Thread: Linux NATIVE
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Old 01-12-2015, 08:03 AM   #130
alextone
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Debian Jessie
KXStudio
Wine-RT
Wineasio RT
Carla, with several instances of Kontakt loaded, using the carla-bridge-win64 for each
Reaper
Jack1

Priorities

Jack = 89
X = 52
Plasma-desktop = 52
WINE_RT = 75 (Wine-RT version 1.7.33, available as a single click install from the kxstudio repos, along with Carla-git, Wineasio-RT....)
WINE_SVR_RT = 79

Carla as VST-host (as well as host for hundred of LADSPA, Native Linux VST, and LV2 plugins), same wine settings for the plugins. Carla is available in 32 and 64 bit flavours, but you can load either in 64bit for example, with a multiarch Wine version. (Which is really easy to do as well, and is also in the kxstudio repos.)

Reaper = 76

Basic orchestral template running from morning to night, without problems. Average overall RAM use for K instances 28 GB (out of total 64GB)

Why not use VSTs in Reaper?

1. Because Wine still counts it as a single process, which places limits on resource per process. Using Carla as the VST host, all instances are each a separate process, each able to access full wine per instance.

2. Reaper runs far snappier in Wine-RT without VSTs loaded. Offloading the heavy lifting to a separate host means no xruns, graphics challenges, etc...


Hardware:

Intel i7 sandybridge 8 core (actually 4 with Hyperthreading turned off)
RME PCIe I/O (and the mature and reliable hdsp driver is already in the kernel, and has been for a long time. No third party D/L required)

64GB of DDR3 RAM

3 SSD drives, one for OS, 2 for sample libs.

47inch TV/monitor running 1920 x 1200 with nouveau (opensource nvidia driver) No tearing, no glitches, no lag.

With the exception of Kontakt, and Reaper, all native linux.

And all 64 bit.

Any serious audio/midi/video user is going to tweak the box for performance mileage. Linux is no different, and certainly, in my experience, more tweakable than the others.

I get up in the morning, start the box, and write music. If i forget to turn it off overnight, no problem. I continue where i left off.

Ideally, a native linux version of Reaper would complete the picture. Reaper runs ok in Wine, but is subject to the limitations of that structure. Reaper linux 64bit would remove this layer, and imho, run even more efficiently. Both Carla and Jack make routing challenges a non-event. (Carla includes a great patchbay for a quick glance of what's going where)

I've made this sound more complicated than it is, the kxstudio repos have all the right apps, and they are regularly updated, further improving features, efficiency, and performance.


p.s. Even using Wine-RT's alsa midi layer routed through jack in linux, midi jitter is minimal, and playback is fine. The above is a departure from the "plug and play" assumptions, but you can do that too, if you wish. I've chosen to go beyond PnP, and really give the system a workout. Which you can of course do with Linux. It's up to you.



Alex.

p.p.s If win and mac is your thing, good luck to you. To assume Linux can't perform as well as or better, is not true, imho.

Last edited by alextone; 01-12-2015 at 08:29 AM.
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