On 2 September 2025 09:59:58 CEST, "M. Armsby" <m.armsby@xxxxxx> wrote:
>On 30 July 2025 21:36:00 CEST, "M. Armsby" <m.armsby@xxxxxx> wrote:
>>The new ALSAfirewire drivers are very good. Well done to everyone who worked on them!
>>
>>Today I tested brand new CachyOS with xfce desktop kernel 6.15
>>Initial Pipewire test showed RTT 98ms at 64/44100 so I uninstalled all traces of Pipewire and installed PulseAudio and Jack2 instead.
>>I first tested ALSA direct from Reaper with Echo Audiofire4, Pianoteq and the RTT was as expected around 8ms (no 90ms)
>>Then Jack2 with ALSAfirewire.
>>The result was very similar and around 2% less rtCPU usage but a few X-runs on page refresh.
>>I then set CPU to balanced and Jack failed with hundreds of X-runs whereas your wonderful ALSAfirewire alone continued with no X-runs :)
>>
>>
>>So you don't need to re-invent anything and there is nothing reasonable about 90ms delay.
>>ALSAfirewire is working fine as long Pipewire isn't involved.
>>
>>Please fix the Pipewire problem as now nearly all distros are issued with it and everyone is blaming ALSAfirewire stack!
>>This madness should be stopped don't you agree?
>>
>>Please.
>>
>>Thanks Martin Armsby
>>
>>
>>-------- Original Message --------
>>From: Takashi Sakamoto <o-takashi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>Sent: 24 July 2025 16:38:13 CEST
>>To: m.armsby@xxxxxx
>>Cc: alsa-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: Re: ALSAfirewire broken
>>
>>
>>
>>The 90ms delay is reasonable..., depending on the PCM buffer
>>configuration.
>>
>>At present, all of drivers in ALSA firewire stack works with such delay
>>due to queued initial packet. Therefore PipeWire computes the delay
>>as expected. We would need to reeinvent the packet streaming engine if
>>reducing the delay.
>>
>
>@wtaymans
>Wim Taymans and some guest programmers found a simple workaround to bypass the 90ms delay:
>
>monitor.alsa.rules = [
> {
> matches = [ { node.name = "alsa_output.firewire-0x000a35003926b6db.pro-output-0" } ]
> actions = { update-props = {
> api.alsa.period-num = 3
> } }
> }
>]
>
>The communication from DAW to pure ALSAfirewire is not burdened with 90ms so please change the pins or whatever pipewire is using, so that it can avoid the 90ms like a DAW does when communicating directly to ALSAfirewire driver.
>It must be obvious and easy to see in comparison and thus fix.
>
>ALSAfirewire RTT = 10ms
>Pipewire-Firewire RTT = 10 + 90ms
>
>Please, many professionals are waiting for this fix which will boost Linux up to professional level.
>
>Thanks
>
>
>
>
>
>-- Martin Armsby
It's a great shame - that such issues are just ignored.
Lucky for us, Wim Taymans ist creating a workaround for Pipewire to bypass the ALSAfirewire 90ms buffer problemcwith help from some great reaper users and programmers.
Soon to be released.
Regards
Martin A -maa
-- Martin Armsby
