Ultralite AVB

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rofer
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by rofer »

Also, can anyone explain what exactly the host safety buffer is? Does it have to be related to the buffer size set in jack, or is it completely independent?
Musinux
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Musinux »

rofer wrote:Also, can anyone explain what exactly the host safety buffer is? Does it have to be related to the buffer size set in jack, or is it completely independent?
https://cdn-data.motu.com/manuals/avb/M ... d%20Me.pdf
This setting allows
you to fine tune host latency. Larger offsets allow the driver
more time to process audio as it transfers to and from the
hardware. Lower settings produce lower latency, but if you go
too low, your host software may experience performance
issues.
Sounds like (additional) prebuffering interface internally. But especially that readme is written in a "we don't know why, but play around with it" style.
vth
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by vth »

rofer wrote:I got a suggestion to try "v1.2.4+201 (Release Date 2015-12-01)" and a reminder that MOTU doesn't officially support Linux which is about what I expected.
I've now tried that version, and the results are the same as with v1.2.8+378 that I tested in July: everything seems to work fine until suddenly all the input channels glitch out. As with 1.2.8, the outputs (at least the speaker and main outs I was using) continue to work fine even after that.
rofer
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by rofer »

Drumfix wrote:Unfortunately i was wrong. It worked, because i had hooked it up to a windows box, where it apparently initialized correctly and then reconnected it to the linux box without rebooting the device... The search continues...
Does that work reliably?

If so it seems to suggest that if we can reverse-engineer whatever magic the Windows driver does then we can get this working.
Drumfix
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Drumfix »

I downgraded to 1.2.9, which is much more reliable so far. Got a i210 card now, so will try to get AVB running.
rofer
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by rofer »

I tried hooking it up to a Windows computer then moving it to a linux one and it didn't seem to help any unfortunately.

Drumfix: Could you get that to work reliably? If so it would be a great sign that this could work reliably with Linux with the existing firmware.
Drumfix
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Drumfix »

Unfortunately 1.3.4 was not reliable, even when in "windows mode".
supereb
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by supereb »

Drumfix wrote:I downgraded to 1.2.9, which is much more reliable so far. Got a i210 card now, so will try to get AVB running.
Unfortunately the firmware versions do not go back that far for the 8pre-es.

Has 1.2.9 been reliable enough? Any luck with AVB?
xsk3l3t0rx
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by xsk3l3t0rx »

hi everyone, so i'm new here, and i dont know how to code, but i've been on linux 10 years now, so i think i'm decent and can contribute...

anyway, i just bought this device used off reverb, and upon connecting it to my ubuntu 18.04 setup, i simply couldnt get it to work right without going into "bitcrusher mode" like many of you have mentioned earlier in the thread. the audio will fade out and get very bitcrushed and fade out in volume, then will randomly fade back a few minutes later only to fade back out again. this will loop over and over again on the newest motu firmware.

this is where i'm at now: by dropping down to v1.2.9 i am getting rock solid stable performance. no more bitcrushing, no more fading out, and the xruns are decently low (as long as im not doing anything else but ardour). i'm able to play audio from non-jack apps fine with pulse-jack bridge.

config:
ubuntu 18.04 kernel 4.15.0-34-generic
motu firmware 1.2.9
using qjackctl

lmk if you guys need any more info, hope i've helped at all... i've been lurking this thread for weeks now...
vth
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by vth »

To the people running 1.2.9: have you also tried recording multichannel audio for extended periods of time (as in, not only testing it for a few minutes)? On page three, Musinux explicitly mentions having experienced these issues on many firmware versions including 1.2.9+479.

I haven't tried that particular version, but at least for me, the failure mode is very different between 1.3.4 and older versions. On 1.3.4 the glitch appears quickly and reproducibly on all channels, while on older versions I've only had it happen on inputs, and after a while (I think the fastest has been way under an hour, but it has taken up to several hours of continuous use to happen on at least one occasion).
xsk3l3t0rx
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by xsk3l3t0rx »

vth wrote:To the people running 1.2.9: have you also tried recording multichannel audio for extended periods of time (as in, not only testing it for a few minutes)? On page three, Musinux explicitly mentions having experienced these issues on many firmware versions including 1.2.9+479.

I haven't tried that particular version, but at least for me, the failure mode is very different between 1.3.4 and older versions. On 1.3.4 the glitch appears quickly and reproducibly on all channels, while on older versions I've only had it happen on inputs, and after a while (I think the fastest has been way under an hour, but it has taken up to several hours of continuous use to happen on at least one occasion).

i can agree with this. under the newest version ( i dont remember the version number) it started crashing almost immediately. v1.2.9 works indefinitely. if it get some xruns so what, its not perfect, but at leats i can get comptetent audio for more than 5 mins at a time. something wonky is definitely happening betwenn 1.2.9 and 1.3.4*.... at this point, im startin to think its something on MOTU's end, since the older versions work decently. at the risk of oversimplifying the issue, i think this is either an issue on MOTU's end, or simply a quirk that needs to be rectified. thanks to all involved btw,
Musinux
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by Musinux »

I just had a peek at http://motu.com/avb/index.html#avb-down ... -resources and saw that MOTU downgraded the "latest" firmware on that site to 1.2.9+479.
http://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/f ... changelog/ still shows the 1.3+ firmwares...
supereb
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by supereb »

Musinux wrote:I just had a peek at http://motu.com/avb/index.html#avb-down ... -resources and saw that MOTU downgraded the "latest" firmware on that site to 1.2.9+479.
http://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/f ... changelog/ still shows the 1.3+ firmwares...
Interesting. I have been checking this periodically as well. At the moment, there are no firmware downloads for the 828es or my 8pre-es! I think oldest firmware for these was 1.3.2. In their news section, they didn't come right out in say it, but I get the impression that there may be some compatibility issues with Apple Mojave. Maybe the revert is because of that. As far as I know, 1.2.9 firmware is the most class-compliant. I'm certain that they will be releasing new firmware to bring back the touch console. Hopefully this will result these interfaces working in Linux.
supereb
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by supereb »

Today they removed all firmware except for the latest from their website:

http://motu.com/proaudio/index.html#avb ... -resources


EDIT: Previous firmware is still available on their firmware change log page:

http://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/f ... changelog/
baptiste
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Re: Ultralite AVB

Post by baptiste »

Hi !
Newbie here. I own an Ultralite AVB, and was pretty happy about it until this progressive bitcrushing bug on Linux. Before that was the BSOD bug on W10. I contacted MOTU about it and they kindly sent me a beta firmware which resolved the issue. Very confident after that first contact, i was almost happy to report the bitcrushing bug, but got no answer from them, because i mentioned being on Linux i guess.

I'm just here to thank you people because i downgraded to 1.2.9+479 and while i can no longer enjoy the touch interface, my Ultralite AVB is now running smoothly !
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