Sort of off topic Austin, but what did you pick up? I'm always very keen on high-end sound and video stuff.
I wanted to update the MdkAW documents to include MIDI and USB-audio information since they are the main missing elements... so I bought an Evolution USB-MIDI keyboard and an M-Audio Quattro, which is a 4in/4out 24bit 96kHz USB audio interface with MIDI as well. The keyboard works almost flawlessly... just plug it in and go. The only problem is that hotplug works TOO well... i.e. it ONLY works if the keyboard is 'hot'plugged. If the keyboard is on at bootup, it is not recognized, and simply resetting the power switch doesn't work either. The USB cable actually has to be unplugged and replugged to activate the driver. Regardless, I managed to record a few ditties... far from perfect... first take.
http://groundstate.ca/music/summer%20days.mp3 is sequenced with muse, rendered with timidity, and overdubbed and mastered with audacity.
http://groundstate.ca/music/apathetic.mp3 is just pure audio into audacity.
I used a crappy CMI consumer-grade sound card for that though.
The Quattro is a different story. With alsa 0.9.2 it hard freezes the system... big time. Supposedly it works fine with newer alsa, but I haven't been able to compile alsa against the latest cooker system. However, people have reported conflicts with NVidia AGP as well... so even with the latest ALSA, I may have to do a lot of fiddling to get it working. Regardless, it's a really cool, really well-made, affordable piece of equipment, and as soon as I get it working, I'm going to recommend it in the MdkAW document.
I hope to do some four-track live recordings with Ardour soon too.
Austin
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Austin Acton Hon.B.Sc.
Synthetic Organic Chemist, Teaching Assistant
Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto
MandrakeClub Volunteer (www.mandrakeclub.com)
homepage: www.groundstate.ca