Ultralite AVB

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tvaz
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by tvaz »

Have you tried to write to motu?
I politely did and got a big "we couldn't care less". In polite words.
alexxb
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by alexxb »

Can anyone confirm if the Ultralite AVB is right the product for me? I'm simply looking for a device that control speakers, headphones, and microphone across two separate computers (Linux/Windows and macOS) with one cable/connection. It seems like a network audio interface is exactly what I'm looking for but finding one that supports Linux has been difficult. My plan with the Ultralite AVB is to connect it to my router via ethernet and then have each computer/OS be recognized as an AVB endpoint. I believe Macs support this natively and I think/hoping that Linux and Windows can do the same with libraries like LA_avdecc or avdecc-lib? Am I correct in this assumption or has development not progress this far yet?
Drumfix
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Drumfix »

You cannot use a normal router to stream audio via AVB. You would need an AVB capable switch, e.g. from Presonus or Motu.
AVB on Windows is only available via an RME Digiface AVB. On Linux, AVB requires a network interface based on the Intel i210 chipset and a special driver. That driver exposes the network card as an 8in/8out soundcard to alsa.
Your cheapest option is to simply connect the Ultralite via USB to the Linux/Win PC and via AVB to the Mac.
alexxb
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by alexxb »

Drumfix wrote: Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:21 pm You cannot use a normal router to stream audio via AVB. You would need an AVB capable switch, e.g. from Presonus or Motu.
AVB on Windows is only available via an RME Digiface AVB. On Linux, AVB requires a network interface based on the Intel i210 chipset and a special driver. That driver exposes the network card as an 8in/8out soundcard to alsa.
Your cheapest option is to simply connect the Ultralite via USB to the Linux/Win PC and via AVB to the Mac.
Thanks for the reply. It seems AVB isn't where I thought it was. Dante would be a better option but then the Linux compatibility is seemingly worse than AVB. I guess the Ultralite AVB with wires connected to both computers is probably the simplest solution although I've read that the newer Ultralite AVB models (with ESS DAC) are not USB compliant and do not work on Linux?
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bluebell
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by bluebell »

alexxb wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:40 am
Drumfix wrote: Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:21 pm You cannot use a normal router to stream audio via AVB. You would need an AVB capable switch, e.g. from Presonus or Motu.
AVB on Windows is only available via an RME Digiface AVB. On Linux, AVB requires a network interface based on the Intel i210 chipset and a special driver. That driver exposes the network card as an 8in/8out soundcard to alsa.
Your cheapest option is to simply connect the Ultralite via USB to the Linux/Win PC and via AVB to the Mac.
Thanks for the reply. It seems AVB isn't where I thought it was. Dante would be a better option but then the Linux compatibility is seemingly worse than AVB. I guess the Ultralite AVB with wires connected to both computers is probably the simplest solution although I've read that the newer Ultralite AVB models (with ESS DAC) are not USB compliant and do not work on Linux?
Even with the older version they use a feature called "implicit feedback". I am not sure if the most recent kernels support that with the Ultralite AVB. But my Ultralite AVB (older version) works fine and flawlessly even with the most recent firmware with Drumfix' driver. See
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18046&p=122814#p122814

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

magoostus
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by magoostus »

SUCCESS!!

So I've been following this thread for the past ~4 months or so and tried various things but I've trusting the talented developers to create a fix
I have a MOTU Stage-B16 which runs the same identical firmware file as the ultralite AVB and i've been having the same issues with the USB

so I have a small raspberry pi4b that i've been trying to get working with the Stage-B16 for a while. so today I tried getting the latest ubuntu kernel and the latest alsa I could find and its actually WORKING

my alsa versions are :
alsa-base/now 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu7 all [installed,local]
alsa-source/now 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu7 all [installed,local]
alsa-tools/groovy,now 1.2.2-1 arm64 [installed]
alsa-topology-conf/now 1.2.4-1 all [installed,local]
alsa-ucm-conf/now 1.2.4-2 all [installed,local]
alsa-utils/now 1.2.4-1ubuntu2 arm64 [installed,local]
libalsa-ocaml-dev/now 0.3.0-1build1 arm64 [installed,local]
libalsa-ocaml/now 0.3.0-1build1 arm64 [installed,local]
libzita-alsa-pcmi0/groovy,now 0.3.2-2 arm64 [installed,automatic]

my linux kernel version is:
5.11.0-1003-raspi (aarch64 64-bit)

and it's WORKING on ubuntu 20.10 right now. no channel hopping. I can get the bit-crusher sound if I bump it down to 32 samples, but I wasnt able to get bit-crushing sound at 48samples or higher buffer sizes.


there are still some bugs, using jack_buffsize causes it to stop all together,
alcomatt
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by alcomatt »

magoostus wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:49 pm SUCCESS!!

