Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

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rossmactire
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by rossmactire »

Thank you so much :D now I have somewhere to start. I love this forum so much <3

sadko4u wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:46 am
rossmactire wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:26 pm Pardon me if I missed the answer to my question in the thread. I'm very new and a bit of a baby using linux. very little coding/commandline skills but I'm learning.
So it's a good reason to learn Linux better now.
rossmactire wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:26 pm I just purchased the Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 and want to use it with my ubuntu system. I haven't done anything past open the url link it gives you and got to the part where you download the focusrite controller software which it says isn't supported by the OS I'm using.
Focusrite doesn't support Linux platform. You won't get any driver/software for it from the official site.
rossmactire wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:26 pm I have the ubuntu 20.4 installed. I was just going to use it with Audacity and LMMS. unless people have better software recommendations.
Ardour?
rossmactire wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:26 pm PLEASE SEND HELP hahaha.
There is a driver in pocess, and it even works. You'll be required to patch and build your own linux kernel. Please read the detailed information here:
https://github.com/sadko4u/focusrite-scarlett-backports
Ben Tyson
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by Ben Tyson »

theotrst wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:16 pm Are you using the 8i6 3rd gen?
I am, yeah
linux7070
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by linux7070 »

sadko4u wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:42 am
linux7070 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:12 am Any idea when this should (roughly) make it to mainline linux kernel, on something like Ubuntu Focal :-(
When the driver will be ready to be shipped to upstream. Currently there are still issues with it.
Hi I noticed your signature.

I'm looking for a Linux multichannel convolver that can map stereo to 8 channels output.

I am using Focusrite 18i20 Gen3 and use convolution for 3-way DSP crossover and room correction with subwoofers.

The digital room correction program I use is Audiolense on Win10 - it can spit out 64-bit floating point WAV impulse response files, to use with whatever convolver.

Appreciate any advice

Thanks!
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sadko4u
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by sadko4u »

linux7070 wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:22 pm I'm looking for a Linux multichannel convolver that can map stereo to 8 channels output.
You may simulate 8-channel convolver with Ardour and set of stereo convolvers I believe.
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Ben Tyson
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by Ben Tyson »

morke wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 11:07 am
Let me describe what I have done, based on your input. [...]
First of all, many thanks for that description, M, it helped me to get my head round what's actually being done in terms of what bits of code are being replaced/changed when patching the kernel.
I don't know if this is something you'd assume would be included in the step of compiling the kernel in your description, but I found that in order to get low latency, it was necessary to specify in make menuconfig -> General Settings -> Preemption Model as described in this article https://hungpham2511.github.io/real-tim ... mptrt.html (if you get a 404 not found, try going to the Archive and finding the article dated 2020/09/05 - the most recent one as I'm writing this. Also the -j20 the author includes in their make commands apparently instructs it to use 20 cores. Only just found that out so no idea how it affects performance to use this). I think enabling the low latency option for the preemption model did make a noticeable reduction in the amount of xruns I was seeing, but there were still enough happening that I wanted to look at other potential ways to reduce.

I've also now repeated the process with the most recent Liquorix kernel and found that it required an extra method (snd_usb_pipe_sanity_check(some stuff)) to be included in helper.h and helper.c. The only difference (I could see) between those and the helper.c and .h files from the apt source 5.8.0-40-lowlatency was the inclusion of that sanity check method so you can safely copy/paste it across, replace the files or patch it in whatever way you like, I think. I copied the files across from the latter to replace those in the Liquorix source, and that seems to have done the trick. I also had to install zstd.
I've only done a couple of hours' worth of actual music stuff with the Liquorix kernel but I'm pretty sure there were significantly fewer xruns than I've seen previously.

One other thing that might be worth a mention is that since I switched to an nVidia GPU, when I boot up a new kernel I have to run dkms autoinstall to make the nVidia graphics drivers work. It's a speedy process, (like >1min on my desktop) and when it boots without the nVidia driver it just falls back on mesa so there's no issues getting to the desktop, sticking dkms autoinstall in a terminal and rebooting. There's probably a way to make it work without the extra reboot but idk what it is and this seems to be working smoothly enough for me thus far.
oobabooba
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by oobabooba »

Hi,

Is there any news about this driver reaching mainline ?
mtlspark
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by mtlspark »

Hi Geoffrey,

If I understood correctly, you have been working on a driver for Scarlett Gen 3 4i4. What is the state of the driver today (your post was in November 2019)?

