Running Raspbian Debian Buster Lite (desktop GUI installed after) Computer: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2GB RAM I've managed to get amazing Pianoteq performance on an overlocked Raspberry Pi 4 with RT kernel, no audio dropouts with max audio sample rate and internal sample rate settings!! I can give a more thorough report on performance latency delays later when I use this setup with a keyboard. This test is just playing a MIDI file that is being loaded. Note on Testing/Audio DAC: I haven't tried hooking this up to a MIDI keyboard yet. It sounded like a very good piano VST with excellent audio quality and performance. This is incredibly exciting! While there are some red vertical lines in the performance index, there were no audible crackles, dropouts, or static. With the decreased internal sample rate, there were zero audio dropouts. With the sustain pedal depressed the entire time (to stress the engine)īasically, the computer was being lightly used, the network was being heavily used, and the piano passages being played represent some of the most complicated passages a person could would play.Īnd Pianoteq took it amazingly well. With the "Cathedral" hall for more revert effects (to stress the engine) The most complicated section of Beethoven's symphony Pianoteq is not running headless), VNC server and viewer (my Raspberry Pi is not hooked up to a monitor so these screenshots were taking remotely over the VNC software)
Other Software Running: Chromium web browser with multiple tabs, Linux desktop (i.e.
Network: A 200 MB file download test is running (also separately did a 100 MB file upload test) Here's how I tried to stress Pianoteq, as the screenshots below show: But using 24000 Hz caused zero audio dropouts even at 98 note polyphony. The next highest option (32000 Hz) caused even 10-note polyphony to peak the performance graph with scary red vertical lines and would cause audio dropouts to occasionally occur. Multicore rendering: MAX (from Edgar's guide)Ģ4000 Hz was the highest usable internal sample rate. Larger buffer sizes are not necessary (the smaller the better). 2.7ms should be great for live performance, though I have yet to test this. If the buffer size is any smaller, audio crackles and dropouts start appearing. Audio buffer size: 256 samples (2.7 ms) "Direct hardware device without any conversions" is important for performance. It's just the audio from the sound card sounds better.
However it works, the result is that the default audio from the Pi without the sound card was very usable and even sounds good.
I had previously read that the default audio of the Raspberry Pi was horrible and would tie up the CPU. I did a test using the default 3.5mm headphone jack output on the Raspberry Pi and while the sound isn't as "open" and "deep", the sound is similar and performance is identical. In hindsight, this $51.33 audio card wasn't necessary. Output: IQaudIODAC: Direct hardware device without any conversions Operating System Setup: Followed the Raspberry Pi performance tweaks guide by Edgar Bustamante: Setup Guide
Settings had to be tweaked down from maximum to allow for smooth playback. 6 "Pastoral" (5th movement) arranged for Piano solo MIDI Song Played: Beethoven Symphony No.
Piano VST Software: Pianoteq v6.6.0 Linux, Trial Not overclocked (using factory 1.5 GHz) No heatsinks or fans (but also no case covering) Running unmodified Raspbian Debian Buster Lite (desktop GUI packages installed after) Computer: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 4 GB RAM This was my first time messing with audio with the Raspberry Pi, and in hindsight this test could have been a lot cheaper (more below). Hey everyone, I'm excited to say I was able to run Pianoteq v6.6 smoothly without audio dropouts on the latest Raspberry Pi 4!