[ARCHIVED] Pro Audio on Manjaro (and other Arch-based) Setup Guide

[foxAsteria]

Hi hi, I can't seem to find any info on this, can you point me in the right direction? Sometimes my wine prefix partially breaks and I need to start a fresh one but I don't want to reinstall things that are working fine in the original.

Is there some trick to combining wine prefixes? If I have plugins installed across multiple prefixes, is it enough to just point Reaper to the respective install locations? Or is it just not a good idea?

Also how do I know or choose which prefix I'm using if I run an installer? I feel like I should know this, but I guess I'm not searching with the right terms.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by foxAsteria

Hi hi, I can't seem to find any info on this, can you point me in the right direction? Sometimes my wine prefix partially breaks and I need to start a fresh one but I don't want to reinstall things that are working fine in the original.

Is there some trick to combining wine prefixes? If I have plugins installed across multiple prefixes, is it enough to just point Reaper to the respective install locations? Or is it just not a good idea?

Also how do I know or choose which prefix I'm using if I run an installer? I feel like I should know this, but I guess I'm not searching with the right terms.

Are you using yabridge? You set all your locations in yabridge and then point REAPER (or any other DAW) to ~/.vst3 and ~/.vst (for any VST2 plugins).

Run:

yabridgectl list

to see your locations within your various wine prefixes. Use:

yabridgectl add <path>

to add paths in whatever wineprefix you like...yabridge doesn't care.

EDIT: For knowing which wine prefix is which, if you just run the installer, it will default to ~/.wine but if you want to target a specific prefix use:

WINEPREFIX=<path> wine <installer>

e.g.

WINEPREFIX=~/.winevalhalla wine Setup\ Valhalla\ Room\ v1.6.2.2.exe

from inside the (Valhalla) install directory...

[foxAsteria]

Thanks Beth I think I got it now. I was confused because I had iLok plugins in both prefixes. I needed to also install the authorization app in both and authorize them on the same prefix they were installed to.

I ended up using Bottles because it's easier than typing in the paths each time.

[heda]

I wonder if there is a way to alway force a hard disk to be on standby. I have this old poorly designed laptop that has an internal extra spinning hard drive that gets too hot. I don't need to use it while using REAPER so I spin it down with hdparm but after a while, the disk starts spinning again. I've tried unmounting the partition too but it keeps waking up.
I hope I don't have to end doing a script or something to constantly monitor the drive status.

[chmaha]

Updated guide to point to https://github.com/Frogging-Family/w.../wine-arch.yml for wine-tkg builds.

[FermentedDigeridoo]

I want to report a success story, as this guide finally fixed a large chunk of my problems.

Manjaro + pipewire really works well! I would still be dealing with BSODs on Windows if it weren't for this guide. I haven't had any xruns either with this pipewire-exclusive configuration, and I love not having to touch jack/jack2 or carla. qpwgraph works just fine.

The one thing I haven't quite figured out yet is how to set up my other two monitors for quad-channel audio; currently, pipewire doesn't route to the channels correctly. I only found this article, but still trying to understand whether these steps really apply to me: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipew...rtual-surround

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by FermentedDigeridoo

I want to report a success story, as this guide finally fixed a large chunk of my problems.

Great to hear!

Originally Posted by FermentedDigeridoo

The one thing I haven't quite figured out yet is how to set up my other two monitors for quad-channel audio;

Sorry, I've only ever needed stereo output either via speakers or headphones so I probably can't help you there.

[chmaha]

Just an FYI that covers both my Manjaro and Ubuntu pro audio guides: I'm moving to a quarterly update¹ of the guides because I simply don't have the time day-to-day any more to dedicate to much of anything beyond family and job (hopefully maintaining that order!). I've scheduled a week prior to each quarter release to chip away in the evenings at these and my ReaClassical project. So expect the next updates to be October 15th.

Do feel free to add any suggested changes as a pull request or start a discussion via raising an issue. Feel free to continue discussion here too...

