Best Linux/unix for audio

[Martin Ward]

Hi there
I am a newbie here so apologies if I am asking a question where the answer is already on this site but buried. I have good loudspeaker understanding and have designed several projects years ago. I also have strong IT/computer skills but new to linux / unix. So I need some help!

I am designing a PC whose function primarily (sole if necessary) will be to handle crossover filters and room correction adjustments. I have already decided on a linux / unix OS but which one? These are the major building blocks I am looking at, as I currently understand:

1 Operating system - ?
2 ASIO drivers for my Delta 1010 audio card with breakout box.
3 JACK server
4 Brute FIR
5 Acourate (on a windows PC) for determining BruteFIR coefficients.
6 HD to store OS and wav music library
7 CD/DVD software player
8 Media search facility

I wish to restrict this initial thread to ask the following question. Which Linux or unix operating system is best to address the above. Most of the time music will be stored on the large HD but I also intend to connect a CD player (maybe internal) via S/PDIF.

The only OS I have really heard of is Ubuntu but what about Agnula or others? I am looking for the views of people with lots of linux experience. I have enough to learn with configuring Jack and BruteFIR so the simpler the OS the better!

Many thanks for your anticipated help.

Martin

 

[phofman]

Is the device supposed to have GUI interface? Or just a "workhouse" machine serving files and running the Xover?

 

[Xoc1]

I have not tried this for a while but what about Ubuntu Studio?
Home | Ubuntu Studio
It come preconfigured with most of the applications you want, and is optimised for low latency. Brutefir is listed on the ubuntu universe applications so would be easy to install.

 

[Martin Ward]

This question regarding the gui is an interesting one and many thanks for the Ubuntu Studio suggestion. Initially I am hoping to handle the audio processing in the same box as the media management and internal player. This would then suggest an OS like Ubuntu Studio. I am, however, mindful of the processing power needs of BruteFIR with three FIR filters and some equalisation.

As I am fortunate enough to have a couple of eligible computers at my disposal and I may try one with say Ubuntu and one with a non-gui interface. This could lead then to one becoming a media server and the other a "black box" that is dedicated to sound processing and will out of necessity be close to the speakers/amps.

The configuration I am not looking forward to is the configuration of Jack so until my linux skills develop further I will appreciate the help of a gui. That said I would welcome your ideas regarding a non-gui choice. I have read that spblinux is a very efficient choice for handling BruteFIR but not sure if it supports JACK. What do you think?

Thanks again for your help.

Martin

 

[phofman]

For the non-gui option I would suggest debian testing, which is a rolling-release distribution with reasonable stability of updates.

 

[Martin Ward]

Thanks for all the input which has now enabled me to make a decision. I am going to set up a muti-boot system with three different operating systems. I am going to concentrate initially on Ubuntu Studio as I have read some interesting Jack videos and I think this will be the easiest (for me) to set up. I also intend to set up debian as suggested, although I have no experience of this, and also spblinux as I know that this has been used successfully as a slimmed-down OS that will run BruteFIR directly. I am sure that at the end of the day I will end up with a server running the media management stuff and a dedicated box for the audio processing.

A fairly steep learning curve ahead but I feel now that I am on my way. The inputs here have been much appreciated and I will now consider this thread as answered.

Looking forward to getting to the JACK and BruteFIR configuration though this will have to wait a couple of months as I have some other things to sort our before I can give proper time to this exciting project.

Thanks again to everyone

Martin

 

[savcom]

regarding the server side of your thread, has anyone worked out how you can set a Linux uPnP client up on a thin client that picks up sources automatically? It's easy to set up a workstation to point to a shared drive (using normal Linux file share options) but harder, it seems, to do this through uPnP.

Linux-based uPnP servers are easy to use / set up / operate. It's the client that's harder on Linux.

Savcom