Re: Are VIA chipsets (e.g. PT800 / VT8237) somehow defficient?

From: Doug Laidlaw (laidlaws_at_myaccess.com.au)
Date: 02/24/05 

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 19:26:50 +1100

Shadow_7 wrote:

>> My situation:
>>
>> I want to do multi-channel recording and mixing under Linux and I have
>> two motherboards:
>
>> Given that each motherboard was using the same processor and the same
>> memory, would I really be better off using the P4GE-MX, with all of its
>> obvious shortcomings, rather than the Chaintech SPT800 for the purposes
>> of doing multi-channel recording and mixing under Linux with an
>> x-windows interface such as Ardour or Audacity?
>>
>> (As an aside, I may end up getting a hi-end audio card, but I have had
>> good results recording with onboard audio in the past, and will try that
>> first.)
>
> Via is troublesome.
>
> /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound/VIA-chipset
> (where /usr/src/linux is the root of the kernel source tree)
>
> As far as multitrack recording, you want all of your input to come from a
> single card. There's apparently some minor differences in clocks/speeds
> between even like cards you can't pull input from several cards without
> having sync/pitch issues.
>
> Audacity does alright on my via82xx alsa drivers, IF I compile it from
> source with --port-audio=v19 so it tries to use alsa natively. With this
> configuration, I can do two tracks, maybe three if I lower the bitrate.
> On multiple passes since I only have one input channel.
>
> Haven't tried ardour quite yet. Although did get it to run.
>
> Alsa's dmix for via82xx seems to have too much of a latency issue to use
> on my 800MHz laptop.
>
> Rosegarden4 does most things if jackd is running at a low bitrate of 11025
> (even though the card can do 44100). And you rig timidity to output jackd
> and input alsaseq. You can run 44100 if it's a simple midi file.
>
> You can get some info back about your card from /proc/asound/*
> What I've determined about mine is I have one capture 24 bit 44100 and one
> playback channel 16 bit 44100. Still not sure of the buffer size because
> dmix seems to stutter regardless of what size you allocate.
>
> Other via issues.
>
> -dma and 66 bus speeds is difficult to get right, even if you have the
> drivers and pass kernel parms at boot.
>
> -sonypi and alsa conflict, you can't run both at the same time. but
> sonypi doesn't seem to affect lcd brightness on my vaio anyway.
>
> -even if you get dma and 66 on your drive, /proc still reports bus speed
> as 33. And various other /var/log messages regarding it's confusion.
>
> -an i810 onboard video for an intel p3 seems to outperform my agp 2x
> mach64 video card for an AMD Duron on my laptop by about 20%, even though
> most other machine specs are almost identical.
>
> If you want to do multitrack recording and mixing, by all means get a real
> and good sound card. And a fast cpu and loads of ram wont hurt either.
>
> Shadow_7

Generally, I agree that if you want to do "real" work with sound, get a
"real" soundcard. I have had 2 AC97 motherboards, Linux wouldn't produce
sound with either. I got a cheap Vibra 128 card (because it was recommended
by an Australian Linux book). The Windows installer CD claims that it will
do all kinds of fancy things. And I am only a "normal" user, so I can't
comment on any continuing motherboard issues. Mandrake's Rosegarden RPM
installs but won't start on my system (1600 MHz Athlon XP, 256 MB SDRAM).

Doug. 

-- 
ICQ Number 178748389. Registered Linux User No. 277548.
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul.
Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
        - Unknown.

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