Linux Questions

2126 readers

1 users here now

Linux questions Rules (in addition of the Lemmy.zip rules)

stay on topic
be nice (no name calling)
do not post long blocks of text such as logs
do not delete your posts
only post questions (no information posts)

Tips for giving and receiving help

be as clear and specific
say thank you if a solution works
verify your solutions before posting them as facts.

Any rule violations will result in disciplinary actions

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip

Why is Linux audio such a nightmare? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by WeebLife@lemmy.world to c/linuxquestions@lemmy.zip

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's been several months since I switched to Linux mint and it's been great so far. My biggest headache has been dealing with Linux audio and trying to use JACK. I have an electronic drum kit and I use Reaper for recording and using VSTs with yabridge. I managed to get this to work but it only works with ALSA. I want to have YouTube open and play along to songs and this does not work with ALSA. I've researched and experimented with JACK for way longer than I cared to. When I switch to JACK, reaper doesn't recognize my e kit, even tho ita connected with patchbay, and it also makes my default audio output a dummy output. I've gotten to the point of just going back to windows cuz this has been a nightmare. Pulse audio does what I want but the latency is too high.

Is getting a second drive with windows on it the best solution?

EDIT: I have made some progress, I switched to bitwig, uses pipewire, mapped my pads to midi notes and assigned them sounds. I got the latency good and I'm able to play with YouTube. The only problem is bitwig doesn't recognize all the zones in my cymbals. I'm not sure how to fix that, when I was using Steven slate in reaper it registered all the zones.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] nous@programming.dev 36 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Give pipewire a go. It is basically replacing pulseaudio and jack as a combined thing and is meant to not have the latency issues that pulseaudio does.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I can second this somewhat. I haven't done anything particularly music related so my recommendation is limited here, but I was trying to get my head around the basics of Linux audio when I was troubleshooting a problem that came up when gaming and on voice chat, and pipewire was way less stressful to configure and to understand what was actually happening

[–] WeebLife@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The latest version of Linux mint uses pipewire by default. I double checked that it's active with a command, but reaper doesn't have an option for use pipewire in the audio settings only jack, ALSA, dummy and pulse.

[–] kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 months ago

You can install pipewire shims for each of those back ends

[–] WeebLife@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I have wanted to do this but I don't know how. Rraper doesn't give an option for pipewire in the audio settings. Only ALSA, jack, dummy and pulse audio. I've researched it but it just gets too technical for me. I'm a Linux noob.

[–] nous@programming.dev 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Pipewire can talk to both pulseaudio and jack applications - it basically provides both APIs. It does not create a new one that things nee to implement. You may need to install a plugin to get it to talk with jack applications though - never needed to do that side of things myself.

[–] Echolynx@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

My install came with Pipewire and I still can't seem to get it to recognize my speakers on Line Out... sigh.