[sldev] [VWR] openAL -- PulseAudio

[Dzonatas]

Kamilion wrote:
> Might I suggest PulseAudio?
>   

Of course, thank you.
> Summary
> The idea is to make PulseAudio the default sound system on Ubuntu,
> replacing the Esound Sound Daemon (esd) and ALSA dmix. PulseAudio is a
> drop-in replacement for Esound, but adds new features, opening it for
> many entirely new areas.
>
> Rationale
> Apple managed to standardize on a single powerful sound system
> (CoreAudio) for MacOSX which makes almost all users happy, ranging
> from normal day-to-day desktop users to gamers, to professional audio
> people. We should be able to provide the same on Linux. PulseAudio can
> currently provide the functionality at least partially, with the only
> notable exception being pro audio. [...]


This is a interesting solution.

I know JACK offers pro audio, but it straight-up recommends a real-time 
system setup in order to reliably have pro audio. Bottom-line is there 
is no generic solution for pro audio (not even on Windows). That's fine. 
It kinda goes out of scope for the current state of SL, but there is 
some interest being put in the brew.

One thing PulseAudio seems to offer diffently from plain JACK is the 
server.  JACKD is more like a mux but has the be run at the same 
run-level as the JACK clients. If PulseAudio allows a higher run-level 
then the clients, then it would be very competitive with what Windows 
currently offers in sound.

I'm glad you mentioned CoreAudio as an example. It has merit. =)

I've looked for a solution where the 3D audio is also done on the 
server-side component (or daemon) instead of being in the client app. 
This is pretty close to allow such to happen.