10/08/22: Added reference to Chow plugins (thanks bukbukXiu!)
16/08/22: Added ElephantDSP Room Reverb to plugins list (available via AUR too)
------------
¹https://libreav.org/article/quarterly-release-pact

[chmaha]

Small update: tightened up wine-tkg section and included reference to CLAP plugins. Fixed section numbering.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Thanks as usual, Beth, no matter how small are the updates. This guide is pure gold...

[krahosk]

Originally Posted by BethHarmon

Small update: tightened up wine-tkg section and included reference to CLAP plugins. Fixed section numbering.

Thank you for maintaining the guide which has been essential for me.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by BethHarmon

I've been meaning to write a setup guide for getting low-latency professional audio on Manjaro and after a bit of procrastination, here it is:

https://github.com/ElizabethHarmon/ManjaroProAudio

It will be an ongoing exercise as I fill in detail etc. In this initial state, I simply documented every step I took getting a vanilla Manjaro install ready for my usual audio work.

Feedback welcome!

Thanks a lot for your guide. I've noticed that the GitHub repo as well as your profile lead to a 404 - is this just happening to me or did you decide to remove the guide on purpose?

[bjohn]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Thanks a lot for your guide. I've noticed that the GitHub repo as well as your profile lead to a 404 - is this just happening to me or did you decide to remove the guide on purpose?

Interesting that your post was made at 4:04 pm (at least that's the timestamp in my time zone). :-)

I imagine we'll hear eventually what's going on, but I'm guessing it could be something like "Beth Harmon" running afoul of Netflix's lawyers for using the Beth Harmon name, or maybe there was some other reason to change the name here and in the Github repository. I'm hoping it wasn't a tiff with the Reaper developers leading to the removal of all the great tools, advice, and resources that Beth Harmon has developed for Reaper. We'll find out eventually.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Thanks a lot for your guide. I've noticed that the GitHub repo as well as your profile lead to a 404 - is this just happening to me or did you decide to remove the guide on purpose?

Originally Posted by bjohn

Interesting that your post was made at 4:04 pm (at least that's the timestamp in my time zone). :-)

I imagine we'll hear eventually what's going on, but I'm guessing it could be something like "Beth Harmon" running afoul of Netflix's lawyers for using the Beth Harmon name, or maybe there was some other reason to change the name here and in the Github repository. I'm hoping it wasn't a tiff with the Reaper developers leading to the removal of all the great tools, advice, and resources that Beth Harmon has developed for Reaper. We'll find out eventually.

Oh, as bjohn says, we'll have to wait for her come back with the resources and a new profile... I hope she is fine, there is nothing too serious and she is just tweaking her stuff.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

The user jnorman34 has written a brief message in the ReaClassical thread (https://forum.cockos.com/showthread....08#post2623508) with some clues about Beth. I have already offered myself to reconstruct the guides here in the forum (both for my own use and the continuity of such an invaluable resource).


Let's hope we'll have some news soon...

[dom64]

Archive.org have saved it luckily:
Link > https://web.archive.org/web/20221019...anjaroProAudio

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Thanks soo much, Dom64, as I said in the other thread! I have already asked Schwa if he can put the link in the first post, so everything continues and we can go on with this topic here. Beth's absence will be felt, of course, but it's great that the resources are available...

[heda]

wow so strange! thanks for the archive version. downloading a local offline copy too just in case I need to reinstall everything

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Yes, it's definitely strange, and I just downloaded a local offline copy of both guides too, just in case...

[Soli Deo Gloria]

As noticed by jotpe in the ReaClassical thread, there is a new, official Github page for this tutorial :

https://github.com/chmaha/ManjaroProAudio

Thanks so much chmaha/Beth!

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Soli Deo Gloria

As noticed by jotpe in the ReaClassical thread, there is a new, official Github page for this tutorial :

https://github.com/chmaha/ManjaroProAudio

Thanks so much chmaha/Beth!

As mentioned in the Ubuntu guide thread, thanks for posting the new info. See the ReaClassical thread for a small amount of information on what happened (though much of it will remain private).

