FOSSPicks
FOSSPicks

This month Graham reviews Bela, Quickemu, GPU-Viewer, Maestral, Termux and AnLinux, Space Cadet, and more!
Realtime audio platform
Bela
Bela is a programmable audio platform with incredible performance, an integrated development environment, a large active community, and virtually no limits. But it's also a slightly unusual project because you need some extra hardware to make it properly work. That hardware is a BeagleBone Black with an optional shield that adds multiple digital, analog, and audio inputs and outputs. This setup, when combined with the Linux-based software stack, promises a 0.5ms (half) delay between when a sound is triggered by the software to when the audio exits the hardware. For comparison, a Mac can manage a few milliseconds with the very best expensive hardware, desktop Linux with a realtime kernel adds a few more milliseconds to this, an Arduino is in the 10ms range, and a Raspberry Pi the 20ms range. All these delay times are much quicker than what you'd get from a default PulseAudio configuration without specialist hardware, which may typically operate with a delay of 100ms.
An ultra-low audio delay makes a big difference because it enables Bela to do all kinds of things transparently, before delays and their associated latency would start to break the immersion. A good example might be if you were to use Bela to create a software-generated drum kit with a DIY hardware trigger. The ultra-low response time would allow you to hit the trigger and hear the sound almost instantaneously, just as you would with real drums. It's this lack of delay that most differentiates digital instruments from their analog counterparts, and the low delay values seen on the Bela platform with the BeagleBone Black and the audio shield really are game changing.
None of this would be worth mentioning if there weren't an accessible and easy-to-use software stack that's both ready to take advantage of this power and easy to use when you want to build your own hardware or software experiments. High performance comes from Xenomai real-time Linux extensions, and the flexibility comes from an integrated web-hosted development environment that becomes accessible as soon as you connect the device to your Linux computer. You can use this Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to code in SuperCollider, Csound, or C++, and even to upload Pure Data patches with graphical previews of C++. All of this software can of course be run on your Linux desktop, where patches can be developed and tested before being transferred to the onboard IDE. But developing with the IDE is also perfectly feasible, and you'll get an immediate response from the hardware when you do press play. It may sound complicated, but there's enough here for even beginners to get started.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
News
-
Kali Linux 2022.3 Released
From the creators of the most popular penetration testing distributions on the planet, comes a new release with some new tools and a community, real-time chat option.
-
The 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping
After a considerable delay, the 14" version of the Pinebook Pro laptop is, once again, available for purchase.
-
OpenMandriva Lx ROME Technical Preview Released
OpenMandriva’s rolling release distribution technical preview has been released for testing purposes and adds some of the latest/greatest software into the mix.
-
Linux Mint 21 is Now Available
The latest iteration of Linux Mint, codenamed Vanessa, has been released with a new upgrade tool and other fantastic features.
-
Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature
Firefox 103 has arrived and it now includes a feature users have long awaited…sort of.
-
System76 Refreshes Their Popular Oryx Pro Laptop with a New CPU
The System76 Oryx Pro laptop has been relaunched with a 12th Gen CPU and more powerful graphics options.
-
Elive Has Released a New Beta
The Elive team is proud to announce the latest beta version (3.8.30) of its Enlightenment-centric Linux distribution.
-
Rocky Linux 9 Has Arrived
The latest iteration of Rocky Linux is now available and includes a host of new features and support for new architecture.
-
Slimbook Executive Linux Ultrabook Upgrading Their CPUs
The Spanish-based company, Slimbook, has made available their next generation Slimbook Executive Linux ultrabooks with a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPU.
-
Fedora Linux is Coming to the Raspberry Pi 4
Thanks to significant work in the upstream, the upcoming release of Fedora 37 will introduce support for the Raspberry Pi 4.