Can't play media files

Support & discussion regarding DAWs and MIDI sequencers.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
User avatar
Mister Mint
Established Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:17 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Can't play media files

Post by Mister Mint »

Hello all,

After running Ardour I can't play sound or video files with any player. The player just doesn't start. I wonder what's wrong?
rghvdberg
Established Member
Posts: 1067
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 7:11 am
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 36 times

Re: Can't play media files

Post by rghvdberg »

Probably pulseaudio has stopped or jack is still running.
User avatar
Mister Mint
Established Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:17 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Can't play media files [Solved]

Post by Mister Mint »

You're right, jack was still running :D Thank you!
User avatar
bluebell
Established Member
Posts: 1910
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:44 am
Location: Saarland, Germany
Has thanked: 111 times
Been thanked: 116 times

Re: Can't play media files [Solved]

Post by bluebell »

Mister Mint wrote:You're right, jack was still running :D Thank you!
That's no problem when Pulse is configured to output via jack-sink.

Linux – MOTU UltraLite AVB – Qtractor – http://suedwestlicht.saar.de/

User avatar
Mister Mint
Established Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:17 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Can't play media files

Post by Mister Mint »

Okay thanks. I found this guide:

Just install qjackctl and pulseaudio-module-jack module:

apt-get install qjackctl pulseaudio-module-jack

Then configure qjackctl to run the following command after startup. Copy it into "Setup..." > "Options" > "Execute script after Startup":

pactl set-default-sink jack_out


I already have qjackctl so I ran this command:

apt-get install pulseaudio-module-jack

but got this output:

E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?

I am root but what should I answer here? I've tried with y and yes but that doesn't work.
Death
Established Member
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2015 1:43 pm
Been thanked: 32 times

Re: Can't play media files

Post by Death »

First of all, when you get asked if you're root, that usually means you need to run the command with 'sudo' at the start. So what you should've done is ran

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-jack
I somehow got Jack setup to output all system sounds so I can always use Jack. I cannot bloody tell you how I did it though... Just messing around for ages and it randomly worked one day apparently :P But anyway, if you can do that, you should have a much easier time with everything.

You'll need 'qjackctl' which you already have. You might find that installing 'pavucontrol' also helps. I know it helped me somehow when I was having trouble with audio devices showing up. I also think 'Cadence' helped me set things up. You need to install the kxstudio repos for that one though.

Here's a guide I followed for setting up midi devices with jack if you need it (there's also some other useful bits in there): http://tedfelix.com/linux/linux-midi.html
User avatar
Mister Mint
Established Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:17 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Can't play media files

Post by Mister Mint »

Oh yes, I forgot that "sudo", and it works now, thank you Death :D I guess Qjackctl is all I need right now, but maybe later I'll install Cadence and Pavucontrol too. Thanks also for the MIDI guide link, it looks very useful!
Post Reply