Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

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GB71
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Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by GB71 »

It pretty much does this with any DAW under Jack. Bitwig, Ardour, Mixbus, and Reaper. However under Pulse Audio in Reaper, I can hear audio from both sources, but then MIDI from my SL25 controller doesn't work. I'm trying to transcribe songs from YouTube, and I just want to hear my keys as I figure out the chord progressions. I feel as if it's something simple that I'm missing in configuring Jack. Either way, it's so frustrating. When I got Wine to install and load my favorite VSTs (which still blows my mind), I thought I was home free.

Not so fast...

And now I can't get my controller to behave. So now, I can't even play those fabulous VSTs without using the virtual keyboard, which is obviously not how I want to work. So far, a lot of bumps and bruises in this experiment with Linux. I honestly feel like quitting, and just staying with Mac, but I know I'm too close to turn back now. I hate having to ask someone to hold my hand on this stuff, but frankly...Linux is kicking my 57 year old ass right now. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I'm running AVE-MXE
SSL 2+ audio interface
Novation SL25 controller
13" Macbook Pro CoreDuo 2009

PS, it sure would be nice if there were an in depth book exclusively on Linux Audio Production. I'd buy it for sure.
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by d.healey »

Use pulse jack bridge (can't remember the exact name now but you can find it by your favourite searche engine).
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by khz »

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18436 wrote:Install "a2jmidid" and "pulseaudio-module-jack".

In qjackctl Setup:
Setup >> Options > [X] Run script after startup: "pacmd load-module module-jack-sink channels=2 && sleep 5 && a2jmidid -e &"
Bitwig uses snd-virmidi for MIDI. More information: viewtopic.php?p=126783#p126783
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by GMaq »

d.healey wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 9:02 am Use pulse jack bridge (can't remember the exact name now but you can find it by your favourite searche engine).
AVL-MXE already has the Pulseaudio bridges installed:

Full explanation of Audio Routing and setup is here (and included in AVL-MXE's Menu in the User Manual) Pages 49-57:
http://bandshed.net/pdf/AVL-MXE-User-Manual.pdf
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GB71
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by GB71 »

Well, just call me the Clark Griswald of the Linux Musicians community, because I still can't get audio to play in the browser with a DAW loaded.
After nearly 5 months of trial and error, Linux has turned into a failed experiment for me, as far as music is concerned.

I really tried, guys. I really did. :(

I even read the AVL-MXE manual aloud to myself, to make sure I understood what I was reading, and I still couldn't get it configured correctly. The JACK GUI in the manual is different from the GUI in AVL-MXE. Some tabs are the same, but some are much different. So, I found myself experimenting to see which one would work. All it did was turn into a demolition derby crashapolooza, which just added to my frustration. Yesterday, I fired up my old iMac running Catalina, booted up Bitwig and my Brave browser. Bitwig sounded fine, but no sound in the browser.

No problem.

I called up System Pref., clicked on Sound, found the audio interface tab and clicked on it. (Bang!) It worked! I just need certain things to work right out of the box, in order for me to start doing real audio/midi work, in the way I'm used to doing it. The pitfalls of Linux were tolerable as long as I was experimenting. But now, I need to start doing some real work. So I gotta go back to MacOSX.

I know what some of you are thinking. Just work in MacOSX until I figure out Linux. I could do that, and I guess I'll have to, but I'm in between residences for another month and working on the Linux laptop would be much more convenient at this juncture. I do have my iMac with me, but it's enormous, and I haven't the room to set it up permanently. Which means I'd have to break it down every evening, and can't continue to work late. That's why the laptop with Linux was more convenient. Going back to Mac is not what I really want to do, but the Linux thing is far too frustrating at this point. Maybe when I'm finished with this project, I'll give Linux another go.