Thanks for all of your hard work !

Steve
Ben Tyson
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by Ben Tyson »

Hi Steve

I don't know if Geoffrey is currently working on the driver, It seems his ability to do so is pretty sporadic from previous posts. Sadko4u has also put in some work, which I gather builds on Geoffrey's driver and has resulted in a slightly different version. Unfortunately in either case it's necessary to compile a custom kernel with the driver and a few other small tweaks. There's a patch on Sadko4u's GitHub which can be applied to the vanilla kernel. I've been using the liquorix kernel, which I patch manually by replacing the files which would be altered by Sadko4u's patch. If you wanna have a go, the posts above explain what needs to be done, although the specific details have changed a little since kernel version 5.11. If you're on ubuntu I may be able to answer some questions, other distros idk. I'm very much not an expert and all my knowledge and experience of working with the kernel comes from doing this, but I'm happy to help out if I can :)
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by sadko4u »

I'm thinking on adding support of 4i4 driver here:
https://github.com/sadko4u/focusrite-scarlett-backports

But I found that without the physical device it will take a lot of time spent for communication with people who have this device.
So I think I want to crowdfund the money for purchasing the 4i4 device or wait a bit until I will have enough money to purchase it.

After that, I'll be able to add the 4i4 support to my extended version of driver.
If you want to help the crowdfunding, please donate to my paypal account with the comment that this donation is for 4i4 purchase:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/sadko4u
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geoffrey
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by geoffrey »

mtlspark wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:48 am Hi Geoffrey,

If I understood correctly, you have been working on a driver for Scarlett Gen 3 4i4. What is the state of the driver today (your post was in November 2019)?

Thanks for all of your hard work !

Steve
Hi Steve!

Please see the new thread I started for a status update: viewtopic.php?p=133221

For 4i4 support today you need to compile your own kernel or use one of the Gen 3 kernel RPMs or debs that I uploaded here: https://github.com/geoffreybennett/scar ... g/v5.8.8s1

Regards,
Geoffrey.
Zoroman.musico
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by Zoroman.musico »

hello I am very interested in your development, I have a focusrite scarlett 18i8 3 gen, will I be able to make it work? how can I help?
unknown88
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by unknown88 »

I'm running a fresh install of Manjaro Gnome with Kernel: 5.14.10-1-MANJARO.
I would be willing to test as well since I'm having issues getting the Mic inputs to show in my Gnome settings.
I've opened an issue in the Manjaro forums but had no luck.
Thankfully I was sent to this forum.

Original post
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/scarlett-8i ... gs/85350/5
Jyves
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by Jyves »

Hi here.
Thank's for the ones who wrote patches for this card and others.
I'm on Debian 11.2 (the last stable).
I got a focurite scarlett 4i4 Gen 3.
I compiled the 5.14.9 Debian kernel to make my card work.
It brings the mixer for the 4i4 But the problems are multiple :

1/It sometimes crashes , when i listen to videos in the web browser, forcing me to hard reboot.
2/There are still many xruns and some crips! crips noises!
3/It is not the "Official" version for my distro : official is 5.10.0-8-rt-amd64.


Not sure i can apply theses patches even by hand: is it possible?
Because patches are for some vanilla kernels or some other distro kernels.
I see tons of lines of code and i would not be surprised that one symbol could miss.
Are there official patches for debian 5.10.0-8-rt-amd64?
What is the solution for this kernel?
I need the mixer and the bugs to be resolved.
Than'ks in advance.
JYves
n473
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by n473 »

I just wanted to report. Be careful playing with the loopback interface. The manual says it needs to power cycle between changes, but alsamixer doesn't do this correctly (I don't think or maybe there was a glitch). When adjusting I'd get clicking. I believe my 4i4 is now bricked. It doesn't appear as USB device anymore on my computer or my partners windows machine. Yikes :'(
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 4i4 (and others)

Post by bluebell »

Zoroman.musico wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:47 pm hello I am very interested in your development, I have a focusrite scarlett 18i8 3 gen, will I be able to make it work? how can I help?
It works already. See viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23780&p=138059#p138059

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