USB sound card "freezes" the system

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TheJoe
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USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by TheJoe »

Hi everyone,
i've recentely bought the Cuvave Cube Baby,a small and cheap guitar effect. Connecting the effect to a USB port it should become a plug and play USB sound card with ins and outs.

As for the price, i would not complain in case i won't be able to let it work with Debian, but i would give it a try.

The first time i connected it i've noticed the computer slowed down, then i realized there were some system freeze.

Here's the lsusb output when i plug it in (it's on bus 2 / device 3):

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joe@extensa:~$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04f2:b044 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Acer CrystalEye Webcam
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 301a:5555   
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
And this is the amixer log (i'm not including all the part relative to my integrated soud card):

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amixer: Mixer load hw:1 error: Connection timed out
Card hw:1 'Device'/'SmartlinkTechnology USB2.0 Device at usb-0000:00:1d.1-1, full speed'
  Mixer name	: 'USB Mixer'
  Components	: 'USB301a:5555'
  Controls      : 7
amixer: Mixer hw:1 load error: Connection timed out
Few other commands i've launched:

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joe@extensa:~$ lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
Nothing... it shows the internal sound card of my laptop.

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joe@extensa:~$ sudo dmesg -l err,crit
[  152.889527] usb 4-1: 2:1: cannot set freq 48000 to ep 0x82
And the message is repeated a lot of times.

Other things to mention:
  • the system is configured in realtime. All the other linux software is working right
  • the PC i'm using is absolutely not a brand new machine, so the USB port is a 2.0
  • i'm using debian+gnome with kx repository. When i open the audio cards list and i connect the device the computer freezes for some seconds, when it "defreezes" there's no sound cards listed in the "in" or "out" tab (also the internal one disappears)
  • i'm not using any nvidia driver
Obviously on the producer site there's no mention about any linux support, and in the download section http://www.cuvave.com/download you see software just for win or mac, no linux. Anyway I wrote few lines to Cuvave, just to ensure that they're not forgetting to publish their linux support. Here's their answear:
Dear Joe,
About the ALSA software, including other recording host software, is also unrecognizable. If you use cube baby to connect to a computer for recording, please install the ASIO4ALL sound card driver on your computer, and then set the port of computer recording to cube baby on the ASIO4ALL setting interface.I hope this would help you solve the problem. Have a good time.
Well... i could try with wineasio, but for what i can understand it connects windows software to jack. External devices should be recognised by linux system first.

Do i have any hope?

Thanks everyone!
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bluzee
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by bluzee »

Very few companies actually publish Linux support for their hardware. Behringer, RME, Digigram are some of the few I've seen actually list Linux and of those I think Behringer is the only one who actually provides their own Linux app. Devices work in Linux because someone else has volunteered to write a driver.

For USB devices to "just work" they need to be built "Class Compliant". Generally if they just work on Mac they will just work in Linux.

This device seems to be non-compliant. Getting it to work will probably require drivers or at least patches.

Even if a device is not supported it should not freeze up your machine. This is bad.

I would send it back.
Drumfix
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by Drumfix »

Looks like this device has an USB class compliant port (phone symbol) and a non-class compliant port (USB symbol)
Can you try both and report "lsusb -v" for each of them ?
Drumfix
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by Drumfix »

Oops, that phone plug is for an audio cable, not USB. So don't try it!!
TheJoe
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by TheJoe »

I was about to write it... It comes with a cable usb to minijack, so i could connect it to a sound card. I don't want to waste it yet... eheh
Drumfix
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by Drumfix »

Still the output of "lsusb -v" is necessary to get a better picture of how the device is supposed to work.
I find it strange that the driver tries to set the sample rate with the method for USB1, while the device says it is USB2.
Possibly a driver bug.
TheJoe
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by TheJoe »

It gives me a pretty long output. Here's the part relative to the soud card:

