Hi
I’m using Linux Mint 22.3 and Ardour 9.7. I go into the Audio/MIDI menu all the time since ALSA hogs my sound when I go to Youtube and other music sites.
Could someone add a hotkey to the Stop/Start function? And maybe a LED style icon up in the information field, to make it obvious whether ALSA is running without checking the menu?
I suggest to instead look into JACK or PipeWire.
Or use a dedicated sound card for ProAudio and the PCs builtin audio interface for desktop sounds.
Every time the sound card is re-started the systemic latency may change, so it is something to be avoided. It is intentionally hard to stop since this can be catastrophic if it happens by accident.
Very good advice. I’ve been doing this for years in my home setup:
- RME HDSPe Multiface II for pro-audio
- USB to SPDIF dongle for the rest. I set this dongle as the ALSA default and redirect the SPDIF to the Multiface II. Pro-audio work is completely unphased by this setup and I can record anything from the SPDIF input to ardour. The dongle is a DoukAudio U2 USB to SPDIF Converter. Been using it for 5 years straight, no issue. Note that I never needed any default inputs. I occasionally plug a USB headset when needed and switch to this in the MATE sound preferences.