Low Latency—What’s It Good For? April 6, 2008
Posted by d.j. in Debian, Linux, media, Ubuntu.Tags: Debian, kernel, Linux, low latency, Rosegarden, Ubuntu
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This has been an unanticipated adventure: getting my midi keyboard working with Ubuntu. After installing the midi sequencer of choice, on running, it informed me that the system timer resolution was too low. Having only used midi software in Windows previously, this seemed cryptic, yet understandable. Obviously the midi software wasn’t able to set interrupts at frequent enough intervals for real time processing.
This led to a somewhat frantic search to solve this problem. It’s amazing what you can find if you but look. Another flavor of Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and a specialized 64-bit Debian release, 64 Studio, were unearthed in my quest. What a revelation!
I’ve been an amateur musician nearly all my life. In my experience, musicians aren’t in the least intimidated by technology when it can aid them in their pursuit. This observation was validated upon close examination of both these releases. The software included far exceeds my modest needs.
Video production, 3D modeling, multimedia content creation and desktop publishing tools are also part of the the two Debian-based distributions. If real-time processing is a necessity for you, I urge you to give Ubuntu Studio and 64 Studio a look.
Installation of Ubuntu Studio was simply a matter of finding the packages in Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10′s software repositories. I simply searched for “Ubuntu Studio” in Synaptic Package Manager and installed all selected applications and libraries. If you have even a modestly sized hard disk, this should not be a problem. Linux applications don’t suffer from nearly the bloat that plagues Windows applications of similar capability. The real time kernel was automatically included within this search. Reverting to the generic kernel is simply a matter of selecting the desired kernel at boot-up from the GRUB menu. Getting my midi keyboard to work was easy too. I have an Edirol UM-1SX USB midi interface. There was no problem trying to find drivers as Synaptic takes care of all software dependences and contingencies. Rosegarden (the midi sequencer) had no problem utilizing the interface or accessing the features of my keyboard. As a Windows Finale (Coda Software) user, I had no problem making the adjustment. Standard music notation makes any musician welcome to this setup.
If you are a musician or digital artist, give 64 Studio and Ubuntu Studio a look. It’s amazing what you can get for no more than the time and effort spent downloading.