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Thanks to you, chmaha, for coming back with all the resources. I'll read the ReaClassical thread, as you mention...

[chmaha]

I added a small section at the end about checking volume levels post-setup (using alsamixer). Note that if you enable your interface through your desktop environment's audio controls (even if temporarily) it can default to low output volume which also subsequently affects the volume put out in REAPER. I discovered this when my headphone volume knob on the 204HD needed to be turned almost to full to get a decent level FWIW, I always normally disable my 204HD as a device in Plasma so there's only ever one device putting out desktop sound.

Not sure whether it is a pipewire quirk or affects pulseaudio too. Anyway, always good to do a final check given sound is what it's all about! This from the Pipewire Arch documentation:



EDIT: Turns out that if I unplug and plug back in, the volume level returns to 41 in alsamixer. I assume that would also be the case every time I restart the PC too. Solution seems to be to keep it enabled in plasma's/pipewire's audio volume controls.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Thanks a lot for the guide, chmaha!

Can you tell me why it's beneficial to enable the "JACK D-Bus interface"? Also, what is the difference between that option and the "Enable D-Bus interface" option?

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Thanks a lot for the guide, chmaha!

Can you tell me why it's beneficial to enable the "JACK D-Bus interface"? Also, what is the difference between that option and the "Enable D-Bus interface" option?

I'm a little fuzzy on this since I've been using pipewire for quite a while but I believe it allows for bridging between JACK and pulseaudio...basically what we had to do before Pipewire made it all very simple. Hence checking the "JACK" D-Bus interface option vs the other one.

[chmaha]

Just checking in to ask if any recent Arch-based distro updates have rendered any part of the pipewire instructions moot for new installs? I'm downloading latest Manjaro ISO to test myself but any community feedback would be great.

[chmaha]

As far as I can tell, Manjaro ISOs still ship with pulseaudio and not pipewire so the instructions for installing pipewire seem to still be valid. For other Arch-based, I'm not sure other than it is possible to set up pipewire from the start using pure Arch's archinstall and for any pure-Arch-based distro follow the Arch documentation here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire#Audio

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

I tried your pipewire-instructions last week on a fresh Manjaro Gnome install and they were required to get pipewire installed.

However, current pipewire is still considerably worse in terms of stability with RME PCIe cards (tried both snd_hdspm and snd_hdspe) so I'd recommend sticking to JACK2 to those users for the time being. Had a chat with people at the PW IRC and the consensus there was that "old-school ALSA drivers" don't play well with pipewire, which sadly seems to be the case with snd_hdsp*.

[krahosk]

Originally Posted by chmaha

Just checking in to ask if any recent Arch-based distro updates have rendered any part of the pipewire instructions moot for new installs? I'm downloading latest Manjaro ISO to test myself but any community feedback would be great.

Endeavour OS comes with Pipewire by default. Steps 3 and 5 are still necessary for the low memory situation.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

I tried your pipewire-instructions last week on a fresh Manjaro Gnome install and they were required to get pipewire installed.

Originally Posted by krahosk

Endeavour OS comes with Pipewire by default. Steps 3 and 5 are still necessary for the low memory situation.

Thanks and thanks!

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by chmaha

I'm a little fuzzy on this since I've been using pipewire for quite a while but I believe it allows for bridging between JACK and pulseaudio...basically what we had to do before Pipewire made it all very simple. Hence checking the "JACK" D-Bus interface option vs the other one.

Weird, I don't have jack2-dbus installed and none of the two DBus-options in Qjackctl enabled. But I can still create a pulse audio sink to JACK via this post-start-command:

pacmd load-module module-jack-source channels=1; pacmd load-module module-jack-sink channels=6 sink_name=hdspemadiout client_name=hdspemadiout channel_map=front-left,front-right,front-center,lfe,rear-left,rear-right;pacmd 'update-sink-proplist hdspemadiout device.description="RME HDSPe MADI 5.1" '

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Weird, I don't have jack2-dbus installed and none of the two DBus-options in Qjackctl enabled. But I can still create a pulse audio sink to JACK via this post-start-command:

pacmd load-module module-jack-source channels=1; pacmd load-module module-jack-sink channels=6 sink_name=hdspemadiout client_name=hdspemadiout channel_map=front-left,front-right,front-center,lfe,rear-left,rear-right;pacmd 'update-sink-proplist hdspemadiout device.description="RME HDSPe MADI 5.1" '

You must still have jack2 installed? Sorry, maybe not fully understanding the situation

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by chmaha

You must still have jack2 installed?

