LinuxMusicians

The driver has now made it in to Linus's tree: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke ... linux.git/
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke ... 9849adf2e0
This means that it will be a part of 5.14-rc1 which I believe is about a week away.

geoffrey wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 2:14 pm

FluxTape wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:22 pm Just tested https://github.com/geoffreybennett/scar ... v5.12.13s1 with my 8i6 gen 3. I use Arch linux with the zen kernel and just replaced the /sound/usb folder with the one from github when compiling. I hope that is all that's needed (besides scarlett.conf of course).
The "INST" switch in alsamixer is working but "AIR", "PAD" and the 48V switches are not. They show up but can't be toggled.

For now I'm switching back to kernel 5.11.16 with sadko4u's 5.11 patch, which has been working flawlessly for me.

Hi FluxTape,

Thanks for trying it out! I'm guessing you were using the Up/Down arrows to try to change the Air/Pad/48V switches? Can you try again and this time press the spacebar and see if that makes it work? Up/Down arrows will change the Level switches between Line/Inst, but do nothing for the Air/Pad/48V switches. Similarly, on the Playback page, you need to press "M" to toggle the on/off controls.

Yeah, alsamixer is weird. You use Up/Down for enumerated controls (ones with a list of values), Spacebar for Capture on/off controls, and "M" for Playback on/off controls. Use the wrong key and nothing will happen.

Regards,
Geoffrey.

Ah yes spacebar absolutely worked! I was aware of "M" for toggle, but didn't know about spacebar.
So far everything seems to work, I will report back if I notice any issues

This testing got me to embrace qasmixer and it is so much better for me. I suggest you install it and try it.

A tease... (yes, what you see above works)
(no, it's not ready to use yet)
(yes, it holds great promise)
<strike>(also, I have no idea what I'm doing... anybody else know how to program GTK 4 in C and can help me please??)</strike>I think I've figured out what I'm doing now...

geoffrey wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:06 pm A tease...
scarlett-solo-tease.png
scarlett-2i2-tease.png
scarlett-4i4-tease.png
(yes, what you see above works)
(no, it's not ready to use yet)
(yes, it holds great promise)
(also, I have no idea what I'm doing... anybody else know how to program GTK 4 in C and can help me please??)

Incredible! Thank u so much for ur work Geoggrey, im exited about this

It looked better in my head (I'm no graphic artist), but this is still pretty cool...

That's amazing geoffrey! I find the current alsamixer and qasmixer really confusing so this will be a very welcome addition.

Great progress,
thank you very much.

I am running the 5.12.13s1+ debian kernel with the Debian Sid.
I have a Scarlett 8i6 USB gen 3. I have been able to use the Focusrite quite ok, but now at some point something changed.
I am not sure if something changed with switching to windows at some point or if it comes from the new drivers.
I can only hear the left channel from the outputs, which was not the case before. (Monitor1,2 and line 1 on the back)

But lets take a step back.
When I started with the focusrite I found a way to use it via jackd.
So I used Jack, but to get access to the applications in Debian (Firefox or Skype or Zoom) I use Pulseaudio plugin My setup is simple. I have a Heil PR40 microphone with a FetHead to improve the sound sensitivity (powered off the 48V)
I have a headset on Monitor 1 and a speaker set on Monitor 2.
I have not done any changes to the alsa setup, and I assume I need to do something here to fit all the new knobs to the system.

In Jack i see capture - 1-10 and playback 1-6, using Capture-1 puts my mic into the applications
But the pulse audio only the left channel comes through. I suspect the playback 2 is not properly connected in
to what it should be ? Or how do you use the system best ? With some more elaborate alsa configuraiton ?
It would be nice to set up that the names are correct in Jack, that would make it easier to connect things.

Also how are the large monitor knob working ? at this stage it does not affect the sound as I can hear it.
Possibly I have to do some setting here as well.

Well, I just would like to know a bit deeper how to set it up in the system. If this fits better in a new post, let me know.

Fred

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am Great progress,
thank you very much.

I am running the 5.12.13s1+ debian kernel with the Debian Sid.

Hi Fred!

Thanks for helping to test!

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am I have a Scarlett 8i6 USB gen 3.

