff, I just do it and listen. I have piles of recordings done by us and other folks, and don't feel the need to clutter the field more.

Oh, and another point, related to 2.; namely, VST's. There are a couple of VST's I really like to mix with (Classic EQ being a major one). This might not be as necessary when my recording frontend gets a bit better (slooowly building some Seventh Circle Audio preamps). However, VST implementation seems spotty.

It should be noted that these two main modes aren't needed to be run simultaneously. That's a bit too much. If the genius rehearsal recording emerges, overdubbing vocal/noise is a simple matter, even with some latency.

Proposed distro title: Sumo Hog. Bonus points if I can get it to control the solenoid nozzle on the Greek Fire dispenser.

RayJ - you mean Via motherboard chipsets? I'll confess that tho I'm a bit of a Via Motherboard fanboy (on the basis that of the many machines I've had pass thru my hands, the Via mobo chipset machines have had consistently the lowest rate of non-software/user failures), I don't have any Via mobo chipset linux boxes here to check this out on.
I've seen first-hand instances where I was explicitly told a Via chipset wouldn't work due to the differences in their PCI bus implementation, but had it work flawlessly nonetheless. I don't doubt that there are issues arising from the differences, but I wonder how insurmountable they are.

What sort of problem are you seeing?

On totally another note, I asked my 9yr old son recently what type of computers he liked using the most - he said: "Firefox"
I wonder how soon the OS will become irrelevant in most people's eyes. Soon, I'm thinking.

I'm basing my reluctance to use the VIA chipset on this excerpt from the How To JACK wiki:

In order to troubleshoot a shared irq, you have to read the manual of your motherboard, move cards from slot to slot and/or change the irq's for the PCI slots in the BIOS if it is possible (Some motherboard can do that, other can't). Avoid VIA chipsets because they have a buggy PCI implementation (and SiS too by personal experience). Ardour system requirment

Of course, on a re-reading, this only applies to 2.6. Maybe they worked it out now. I, too, like the VIA.

Ah. I'd give it a fang anyway, despite the note. The author is making a true but generic observation - I've seen Via chipsets perform perfectly solidly under some really demanding circumstances in which they were theoretically verboten - like a KT400 running a canopus DV Raptor, an Intel GbE, and a delta at the same time. They do use a non-standard PCI implementation, and anything super-ultra dependent on standards compliance will suffer. A lot of hardware is surprisingly tolerant of variance. Take, for example, the soundcards with Via Envy 24 chipsets. It's still another issue if Jack will wear it, but I'll go out on a limb and say that if the ALSA driver for the card is ok with it, then Jack will be too. To test it you'll need to do something like input and capture a very high-frequency sound across all inputs simultaneously, and play them back and listen for phase-change. Jack will tell you if it's dropping sample points, but your ears will tell you if it's a problem. If you hear phase-change, or see dropped samples, head for the nearest non-Via machine you have and proceed.
The nice thing is that you're not dealing with an OEM copy of windows here. If you install it and test it, and it doesn't work, you haven't lost $100 (or whatever it is that windows costs), you've lost 40mins, and you can go ahead and install it on another machine with impunity.

This is pretty interesting stuff. I've always suspected that the whole impulse/convolving thing would be the one place where digital recording could become a viable medium (for my purposes, anyway).

Haven't jumped yet. Still in highly caffeinated scattershot random research mode. I need a good reference guide as well...I'm sure there are plenty of hard copies up here.