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Oh oh! Another chance to ask this: What do you use _instead_ of pulseaudio? I have asked this so many times and never got a clear answer. How do I manage my au

Oh oh! Another chance to ask this: What do you use _instead_ of pulseaudio? I have asked this so many times and never got a clear answer. How do I manage my audio without PA? Where can I find articles on this? I have never had a _real_ problem with PulseAudio not working the way I wanted (bluetooth auto-connect took one line to fix). I would be very grateful for any reading material on this!

dijit 7y ago
bluetoothctl and alsa. Pulseaudio was built in a time where alsa didn't support multiple sinks. Alsa promptly got support for multiple sinks, so the primary need for pulseaudio wasnt there. PA was a stinker when it first arrived, but it's actually really good now. There's no reason to use anything else if you don't have issues. I still have some issues with sink identification (super long string identifiers on the CLI), it doesn't seem fit for human consumption, but if you stick with pavucontrol and its ilk (and stray away from the CLI) then it's very usable these days. I would even call it more capable and mature than ALSA. the archlinux wiki has information on how to run ALSA by itself: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Ar... However, they rely on udev, and it may drag in systemd.
- filmor 7y ago
  ALSA required you to configure dmix for cheap audio hardware to even have multiple sources...
  - dfox 7y ago
    I distinctly remember tat for a long time I was using OSS instead of ALSA, because I have seen that behavior as a desirable feature for me :)
  - wott 7y ago
    The 'configuration' is like 3 lines, just telling to use dmix.. pcm.!default { type plug slave.pcm "plug:dmix" }
  - AstralStorm 7y ago
    Set up by default for about 10 years.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Pulseaudio is still a stinker when it comes to latency. In fact it is unusable if you care about latency at all.
  - dijit 7y ago
    Like others have mentioned, then you need JACK. The majority of laptop/desktop users are watching youtube videos and movies, or listening to music. Where some latency isn't really an issue. Choice here is good, and the _good_ thing is that pulseaudio is not core to your operating system so it can be swapped out. :)
    - jacquesm 7y ago
      > Like others have mentioned, then you need JACK. I know I need JACK, I'm using it every day. > The majority of laptop/desktop users are watching youtube videos and movies, or listening to music. Where some latency isn't really an issue. The majority of laptop/desktop users are using windows. > Choice here is good, and the _good_ thing is that pulseaudio is not core to your operating system so it can be swapped out. :) It actually wasn't always so, disabling / removing pulseaudio more often than not broke your system in interesting ways, only since the last couple of releases this has been solved, and the pulseaudio bridge in https://kx.studio/ https://kx.studio/ works well.
cies 7y ago
integration with JACK (low-latency audio) and software that needs JACK (audio production software)
- filmor 7y ago
  JACK and pulseaudio are designed for entirely different use-cases. I have both installed on my system and switch as needed.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    Check out https://kx.studio/ https://kx.studio/ and maybe you won't have to switch any more. There is a working pulseaudio bridge in there.
    - cies 7y ago
      Good point. I've used Audio distro's for this reason, but I think PA-Jack switching should not need a switch of distro (just install some packages and (among them) an new kernel we RT patches in).
      - jacquesm 7y ago
        You can install the kxstudio stuff on top of your regular distro. It works like a charm.
  - cies 7y ago
    The switching is not very straight fwd last time i checked, that was my point.
    - AstralStorm 7y ago
      It's easier to run pulseaudio on top of Jack with its module. It's manual setup though, something like Cadence can make it less manual.
guggle 7y ago
PA is fine for most needs. It's just not suitable for pro audio / music producing aplpications though. Niche problem, I agree, but still... (Jack is used here).
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Interesting thought: what if every problem is eventually a 'niche problem', and by ignoring all those niches you end up killing something for everybody?
voldacar 7y ago
Alsa and JACK when appropriate
jacquesm 7y ago
For real time audio there is only Jack. Fortunately there is now a working pulseaudio to jack bridge.
sergeykish 7y ago
Just ALSA. All I need is headphones. Maybe my case is unusual and everyone else needs bluetooth/network speakers...

dijit 7y ago

bluetoothctl and alsa. Pulseaudio was built in a time where alsa didn't support multiple sinks. Alsa promptly got support for multiple sinks, so the primary need for pulseaudio wasnt there. PA was a stinker when it first arrived, but it's actually really good now. There's no reason to use anything else if you don't have issues. I still have some issues with sink identification (super long string identifiers on the CLI), it doesn't seem fit for human consumption, but if you stick with pavucontrol and its ilk (and stray away from the CLI) then it's very usable these days. I would even call it more capable and mature than ALSA. the archlinux wiki has information on how to run ALSA by itself: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Ar... However, they rely on udev, and it may drag in systemd.

filmor 7y ago
ALSA required you to configure dmix for cheap audio hardware to even have multiple sources...
- dfox 7y ago
  I distinctly remember tat for a long time I was using OSS instead of ALSA, because I have seen that behavior as a desirable feature for me :)
- wott 7y ago
  The 'configuration' is like 3 lines, just telling to use dmix.. pcm.!default { type plug slave.pcm "plug:dmix" }
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  Set up by default for about 10 years.
jacquesm 7y ago
Pulseaudio is still a stinker when it comes to latency. In fact it is unusable if you care about latency at all.
- dijit 7y ago
  Like others have mentioned, then you need JACK. The majority of laptop/desktop users are watching youtube videos and movies, or listening to music. Where some latency isn't really an issue. Choice here is good, and the _good_ thing is that pulseaudio is not core to your operating system so it can be swapped out. :)
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    > Like others have mentioned, then you need JACK. I know I need JACK, I'm using it every day. > The majority of laptop/desktop users are watching youtube videos and movies, or listening to music. Where some latency isn't really an issue. The majority of laptop/desktop users are using windows. > Choice here is good, and the _good_ thing is that pulseaudio is not core to your operating system so it can be swapped out. :) It actually wasn't always so, disabling / removing pulseaudio more often than not broke your system in interesting ways, only since the last couple of releases this has been solved, and the pulseaudio bridge in https://kx.studio/ https://kx.studio/ works well.

cies 7y ago

integration with JACK (low-latency audio) and software that needs JACK (audio production software)

filmor 7y ago
JACK and pulseaudio are designed for entirely different use-cases. I have both installed on my system and switch as needed.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Check out https://kx.studio/ https://kx.studio/ and maybe you won't have to switch any more. There is a working pulseaudio bridge in there.
  - cies 7y ago
    Good point. I've used Audio distro's for this reason, but I think PA-Jack switching should not need a switch of distro (just install some packages and (among them) an new kernel we RT patches in).
    - jacquesm 7y ago
      You can install the kxstudio stuff on top of your regular distro. It works like a charm.
- cies 7y ago
  The switching is not very straight fwd last time i checked, that was my point.
  - AstralStorm 7y ago
    It's easier to run pulseaudio on top of Jack with its module. It's manual setup though, something like Cadence can make it less manual.

guggle 7y ago

PA is fine for most needs. It's just not suitable for pro audio / music producing aplpications though. Niche problem, I agree, but still... (Jack is used here).

jacquesm 7y ago
Interesting thought: what if every problem is eventually a 'niche problem', and by ignoring all those niches you end up killing something for everybody?

voldacar 7y ago

Alsa and JACK when appropriate

jacquesm 7y ago

For real time audio there is only Jack. Fortunately there is now a working pulseaudio to jack bridge.

sergeykish 7y ago

Just ALSA. All I need is headphones. Maybe my case is unusual and everyone else needs bluetooth/network speakers...