Amadeus PaulussenDear #linuxaudio friends, what are your thoughts on my dream of a new #pipewire / #wireplumber app? 🤔
https://amadeuspaulussen.com/blog/2026/a-new-pipewire-and-wireplumber-app
DRMR@amadeus This almost sounds like raysession but with pipewire features added.
Having a kind of "session management" where you can store both connections and application state (that NSM for JACK already provides and which pipewire supports) would be pretty important in a studio setting.
@dreamer Yes, like that, and also with a mixer like in RME's TotalMix or UAD's Console. You know what I mean?
@amadeus Sounds like total overkill. Not something I would need or use (except for the application blocksize and samplerate settings)
@dreamer (1/3)
I see it differently. 😜 In my view, Linux Audio needs a universal, easy-to-use yet professional audio management application—something comparable to the proprietary macOS/Windows tools provided by major audio interface vendors like UA, RME, or Focusrite, but built around PipeWire/WirePlumber and compatible with practically any (including multiple) USB-CC or otherwise Linux compatible audio interfaces.
I see it differently. 😜 In my view, Linux Audio needs a universal, easy-to-use yet professional audio management application—something comparable to the proprietary macOS/Windows tools provided by major audio interface vendors like UA, RME, or Focusrite, but built around PipeWire/WirePlumber and compatible with practically any (including multiple) USB-CC or otherwise Linux compatible audio interfaces.
@amadeus I don't see the relation to hardware interfaces though. This is fundamentally a completely different problem to solve.
Also if you start your design with a list of feature creep then you will never create a functioning product ;)
So find the most pressing issues to solve (like config level things that are currently hard) and start there!
I would like a modern replacement for pavucontrol made for pipewire ;)
@dreamer Thanks for the good advice! Makes total sense. At the very least, the features in my wishlist need to be prioritized, and there are certainly quite a few priority 2 and 3 items on my list. 🫣😜
Doesn't that already exist? See: https://github.com/saivert/pwvucontrol
Morten Mosgaard@mosgaard Pipewire already supports jack. "native pipewire" would actually mean less features.
@dreamer That's interesting you say that, thanks for sharing!
As new to Linux, all my audio-trouble disappeared when I started using Bitwig, which also gave me - internally - more features than other DAWs I tried.
That could of course be a question about how the DAW is wired, but I took it as a clear sign that Pipewire was a step forward - especially for me as a "new to Linux" user.
@mosgaard When you run a DAW as the central hub for an audio system you usually don't need pipewire or jack at all. You can just run alsa and have the DAW take control of everything.
For me that's a huge limitation and the poor integration with Linux MIDI is my biggest gripe with Bitwig ;)
@dreamer I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this, thanks!
I just tried to open a project in Bitwig and switch the driver model to ALSA, and so far, that also works really well for me on my system. So what I experienced could just be other DAWs not working properly regarding driver model on the distros I have tried.
Could you elaborate on the limitations with MIDI? Is it general to LINUX or depended on driver model?
@mosgaard Bitwig requires "direct access" to hardware devices which means these devices are subsequently blocked from other applications on the system. By extension Bitwig cannot communicate with other software MIDI applications either.
There is a tedious workaround using virtual midi ports, but this has bad UX and doesn't always work.
@dreamer ah, ok. I understand!
This is not something I have encountered since I don’t have the need to use midi other places. But I could see this becoming a problem for some, especially on a live setting.
Is it your impression it’s intentional?
@mosgaard I have spoken to one of the devs over the years, it was originally a design choice, but not necessarily deliberate. I thought it had to do with hardware integration, but that was not the case.
For proper Linux MIDI integration I prefer Qtractor and Ardour ;)
(but their MIDI sequencing isn't as good/fun)
If Bitwig ever decides to bring the same level of integration they have with audio (jack and pipewire) to MIDI then I'll have a good incentive to upgrade my license!