Help setting up KXStudio

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kokoshmusun
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Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Hello,
I've been trying to switch to Linux for home recording. I can't stand Windows and use Linux for all my other needs, but the switch has been slow for audio. First, it took a while to get a card that works. And now, finally having settled on the Xubuntu 11.04 + KXStudio option, I don't know what to do after the install. Documentation seems sparse and I really need help to move on.

I have a 64-bit PC (6 Gb Ram). I have a generic onboard audio card and later installed an ESI Maya44 PCI.

I installed Xubuntu 11.04 and KXStudio in this way:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kxstudio-team/kxstudio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kxstudio-repos
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install kxstudio-desktop-xfce
sudo apt-get install kxstudio-meta-all
sudo apt-get install kxstudio-kernel-lowlatency
I got Jack to produce sound with ESI, but there is slight crackling. Somewhere I also saw that my latency is around 46 ms (don't know if I interpreted that correctly but that's how it seemed). I don't know how to set up the system so that I can:
--get rid of crackling, reduce the latency, and optimize everything else
--use all the inputs/outputs and other features of ESI Maya44 (or at least use most of its features): Right now, I have no idea how to record any external audio (e.g., from my guitar)
--get all (or most) of the software that came with KXStudio to produce sound or respond however they are supposed to

Also, bunch of things are weird. For instance, I can't get the volume level in the notifications area to work, it's grayed out. Some software doesn't respond at all. Etc., etc.

In sum, I'm a little lost, and really want to get some progress. I really hate the idea of going back to Windows and I really hope to stay with GNU/Linux for audio. Any help is much appreciated, thanks!
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Thanks for the clarification on that.

Cadence is useful. I noticed that I was not in the audio group. I entered these two commands below and either one of them (don't know which) did the job of adding me to the audio group (so now, there is a green check in Cadence for that item).
sudo usermod -G audio [user]
sudo adduser [user] audio

However, this messed up my other groups, so now I can't even sudo anything. :shock:
Will fix that by googling.

Even though low-latency kernel was installed at KXStudio install, Cadence still shows generic kernel. That's another thing I guess I have to fix.
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

I had to boot with a LiveCD and change the /etc/group file to have [username] at the end of the line that starts with "admin" (just for those who may need this information). I don't exactly know what other groups I was originally a part of but I added some that I found on the internet. I think one should either use only the "adduser" command or use the "usermod command with a "-a" qualifier to prevent the problem I had.

Another hour wasted trying to make this happen :cry:
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Ok, I figured out the low latency kernel thing. I dual-boot with Win7. I get a Grub (?? with a debian logo for some reason) screen that gives me xubuntu, win7, and "previous linux versions" option. This must be because the low-latency kernel installed is older than the generic one. So when I choose that option, I get another list that has the low-latency kernel.

When I did that, cadence now verifies that I'm using the low-latency kernel. But it still has a warning sign (previously, with the generic kernel, it was a stop sign with an x, now it's an exclamation mark inside a triangle) and I don't know why.

Simply playing an .ogg file is still not pleasant, lot of crackling and skips. The thought that I can run my favorite DAW and stream my favorite Synth software in Win7 and I still can't play a sound file in Xubuntu + KXStudio after several hours of tweaking is making me go crazy :x
varpa
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by varpa »

Well this is sort of a tangential suggestion. You might consider trying AVLinux which does not have pulse at all with which I've been able to be very productive with Linux music applications. However, AVLinux is Debian-based so you cannot install kxstudio on it (at least I do not know how), except for Carla which has been ported.
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

AV Linux doesn't seem to have a 64-bit version. I have a 64-bit PC, and wouldn't I be able to take more advantage of its architecture if I installed a 64-bit distro?
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Getting help from this forum is turning out to be not so fast. The whole linux audio project has been somewhat of a disaster for me. Is there an IRC channel where I might be able to chat with people who would point me in the right direction? cheers.
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Again, just to detail my experience here for those who may be able to learn from it: I found faster support from an IRC channel: #kxstudio. And another was suggested that I haven't yet logged into: #opensourcemusicians. Also a netboot iso install was suggested, so when the kxstudio site is back up (down now due to bandwith), I'm gonna do a new install with netboot.
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Capoeira
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by Capoeira »

there is also LAU: http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
though the guys there are kind of "strange" :twisted:
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Thanks I just posted there and on the alsa-users email list, I'm still not sure whether my card is fully supported with ALSA, so I'm hoping someone can tell me.
kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

