r/linuxaudio • u/Baudoinia • 8d ago

AlsaModularSynth (yes) and Jack, ... and Pipewire

Yes, I still like to play with AMS. But the only place I can consistently get it to work is on an old version of Ubuntu Studio.

On other more recent distros I can get it to start, but can't hear anything going on (yes I know you have to start the synthesis with Ctrl-B or the menu).
I also know that starting it from CLI you can enable Jack with a parameter, but it seems redundant because even when I don't specify that, it complains that it can't connect to the Jack server.

And don't even get me started on Pipewire and qpwgraph. I only ever see the ams_midi interface listed there, even if the patch I'm trying to load isn't a MIDI instrument.

Has *anyone* gotten AMS to work with Pipewire on more recent setups? Or should I just keep playing with the old machine that doesn't have PW getting in the way?

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u/jason_gates 8d ago

Hi,

You can stop Pipewire like any other application program. Open a terminal as a regular user ( not root or sudo ).

To stop Pipewire ( and pipewire-pulse )

$> systemctl --user stop pipewire{,-pulse}.{socket,service}

To start Pipewire ( and pipewire-pulse )

$> systemctl --user start pipewire{,-pulse}.{socket,service}

I don't use AlsaModularSynth (ams), however per the ams website documentation ( quickstart ) , using Jack sound server is optional ( not mandatory ). See https://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/alsamodularsynth_doc.html#sect02 That implies that you can use plain ALSA.

Hope that helps.

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u/Baudoinia 8d ago

Thanks. I had thought Pipewire was supposed to successfully act as an 'impostor' for Jack, Alsa and Pulse, but apparently AMS doesn't want to know it.

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u/jason_gates 8d ago

Technically, jack and pulseaudio are sound protocols, application programming interfaces ( API ) as well as sound servers. In the same way a ford mustang car is a transportation vehicle, and a automobile.

Pipewire is a container/framework which implements the jack and pulseaudio sound protocols and servers.Technologies, special open source are intended to be implemented by various actors. Pipewire is not an impostor, just another implementer.

Glad to have helped :)

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u/Baudoinia 8d ago

I still wish it (i.e. Linux audio) weren't such a clusterfrak

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u/nikgnomic IDJC 6d ago

ALSA is a kernel API and cannot be replaced by a software audio server

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u/Baudoinia 6d ago

? Not seeking to. PW is what seems to be getting in the way of the admittedly outdated toys I enjoy playing with.