[Ardour-Users] Which distro best supports Ardour using the Delta 44 (ICE1712)?

[James P. Early]

Greetings everyone,
  I'm writing in hopes that some experts can help me identify which
distro gives me the best chance of bringing up a new AMD system using
the M-Audio Delta 44, specifically to run Ardour. For the past few
months, I've been assembling the following system, piece by piece:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 (640 Propus)
MoBo: Asus M4A785-M
Sound card: M-Audio Delta 44 (Alsa ICE1712 driver)

Long story short -- I'm getting back into recording after a multi-year
hiatus. I happily used Ardour with my Delta 44 back then, so I decided
to assemble a new system to take advantage of advances in hardware.
Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find a modern distro that can make
Jack and the Delta 44 coexist. Basically, jackd either reports
"Already in use" or dies after about 30 seconds with a timeout error.
(Note: I've disabled on-board audio devices in the BIOS) My most
recent travails with Ubuntu Studio can be read here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1709846

So, I'm looking for advice. Is there a modern distro that can work
with this Mobo/interface? Anyone else using this? The Ubuntu Launchpad
is full of angry users who have been complaining about ICE1712 related
bugs for years, so perhaps I should abandon it. How about 64 Studio,
AV Linux, or Planet CCRMA? Or, should I start with something really
small and build up instead?

Thanks in advance for your help,
~Jim