Video Tutorial: XRUNS - Why they are bad and how to prevent them

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JHoermann
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Video Tutorial: XRUNS - Why they are bad and how to prevent them

Post by JHoermann »

Hey guys,

I have done a new Youtube video tutorial. This time its about XRUNS.
Basically I'm explaing what XRUNS are and how you can prevent them from happening.

Here is the Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwxUXF-qznQ.

Do you have any comments or suggestions? :)

Greetings,
Jochen
My Youtube channel about Linux audio production: https://www.youtube.com/user/JHoermann
Gear:
Notebook: Dell XPS 13
Audiointerface: Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Tribute 60's
Mic: Superlux E205
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ufug
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Re: Video Tutorial: XRUNS - Why they are bad and how to prevent them

Post by ufug »

That's a very good explanation, thank you. I liked the music too, is that yours?

Here's a question:

Some XRUNS cause an audio issue, some are not audible at all.

Ardour/Mixbus (maybe others too?) have an option to stop recording if there is an xrun.

Would it be possible to create a tool or setting that would stop recording ONLY if there's an *audible* XRUN? And allow recording to proceed if it is not audible?
listenable at c6a7.org
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funkmuscle
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Re: Video Tutorial: XRUNS - Why they are bad and how to prevent them

Post by funkmuscle »

Wouldn't we have a latency issue the higher the Frames/Period goes?
Mixbus takes a lot of resources so I've set QJackCtl with 2 settings. I use Mixbus only for mixing so the Frames/Period is 2048 and I call that setting 'mixing'.

I use Ardour to record so and if I use an external guitar amp and have my Focusrite Scarlet do the monitoring, Frames/Period at 2048 I get no XRUNS or latency issues but using a software amp like Guitarix or any of the Gx amp plugins, I have to switch off Focusrite Scarlet monitoring, change Frames/Period to 256 and I get no latency and next to no XRUNS. If I didn't, the XRUNS go crazy.

Mind you, I can't mix with those settings after adding plugins. So I call that setting 'record'.
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JHoermann
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Re: Video Tutorial: XRUNS - Why they are bad and how to prevent them

Post by JHoermann »

ufug wrote:That's a very good explanation, thank you. I liked the music too, is that yours?

Here's a question:

Some XRUNS cause an audio issue, some are not audible at all.

Ardour/Mixbus (maybe others too?) have an option to stop recording if there is an xrun.

Would it be possible to create a tool or setting that would stop recording ONLY if there's an *audible* XRUN? And allow recording to proceed if it is not audible?
Thanks, yes thats my instrumental cover called "Son of the Highest" you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XR6nOrCv2o.
Don't think that this is possible. Some XRUNS are causing skipped audio some don't. Seems like this is not predictable.
funkmuscle wrote:Wouldn't we have a latency issue the higher the Frames/Period goes?
Mixbus takes a lot of resources so I've set QJackCtl with 2 settings. I use Mixbus only for mixing so the Frames/Period is 2048 and I call that setting 'mixing'.

I use Ardour to record so and if I use an external guitar amp and have my Focusrite Scarlet do the monitoring, Frames/Period at 2048 I get no XRUNS or latency issues but using a software amp like Guitarix or any of the Gx amp plugins, I have to switch off Focusrite Scarlet monitoring, change Frames/Period to 256 and I get no latency and next to no XRUNS. If I didn't, the XRUNS go crazy.

Mind you, I can't mix with those settings after adding plugins. So I call that setting 'record'.
Higher latencies are not an issue when doing mixing etc. Even when recording there is a latency compensation feature in most DAWs. Only problem is when you're doing live monitoring with software/ plugins like you already said. If you're doing something like this the latency should be set to less then 10ms. So what you are doing seems the right thing to do.

Greetings,
Jochen
My Youtube channel about Linux audio production: https://www.youtube.com/user/JHoermann
Gear:
Notebook: Dell XPS 13
Audiointerface: Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Tribute 60's
Mic: Superlux E205
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