Fireface 400: PulseAudio ➡️ JACK ➡️ ALSA Fix Xruns and Tinny Sound

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FermentedDigeridoo
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Fireface 400: PulseAudio ➡️ JACK ➡️ ALSA Fix Xruns and Tinny Sound

Post by FermentedDigeridoo »

Ah, the reward of switching over to an open-source operating system that affords me the flexibility of doing whatever I want with it... volume sliders that do what they should, the mute button works, and so much more goodness! A user interface such as catia to route all my channels within the JACK back-end to my very needs.

But wait, the audio... it's a bit "tinny"... is the tuning off? I check the FFADO-mixer settings. Everything looks in tact. The sound has a garbled sound in the upper end, almost as if it's bit-crushed.

So why?

I check my setup in Cadence: 4 Xruns in the last 20 minutes. Nothing overly audible, but at 256 samples, I shouldn't get any; I definitely wouldn't get any on the dreaded Windows. I should be able to run at 128 samples, but I don't dare try treading in that dangerous war zone; I recall the last time I tried and experienced inaudible hissing and bitcrushed garbles.

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Could it be the lack of a RT kernel? The kernel version reads 5.1.3.0 Generic, so maybe; but I recall reading other posts on this forum describing "diminishing returns" on changing kernels.

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I determine that I want an answer. There must be other users out there who have a working audio setup with an RME firewire device like the Fireface series -- Fireface 400, Fireface 800, Babyface, etc.

I want to fix this slightly-audible bitcrushed sound once and for all. I might be an aspiring Linux audio hobbyist, but that doesn't mean I can't start my journey now. Perhaps the community can help me.
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sunrat
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Re: Fireface 400: PulseAudio ➡️ JACK ➡️ ALSA Fix Xruns and Tinny Sound

Post by sunrat »

You are using Neon OS which would not be optimised for audio, especially that generic kernel. I use and recommend a Liquorix kernel but I believe Ubuntu has a "low-latency" one which should be ok for you and is in Ubuntu repos.
Also check the System Configuration guide - https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/system_configuration . At very least run the rtcqs utility and make sure all sections show OK.
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scott.thomason
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Re: Fireface 400: PulseAudio ➡️ JACK ➡️ ALSA Fix Xruns and Tinny Sound

Post by scott.thomason »

sunrat wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:41 am I use and recommend a Liquorix kernel but I believe Ubuntu has a "low-latency" one which should be ok for you and is in Ubuntu repos. Also check the System Configuration guide - https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/system_configuration . At very least run the rtcqs utility and make sure all sections show OK.
+1 for both the liquorix kernel and rtcqs...they helped me reduce latency from about 85ms to 1.3ms (as measured internally, not including the delay cause by the audio hardware itself). But do read the entire article, there are some good tips in there, like making your user account real-time scheduling capable.
---scott

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