Functional setup using M-Audio Quattro with Ubuntu

[sgalzin]

Objective: connect the Quattro audio interface via USB to the computer and be able to, at a minimum, use the inputs to record sound onto the computer.

I have been trying to make this work for quite some time now, with little success. The machine I am most hopeful of getting this to work on is running Ubuntu 20.04, but I've tried with Ubuntu 16.04 as well. I say "minimal" success because, after reading a bunch of stuff online, I seem to be able to get past some of the hurdles:

• I am able to launch Jack

• I am able to see the inputs in the "connect" screen on QJackCtl

• I think Ardour is actually attaching a track to the Input 1 of the Quattro

However, despite all this progress, I am still unable to record anything / hear anything being sent to the audio interface.

Among the various steps I have followed, the current scenario involves:

• having modified the .asoundrc according to what has been posted in several places, such as viewtopic.php?t=13776 or https://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/M-Audio_Quattro.

• for launching jack, I have tried different options which do not fail, but the only one providing inputs into Ardour so far (the most successful one so far) is: jackd -d alsa -d q4 -H -C -r 44100 -p 1024 -i4 -o -P hw:1

When I do this, I get 4 inputs in JackCtl/Connect/Audio: system (capture_1, capture_2, capture_3, capture_4) whereas I usually only get 1 and 2 when the interface is not plugged in (the internal Mic I suppose, left and right channels).

Once I start Ardour, it connects the different things together (I'm a bit lost at this stage, but the connections seem to make sense, though I would have trouble reproducing them manually if I were to do this on my own). I then create a track and connect it to the audio 1 on the input. I send an amplified signal into input1, hit the record button, do the various things I've seen in tutorials online, but at this stage the meter doesn't budge...

I hope someone can help Here are different outputs which I've seen people report online, in case this helps:

Code: Select all

steph@Inspiron:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [sofhdadsp      ]: sof-hda-dsp - sof-hda-dsp
                      DellInc.-Inspiron5402--0J9Y6J
 1 [Quattro        ]: USB-Audio - USB Audio Quattro
                      M Audio USB Audio Quattro at usb-0000:00:14.0-1, full speed

Code: Select all

steph@Inspiron:~$ cat /proc/asound/devices
  1:        : sequencer
  2: [ 0- 6]: digital audio capture
  3: [ 0- 7]: digital audio capture
  4: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
  5: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
  6: [ 0- 1]: digital audio playback
  7: [ 0- 1]: digital audio capture
  8: [ 0- 3]: digital audio playback
  9: [ 0- 4]: digital audio playback
 10: [ 0- 5]: digital audio playback
 11: [ 0- 2]: hardware dependent
 12: [ 0- 0]: hardware dependent
 13: [ 0]   : control
 14: [ 1]   : control
 15: [ 1- 0]: digital audio playback
 16: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
 17: [ 1- 0]: raw midi
 33:        : timer

[sgalzin]

So I tried isolating the problem a bit, and being new to Ardour I figured maybe I was doing something wrong there. My current test involves the following:

• power on the Quattro USB interface and send audio into input 1
• start jack using: jackd -d alsa -d q4 -H -C -r 44100 -p 1024 -i4 -o -P hw:1
• start qjackctl and connecting inputs to outputs, as shown in the screenshot below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SJ4YaCo2Tq2u9htz8

My hope was that since all inputs from the Quattro are now "redirected" to the system's output, I would at least be able to hear the sound being fed into the Quattro, which seemed like a realistic first step before actually doing any recording under Ardour. However, even this seemingly simple task fails.

Any help on what I could be doing wrong here is appreciated Thanks!

[sgalzin]

So unfortunately I have not been able to do this on my end. I am trying other interfaces currently and will post back about those (in another thread) if I encounter problems or find any new solutions not documented here.

If ever someone stumbles on this page with new information, I am subscribed and still interested in hearing back. If someone stumbles here with the same problem, drop a note and subscribe, hopefully one day an answer will shine some light