I want to thank everyone who answered my posts, and offered their help, and Gmaq, I especially want to thank you for the packages that helped me install Bitwig. I may still keep Linux on this old Macbook, but producing music on it really isn't where I need it to be right now. And I know, it's such a small thing to quit Linux over! My plugins in Wine work. The CPU performance is great; slightly better than Ubuntu Studio. But that browser audio thing is a massive problem for how I work transcribing songs.

Thanks.
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by bluebell »

Only one can own the audio interface, jack or pulseaudio. So you have to tell pulseaudio to output via jack (jack_sink) when jack is running.

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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

@GB71: Linux is not for the faint of heart, I'm afraid. Music production makes it exponentially difficult in my experience. And I've been on Linux since 2005 and I consider me to be about your age.

I don't know for sure but I think that your problem comes down to the following. I hope the Linux experts won't hold it against me if some stuff isn't exactly accurate.

Nowadays Linux makes audio available to more than one application at the time via PulseAudio (PA). That's because Linux's audio driver (Alsa) will only serve one application at the time. That is, without PA you have audio in Bitwig OR in Youtube (your internet browser, that is). For audio many applications want to use something else: Jack audio. Don't ask me why, or what Jack exactly is. Problem is that Jack wants to take control and your average basic audio via PulseAudio don't work properly anymore.

What you probably need to do is to "sink" (redirect) PulseAudio (because Youtube uses that; it probably isn't Jack aware) to Jack audio (which is the dominant audio "server"). I do that the following way after I've started Jack. Start the Jack sink module:

Code: Select all

pactl load-module module-jack-sink
Then I try to set Jack sink as the default sink:

Code: Select all

pactl set-default-sink jack_out
If you get the "No such entity" error check in qjackctl if it's set (usually I ignore that error). Now open pavucontrol and set 'jack_out' as Chrome's playback device.

Do you know about the utilities pavucontrol (PulseAudio sound mixer) and qjackctl (to configure Jack with a graphical user interface)? I made a little shell script for myself to start and stop these things. It's here.

Complicated, innit? :wink:

Somebody mentioned a2jmidid which bridges Alsa's midi to Jack's version of midi (long complicated story). I don't think you need that.

Good luck! :)
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GB71
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by GB71 »

OK,..I came back to Linux to try again.

I still haven't solved this issue, but I have discovered that this is a Bitwig problem.
Apparently, Bitwig doesn't want to share audio duties with other apps. Bitwig takes over
all audio control, and leaves other apps out of the party.
I found a workaround, using Reaper in PulseAudio. So, I thought all I need to do use PulseAudio
in Bitwig, and it should work, right?

Wrong.

Bitwig doesn't like PulseAudio.

So, I'll consult Bitwig support and see if they have a solution.

Thanks.
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

GB71 wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:56 pm OK,..I came back to Linux to try again.

I still haven't solved this issue, but I have discovered that this is a Bitwig problem.
Apparently, Bitwig doesn't want to share audio duties with other apps. Bitwig takes over
all audio control, and leaves other apps out of the party.
I found a workaround, using Reaper in PulseAudio. So, I thought all I need to do use PulseAudio
in Bitwig, and it should work, right?

Wrong.

Bitwig doesn't like PulseAudio.

So, I'll consult Bitwig support and see if they have a solution.

Thanks.
No application in Linux wants to share its audio acces with any other but there's a "workaround". Let me explain. The audio driver for Linux is ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and it servers only one app at the the time.

Hence, PulseAudio. Don't ask me how, but by some magic trickery that piece of software actually does enable Linux applications to share audio access. One downside: for some reason (don't ask me why) music production appilcations rather not work with Pulse.

So enter yet another confusing part in Linux and music: the Jack audio connection kit. Music production software actually likes to work with Jack. Not Pulse and not simply with Alsa alone (don't ask me just yet why, okay?).

I've tried to explain some of this in my previous post.

Anyway, before solving the problem of you having audio only from one app at the time you should try to use Bitwig with Jack. I've never used Bitwig but I take it that it can be used with Jack.