Yes, that's exactly the package name I have installed.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by chmaha

You must still have jack2 installed? Sorry, maybe not fully understanding the situation

Ah, just saw your edit. Well, I was wondering what the actual DBus options do in Qjackctl since your guide makes ticking one of them mandatory. But on my side, a pulseaudio sink into JACK2 seems to work fine without any of these options selected.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Ah, just saw your edit. Well, I was wondering what the actual DBus options do in Qjackctl since your guide makes ticking one of them mandatory. But on my side, a pulseaudio sink into JACK2 seems to work fine without any of these options selected.

I seem to remember that with jack2-dbus and that option ticked in Qjackctl you wouldn't need to bother with any post-start commands as it is all automatic.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by chmaha

I seem to remember that with jack2-dbus and that option ticked in Qjackctl you wouldn't need to bother with any post-start commands as it is all automatic.

I do run a post-start-script with custom pacmd commands to create a multichannel PulseAudio sink. So that's why it works fine here without that option ticked. Good choice then on generally recommending this option in your guide since most people will likely want to do stereo.

Just in case someone wants to create a multichannel PulseAudio sink instead, here's a qjackctl post-launch-script for a 5.1 output to get you started:

pacmd load-module module-jack-source channels=1; 
pacmd load-module module-jack-sink channels=6 sink_name=sinkname client_name=sinkname channel_map=front-left,front-right,front-center,lfe,rear-left,rear-right;
pacmd 'update-sink-proplist sinkname device.description="Sink Name shown in GUIs" '

Also it's probably best to disable upmixing of audio content in PulseAudio by adding the following line to "/etc/pulse/daemon.conf":

enable-remixing = no

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

I do run a post-start-script with custom pacmd commands to create a multichannel PulseAudio sink. So that's why it works fine here without that option ticked. Good choice then on generally recommending this option in your guide since most people will likely want to do stereo.

Just in case someone wants to create a multichannel PulseAudio sink instead, here's a qjackctl post-launch-script for a 5.1 output to get you started:

pacmd load-module module-jack-source channels=1; 
pacmd load-module module-jack-sink channels=6 sink_name=sinkname client_name=sinkname channel_map=front-left,front-right,front-center,lfe,rear-left,rear-right;
pacmd 'update-sink-proplist sinkname device.description="Sink Name shown in GUIs" '

Also it's probably best to disable upmixing of audio content in PulseAudio by adding the following line to "/etc/pulse/daemon.conf":

enable-remixing = no

Thanks for this. Extremely useful for people.

In other news, I've added a cheeky reference in the document to my own growing JSFX airwindows ports collection. While many are indeed just ports, there are a good number that are modified in some way or conveniently rolled together into a single plugin in a way not found in the airwindows universe.

[chmaha]

I've created (well, cloned) a new repository focused on Arch (and Arch-based distros):

https://github.com/chmaha/ArchProAudio

The difference is that this will focus on vanilla Arch and other vanilla Arch-based distros such as EndeavourOS, ArchCraft etc. I'm archiving (rather than deleting or renaming) the Manjaro one as I haven't used Manjaro in quite a while but recognize that it might still be useful for folks in the medium term. I simply don't have the time to keep track of Manjaro repositories/packaging decisions and updates to the ISOs. The same goes for the Ubuntu guide.

In any case, most of the tweaking commands will be identical but this new guide will have way more chance of keeping up-to-date given Arch is my daily driver.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

It sounds reasonable, of course! Thanks for all, Chmaha. Being definitely on Manjaro, I'll keep an eye on the updates for the Arch guide.