Old 06-18-2020, 10:20 AM   #1
audiomath
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Default Hardware to get started?

Every five years or so I loop around to see if pro audio has any traction on Linux.
As they say, here we are again. :-)

I currently use a Presonus Quantum (TBOLT 2) extended with ADAT and a Windows PC. That works quite well until MS breaks it. I then curse, fix it and move on. I also have a i7 Mac that runs Reaper adequately, but I've never felt motivated enough to move to it.

I just built a nice (but noisy) i9 9900K that I can use for the latest "Linux experiment", but first I need to ask - is there any hardware in roughly the same class as the Quantum that will work with Linux/Reaper without TOO many compromises? I have a few hours available for geeky tweaking, but I can't make it a lifework.

If the hardware question can be answered, I'm thinking a tweaked Arch Linux installation and (of course) Reaper.

In previous lives I've been a audio DSP engineer and a EE, but let's assume I'm currently a cranky old guy that is tired of MS polluting his pond water and is too cheap to buy a Mac Pro. Is Linux pro audio with Reaper ready enough to try?

Thanks!
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Old 06-18-2020, 10:34 AM   #2
Glennbo
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I'm using an 18 input 20 output rackmount interface with 8 Midas mic pres (Behringer UMC1820), and it works great for me at low latency in Xubuntu with a few tweaks.
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Old 06-18-2020, 10:43 AM   #3
audiomath
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Quote:
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I'm using an 18 input 20 output rackmount interface with 8 Midas mic pres (Behringer UMC1820), and it works great for me at low latency in Xubuntu with a few tweaks.
That looks encouraging, thanks! Retail looks like 328 USD for the UMC1820, which is within reason for the experiment.
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Old 06-18-2020, 11:42 AM   #4
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That looks encouraging, thanks! Retail looks like 328 USD for the UMC1820, which is within reason for the experiment.
... and just ordered one. It should be here Monday, which gives me the weekend to prepare a bit.

Thanks!
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Old 06-18-2020, 11:58 AM   #5
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One of the reasons I jumped on the UMC1820 so quickly was that I saw that all the preamp channels have Inst/Mic switches. Assuming the preamps work well for guitars, that will eliminate a DI box out of my rack, simplifying things considerably.
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Old 06-18-2020, 12:51 PM   #6
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One of the reasons I jumped on the UMC1820 so quickly was that I saw that all the preamp channels have Inst/Mic switches. Assuming the preamps work well for guitars, that will eliminate a DI box out of my rack, simplifying things considerably.
I've plugged guitars and basses in direct to play around with amp sims and it worked fine, but in real world practice I use a mic'd guitar amp for my guitars and a hardware bass amp modeling pedal for my basses. I've had mine a year now using it exclusively in Linux, although I do have it setup on a Win7 partition I can boot for my legacy projects.
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