So I've been following this thread for the past ~4 months or so and tried various things but I've trusting the talented developers to create a fix
I have a MOTU Stage-B16 which runs the same identical firmware file as the ultralite AVB and i've been having the same issues with the USB

so I have a small raspberry pi4b that i've been trying to get working with the Stage-B16 for a while. so today I tried getting the latest ubuntu kernel and the latest alsa I could find and its actually WORKING

my alsa versions are :
alsa-base/now 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu7 all [installed,local]
alsa-source/now 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu7 all [installed,local]
alsa-tools/groovy,now 1.2.2-1 arm64 [installed]
alsa-topology-conf/now 1.2.4-1 all [installed,local]
alsa-ucm-conf/now 1.2.4-2 all [installed,local]
alsa-utils/now 1.2.4-1ubuntu2 arm64 [installed,local]
libalsa-ocaml-dev/now 0.3.0-1build1 arm64 [installed,local]
libalsa-ocaml/now 0.3.0-1build1 arm64 [installed,local]
libzita-alsa-pcmi0/groovy,now 0.3.2-2 arm64 [installed,automatic]

my linux kernel version is:
5.11.0-1003-raspi (aarch64 64-bit)

and it's WORKING on ubuntu 20.10 right now. no channel hopping. I can get the bit-crusher sound if I bump it down to 32 samples, but I wasnt able to get bit-crushing sound at 48samples or higher buffer sizes.


there are still some bugs, using jack_buffsize causes it to stop all together,
You may be onto something here: My unit is the one with the ESS chips and have tested it with the latest available software and kernel 5.11.8-arch1. It seems to be working fine without Drumfix module or any other changes made to the kernel or audio settings (except the usual ones mentioned in Arch audio wiki - rtprio, threadirq etc). I've only run it for a couple of hours but did experience neither the channel drift nor any audio distortion issues which were plaguing this firmware release with earlier kernels. Very promising.

The only issue not fixed by 5.11 kernel is the sample rate. It still needs one restart of Jack before the correct rate is set but it is a small annoyance if channel drifting issue is no longer there.
shellwalker
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by shellwalker »

magoostus wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:49 pm SUCCESS!!

8<> ---snip---
---snap---<>8
my linux kernel version is:
5.11.0-1003-raspi (aarch64 64-bit)

and it's WORKING on ubuntu 20.10 right now. no channel hopping. I can get the bit-crusher sound if I bump it down to 32 samples, but I wasnt able to get
I just tried Ubuntu kernel build 5.11.0-051100-generic on my Ubuntu 20.04 and on the 828ES.
Drifting issue still occurs :-(

MOTU 828mk3, MOTU 828ES, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Kubuntu 22.04.1 LTS, https://github.com/shellwalker-coder/motu_patch_testing

damianrecomienda
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by damianrecomienda »

SUCCESS!!

Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS
Kernel 5.12.0-051200rc4-generic

MOTU 8A
audio via USB
setup via Ethernet cable (direct connection, without router)
audio test with Pure Data via ALSA @44K & @48k

(party)
damianrecomienda
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by damianrecomienda »

Hello everyone,
Adding just one more chapter to this conquest.

Controlling Motu AVB settings via OSC from PureData took me a long time (not that long) to understand the OSC messages documented on the MOTU website:
https://cdn-data.motu.com/downloads/aud ... erence.pdf

Here is a patch with the basic messages for controlling the input and output trim, also the adjustment of the sampling rate. Based on these messages, the rest of the MOTU documentation in the PDF could be understood easily.
motuOSC.zip
(1.19 KiB) Downloaded 70 times



GIF with the example:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zWGgCb ... sp=sharing
tvaz
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by tvaz »

Update on a MOTU Ultralite AVB ESS with kernel 5.12.0-rc4 (no patches): using both jack and pulseaudio, it stops playing after a few minutes or a few hours, randomly. No good, sorry to say that :-(

Will try this kernel version with with drumfix patch and report soon.
tvaz
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by tvaz »

Good news: linux 5.12.0-rc4 + @Drumfix's patch playing for about 24h with no interrupts using jack.

MOTU AVB Ultralite ESS chips.
tvaz
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by tvaz »

tvaz wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:38 am Good news: linux 5.12.0-rc4 + @Drumfix's patch playing for about 24h with no interrupts using jack.

MOTU AVB Ultralite ESS chips.
Bad news: same issues back after 36h running. Happened when I added some charge to the system I/O. Certainly more stable than older kernel versions, yet far from acceptable. I'm putting my device for sale (in Canada, if anyone is interested please PM).
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Musinux »

5.11.x-zen without drumfix' patches and without setting irq-priority gives some hours of playback without distortion, but channel hopping occurs quite soon after starting jack. Patching modulo8 even helps with 4 outputs, but isn't ideal of course.
Old story, sometimes it takes forever without breaking, even under high average or peak load, but it will break.
It even resumes fine from suspend with everything still working...

With drumfix' patch and nearly any combination of boot options and irq-tweaking, channel hopping or distortion happens in a few minutes (at least with 5.11.x and next- kernels).

Can somebody with flawless playback post their configuration as detailed as possible (cmdline, irqs, priorities)?

Does anybody have stable playback while running the following as root:

Code: Select all

hwlatdetect --duration 60 --threshold=15
I sometimes use that to glitch-fix, because it makes channel hopping happen so fast.
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bluebell
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by bluebell »

Musinux wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:02 pm Can somebody with flawless playback post their configuration as detailed as possible (cmdline, irqs, priorities)?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18046&p=122814#p122814

I use kernel 5.8.6 meanwhile.

My interface is one of the older ones without ESS chips.

I let the interface boot until it's ready before I start the computer. No probs even after running the interface for longer than a week.

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

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