[ardour-users] Why am I so slow ?

[Cal]

 >So question : is there some patches I can apply (easily) on my gentoo 
 >kernel that will help get the performance I want ? I feel I've activated
 >real-time stuff in the basic kernel already. I've read about mm-patches,
 >but I'd like to know if there is an easy way to do it (does it hurt, 
 >doc?). Is there other things I should fine-tune to get my horse on 
 >stero_ds ?

You might take a look at the -ck kernels <http://kernel.kolivas.org/>
maintained by Con Kolivas. A browse of the mailing list archive
<http://bhhdoa.org.au/mailman/listinfo/ck> might help your considerations.

Relevant points of interest -
 - strong emphasis on interactivity (which seems to be your main issue)
 - includes selected latency improvements from other kernel development 
  areas (like -mm etc)
- Con is showing a growing sympathy and interest in the latency  issues 
  of serious audio work
- there's a number of gentoo users active on the mailing list.  From   
their chatter, I believe gentoo-ed packages are available
- nvidia issues are actively addressed with specific patches.

I've been using the ck's for quite a while, but I'm relatively new to
Ardour. So far, I quite like the way they fit together. 

cheers, Cal