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PhilippeBekaert / snd-hdspe

New linux driver and tools for RME HDSPe sound cards and extension modules
GNU General Public License v3.0
51 stars 18 forks source link

Possible to run multiple HDSPe cards on the same machine? #16

Open BlindElephants opened 1 year ago

BlindElephants commented 1 year ago

The Windows manual for HDSPe MADI from RME states that it's possible to run up to three HDSPe cards on the same machine. Is this possible with your driver? Has this been tested?

jimfrench commented 1 year ago

Hi, this is not a definite answer but usually multiple sound cards are well supported by ALSA drivers.

For instance I sometimes use a RME AES IO, Roland UA-25 USB, and Edirol DA2496 cards on same machine without issue. It is fairly common to use multiple sound cards in ALSA, whether they are identical or not.

You would generally need to configure ALSA and JACK to make use of the multiple devices using this kernel driver.

In theory the driver itself should not limit the number of devices unless for it's done for good reason, however sadly the lead developer of this driver has passed away, so we try to answer questions and resolve issues as best we can.

Generally Windows would probably place some restrictions, whereas Linux would just need careful configuration of multiple devices. Generally the hardware specifications of the host machine would be the limiting factor for many channels at low latency and suchlike.

Sotem123 commented 8 months ago

Hey @BlindElephants,

Using pipewire I believe it is possible to run an arbitrary number of cards. Specifically for the HDSPe AIO in conjunction with the HDSPe Raydat I use both simultaneous in Bitwig with no problem. I use the I/O of both, and from what I've read in a glance this should also be possible with ALSA-only.