How to use Renoise on a system without f*#$ing it over and doing your head in

renoise.md

Credit

This came about thanks to Mark on the Renoise forum. Thanks for finally pointing me in the right direction for this.

http://forum.renoise.com/index.php?/topic/38738-renoise-linux-and-pulseaudio/

Intro

Linux audio is a pain in the arse at the best of times.

ALSA is a mess. Pulseaudio is good now, but doesn't cater to "Pro Audio" needs. JACK is great if you don't care about any other desktop audio needs or simplicity. Renoise wants JACK or ALSA, nothing else.

Nobody seems to want to help anybody else out. Anyway...

So, in order to run something like Renoise under gnome-shell, without it being a c*nt, what should you do?

NB: The following is for Arch Linux with an unmodified gnome-shell / Pulseaudio with the pulseaudio-alsa package setup. Change file locations as your distro / kernel expects.

Do This

If you're not using it to route everything ALSA through Pulseaudio then install

pacman -S pulseaudio-alsa

Load the ALSA Loopback module on boot

% cat /etc/modules-load.d/stuff.conf
acpi-cpufreq
fuse
iwl3945
libphy
snd-hda-codec
snd-aloop
tg3

Ensure the ALSA Loopback device is NOT default

Example given is a crappy hda-intel, like my laptop.

% cat /etc/modprobe.d/stuff.conf
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias snd-card-1 snd-aloop

options snd-hda-intel index=0
options snd-aloop index=1 pcm_substreams=2

Reboot

Make sure after the reboot:

% cat /proc/asound/cards             
 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xfebfc000 irq 47
 1 [Loopback       ]: Loopback - Loopback
                      Loopback 1

Make a startup script for GNOME, if you haven't already done so

Create a script like ~/.gnome-startup with the following:

alsaloop -c 2 -C hw:Loopback,1,0 -P default &

Make sure it's executable and all that shit.

Run:

gnome-session-properties

I call my entry "00 GNOME Startup" so it runs first (pretty sure that's how it works).

Add the ~/.gnome-startup script.

Reboot

Then, make sure alsaloop is running:

% ps -ef | grep alsaloop
pezz       907     1  0 19:30 ?        00:00:12 alsaloop -c 2 -C hw:Loopback,1,0 -P default

Make sure Renoise uses the Loopback device instead of fucking your main ALSA device over to the exclusion of all else

See: http://i.imgur.com/RB01zH4.png

Enjoy

• Your desktop shit works as per normal, because Pulseaudio hasn't been dicked with (mic for Skype etc, everything works)
• Renoise can own the fuck out of the Loopback all it wants

The End

Be happy with Renoise on a non-DAW, for once.

I tried this but I had problems with XRUNs and subsequent audio cutoff :(
Any advice? Currently I am using Wine to cheat & get a free Pulseaudio output device but I would love a native solution.

I wrote about some of my renoise linux gripes here: http://forum.renoise.com/index.php/topic/48290-linux-hidpi-pulseaudio-a-success-story/
I share your sentiments about linux audio. I still think renoise should support pulseaudio output - audacity has supported this for ages.

Thanks for that. That was really annoying 👍 :)

On ensuring the ALSA Loopback device is not default, how do I find the name of the module/audio thingy (yes, I'm not sure what I am doing) to put in place of snd-hda-intel?
Thank you!

this walkthrough should be officialy promoted by the Renoise team in their FAQ!

this walkthrough should be officialy promoted by the Renoise team in their FAQ!

Updated info for Fedora : https://gist.github.com/okayawright/fa0675557cc26f428e9d02e3be365078

Thanks. Unfortunately it's not a good method, I'm getting all sorts of clicks/stuttering in the sound unless the CPU is fully loaded. I wonder if there's some kernel module that simply aliases the default ALSA device, so that Renoise recognizes it (like the Loopback device).

Just to mention, this is finally fixed in 3.4.x:

Linux: Allow using the “default” ALSA system device (e.g. to use pulse audio)