The alsa-developers email list was helpful. Somebody there told me most of the card's features works (he listed which ones). The ones that didn't work were not important ones. I did a netboot install of ubuntu lucid and put XFCE on top of it. Then KXStudio. When I booted from realtime kernel, I got good results with playing sound (got rid of the problem I had earlier, crackling and skipping). Tweaking Jack reduces the estimated latency to very good levels. I have yet to test recording.
steevc
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by steevc »

kokoshmusun wrote:The alsa-developers email list was helpful. Somebody there told me most of the card's features works (he listed which ones). The ones that didn't work were not important ones. I did a netboot install of ubuntu lucid and put XFCE on top of it. Then KXStudio. When I booted from realtime kernel, I got good results with playing sound (got rid of the problem I had earlier, crackling and skipping). Tweaking Jack reduces the estimated latency to very good levels. I have yet to test recording.
Hi, can you either post the list of working features here or link to the list post? This is just the sort of information I've been trying to put on the wiki as it's so hard generally to work out what features of a given card are supported. The Maya44 looks like it could do what I need and is cheaper than some other options. There are a few details there already

http://wiki.linuxmusicians.com/doku.php ... maya44_pci

Steve
Sounds - http://soundcloud.com/steevc
Debut Album - https://steevcmusic.bandcamp.com/
Blog - https://peakd.com/@steevc/posts
Recording via M-Audio FastTrack Pro and Zoom H4. Got Korg nanoKONTROL and Zoom G3X plus Roland TD-07 drums

kokoshmusun
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by kokoshmusun »

Below is the reply I got from alsa-devel list. I myself have been unable run a full test due to my lack of linux knowledge. Yesterday, I was unsuccessful at getting a guitar signal. I'm also quite concerned about how I'm going to get the phantom power in this card turned on in linux (there is no hard switch for it. In Windows, an app is provided by ESI and this is what I use to turn phantom power on).

I doubt I have the patience to go the full way, I've wasted too much time. I might just revert to Win or get the ESI Juli@ which is explicitly supported in linux.

README.maya44 says:
| The following functions work, as tested by Rainer Zimmermann and Piotr
| Makowski:
|
| - playback and capture at all sampling rates
| - input/output level
| - crossmixing
| - line/mic switch
| - phantom power switch
| - analogue monitor a.k.a bypass
|
| The following functions *should* work, but are not fully tested:
|
| - Channel 3+4 analogue - S/PDIF input switching
| - S/PDIF output
| - all inputs/outputs on the M/IO/DIO extension card
| - internal/external clock selection
steevc
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by steevc »

That's what I had already linked to from the wiki page. I've added the information there now so it's easier to find. Nothing seems to have changed since 2008 unless someone out there is still working on it. One reason I am putting this information on the wiki is that it is difficult to know what the current status is as searches tend to turn up old pages.

The Maya looks appealing at the price, if you really can use all the inputs. I think it even does more than the M-Audio Delta44 in that it can do phantom power, but may not offer quite as good audio quality according to a review I found.

Steve
Sounds - http://soundcloud.com/steevc
Debut Album - https://steevcmusic.bandcamp.com/
Blog - https://peakd.com/@steevc/posts
Recording via M-Audio FastTrack Pro and Zoom H4. Got Korg nanoKONTROL and Zoom G3X plus Roland TD-07 drums

i2productions
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Re: Help setting up KXStudio

Post by i2productions »

kokoshmusun wrote:AV Linux doesn't seem to have a 64-bit version. I have a 64-bit PC, and wouldn't I be able to take more advantage of its architecture if I installed a 64-bit distro?
When it comes to audio work on Linux 32 vs. 64 bit really is a negligible difference. And the overall goal of AV Linux is to provide an extremely stable/portable distro that will work on a WIDE variety of hardware. Although my everyday OS and studio distro is Linux Mint 11 +KXStudio, I carry a copy of AV Linux 5.0 on USB everywhere with me, because it's worked on EVERY system I've ever booted it on.

It may take some time to get used to all the nuances of linux audio recording/creation/editing, when you are done I think you will be pleased with the transition!
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