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Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 02:14:51 -0500
From: Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>
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To: alsa-user@jcu.cz
Subject: Re: Machine locks on record, ALSA to blame?
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Throwing my hat in as well...

I also use a TB Malibu and am having lockup problems when recording. But
I'm using Multitrack 2.2, not SoundStudio, and that's with every driver
I've tried with it (many versions of OSS-free and OSS-linux; sadly,
Multitrack does not even recognize the audio devices when using ALSA).
So, although I have no way to know this, I suspect your problem is not
with ALSA. (A quick way to check: download the OSS/Linux driver and give
it a trial run.)


I did briefly have the demo of SoundStudio on my machine, and it worked
fine with the OSS-free drivers, as far as I could tell. But I didn't use
it for very long (I didn't like it much).

> I've been using ALSA for a while now, before ALSA I used Jaroslav's
> great Ultra driver set.  About the time I switched to ALSA and its OSS
> PCM emulation, I noticed that using CERES SoundStudio would lock the
> machine after recording more than 20 or so seconds of audio.

How consistent is that? Does it ever lock much sooner or later? See, I'm
getting lockups, and the timing seems completely random! Sometimes I can
record full-duplex for 10 minutes, sometimes it locks up instantly, but
sooner or later it inevitably locks...

Do you get lockups when *just* recording, or is it only when doing
duplex (i.e. playback & record at same time)? I don't think I've ever
had a problem when just recording.

(snip)
> then X locks, the mouse doesn't move, and the machine (Linux
> 2.1.125 SMP) stops responding to input.  I don't have a machine on this
> local network, so I can't tell if it's still got network.  I presume
> it does not.

This is exactly the symptoms I get. Even the keyboard LEDs no longer
work.
 
> Normally, if one has the special SysRq functions enabled, I could hit
> Alt-PrnScrn-S to sync the disks, Alt-PrnScrn-U to unmount them, and
> Alt-PrnScrn-B to reboot.  I can't sync or umount on this type of lock,
> but the reboot function works.  This is weird, nothing else makes this
> happen.  Just thought I'd throw that out.

How do you enable those? THis is new to me... I can't reboot at all,
short of just hitting the power button and risking filesystem problems.
 
> Back to solving the problem... this has happened throughout many kernel
> versions.  

I have yet to try 2.1; I started on Linux at 2.0.18 and am currently at
2.0.34.

> Now, I've got a Turtle Beach Malibu in there (because the GUS had
> InterWave DSP noise problems), and I was hoping the problem would go
> away; it didn't.  The new card is even in another ISA slot, so that's
> not it (as long a shot as that was).
> 
> I'm using 2.1.125, SoundStudio (long, highly buffered(?) /dev/dsp
> reads), and the TB Malibu (latest ALSA, must be pre8) and I
> REALLY want to be able to do multi-track recording again.  :)

I've never had it working at all. :(

> Or, someone could point me to a nice multi-track audio recorder
> for Linux, something that allows graphical waveform editing would
> be nice, but just something that would allow me to get my guitar
> stuff saved would do.  :)

Try looking at http://sound.lovebead.com/#hdr if you haven't already
seen Dave Phillips' list.

I've tried Multitrack-- I get lockups; I've tried Broadcast -- it's a
dead project and it just dumped core at me; I've tried SLab -- it
requires 2.1 kernel for duplex operation, and I haven't taken the plunge
yet. Maybe you could get SLab working?

Snd can handle an unlimited (?) number of tracks but I don't know if
there's any way to use it for overdubbing.

At this point, I'd be thrilled with a command-line utility that could
play one (stereo) soundfile while recording another one. It wouldn't
even have to do anything else to be useful to me!! Anyone got some
simple ALSA code to do duplex recording? Maybe I could hack together a
utility if I had something to start with...

Ideas, anyone?

--PW

