Ubuntu Desires Lower Audio Latency For Gaming

[unix_epoch]

Can you really tell the latency between the pianist triggering the string and you hearing it?

YES, if you are the pianist.

[energyman]

Hardware mixing doesn't work. Why? Because my hardware doesn't do mixing. So how can it work?

Yeah, I'm joking. Point is, the hw mixing argument is just an excuse for shitty sw mixing implementations. In the age of dual core CPUs being the low end, not being able to do proper audio mixing sounds more like a bad joke to me.

no, you certainly are again in stupid mode.

Hardware mixing is the answer. It is not ALSA's or PA's fault if YOU choose to buy SHIT. That's it. No excuses. You bought crap and now you are whining around.

I don't regard dmix as part of core ALSA because it is a plugin. And it was developed as an afterthought hack due to the problems posed by pure ALSA.

except that ALSA were meant to have plugins from the start. dmix was introduced because people are buying crap and then complain.

See RealNC as an example.

[unix_epoch]

Is there a "defaults.pcm.dmix.*" option for this? I'd like to try it and see whether audio skipping becomes a problem with smaller buffers.

It's the period_size and buffer_size parameters on the slave PCM. Some examples on this page: http://alsa.opensrc.org/Dmix. Official docs here: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind.../Asoundrc#dmix and here: http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...m_plugins_dmix

[Bestia]

And I never had any audio stuttering with PulseAudio, and I hardly have the worlds most powerful setup.

I changed the audio system to OSSv4.2 because of the audio stuttering with PulseAudio. I have Dual Core 4400+ 64 bit Athlon so it's much more powerful then Sempron and PA in my use case gives horrible results. Also PulseAudio on Ubuntu already have the high priority.

I'm regularly compiling new versions of Wine on Ubuntu and I have Chrome opened with many tabs and gmusicbrowser playing music. The processor cores are at 100% usage all the time through compilation and most of the RAM is in use. In this case audio stutters with PA so badly that I can't stand it, while when OSSv4.2 is in use I get zero stutters and audio is crystal clear. That's why I always remove ALSA and PA from Ubuntu (unfortunately I can't purge all of the PA).

[RealNC]

no, you certainly are again in stupid mode.

Hardware mixing is the answer. It is not ALSA's or PA's fault if YOU choose to buy SHIT. That's it. No excuses. You bought crap and now you are whining around.



except that ALSA were meant to have plugins from the start. dmix was introduced because people are buying crap and then complain.

See RealNC as an example.

Yeah sure. A Xonar D1 is crap while a Creative Recon3D is so l33t. Are you insane?

The only thing HW mixing is an answer to is crappy SW mixers.

[ninez]

The only thing HW mixing is an answer to is crappy SW mixers.

no, you would be wrong. H/W mixing is very useful ~ you just aren't someone that needs it. You would have a completely different outlook, if you wanted/needed things like zero-latency monitoring, or things like being able to control the ratio of the mix vs. monitoring.

to claim HW mixing is an answer to crappy SW mixers is, welll..... moronic. Your better off saying that HW mixing just ins't something you need for your particular usage, instead of saying it's useless (considering the vast majority of audio interfaces - ie: proaudio AD/DA convertors boast HW mixing - including every single interface i've purchased over the last decade).

cheerz

[JS987]

H/W mixing is very useful

Is there some sound card with
- HW mixing
- headphone amp
- replacable op-amps
- supported by Linux
- price less than $200
?

[RealNC]

no, you would be wrong. H/W mixing is very useful ~ you just aren't someone that needs it. You would have a completely different outlook, if you wanted/needed things like zero-latency monitoring, or things like being able to control the ratio of the mix vs. monitoring.

to claim HW mixing is an answer to crappy SW mixers is, welll..... moronic. Your better off saying that HW mixing just ins't something you need for your particular usage, instead of saying it's useless (considering the vast majority of audio interfaces - ie: proaudio AD/DA convertors boast HW mixing - including every single interface i've purchased over the last decade).

Keep in mind that we're talking about playing video games, watching videos and listening to MP3s here. HW mixing is certainly not required for that.

[RealNC]

It's the period_size and buffer_size parameters on the slave PCM. Some examples on this page: http://alsa.opensrc.org/Dmix. Official docs here: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind.../Asoundrc#dmix and here: http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...m_plugins_dmix

Isn't there an API for this thing? Having to configure text files each time I want to change just doesn't cut it, IMO. This is stuff that should be configurable at runtime. Things like that is what make me believe that ALSA should be called LSA instead.

[ninez]

Keep in mind that we're talking about playing video games, watching videos and listening to MP3s here. HW mixing is certainly not required for that.

keep in mind that when i said " H/W mixing is very useful ~ you just aren't someone that needs it" - that is exactly what i was implying. regardless, PA is pretty shotty and given the option, i would rather have HW mixing, myself (even in the scenario's listed above).

Isn't there an API for this thing? Having to configure text files each time I want to change just doesn't cut it, IMO. This is stuff that should be configurable at runtime. Things like that is what make me believe that ALSA should be called LSA instead.

can you give a real-world example where you would constantly be needing to change these settings?? (i ask, because i can't think of any practical reason, really). Also, many ALSA applications allow you to adjust ALSA's settings (for that app), if they have an audio/sound dialog.

Typically though, i don't spend any time in any OS, changing my audio preferences around - on a daily, monthly or even yearly basis... The idea is you set it up and shouldn't have to go back changing things, unless you've decided you don't like something, or there is a particular application that has different needs (which in those cases, the app probably lets you change audio settings, anyway).

Is there some sound card with
- HW mixing
- headphone amp
- replacable op-amps
- supported by Linux
- price less than $200
?

probably, but i'm not wasting my time researching that for you, when you are perfectly capable of using google / visiting sites like FFADO.org or the ALSA:Matrix to find a card that is supported.... I will say though, if you don't mind spending just a little more than $200 (like $275 or find something used at that price or slightly lower) there are certainly options. For example, the other week i bought a small/more portable firewire audio interface for $275 CDN (brand-new), which was the Presonus: Firestudio Mobile (8-in / 6-out @96khz), plus it has a bunch of other useful features and is well-supported in FFADO (plug and play, no problems at all, works great).

cheerz