Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

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bluebell
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Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

Post by bluebell »

Got my new Scarlett 18i20 today.

I downloaded the most recent kernel 5.15., built and booted it with

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options snd_usb_audio vid=0x1235 pid=0x8215 device_setup=1
in /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf

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hm@wolke:~$ lsusb | grep Focus
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1235:8215 Focusrite-Novation 

hm@wolke:~$ dmesg | grep -i scarlett
[    0.591061] usb 3-6: Product: Scarlett 18i20 USB
[   16.169874] usb 3-6: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2/3 Mixer Driver enabled pid=0x8215
The interface seems to work with jack. I can record and playback. Unfortunately alsamixer doesn't work:

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hm@wolke:~$ alsamixer
cannot open mixer: No such file or directory
Any ideas?

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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

Post by bluebell »

Update:

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alsamixer -c 1
works but the mixer isn't really comprehensive. Wasn't there a graphical tool for the Gen3 Scarletts?

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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

Post by bluebell »

qasmixer works ok if you know that

- from-pc and to-pc are called PCM,
- the mixer matrix inputs are numbered (1-25) and repeat through the mixer outputs (A-L).

So if you want to mix the computer's outputs 1 and 2 to the first headphones in stereo (line outputs 7 and 8 ) you have to connect PCM 1/2 to Mixer Input 01/02, use the faders Mix A Input 01 and Mix B Input 02 and connect Mix A/B to Analogue Output 07/08.

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EricW
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

Post by EricW »

Hi everybody,

Il just purchased a 3rd gen 18i8. I installed a fresh debian 11 bullseye on a laptop, installed a liquorix kernel (5.17) and created the /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf to activate the new driver.

the driver is correctly loaded :

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$ sudo dmesg |grep -i scarlett
[    5.575710] usb 3-10: Product: Scarlett 18i20 USB
[    6.816407] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Scarlett Welcome Disk     0.10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[   10.152888] usb 3-10: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2/3 Mixer Driver enabled pid=0x8215
[  720.247418] usb 3-10: Product: Scarlett 18i20 USB
[  723.907117] usb 3-10: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2/3 Mixer Driver enabled pid=0x8215
[  725.190998] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Scarlett Welcome Disk     0.10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[  750.114147] usb 3-10: Product: Scarlett 18i20 USB
[  753.730352] usb 3-10: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2/3 Mixer Driver enabled pid=0x8215
[  754.996431] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Scarlett Welcome Disk     0.10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
However note :
- the presence of the disk (the device is in MSD mode, more on that later on)
- the fact that driver availability is signaled 3 times. I don't know if this is a problem or not ?

Problem : when running

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alsamixer -cUSB
all I see is :
- a selector for the clock source (which seems to work)
- a numeric field containing the value 00 on a green background above an "MSD mode" control. I guess its role is to stop the MSD mode but I don't know how to use it.

And that's all ! No other controls !

I suspect that I must disable the MSD mode in order to access to the full stack of controls. Is this correct ?

So second question : How do I disable this mode ? I tried the "hold the phantom power button for inputs 1-4 while disconnecting and then reconnecting the USB cable and then wait another 5 seconds" trick, without any success.

In its actual state, the device is unusable. when simply playing Nothings comes out from outputs 1-2.
I tested with jack and ardour : I routed the output of the master bus to output 1-2 : no signal. If I route it to 7-8 then I hear the sound in headphones connected to the first headphones input.

Thank you in advance for your help.
And thanks to geoffrey for the great job on this Driver (I use since 2 years a 6i6 2nd gen and it works perfectly, and I can route it internally without problem.

Eric
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 and alsamixer

Post by geoffrey »

Hi Eric!
EricW wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 9:49 am [...]
Problem : when running

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alsamixer -cUSB
all I see is :
- a selector for the clock source (which seems to work)
- a numeric field containing the value 00 on a green background above an "MSD mode" control. I guess its role is to stop the MSD mode but I don't know how to use it.
Press "M" to toggle the boolean playback controls in alsamixer. Even better, use this: https://github.com/geoffreybennett/alsa-scarlett-gui/ instead of alsamixer.
EricW wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 9:49 am I suspect that I must disable the MSD mode in order to access to the full stack of controls. Is this correct ?
Yes.
EricW wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 9:49 am And thanks to geoffrey for the great job on this Driver (I use since 2 years a 6i6 2nd gen and it works perfectly, and I can route it internally without problem.
You're welcome :).

Regards,
Geoffrey.
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