Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

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mikewburner
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Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by mikewburner »

Hello :D

Ive recently got myself a 2i2 and have noticed a problem but im not sure where to start looking to fix it. I am fairly technical and proficient with linux.

The problem is that after about 30 minutes of playing the sound quality drops off a cliff and then rapidly gets very quiet. The sound god fuzzy and like speakers are overloaded. I can unplug the 2i2 and sometimes it fixes the issue but mostly i have to reboot.

Set up is qjackctl, ardour, 8GB ram, i7 processor, 2i2 has a guitar and mic plugged into it, sound output via headphone jack to a AUX socket on a Bose soundlink 2.

Any ideas appreciated!

Also had another question - I noticed if i change parameters in qjackctl such as realtime (on/off), or frames/period, or periods/buffer then Ardour will not load a session. Why is that, and is there any way to correct that in Ardour, or is all that work really unloadable?

Thanks
mike
mikewburner
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Re: Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by mikewburner »

let me simplify my question

After a while the sound quality of my 2i2 drops off and goes to rubbish. Its like the gain has been turned all the way up but still the volume gets quieter and quieter. Unplugging the USB and restarting the 2i2 seems to help but that screws up ardour5 because it doesnt seem smart enough to pick back up once 2i2 is reconnected.

So 2 issues

1) why does the sound quality go so poor

2) why cant ardour5 resume after the 2i2 is restarted.

long time linux user, would be loathed to go to windows for recording.

I am not sure if im expectng too much from the 2i2

thanks
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bluebell
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Re: Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by bluebell »

1) No idea, never had this issue with a 2i2. Maybe a broken interface or USB port

2) Sorry, can't help with Ardour

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merlyn
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Re: Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by merlyn »

The sound quality issue sounds like something wrong on the analogue side. When digital audio goes wrong the sound is horrendous -- not a drop off in volume -- that sounds more like analogue going wrong.

The first thing would be to rule out the Bose by listening to what is coming out the headphone jack on headphones.
mikewburner
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Re: Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by mikewburner »

hi, thank you

I am getting same through headphones.

I am not 100% sure but i may have narrowed it to a dodgy cable which would make sense from your point about analogue side.

Good point about analogue vs digital btw, hadnt considered that and it helps me narrow it down. At least i can rule out buffer sizes etc

Will keep testing.
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Re: Newbie with questions (2i2, ubuntu, jack)

Post by merlyn »

mikewburner wrote:I am getting same through headphones.
That would suggest there is something wrong with the headphone output -- what you've described suggests the amplifier circuit is faulty. To see where in the signal chain the problem exists try the line outputs on the interface.
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