Code: Select all

idVendor=1235, idProduct=8213, bcdDevice= 6.45

I have been able to use the Focusrite quite ok, but now at some point something changed.
I am not sure if something changed with switching to windows at some point or if it comes from the new drivers.
I can only hear the left channel from the outputs, which was not the case before. (Monitor1,2 and line 1 on the back)

If you plug headphones into line 1 and hear something, but from line 2 you hear nothing then it's likely a volume, mute, or routing problem that you can fix in alsamixer...

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am But lets take a step back.
When I started with the focusrite I found a way to use it via jackd.
So I used Jack, but to get access to the applications in Debian (Firefox or Skype or Zoom) I use Pulseaudio plugin

Code: Select all

pactl load-module module-jack-sink channels=2; 
pactl load-module module-jack-source channels=2; 
pacmd set-default-sink jack_out

My setup is simple. I have a Heil PR40 microphone with a FetHead to improve the sound sensitivity (powered off the 48V)
I have a headset on Monitor 1 and a speaker set on Monitor 2.
I have not done any changes to the alsa setup, and I assume I need to do something here to fit all the new knobs to the system.

In Jack i see capture - 1-10 and playback 1-6, using Capture-1 puts my mic into the applications
But the pulse audio only the left channel comes through. I suspect the playback 2 is not properly connected in
to what it should be ?

Please try:
- Run alsamixer
- Press F6, select your 8i6
- Use Left/Right arrows to scroll between controls
- Check that the first 4 volumes on the Playback (F3) page are all the way up and the first 4 mute buttons are Off ("MM" = Mute Off which is what you want). Use the "M" key to toggle
- Scroll to the right past all the Mix volume controls and find the Analogue 1-4 controls
- Using the Up/Down arrows to change the Analogue output routing controls:
- Set Analogue 1 & Analogue 3 both to PCM 1 (that's the Jack Playback 1 output)
- Set Analogue 2 & Analogue 4 both to PCM 2 (that's the Jack Playback 2 output)

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am Or how do you use the system best ? With some more elaborate alsa configuraiton ?
It would be nice to set up that the names are correct in Jack, that would make it easier to connect things.

Sorry, I don't know much about Jack configuration.

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am Also how are the large monitor knob working ? at this stage it does not affect the sound as I can hear it.
Possibly I have to do some setting here as well.

The large monitor knob controls the volume for the line 1 & 2 outputs on the back.
There is no physical volume control knob for the line 3 & 4 outputs on the back.
All of the analogue outputs (front and back) are affected by the corresponding Analogue 1-4 volume and mute controls in alsamixer.

alfadir wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:42 am Well, I just would like to know a bit deeper how to set it up in the system. If this fits better in a new post, let me know.

Here is okay, thanks. I hope it helped!

Regards,
Geoffrey.

Hey Geoffrey,

is your UI strictly thought for the 2nd / 3rd gen devices or are you planning to support also the first generation? I played around with x42's scarlett mixer as well as the web-based AlsaJsonGateway. Both were quite useful, but the first one does not support all controls and the latter is quite instable (and i would prefer a "native" appliaction). If you would choose to include also the first gen devices, i could help with testing (18i8 and a 18i20) and adjusting the code.

mauser wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:29 am Hey Geoffrey,

is your UI strictly thought for the 2nd / 3rd gen devices or are you planning to support also the first generation? I played around with x42's scarlett mixer as well as the web-based AlsaJsonGateway. Both were quite useful, but the first one does not support all controls and the latter is quite instable (and i would prefer a "native" appliaction). If you would choose to include also the first gen devices, i could help with testing (18i8 and a 18i20) and adjusting the code.

Hi mauser,

My UI is designed specifically for the 2nd/3rd gen devices as that's what I have. Writing software for devices I don't have is (as I discovered) quite tricky, and I don't want to do it anymore . If I get donated Gen 1 hardware, then I will add support for it. Or, I'll be releasing the UI as free software and anyone else with the hardware and some C coding skills can add support.

Regards,
Geoffrey.

