Komplete Audio 6 101

[Two]

Dear all,

After a few years of abstinence I am trying to get back into Linux audio/midi recording. For that I bought a Komplete Audio 6, installed Debian Stable and the kxstudio repositories. I am using Jack and Ardour, but it seems I cannot even get the basic setup under control..

- The system seems to record fine from internal mic, but I cannot even see where I can find my Komplete Audio. It does not show up in Jack connections, but neither in Jack nor in Ardour I find anything like a hardware setup. Where can I look for available audio devices?

- It seems that ALSA might not even be running (no kernel modules having Alsa in their name). How do I start and control it?

- Ardour asked me a few questions at the start, about direct monitoring and something about ALSA and I fear I chose the wrong thing. How can I revisit these settings? I cannot find much about basic settings in "Global Settings" in Ardour.

[Two]

Ok, I got a bit further.. apparently the USB cable was flawed (dmesg actually says "Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?"!)
Now the device at least is visible on lsusb. But I still cannot see it anywhere in Jack or Ardour, but also don't know where to look.

[folderol]

When you say 'in Jack' where exactly are you looking.

I use qjackctl which holds your hand quite well. My KA6 shows up without issues in the Setup->Advanced window - looking in the Output Device and Input Device menus.
HTH

[Two]

Ah, thanks. Yes, sorry, qjackctl, of course. I didn't see the "advanced" panel (it's not in the main list of panels but lower down on a specific panel). This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[Two]

Ok, I am worried this is not a linux issue anymore, but I really have trouble using the KA6 sensibly. Both the volume of the headphones amp and at the in puts seems way too low. At the inputs I cannot get anywhere near decent volume with two Roland M5, even if I pull up the gain to almost full. (I didn't have to use the gains at all with similar mikes and other interfaces). And even a normalised and compressed wave file is loud enougn if I have the headphones on max.
In alsamixer everything is on full volume, too, as well as at the volume control of the headphones.

The headphone issue seems to be a complaint that many have, but apparently NI did not improve it for the MK2 that I have. But both issues are severe enough to make this device unusable. Do you think there could be something wrong/changeable within my setup, or is this really a hardware issue?

[Two]

Ah, ok. On the last few millimeters of the gain the volume actually increases dramatically. Apparently NI has combined volume control and preamp into one knob, and the preamp only sets in at the very end. I'm not sure I like this.

EDIT: And the headphones issue was also solveable - it came down to a faulty adapter.

Therefore sorry for babbling away here. Thanks for listening

[folderol]

Ah, ok. On the last few millimeters of the gain the volume actually increases dramatically. Apparently NI has combined volume control and preamp into one knob, and the preamp only sets in at the very end. I'm not sure I like this.

I don't recognise this situation (I have a MK1) Inputs 1&2 have individual volume controls. There is a small monitor Volume control for direct monitoring, A headphone volume control, the the big knob on top for the main outputs. All of these on my unit seem to behave quite normally.

[Two]

By individual controls I mean not just one knob for each channel, but also - per channel - a separate knob to control the input signal and a separate knob to boost the signal with a preamp, like you normally have in a mixing table. If I understand correctly, the KA6 does both with one knob. Maybe in your case the overlay of the two functions is implemented more smoothly. (all the other knobs you mention are output volume controls, not input)