Cockos Incorporated Forums - View Single Post - Lubuntu

JamesPeters · 10-26-2019, 04:13 PM

I briefly had a 1st generation 2i2, and this is improved in several ways. It's less noisy (very quiet actually), the headphone amp is stronger, the mic preamps sound more natural to me (the originals sounded a bit "rounded" although pleasantly so), and the "instrument" input switch works better although I can still clip the input (with the gain down all the way) with a strong humbucker or by slapping on the bass. It also still has a power on/off "thump" which I prefer to avoid by turning off my speakers first. But yeah it's a pretty cool device and it works "out of the box" in Linux. The "air" switch makes the preamps' upper mids/treble a bit peakier in a nice way, reminiscent of transformer-based mic preamps. I actually got this because the onboard Realtek wouldn't do direct input monitoring on its headphone out (even though it does it on the line out, lol! talk about backwards), and I was planning to run my transformer-based preamps through this. After testing it, I don't think I will. It sounds really good on its own.

The ALC1220, at least the way it's implemented on this mainboard, sounds quite good. It has some more noise compared to the 2i2 though, mostly because of using unbalanced cables and being around all the computer electronics/power supplies. Being USB, the 2i2 escapes all that. If the onboard device would've allowed direct monitoring of the input at the headphone out, I'd have kept using it. Even at around 2ms latency (and confirmed at that), I can feel the latency somehow. I never thought I was that kind of guy, but I am. I only really notice when playing something really fast on guitar, and it's not as though I'm worrying about my timing being thrown off. It just feels like the attack "is wrong" as I'm playing. And whether it's set for 2ms latency or 6ms latency, it's nearly the same experience.

Yeah 128 samples and 3 blocks at 44.1 KHz/24-bit is what I use as my "stable for everything" setting. 2.9/5.8ms is what I get too, and I confirmed the total RTL on my system anyway. I think I had to adjust 20 samples for the exact match, but close enough.

I tried a UMC202HD and a UMC204HD. They're not bad. They remind me of the Steinberg UR22 in terms of functionality and noise level (respectable), but the preamps sound somewhat different. The UR22's preamps sound a bit...stiffer? The Behringer's sound a bit softer. I recommended the 202HD to a friend who "had no money" but wanted to record at home, and it's working well for him. I got low enough latency with it that I was actually surprised; I figured "it's a Behringer...take what you can get..." but it was low latency and stable. I don't recall exactly what it was but it's probably comparable to what I'm getting with the 2i2.

I'm probably done trying different distros. I "get it" enough now. Xubuntu is good and I can't recommend switching to Lubuntu, although I'm also not bothering to switch back to Xubuntu on my main system now. Some things about Lubuntu are more annoying, like customizing your applications menu or unbinding the ALT keys from their default shortcuts. Performance is basically the same, it has the same "base" and kernels and runs most of the same software from the repos (some Qt stuff doesn't work as well in Xubuntu but there are usually alternate versions anyway). I'd say keep using Xubuntu. I might go back to it after I ride out this cycle of Lubuntu...we'll see.

10-26-2019, 04:13 PM	#11
JamesPeters Human being with feelings Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Near a big lake Posts: 3,943	I briefly had a 1st generation 2i2, and this is improved in several ways. It's less noisy (very quiet actually), the headphone amp is stronger, the mic preamps sound more natural to me (the originals sounded a bit "rounded" although pleasantly so), and the "instrument" input switch works better although I can still clip the input (with the gain down all the way) with a strong humbucker or by slapping on the bass. It also still has a power on/off "thump" which I prefer to avoid by turning off my speakers first. But yeah it's a pretty cool device and it works "out of the box" in Linux. The "air" switch makes the preamps' upper mids/treble a bit peakier in a nice way, reminiscent of transformer-based mic preamps. I actually got this because the onboard Realtek wouldn't do direct input monitoring on its headphone out (even though it does it on the line out, lol! talk about backwards), and I was planning to run my transformer-based preamps through this. After testing it, I don't think I will. It sounds really good on its own. The ALC1220, at least the way it's implemented on this mainboard, sounds quite good. It has some more noise compared to the 2i2 though, mostly because of using unbalanced cables and being around all the computer electronics/power supplies. Being USB, the 2i2 escapes all that. If the onboard device would've allowed direct monitoring of the input at the headphone out, I'd have kept using it. Even at around 2ms latency (and confirmed at that), I can feel the latency somehow. I never thought I was that kind of guy, but I am. I only really notice when playing something really fast on guitar, and it's not as though I'm worrying about my timing being thrown off. It just feels like the attack "is wrong" as I'm playing. And whether it's set for 2ms latency or 6ms latency, it's nearly the same experience. Yeah 128 samples and 3 blocks at 44.1 KHz/24-bit is what I use as my "stable for everything" setting. 2.9/5.8ms is what I get too, and I confirmed the total RTL on my system anyway. I think I had to adjust 20 samples for the exact match, but close enough. I tried a UMC202HD and a UMC204HD. They're not bad. They remind me of the Steinberg UR22 in terms of functionality and noise level (respectable), but the preamps sound somewhat different. The UR22's preamps sound a bit...stiffer? The Behringer's sound a bit softer. I recommended the 202HD to a friend who "had no money" but wanted to record at home, and it's working well for him. I got low enough latency with it that I was actually surprised; I figured "it's a Behringer...take what you can get..." but it was low latency and stable. I don't recall exactly what it was but it's probably comparable to what I'm getting with the 2i2. I'm probably done trying different distros. I "get it" enough now. Xubuntu is good and I can't recommend switching to Lubuntu, although I'm also not bothering to switch back to Xubuntu on my main system now. Some things about Lubuntu are more annoying, like customizing your applications menu or unbinding the ALT keys from their default shortcuts. Performance is basically the same, it has the same "base" and kernels and runs most of the same software from the repos (some Qt stuff doesn't work as well in Xubuntu but there are usually alternate versions anyway). I'd say keep using Xubuntu. I might go back to it after I ride out this cycle of Lubuntu...we'll see.