Cadence external sound card routing

[assarj]

Hello there!

As I understand it music routing in Linux looks like this: alsa - pulseaudio - jack, or alsa - freezed pulse - jack, or alsa-jack (but I don't know where pulse looses in this case).

I installed KXStudio : Repositories from here with no issues.
After that I installed Cadence and all the dependencies

I have my laptop (with built-in card), and also I have an external soundcard Behringer Uphoria UM-2 (with plugged mic and headphones in it)

When I run Cadence + Ardour (with ext card) I can make records in Ardour, listen it with np.
But if I try to minimize Ardour and play media outside of Ardour (Like to play video in a browser) it freezes.

How the right way to rout sound? I opened Catia and understood nothing I want to hear sound through the ext card when I run Cadence + Ardour and outside of it simultaneously. I've been trying to setup it by myself, but all the manuals are too hard to understand for me (I'm not native speaker and don't know much about computers)

I attached screenshots and basic info about my PC, please feel free to ask if you need more information.

I just want to understand how it works and how it setup correctly in human language, not in programmer language.

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[wjl]

Hey assarj, and welcome to LM

I think you also might need an ALSA bridge, I have it like this:



My cabling looks almost like yours, except that I have a headphone correction plugin inserted:



I have my mic (input 1 on the Focusrite) routed to both stereo channels for video comments & teleconferencing... and I wrote about that "systemwide" correction plugin on my blog: https://wolfgang.lonien.de/2020/05/how- ... -easy-way/

Hope that helps,
Wolfgang

[sunrat]

As I understand it music routing in Linux looks like this: alsa - pulseaudio - jack, or alsa - freezed pulse - jack, or alsa-jack (but I don't know where pulse looses in this case).

Not quite. ALSA is the low-level layer which deals directly with the sound card. Many applications such as Ardour can output directly to ALSA. If you need more complex routing, JACK is useful; JACK-aware applications output to JACK which is a layer on top of ALSA.
If you wish to run other applications such as a browser which defaults to PulseAudio, you need to run a bridge to output to JACK. So it ends up as Pulse > JACK > ALSA. It appears you have that bridge running (that's the PulseAudio JACK Sink). It's weird that your graph shows the outputs twice in that sink though. I use Qjackctl rather than Cadence where it only shows them once.

[assarj]

I think you also might need an ALSA bridge

Hello, Wolfgang! Nice to meet you.

I've tried to do as you said. I activated the bridge.

1.png (98.45 KiB) Viewed 2534 times

I have sound in my ext card, even when I run Ardour + Browser. But the problem is that I can't record mic in Ardour in this setup. I can play midi in ardour, play audio outside of Ardour, but no mic sound in Ardour itself. I had activated rec button on the audio track.

I selected PulseAudio on the start of the session in Ardour

Also I've been trying to select different inputs in Routing Grid in inspector, but nothing changed.

In Carla I've this setup, but I don't know what is what

2.png (34.75 KiB) Viewed 2534 times

[assarj]

Not quite. ALSA is the low-level layer which deals directly with the sound card. Many applications such as Ardour can output directly to ALSA. If you need more complex routing, JACK is useful; JACK-aware applications output to JACK which is a layer on top of ALSA.
If you wish to run other applications such as a browser which defaults to PulseAudio, you need to run a bridge to output to JACK. So it ends up as Pulse > JACK > ALSA. It appears you have that bridge running (that's the PulseAudio JACK Sink). It's weird that your graph shows the outputs twice in that sink though. I use Qjackctl rather than Cadence where it only shows them once.

Thanks for response! Doubling output graphs was a lag I suppose, because now I have only 2 of them.

I've been trying to run Qjackctl using this
Because I'm not a strong Linux user and I'm scared I'll break the system (as it's been previously ), so I prefer not to change system files, and run this script after Qjackctl startup

Code: Select all

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

I choosed my ext card as a default in the Qjackctl setting.
And when I started Qjackctl + Ardour I've got next:
1) Pulseaudio - I hear sound from all the sources to my ext soundcard, but no mic sound. I had checked the rec button on the audio track.
2) Jack - I've got an error (screenshot is down below).
3) Alsa - works good inside Ardour, outside Ardour sound goes from internal dynamics

Screenshot from 2022-02-08 21-58-33.png (38.9 KiB) Viewed 2529 times

What did I wrong?

Here is my connections from Qjackctl

3.png (47.81 KiB) Viewed 2529 times

[assarj]

So any ideas why it doesn't work as it should be?

[baconature]

Hi assarj,

I selected PulseAudio on the start of the session in Ardour

Like you, I know only a little amount of what happens within the computer, I also see nothing useful when I open Carla, most of it is a blank screen the remainder remains unknown.

I am really unsure of the error you show using MIDI in Ardour. I can guess at it, and try. I am unsure what you mean about selecting PulseAudio on the start of Ardour, but if what I think is true, that was the first time you opened Ardour. Or it could be that you open Ardour before opening QjackCtl or Cadence. The order in which you open those two programs works better if you open Jack and start Jack before opening Ardour. Opening Ardour first, will prompt connecting to something for its support mechanism. If this is true, it might be the cause of that error message.

I have sound in my ext card, even when I run Ardour + Browser. But the problem is that I can't record mic in Ardour in this setup. I can play midi in ardour, play audio outside of Ardour, but no mic sound in Ardour itself. I had activated rec button on the audio track.

I selected PulseAudio on the start of the session in Ardour

Also I've been trying to select different inputs in Routing Grid in inspector, but nothing changed.

Recording with a microphone in Ardour requires three steps: 1. Create the track (you did that). 2. Arm the track (click the rec button). 3. Connect the track to its needed input, in this case your external sound card.

The connections are found in the following:


Right click the button pointed to with the crooked red arrow. The following screen will pop up. The pop up you see will be a bit different than this one, because your external device is different than my own.



You then need to make your own green dot setting, the same as the capture channel of your external sound card that the mic is plugged into.

If your microphone still doesn't work, it could be that you need to change some settings in Jack itself.

:

Because I'm not a strong Linux user and I'm scared I'll break the system (as it's been previously ), so I prefer not to change system files, and run this script after Qjackctl startup

From what you wrote, I believe you didn't make the required changes in jack's settings to interface with your external sound card. This is done independently by both of the jack systems, QjackCtl or Cadence.
1. Close Ardour because you will have to restart jack before the changes will really change the settings.
2. Click the Configure button on Cadence, or the Setup button on QjackCtl.
3. For Cadence, these settings are on the tab of the popup that opens when clicking the Configure button. In QjackCtl these settings are on the Advanced tab of its popup window and you will see that warning. You have to change the Input Device to your external sound card. The output device is your preference. If you want to hear the output through your computer speakers (monitor), leave the Output Device as it is, but use headphones to prevent feedback. If you want to use your external sound card to monitor the setting to your external sound card.
4. Click OK, Start Jack, open Ardour, and try again.

It is really simple but you can do it.

If you still have problems, let us know.

Good luck!