Code: Select all

Bus 006 Device 002: ID 301a:5555  
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            0 
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x301a 
  idProduct          0x5555 
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 3 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength       0x0119
    bNumInterfaces          5
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              100mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Control Device
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              3 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                10
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (HEADER)
        bcdADC               1.00
        wTotalLength       0x0047
        bInCollection           2
        baInterfaceNr(0)        1
        baInterfaceNr(1)        2
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                12
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (INPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID             1
        wTerminalType      0x0101 USB Streaming
        bAssocTerminal          0
        bNrChannels             2
        wChannelConfig     0x0003
          Left Front (L)
          Right Front (R)
        iChannelNames           0 
        iTerminal               0 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                10
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      6 (FEATURE_UNIT)
        bUnitID                 9
        bSourceID               1
        bControlSize            1
        bmaControls(0)       0x01
          Mute Control
        bmaControls(1)       0x02
          Volume Control
        bmaControls(2)       0x02
          Volume Control
        iFeature                0 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (OUTPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID             3
        wTerminalType      0x0301 Speaker
        bAssocTerminal          0
        bSourceID               9
        iTerminal               0 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                12
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (INPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID             2
        wTerminalType      0x0603 Line Connector
        bAssocTerminal          0
        bNrChannels             2
        wChannelConfig     0x0003
          Left Front (L)
          Right Front (R)
        iChannelNames           0 
        iTerminal               0 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      6 (FEATURE_UNIT)
        bUnitID                10
        bSourceID               2
        bControlSize            1
        bmaControls(0)       0x03
          Mute Control
          Volume Control
        bmaControls(1)       0x00
        iFeature                0 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (OUTPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID             4
        wTerminalType      0x0101 USB Streaming
        bAssocTerminal          0
        bSourceID              10
        iTerminal               0 
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (AS_GENERAL)
        bTerminalLink           1
        bDelay                  1 frames
        wFormatTag         0x0001 PCM
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                11
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (FORMAT_TYPE)
        bFormatType             1 (FORMAT_TYPE_I)
        bNrChannels             2
        bSubframeSize           2
        bBitResolution         16
        bSamFreqType            1 Discrete
        tSamFreq[ 0]        48000
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes           13
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Synchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x00c0  1x 192 bytes
        bInterval               1
        AudioStreaming Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 7
          bDescriptorType        37
          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (EP_GENERAL)
          bmAttributes         0x01
            Sampling Frequency
          bLockDelayUnits         0 Undefined
          wLockDelay         0x0000
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        2
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        2
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (AS_GENERAL)
        bTerminalLink           4
        bDelay                  1 frames
        wFormatTag         0x0001 PCM
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                11
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (FORMAT_TYPE)
        bFormatType             1 (FORMAT_TYPE_I)
        bNrChannels             1
        bSubframeSize           2
        bBitResolution         16
        bSamFreqType            1 Discrete
        tSamFreq[ 0]        48000
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes           13
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Synchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0060  1x 96 bytes
        bInterval               1
        AudioStreaming Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 7
          bDescriptorType        37
          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (EP_GENERAL)
          bmAttributes         0x01
            Sampling Frequency
          bLockDelayUnits         1 Milliseconds
          wLockDelay         0x0001
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        3
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Control Device
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              4 
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (HEADER)
        bcdADC               1.00
        wTotalLength       0x0009
        bInCollection           1
        baInterfaceNr(0)        4
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        4
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      3 MIDI Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      MIDIStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (HEADER)
        bcdADC               1.00
        wTotalLength       0x0041
      MIDIStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 6
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (MIDI_IN_JACK)
        bJackType               1 Embedded
        bJackID                 1
        iJack                   0 
      MIDIStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 6
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (MIDI_IN_JACK)
        bJackType               2 External
        bJackID                 2
        iJack                   0 
      MIDIStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (MIDI_OUT_JACK)
        bJackType               1 Embedded
        bJackID                 9
        bNrInputPins            1
        baSourceID( 0)          2
        BaSourcePin( 0)         1
        iJack                   0 
      MIDIStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (MIDI_OUT_JACK)
        bJackType               2 External
        bJackID                10
        bNrInputPins            1
        baSourceID( 0)          1
        BaSourcePin( 0)         1
        iJack                   0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bRefresh                0
        bSynchAddress           0
        MIDIStreaming Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 5
          bDescriptorType        37
          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (GENERAL)
          bNumEmbMIDIJack         1
          baAssocJackID( 0)       9
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bRefresh                0
        bSynchAddress           0
        MIDIStreaming Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 5
          bDescriptorType        37
          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (GENERAL)
          bNumEmbMIDIJack         1
          baAssocJackID( 0)       1
Thanks.
Drumfix
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by Drumfix »

Looks like a standard USB1 class compliant interface.

Do you get a "duplicate endpoint" log messages?
TheJoe
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by TheJoe »

I've just seen it.. well.. it's an old extensa 5635 acer laptop, but i always thought i had 3 USB 2.0 ports... but none of them seem to be.

Could this be the problem?

I can't understand "duplicate endpoint" very well.. are you asking if i have the same output more than once? If so... no. The sound card is displayed only once.
Drumfix
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Re: USB sound card "freezes" the system

Post by Drumfix »

I'm pretty sure its the problem and is a long standing bug in the Linux USB core.
If you know how to compile your kernel you can try to disable the duplicate endpoint checking.

in drivers/usb/core/config.c

make the function config_endpoint_is_duplicate always return false
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