[PlanetCCRMA] From zero to DAW in 2 hours !

[David Slimp]

My short little How-To which took me from fresh install to perfect DAW
in 2 hours.

I'll be expanding on this soon, but Bal wants help "now" so I thought
I'd get this out ASAP :)

First, let me say I've spent the previous 2-3 weeks trying to get my system
up and running with Linux audio/DAW stuff.  It's been very frustrating, and
I'm not a linux newbie.  But lots of reading to trying one thing then another
to massage my system in to a DAW.  It was all BS.  My two BIGGEST
factors were (1) Trying to get the internal sound card to work, and after
a few days, then trying a $30 SB Live card which still had problems
(2) Trying to install CCRMA on a system I'd been running for 6 months
already, not intending it to be a DAW at that time (using various other
repositories, etc).

Because of that I wasted 2-3 weeks, many body cells died due to high-stress,
and I took several people's time on several mailing lists away from probably
more important things.

Here's the 2 hour, stress-free solution I ended up with:

1) Don't try to work with any cheap/internal cards.  If you're SERIOUS about
audio on linux spend the $100-$200 on a WELL supported, fully featured card.
I decided on the Delta 1010LT since it seems a majority of people on these
lists seem to use that card, and everyone says it's a dream to get working.

2) Install a FRESH version of Fedora Core 4.  Don't be whiney that you've
worked hard on your system and like your configuration.  You're not going
to be doing what you HAD been doing with the machine... it's going to be
your awesome DAW now.. so start it out from ground zero to be JUST that!
BACK UP YOUR PERSONAL DATA FIRST!!
You can always restore any other important config stuff later.
(oh... I picked ext2 for my file system type, since I've read it works
better than
ext3 for audio)

3) Once FC4 was installed, I followed this EXACT proceedure:

# PART 1
#
#   For installing Planet CCRMA I basically followed
#   http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/installtwosix.html
#   But here is the more compact break down for MY personal actions
#

# install CCRMA version of apt
rpm -Uvh http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/apt/rpms/apt-0.5.15cnc6-4.rhfc4.ccrma.i386.rpm

# install GPG key for verifying packages
rpm --import http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/RPM-GPG-KEY.planetccrma.txt


# update apt package lists
apt-get update

# install CCRMA kernel and ALSA drivers
apt-get install planetccrma-core-edge

# reboot in to new kernel
# (note, if you run this as a script, it will NOT automatically
#  pick up where it leaves off after this :)
init 6


# PART 2
#  I raised volume levels on mixer and tested sound
alsamixer    # for my Delta 1010LT I raised the DAC/DAC1 - hooked to speakers
play /usr/share/sounds/KDE_Startup_new.wav

# install all cool audio/video apps
apt-get install planetccrma-audiovideoapps

# At THIS point qjackctl, ardour, etc is working.

# make sure EVERYTHING is up to date
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

#
# while the above is downloading/installing - config apps as regular user
#

# grab some cool sound fonts
wget ftp://ftp.personalcopy.net/pub/PC51f.sf2.gz
wget ftp://ftp.personalcopy.net/pub/Unison.sf2.gz

# start jack GUI - set Frames/Period = 512
# set to START auto:  Misc->Start jack server on app startup
qjackctl &

# start qsynth
# Audio->Sample Rate = 48000
# load Soundfonts (you need to gunzip the ones above, and put in a good dir)
# use qjackctl to connect 1010LT midi out to fluidsynth in
qsynth &

exit


===============

Okay.. that's all I have for now, but should have you up and running

If you follow that and STILL have problems, then post them here.

My time line actually went like this:
#  08:30 - I started installing
#  09:10 - First boot (get apt, kernel)
#  09:44 - Boot to CCRMA kernel (install audio/video apps)
#  10:15 - Running jack/ardour

Good luck !

David