My UI is designed specifically for the 2nd/3rd gen devices as that's what I have. Writing software for devices I don't have is (as I discovered) quite tricky, and I don't want to do it anymore . If I get donated Gen 1 hardware, then I will add support for it. Or, I'll be releasing the UI as free software and anyone else with the hardware and some C coding skills can add support.

That's totally understandable. I would love to see this published as free software!

Since kernel 5.14 rc1 was available in the kernel manager of Manjaro (the distro I'm using), I installed it and tested this new support for 3rd gen Focusrite Scarlett devices. It seems to work propery in all regards for the device I have (2i2). Performance in ALSA at low latency seems to be approximately the same as it was before (which is good, because it worked well before).

Here's what I did to get the features to appear in Alsamixer and Qasmixer (for anyone else reading who wants to try this, at this point in time):

1. Have kernel 5.14 installed (at the time of writing it's 5.14 rc1).
2. Use the lsusb command in terminal to get some info for the 2i2 to use in the next step. My output of that command was:

   Code: Select all

   Bus 005 Device 002: ID 1235:8210 Focusrite-Novation Scarlett 2i2 Camera
   

3. Add the following line into the file /etc/modprobe.d/scarlett.conf (using the numbers obtained from step 2):

   Code: Select all

   options snd_usb_audio vid=0x1235 pid=0x8210 device_setup=1

4. Reboot.

After that, all the device's features appeared in Alsamixer and Qasmixer. All controls work properly, including persistence of all of them after shutting down and restarting the computer. (Note: the scarlett.conf file didn't exist on my system, so I created one in that location with that info inside it.)

I assume once kernel 5.14 is officially released, the other steps won't be required to have this functionality exposed for the device. (Correct me if I'm wrong please.)

When doing a loopback test for latency in Reaper, I noticed that the total roundtrip latency seems to be slightly higher on average (half a millisecond at 44.1 KHz with 32-sample buffer size and 4 periods). The roundtrip latency seems to change a little bit every time the audio driver is restarted in the DAW anyway (that's the way it's always been for my systems in any distro I've used, and I'm told it's normal for ALSA by a source I trust); because of this I don't know if other factors are involved or if this slight increase in latency has anything to do with this new functionality for the 2i2. But my previous testing of this involved multiple tests and settling on an average number, and I repeated that testing today to arrive at a new slightly higher average number than before. I figured I'd mention it here just in case it's useful feedback to provide.

Thank you, Geoffrey!

Hi JamesPeters,

Thanks for testing!

In answer to your questions...

JamesPeters wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:33 pm I assume once kernel 5.14 is officially released, the other steps won't be required to have this functionality exposed for the device. (Correct me if I'm wrong please.)

5.14 will still need the device_setup=1 option to activate the mixer controls. Hopefully we can remove that for 5.15 or 5.16 as I've had no more reports that enabling the mixer controls breaks anything anymore.

JamesPeters wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:33 pm When doing a loopback test for latency in Reaper, I noticed that the total roundtrip latency seems to be slightly higher on average (half a millisecond at 44.1 KHz with 32-sample buffer size and 4 periods). The roundtrip latency seems to change a little bit every time the audio driver is restarted in the DAW anyway (that's the way it's always been for my systems in any distro I've used, and I'm told it's normal for ALSA by a source I trust); because of this I don't know if other factors are involved or if this slight increase in latency has anything to do with this new functionality for the 2i2. But my previous testing of this involved multiple tests and settling on an average number, and I repeated that testing today to arrive at a new slightly higher average number than before. I figured I'd mention it here just in case it's useful feedback to provide.

Any changes to the latency are unrelated to my work with the mixer controls, and coincidently in 5.14 there should be a reduction in the latency of the USB audio driver: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 5.14-Try-2

JamesPeters wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:33 pm Thank you, Geoffrey!

You're welcome!

Hi, I'm new here!

First of all: A biiig Thank You! to geoffrey for all the work!

I have some problems with my 18i20 2nd Gen. When I try to play a sound all I get is a clicking noise and another click approx. one second later. No error messages. I'm using Gentoo:
I tried before Version 5.10.49 and now replaced mixer_scarlett_gen2.c from your GitHub repository in the linux source tree, all with the same result. Just klicking noises.
I see all devices in the alsa mixer (but can't change Master HW).

Frank