Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

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oviri
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by oviri »

Bugeyed Earl wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 8:57 pm Yes, the 2nd generation driver is available as of kernel 5.4 and higher.
Thanks for the answer, I must miss something because actually with ubuntu studio 20.04, kernel 5.4.0-29-lowlatency, it doesn't seem to work "out of the box"
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by cjoke »

oviri wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 12:37 am
Bugeyed Earl wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 8:57 pm Yes, the 2nd generation driver is available as of kernel 5.4 and higher.
Thanks for the answer, I must miss something because actually with ubuntu studio 20.04, kernel 5.4.0-29-lowlatency, it doesn't seem to work "out of the box"
The basics should work, but you have to load the mixer, so if you create a file in /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf and put this line in the file : options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1
as the command in a terminal will show you

dmesg | grep -i focus
[ 2357.814601] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Focusrite
[ 2357.885763] usb 1-5: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2 Mixer Driver disabled; use options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1 to enable and report any issues to g@b4.vu
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oviri
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by oviri »

cjoke wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 10:58 am
oviri wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 12:37 am
Bugeyed Earl wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 8:57 pm Yes, the 2nd generation driver is available as of kernel 5.4 and higher.
Thanks for the answer, I must miss something because actually with ubuntu studio 20.04, kernel 5.4.0-29-lowlatency, it doesn't seem to work "out of the box"
The basics should work, but you have to load the mixer, so if you create a file in /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf and put this line in the file : options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1
as the command in a terminal will show you

dmesg | grep -i focus
[ 2357.814601] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Focusrite
[ 2357.885763] usb 1-5: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2 Mixer Driver disabled; use options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1 to enable and report any issues to g@b4.vu
OK I've put the wrong option in /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf. Now it work! thank you cjoke! well, I didn't try to change settings ... but I'll do that and will come back for some feedbacks
Dinamo
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by Dinamo »

Hi all,

First of all thanks to @geoffrey and every one contributing on this.

Unfortunately in my case I couldn't get the controls that the driver should provide for my scarlett 18i8. I'm using Ubuntu Studio 20.04, 5.4.0-37-lowlatency kernel.

After installing the .deb kernel from https://github.com/geoffreybennett/scar ... 2/releases and creating the scarlett.conf file when I open Alsamixer insted of Scarlett my device is now called USB Device 0x1235:0x8204 and has no controls at all.

Is this because my interface is from an older revision? (serial number beggining W2...etc) Or was that issue already solved and I'm missing something else?

If there is some output I could get from my device to help the driver work for older 2nd gen revisions I would also be glad to help.
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by geoffrey »

Hi Dinamo,
Dinamo wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:39 am Hi all,

First of all thanks to @geoffrey and every one contributing on this.

Unfortunately in my case I couldn't get the controls that the driver should provide for my scarlett 18i8. I'm using Ubuntu Studio 20.04, 5.4.0-37-lowlatency kernel.
Thanks for trying to test the driver! It got included in Linux 5.4, so no need to try the one from github.
Dinamo wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:39 am After installing the .deb kernel from https://github.com/geoffreybennett/scar ... 2/releases and creating the scarlett.conf file when I open Alsamixer insted of Scarlett my device is now called USB Device 0x1235:0x8204 and has no controls at all.

Is this because my interface is from an older revision? (serial number beggining W2...etc) Or was that issue already solved and I'm missing something else?
There is a known issue with the driver sometimes not working. I originally thought that it was to do with the device revision, but we found (thanks cjoke!) that it's actually to do with the type of USB host controller in your computer (xhci good, ehci bad). Please try running "journalctl -f" or "tail -f /var/log/messages" to watch the kernel message log, then plug in your interface. You should see "new high-speed USB device ... using xhci_hcd" or "using ehci-pci". If it's ehci-pci, and then after that you see "Scarlett Gen 2 USB response result cmd 0 was -110" then you're hitting the known issue. I can reproduce it myself on an older laptop (as of 3 days ago), but don't have a solution yet. If you see "using xhci_hcd" or don't see the "-110" code then you're hitting a different issue.

Regards,
Geoffrey.
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by Dinamo »

Thanks for your reply!
geoffrey wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:26 am There is a known issue with the driver sometimes not working. I originally thought that it was to do with the device revision, but we found (thanks cjoke!) that it's actually to do with the type of USB host controller in your computer (xhci good, ehci bad). Please try running "journalctl -f" or "tail -f /var/log/messages" to watch the kernel message log, then plug in your interface. You should see "new high-speed USB device ... using xhci_hcd" or "using ehci-pci". If it's ehci-pci, and then after that you see "Scarlett Gen 2 USB response result cmd 0 was -110" then you're hitting the known issue. I can reproduce it myself on an older laptop (as of 3 days ago), but don't have a solution yet. If you see "using xhci_hcd" or don't see the "-110" code then you're hitting a different issue.

Yes, that seems to be the issue. After checking the kernel log I see both "using echi-pci" and "response result cmd 0 was -110"

Since you can reproduce this problem yourself I guess there isn't much I can offer but let me know if I can help in some way.

