kxStudio & Tascam US122

[Lin]

I am trying to use an old Tascam us122 on the current kxstudio release with a Thinkpad x230, but the setup seems to malfunction. On the older release I was able to use it, as well as on several Ubuntu-Studio releases since Ubuntu 8.04.

I have tried to install the drivers in various ways: first by hand as one used to (get the firmware packages, make install, use fxload and usx2yloader to activate the device). Then I realised that the interface now works plug and play - it gets activated if I just plug it in on a fresh install of kxStudio and becomes visible in Jack. I have also tried both the alsa-firmware packages that come with the release and the latest packages from the alsa project. All these different approaches lead to the same errors.

Even on a fresh install, plugging the device and then going to System-Settings->Multimedia->Audio-and-Video-Setup instantly causes a kernel panic (with the us2xy drivers being mentioned in the error messages). Also I cannot start Jack as soon as I choose the device in Jack.

Code: Select all

20:50:50.604 D-BUS: JACK server could not be started. Sorry
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for 4294967295, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for 4294967295, skipping unlock
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: Starting jack server...
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: cannot register object path "/org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio2": A handler is already registered for /org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio2
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: Failed to acquire device name : Audio2 error : A handler is already registered for /org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio2
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: Audio device hw:USX2Y cannot be acquired...
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: Cannot initialize driver
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: JackServer::Open failed with -1
Sun Oct 11 20:50:50 2015: ERROR: Failed to open server
Sun Oct 11 20:50:52 2015: Saving settings to "/home/myx/.config/jack/conf.xml" ...
20:50:52.686 Could not connect to JACK server as client. - Overall operation failed. - Unable to connect to server. Please check the messages window for more info.
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for 4294967295, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for 4294967295, skipping unlock

As long as I use the internal sound hardware in Jack, it works fine.

I'd be grateful for any help - let me know what data I should post.

L

[Lin]

No, no pulseaudio seems installed. It also shouldn't be in a fresh kxstudio install, right?

How can I see what program is using my soundcard?

[Lin]

It turns out that I get exactly the same error messages in jack, if I do not initialize the device at all.

But it also turns out, that if I use the device through ALSA in Ardour without Jack, it works just fine! (This used to not be the case: this configuration created bad distortions a few days ago, when I first tried). However, I do need Jack to work, too. (and that Kernel Panic that bars me from entering the System Audio Settings does not inspire confidence either). Any idea what to do?

[Gwyndaf]

I've spent a lot of time getting a US428 and now US224 to work with JACK, and I think the US122 uses the same USX2Y drivers (MkI at least: I believe MkII is different). So, here's my experience, which might be useful:

• You may need to plug/replug twice for udev to fully load all the firmware, usx2yloader and us428control elements (I've also disabled us428control in /lib/udev/tascam_fpga and then start it manually as user, which seems to speed up detection)
• It can take quite a few seconds to fully detect/setup the device: keep checking aplay -l until it shows up in the list of devices
• Use JACK1, as JACK2 seems to have USX2Y support disabled or not working (but use the KXstudio build of JACK1 to get jackdbus support)
• I find it safer for JACK to reference the device number directly (hw:2,2 in my case), than to use hw:USX2Y,2. This isn't listed in Cadence, but you can type it in manually. That's only for the hwdep functionality, and seems to work ok for hw:USX2Y,0, but might be worth a try for elimination purposes.
• If you're using rtirq, explicitly prioritse USB1 devices with uhci_hcd. I have RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="rtc uhci_hcd usb snd i8042"

The last of these solved problems I had when switching to a new setup (LMDE2 on 64 bit machine). Everything else had it working on the older 32bit setup. I've still no idea as to the exact cause, but the solution seems to work.

As a more general precaution, I've tried to reduce any direct access my desktop has to the device, e.g. by disabling any desktop sound/volume controls, including - as falkTX says - pulseaudio. That way, it keeps troubleshooting scope limited to ALSA and JACK.