Fundraiser: Expediting Linux Support for Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen Devices

[geoffrey]

Exciting news ×2 today:

I've plugged the 4i4 in, put Focusrite Control 2 in a VM, connected the two together, and spent the weekend looking at pages of hex codes like this while playing with the controls to see what happens. It's good news! . I've found that the Gen 4 protocol uses (at least mostly) the same set of primitive operations that the Gen 2/3 use. That means that support for the Gen 4 can be done as an extension to the existing Gen 2/3 driver and it's not going to be a from-scratch thing (big whew!).

Screenshot from 2023-09-17 19-58-48.png (169.42 KiB) Viewed 256 times

Also, @zeiktuvai has donated a 4Pre to this project! As support for that interface was going to be a stretch goal, I've updated the fundraiser goal to include the other interfaces and edited the description to indicate where we're up to.

Thanks again to everyone for their support as I continue working on this!

Here's the status:

• Solo 4th Gen: will purchase this next if sufficient donations are received

• 2i2 4th Gen: have this, working on it next

• 4i4 4th Gen: have this, working on it now

• Clarett+ 4Pre: thanks to zeiktuvai, will get this soon

After the above are complete, that leaves just these:

• Vocaster One

• Vocaster Two

• Clarett+ 2Pre

If you'd like to contribute to getting complete Linux support to these devices, please see the gofundme link in the first message of this thread. Thanks!

[geoffrey]

Exciting news ×3 today:

• We've raised enough for all three 4th Gen devices! Further funds raised now will go towards the Vocaster One.
• I added support for the Clarett+ 4Pre this evening. A bit more testing, then I'll share it with everyone.
• 4i4 4th Gen support is proceeding & can view/edit the routing now. This is the default routing that Focusrite Control uses, as presented by alsa-scarlett-gui:

4i4-gen4-routing.png (115.49 KiB) Viewed 194 times

[geoffrey]

I'm excited to share the first tangible output from the fundraiser now — support for the Clarett+ 4Pre! The driver is available for testing here: https://github.com/geoffreybennett/scar ... g/v6.5.3c1

You can control it with an updated version of alsa-scarlett-gui, available here: https://github.com/geoffreybennett/alsa-scarlett-gui/

I'll submit the driver upstream as soon as I receive confirmation that it's working well for others too.

And on the 4i4 Gen 4... I've decoded most of the controls, so now it's down to what we affectionately call a "simple matter of programming". Actually, the hard bit is refactoring, extending the driver to support what will hopefully soon be 17 different models each with its own set of unique features.

Thank you all for your continued support!

clarett-4pre-alsa-scarlett-gui.png (136.68 KiB) Viewed 120 times

[geoffrey]

More progress this weekend:

• Decoded almost the entirety () of the Solo, 2i2, and 4i4 Gen 4 protocol, including how to turn on/off MSD mode (this was a bit of an achievement — Focusrite support says you can't turn it back on once you've turned it off, but that's not true )

• Added support for the Clarett+ 2Pre; will hold off on submission of the 4Pre support until I get confirmation that the 2Pre support is working as well & I'll submit them together

• Worked on refactoring the existing driver to make way for the changes needed for the Gen 4 protocol

If you have any Scarlett Gen 4, or 2Pre or 4Pre Clarett USB, or Clarett+ 2Pre, please email me if you'd like to help test pre-release versions.