msg wrote:
I would appreciate some suggestions for implementing a stand-alone
audio mixer/equalizer box using commodity components, in the shortest
development time at the least possible cost. I am tending to
want to to use four PCI sound cards in an older PIII 1u rackmount
cpu to create a four audio bus/eight inputs mixer, with
four independent equalizer channels. It should be controllable
using an arbitrary protocol over RS232 or ethernet, not require a
resident GUI, nor local mass storage except perhaps flash for program
loading, and won't do any local capture, only audio I/O at 44.1 or
48kHz sampling rate to and from unbalanced line level connections.

Why do you want to do this rather than use an existing device that does
this? There are a bunch of devices like this out there, including a
popular one from Roland that is well-documented.

Some preliminary thoughts are to use a version of *IX as the o/s
and layer ALSA and LADSPA with plugins on it, connected with the
'jack' framework, and for testing just control it through remote
shell command scripts until a complete control program is written.
Since I'm using low-end hardware, I had dismissed using 'Pulseaudio'
as a framework (unless convinced otherwise).

Should I be considering some other o/s or RTOS?

If I were doing something like this and I were having to use generic
PC hardware, I would consider RTLINUX. It would be different if the
PC were just a front end to a dsp, though.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."