On Linux why does Reaper lag when FL Studio is instant?

[richardj]

I'm running latest version of Ubuntu with the default Pipewire, but even when I was on 22.04 with PulseAudio, FL Studio ran so fast I could play MIDI drums without any delay. And this is while FLS is running through Snap or through Bottles in a VM. It used the FLStudio ASIO driver.

But Reaper installed directly on my physical machine gives me so much input lag I can't play in time. I've used only PulseAudio. Jack and Alsa can't open the audio device. I can't see any other device option or settings I could change. I've got pipe-wire jack installed.

Can anyone give any advice on what else to try configure please?

I'd really rather use Reaper than FLS, but it just seems to hate my Linux machine

[richardj]

Here is qpwgraph thing for Reaper then FLS if it helps. I don't know what it means.

https://imgbox.com/z6GUt1vk

[richardj]

GPT told me to install and run qjackctl and push play, then start Reaper and set audio to JACK.

That worked, no latency, great. But no other sound can play while Reaper is running, like VLC or whatsapp or youtube. And it's tedious to have to startup this second application and stop it every time.

Is there a way to integrate everything please?

[elcalen]

PulseAudio will likely give you the worst latency. It's generally not recommended.

If you have pipewire-alsa installed and running (might need to be installed separately from main pipewire package, not sure), you can connect directly to pipewire. To do that, you select the ALSA audio system, but in the input and output device fields you need to manually type the word "default"; it's not listed in the dropdown menu. It seems like magic, but weirdly enough it seems to just work.

[/AND/]

Originally Posted by richardj

... FLS is running through Snap ...

How do you run FL Studio through Snap?

[SmajjL]

I had Ableton Live 11 working just fine and i was not concerned with the added delay in responsetime because i was busy thinking, Its a-Liiiive! it werkz!! and that means i can utilize its "Autowarp/tempo matching capabilities on Linux! haleluljah!
Ps, one might require utilize a response thing activation though and those things are limited and then you haveto contact support to get new ones if you should run out of them because you are a distrohopper or something.

If there are tweaks for a WINE'd DAW to get better responsetime then i'm all open-source-ears even if it was not That! - bad..

[richardj]

"ALSA audio system, but in the input and output device fields you need to manually type the word "default";"

O.M.G. Thank you!! How on earth did you find this. Why don't they have that as the default in ALSA settings. I'll log a bug

[richardj]

@ /AND/ Install FL Studio with `sudo snap install flstudio`. But it doesn't have the latest AI features like stem separation and mastering. It's a build from January.

Or `flatpak install bottles` then in Bottles, make a new bottle, add application, choose FL Studio installer script. Works flawlessly. I was actually thinking of installing Reaper in the FL Studio WINE drive to have it use FLS's asio driver.

[elcalen]

Originally Posted by richardj

"ALSA audio system, but in the input and output device fields you need to manually type the word "default";"

O.M.G. Thank you!! How on earth did you find this. Why don't they have that as the default in ALSA settings. I'll log a bug

It's been brought up on these forums in several threads. I have no idea who originally found that trick, or how.

And I'm sure it's not there by default because pipewire is still fairly new, after all, and not all systems run it. I assume there are technical reasons why adding it as an option might not be quite as simple as it sounds. Of course pipewire is becoming more and more prevalent, so hopefully the devs will change that eventually...

[tkna]

You can also do this with pipewire-jack.

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=26271

[/AND/]

Originally Posted by richardj

@ /AND/ Install FL Studio with `sudo snap install flstudio`. But it doesn't have the latest AI features like stem separation and mastering. It's a build from January.

Or `flatpak install bottles` then in Bottles, make a new bottle, add application, choose FL Studio installer script. Works flawlessly. I was actually thinking of installing Reaper in the FL Studio WINE drive to have it use FLS's asio driver.

Ah, right, it's a 'Winefied' version of it, makes sense. It's cool that it can be bundled with Snaps in such a way, I wonder if it's doable with Flatpak.