Once again thanks for your work!
wv5k
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by wv5k »

I also am having this issue, and it sure would be nice to find a solution. Has anyone with this problem tried using an aftermarket USB 3.1 pci-e card yet?
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by Papa Charly »

@dinamo:
I have to tell that my System with a Scarlett 18i20 2.Gen., and also 18i8 2.Gen. is running perfect now, with standard Debian- Kernel 5.8.16!! What I have found out is that the Reason that it won't work is the USB-Driver ehci_pci! My solution was that I had to go into the system-bios and had to disable the USB-3.0-legacy feature of my Z77- chipset Motherboard. No the Scarlett- interfaces are using the xhci_hcd- USB- driver and are working out of the box with the configure-file edited like usual: /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf "options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1 "

Wow- it takes so many years that this dream came true. Linux (Debian / Ubuntu) in combination with Focusrite- Scarlett- interfaces are now a very good solution for a audio- workstation. I'm wondering why Focustite haven't used this competitive advantage to make any Linux musician happy with that massive benefit?!

Thanks a lot to anybody involved in this development especially again to Geoffrey! :D :lol:
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by Papa Charly »

ehci_pci / xhci_hcd USB: Cause I was wondering why my Medion - Akoya convertible did not have this USB- problem and the kernel is recognizing my Scarlett- 2.Gen. Interfaces very well on this machine I also looked into it's bios. And there is a configuration point especially for the use of ehci_pci and xhci_hcd which was configured as not to use ehci_pci in the USB- configuration part. So anybody having problems with USB configuration should have a look into the Bios of their computers and try out if there is a feature like this or as described in the post above to manipulate USB- support!

Have luck and enjoy.
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by Philotomy »

For the record, investigating the ehci/xhci settings led to the driver working for me, now.

In my case, the BIOS settings that were available to me were "correct," but I needed to plug the Scarlett into a USB 3.0 port in order for the system to use xhci. After that, everything worked as expected, and I'm now able to control the Scarlett with alsamixer.

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 2nd gen.
Kernel 5.9.1-arch1-1.
My recordings on SoundCloud
Distro: Arch, DAW: Bitwig, Interface: Scarlett 18i8 Gen 2
klausnje
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by klausnje »

New to this forum.
Geoffrey has been gracious enough to reply to my emails directly but also indicated this forum might help as well.
I am trying to get the alsamixer to display the focusrite controls but the driver appears not to be loading.
Whenever I set the /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf to
options snd_usb_audio device_setup=1,1,1,1
and or
options snd_usb_audio vid=0x1235 pid=0x8204 device_setup=1

I receive the following error:
Nov 11 10:53:01 joe-CF-30F3SAXAM kernel: [ 198.221372] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: Focusrite
Nov 11 10:53:07 joe-CF-30F3SAXAM pulseaudio[1114]: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-alsa-card" (argument: "device_id="1" name="usb-Focusrite_Scarlett_18i8_USB_00019420-03" card_name="alsa_card.usb-Focusrite_Scarlett_18i8_USB_00019420-03" namereg_fail=false tsched=yes fixed_latency_range=no ignore_dB=no deferred_volume=yes use_ucm=yes card_properties="module-udev-detect.discovered=1""): initialization failed.

I have the 18i8 2nd gen.
I am using 5.4.0-52-generic. 32 bit.
Alsamixer is v1.1.3

Has anyone else been able to get this to work or do they have an alternate way to control the 18i8?
I tried wine and the focusrite control but it does not detect the hardware.

Thanks for any direction.
Joe
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by sadko4u »

klausnje wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:08 pm Has anyone else been able to get this to work or do they have an alternate way to control the 18i8?
I tried wine and the focusrite control but it does not detect the hardware.

Thanks for any direction.
Joe
Hello! I am currently working on bringing gen3 devices to life with this driver. If you have problems, you can patch your kernel with updated driver and test it for work. Here's the reference to my project with kernel driver patches which I forked from geoffrey's repository and currently working on:
https://github.com/sadko4u/scarlett-gen2

Here are ready to use patches for several linux kernel versions:
https://github.com/sadko4u/focusrite-scarlett-backports

You also may inject the debug driver with many printf() calls to dmesg which, probably, may show why the initialization of your driver fails:
https://github.com/sadko4u/focusrite-sc ... ett_gen2.c

Owners of gen2 devices are also important for me since I need to be sure that I didn't broke anything related to the previous generation of the device.
LSP (Linux Studio Plugins) Developer and Maintainer.
klausnje
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by klausnje »

Thanks
I will check it out.
Will your Gen3 be backward compatible?
Apparently Geoffrey's gen2 is part of the 5.4 Kernel but the driver is not loading for some reason.

in /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf
for the 18i8 gen 2 i am using
options snd-usb-audio vid=0x1235 pid=0x8204 device_setup=1
dmesg produces an errlog generated from mixer_scarlet_gen2.c something to the effect "Response Result cmd=0 error=-110"

I am just trying to bring up the 18i8 in the alsamixer but the driver is not getting loaded for some reason.

There was a subsequent dmesg -22 which seems to be a mixer related error.
snd-usb-audio: probe of 1-2:1.0 failed with error -22

Tried it on two different computers with same results.
Would you know where one can find a break down of the error numbers?
Thanks for your reply.
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by klausnje »

Nevermind
I just read the previous posts about the legacy usb issue.
Perhaps I will be able to disable in the BIOS.
My bad for not reading all of the posts!
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen mixer driver

Post by klausnje »

My CF30 BIos do not have the option to switch between ehci and xhci.
I can disable legacy usb but that has not made any difference. Still get the -110 error code.
Is there a command to force load the xhci driver?
Most all of the posts I have seen on the internet are trying to do the exact opposite.
I tried to use this command but
setpci -H1 -d 8086:283a d0.l=1 (where 1 is xhci and 0 is ehci)
but receive the following
0000:001a.7 @d0 00000001
or will there be any future revisions to include ehci for all focusrite generations?
Thanks
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