#432

If you don’t care about latency or connecting audio/midi things together (ie don’t make/produce anything on your machine) pulse is fine. Also if you’re just starting and just want to explore some stuff you can start with just pulse. Most pro audio applications also support ALSA, depending on how it’s implemented they might just work on pulse. If you’re serious about making music/music production then you want JACK.

1 Like
#433

ah okay, seems like pipewire isn’t quite yet ready either.

#434

Regarding distro, tbh it doesn’t matter that much. There are some audio specific distros but personally I don’t see much point in music production specific distros, the same can be achieved on any distro.
For proprietary (graphical) software like Bitwig Ubuntu is pretty much the main supported distro nowadays , so depending on your needs, the availability of packages for applications you want to use and your willingness to mess around you might want to start/stay with Ubuntu or use another distro.

Generally I’d say pick Ubuntu if you’re starting, if you want more control and configure more yourself use Arch. Arch has the advantage that it has pretty much the best docs/wiki and a very active team of maintainers of proaudio applications.There are more (niche) distros but these are good starting points.

2 Likes
#435

yah, i’m still on the fence a bit. i think i’ll go for either pop or opensuse (tumbleweed).

i guess my next step is to look into jack2 and how to configure it. wish me luck :crossed_fingers:

@simonvanderveldt the author of JACK chimed into this thread and talks about how there’s typically no need for JACK especially if you’re not piping audio from one app to another. i guess JACK is performant in regards to audio compared to things like pulse etc?

edit: ahh

PulseAudio is focused on desktop and mobile audio needs. It doesn’t try to address low latency usage, but does provide seamless device switching, network routing, global per-application volume control and lots more great stuff.
JACK is focused on the needs of pro-audio and music creation users. It offers the lowest possible latency, complete routing flexibility between applications and audio hardware, and all audio is always sample synchronized - apps don’t run ahead or behind of others. It doesn’t provide the smooth desktop experience that PulseAudio is aiming at.

#436

I’ve used pop_os since the first release. I just started using BitWig as my main DAW a month ago. Everything was a breeze, but I do have some distortion issues related to software instruments with a fast attack. I’m not sure where in the signal chain it’s coming from.

I’m using pulseaudio and I still need to troubleshoot what’s going on. I use it with a MIDI keyboard over USB with no problem. I can jam along with the bass lines my mate provides me.

It’s worth noting I don’t track digital audio on this machine.

1 Like
#437

seems as if JACK could fix those problems for you as per:

edit:
p.s. if you’re also considering the jump, i’d love to beat our heads against the wall together…lemme know.

1 Like
#438

This seems to be a pretty comprehensive overview of audio on Linux (have not read it in detail yet):

2 Likes