Before starting Bitwig start Jack. For this, you need to determine the "number" of the audio device that you use. If you have only one audio device (e.g. the sound card in your computer) then it's number 0 (zero). I tried to direct you to the little shell script that I wrote for that (see screenshot below) but you might want to do it by hand to "learn thing Linux".

Image
  1. Determine audio card/device number:

    Code: Select all

    cat /proc/asound/cards
    Example of output:

    Code: Select all

     0 [CMI8738        ]: CMI8738-MC6 - C-Media CMI8738
                          C-Media CMI8738 (model 55) at 0xd000, irq 20
     1 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                          HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7c10000 irq 31
    
  2. Start Jack for audio card/device 0:

    Code: Select all

    jackd -d alsa --device hw:0
Now you've started Jack. Don't tell me that's not doable? :wink:

Now comes the Bitwig part: you must tell Bitwig in its settings to use Jack. I don't know Bitwig so I don't know how one does that. Do not use Pulse.

When you managed to start Bitwig with Jack we'll tell you how to get sound out of Bitwig and other applications at the same time, okay?

Good luck.
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by sunrat »

Linuxmusician01 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:37 am No application in Linux wants to share its audio acces with any other but there's a "workaround". Let me explain. The audio driver for Linux is ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and it servers only one app at the the time.
Unless you set up dmix.
So enter yet another confusing part in Linux and music: the Jack audio connection kit. Music production software actually likes to work with Jack. Not Pulse and not simply with Alsa alone (don't ask me just yet why, okay?).
Ardour works fine with ALSA alone. I'm guessing Bitwig does too apparently from OP's post. They just monopolise the sound card.
Anyway, before solving the problem of you having audio only from one app at the time you should try to use Bitwig with Jack. I've never used Bitwig but I take it that it can be used with Jack.
I don't use Bitwig either but use Mixbus, Qtractor etc. via JACK and have all other audio through PulseAudio via PA>JACK bridge. Everything can play audio simultaneously. As GMaq said above, AVL-MXE is already set up to do this so it's hard to guess why it's not working from the info posted so far.
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

sunrat wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:35 pm I don't use Bitwig either but use Mixbus, Qtractor etc. via JACK and have all other audio through PulseAudio via PA>JACK bridge. Everything can play audio simultaneously. As GMaq said above, AVL-MXE is already set up to do this so it's hard to guess why it's not working from the info posted so far.
I've already told him how to sink Jack to Pulse but he appeared to be overwhelmed, quit Linux and now he's back. Now I'm trying to do it step by step. So: first Jack, then Bitwig + Jack and finally Pulse + Jack + Bitwig so he can listen to Youtube when he's got Bitwig "open" (see the title of the topic).
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by asbak »

The short answer (Yes I know I know, infuriating to our hardcore members but this answer is not aimed at you but rather at non-technical users.)

Replace Pulseaudio with Pipewire. Follow the tutorials for your particular OS. Then do whatever you want to do & profit.

Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by sunrat »

@asbak you're replying to a bot. Topic was finished in 2021.
jimmy07 is definitely a bot. Posted a similar generic reply at Debian Forums today. Account has been deleted there.
Expect more to come as bots can simulate natural speech quite well now. They can't simulate natural logic yet thankfully.

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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by asbak »

sunrat wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 11:29 am

@asbak you're replying to a bot. Topic was finished in 2021.
jimmy07 is definitely a bot. Posted a similar generic reply at Debian Forums today. Account has been deleted there.
Expect more to come as bots can simulate natural speech quite well now. They can't simulate natural logic yet thankfully.

Wow I see, thanks Sunrat. I didn't realise that they were already after the smaller players as well. Bots are obviously ubiquitous on Twitter, Facebook and the like.

So weird....

Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
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Re: Can't hear YouTube Audio with Bitwig open

Post by Impostor »

asbak wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 2:50 pm

Bots are obviously ubiquitous on Twitter, Facebook and the like.
So weird....

It seems they've been ubiquitous on customer help desks around the world for decades already!

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