Solid-State Mini-ITX Linux Recording Studio HOWTO

An anonymous reader submits "LinuxDevices.com has posted a project howto on building a dedicated music recording and editing computer that uses a CompactFlash card instead of a hard drive, to eliminate hard disk chatter. It uses the latest release from the Agnula (GNU/Linux Audio) project, and the newest Epia MII-12000 mini-ITX board from VIA. The method described in the article applies to embedding most any Knoppix-based Live CD onto CompactFlash boot media."

Comments

with one of these drives....

[millahtime]

as reported on ./ get a solid state hard drive. they are pricy now but will probubally be less expensive before this linux system is all together, smooth and getting popular.

One of these with your G5 and your set to go.

What about other sounds.

[suso]

If you're going to go so far as to eliminate hard drive chatter then I would think you'd want to get rid of fan noise, monitor noise, speaker feedback, mouse click noise, etc. On some systems, a CRT can make quite a bit of noise that would interfere with recording.

Sometimes, it's funny though to be watching a vcd and all of a sudden hear an "Uh oh" sound coming from someone's ICQ.

Skip the CF, use the network

[raddan]

Why use expensive, SLOW flash memory when you can run a fast ethernet connection into the room and save on a remote volume? Use SMB, NFS, AFS, whatever, and then you get as much space as you want, and it's quiet to boot.

2GB is a lot of data, but try working that in a professional studio- you can easy fill up 2GB with a half-hour of bad takes. If you're multitracking you can forget about it.

But I like the idea of lost-cost hardware. A VIA MII 12000 is more than adequate (CPU-power-wise) for even 8 simultaneous 16-bit ins and outs. What you're really going to want is a good audio card.

Hard Drive Clatter Isn't Only Issue

[Glitch010101]

I've got one of the Via EPIA Mini-ITX machines, and I can tell you from experience that although there's less moving parts, that doesn't mean it's quiet.

Noisy capacitors, often talked about as a source of insecurity (you can listen to them with a computer and "hear" the data going across), but they also emit an annoying, high-pitched squeak which varies up and down.

If you're looking for a dedicated recording system, the Via boards may not be for you! Mine is noisy enough that I'm considering hiding it (it's my mythTV box) in a cabinet! And it's got no fans!

Re:NFS?

[Lemmeoutada Collecti]

I'd guess you've not worked with serious Studio recording. 1.5 GB is nothing during a single session, during which I for one don't want any hassles trying to transfer files. Once I get the artist warmed up, I don't stop until it's right. Any break in the continuity and it's start all over time.

A single session can last from 30 minutes to several hours, during which mutliple instruments are being recorded. No compression, the lag and/or loss is intolerable on the master recording. This means fast access to the media (or good buffering), plenty of RAM, and the ability to reshoot a sequence (rewrite).

Generally, no fiddling is done during the session on the recording, just tweaking on the input chain. I personally prefer retakes as seperate files, so they can be matched better on timing. Generally, given the option, I will have a complete passage rerecorded rather than just a few notes. (No, I do not work for the RIAA labels, how'd you guess?)

The number of writes pretty much requires a highly rewritable media, and I question the slower, more limited flash usefulness in the media segment. For a boot drive, they are probably ideal, boot the studio with clean settings every time. Only problem? Linux does not have the variety of tools we use.

Re:How good is the distro

[torpor]

I picked up a copy of the Agnula CD at LAD this year in Karlsruhe, along with a couple other audio-specific LiveCD's (one from SUSE, and another whose name I can't remember, alas), and I have to say that they all ran pretty well.

I work for a pro audio equipment mfr. I was pretty impressed with these distro's ... SUSE's ran the smoothest on my hardware from first boot, but once I got it running Agnula was more interesting. It had more stuff bundled on-board, from the scientific/academic sound-hacking with PD/Max and Supercollider, to a grass-roots collection of LADSPA plugins ... once I'd found my way around /usr/share, I spent the good part of an evening hacking around with synthesis and sound production ...

Definitely worth downloading and spending a few hours investigating, if you're a sound/synth geek. (I am, so consider the bias...)