Who here has used "Planet CCRMA" before?

[Platinum Azure]

I'm gonna try to install it on CentOS, which I will in turn install on my hard drive in a new Linux partition.

For anyone who's done it before, have you got any tips for me?

More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_CCRMA

[Drack]

I considered running CentOS or Fedora on my desktop for the purpose of testing Planet CCRMA.

I'm more of a Debian user though, and I quickly tired of CentOS's RHEL roots, so I only ran it for a while. Planet CCRMA is a fantastic repository, though, and even has somewhat obscure/beta things in there like firewire audio drivers (ffado+jack+realtime is very difficult to set up perperly on a Debian system, and that was why I was looking for alternatives).

If you're comfortable with CentOS and all the things it brings (such as yum), Planet CCRMA is a great source for audio.

Me? I just compile from source everything that needs to use my Audiofire 4 instead of the crappy onboard ALSA-compatible "Intel HD audio." This means I run a custom kernel, JACK, ffado, audacious, lmms, etc. Takes quite a while and skill to set up, and I can't use a package manager to update it.

Yes, it's inconvenient for me instead of using a repos like Planet CCRMA.

But I can't live without aptitude. Once you use the best package manager, anything else just doesn't live up to expectations.

And *buntu freezes on my hardware due to the kernel version they use, so Debian it is for me.

[Platinum Azure]

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply.

I have CentOS installed as well as the repository. I guess now, at this point I'm trying to figure out how to get things working.

So far my experimentations haven't been all that much, though... basically I start the JACK server using qjackctl and then start qsynth... and then I watch the xrun count skyrocket.

Let it suffice to say I'm still pretty new at this Linux audio stuff... Where would you recommend I go from there? I really want to try to get Rosegarden working if nothing else...

[Platinum Azure]

UPDATE:

I reverted back to Ubuntu (with some modifications) and stuff... occasionally works. At one point, I had Rosegarden playing through fluidsynth (using qsynth as a GUI) and JACK (using qjackctl as a GUI), but when I tried to expand to multiple soundfonts it stopped working. Rosegarden has track bars when it plays, so that's not the problem; qsynth also seems to be receiving input, if the flashing light on the bottom is to be trusted. So the problem lies either with JACK, or with the connection between fluidsynth and JACK.

Drack, have you got any ideas on how to deal with this by any chance, or do you know a place that has COMPREHENSIVE, HELPFUL, and CORRECT advice? I've been around the Internet and it's been helpful in parts, but no two people seem to use the same configuration or have the same ideas for what works. A lot of what I've seen with JACK tutorials is that there seem to be more connections that I should be able to spot and connect than I currently have-- I'm not sure if this is because they have a different software config or if that means I need more hardware or something.

*sigh* I'm sorry if I come off as a whiner, but this is getting ridiculous.

[analoq]

I always say: If you want to make music in a nice Unix environment, get a Mac.

Otherwise, be prepared to spend more time hacking config files, recompiling to satisfy dependencies, etc.. than making music.

[Platinum Azure]

That's probably true, but it's not that I like Unix-- I specifically like LINUX.

I mean... I'm a programmer. And I like open source. Doesn't that imply Linux?

...Anyway, would you say it's worth trying to install OSX onto a partition, or will it not work on PC hardware?

[analoq]

I'm a programmer. And I like open source. But I definitely prefer OSX over linux on my personal computer.

OSX doesn't really run on generic hardware. The point of my post wasn't so much suggesting you run out and drop $2,000 on a new computer, but that the environment you have chosen will be counter-productive to music making at times so be prepared for these sorts of headaches.

[Platinum Azure]

I'm a programmer. And I like open source. But I definitely prefer OSX over linux on my personal computer.

OSX doesn't really run on generic hardware. The point of my post wasn't so much suggesting you run out and drop $2,000 on a new computer, but that the environment you have chosen will be counter-productive to music making at times so be prepared for these sorts of headaches.

Aw. And here I was hoping you'd had an idea to get around it... haha, only kidding. But yeah, it is a headache. I have it partially working, just not to the point where it's useful... Ah well, thanks for the info anyway.

[Drack]

One of the problems here is that everyone seems to have a different issue and a different way to get around it. JACK looks simple but is really quite complex to work with, which is why a lot of apps that play sounds don't even bother with JACK and just use ALSA or OSS (web browsers, I'm looking at you). Would you believe that the version of Audacious in Debian had JACK support turned off? I had to compile it from source to get it to use my good sound card instead of my crappy one.

If you really want to run Mac OSX on generic hardware, google for "osx86" and "insanelymac" .. however, these approaches are highly illegal, as Mac is a commercial OS, just like windows piracy. I can't in good conscience recommend it. Also, chances are it has poor hardware compatibility, as all drivers for non-Apple stuff had to be written from scratch. However, I will say that if you buy a Mac, you won't be disappointed by the audio software (and even hardware) available for it. I tested my Audiofire 4 in a Mac and it worked perfectly. Cubase has a Mac port, and Apple releases their own Logic software suite as well. Expensive, but it's a DAMN good audio production environment, and you can use VSTs too.

For your specific problem, try posting in forums for the software you're using, reading documentation, etc. If nothing works, PM me in detail and I'll see if I can duplicate the bug on my machine.