No audio w/ default pulseaudio config+jack+firewire in AVL-MXE

[delete000]

While troubleshooting xruns on my setup (Dell XPS13 running AVLinux MX Edition, RME FireFace400 through USB-C/Thunderbolt) I decided to disable pulseaudio. Now I seem to have figured out the issue (rt-preempt kernel not happy with firewire through USB C) and would like to restore the original pulseaudio configuration with jack sinks etc. Only I don't remember how to retrace my steps....

Can anyone help me restore / recreate the default pulseaudio behaviour in AVLinux? Currently pulseaudio does not autostart, even though I have checked the appropriate box in the system startup options. If I start pulseaudio manually and then start jack, I get the jack sink but playback does not start on any application that uses pulseaudio (e.g. vlc, mpv).

[tseaver]

Not sure if it helps, but here is my "stock" AVLinux QJackCtl settings dialog with the PulseAudio bits configured: they work perfectly for me:

Note: don't omit the trailing ampersands on those command entries!

Screenshot_2023-12-17_23-56-44.png (179.83 KiB) Viewed 136722 times

[delete000]

Not sure if it helps, but here is my "stock" AVLinux QJackCtl settings dialog with the PulseAudio bits configured: they work perfectly for me:

Note: don't omit the trailing ampersands on those command entries!

Screenshot_2023-12-17_23-56-44.png

That's exactly the same on my setup. Still, any program with pulseaudio output (audacious, vlc, firefox) just stalls when I hit play.

[bluebell]

Not sure if it helps, but here is my "stock" AVLinux QJackCtl settings dialog with the PulseAudio bits configured: they work perfectly for me:

Note: don't omit the trailing ampersands on those command entries!

Screenshot_2023-12-17_23-56-44.png

That's exactly the same on my setup. Still, any program with pulseaudio output (audacious, vlc, firefox) just stalls when I hit play.

Then walk on the wild side: http://marzen.de/Holger/pulseaudio_and_jack/

[GMaq]

@delete000

Did you remove 'pajackconnect'? It is not a repository package.

The default AV Linux setup depends on JACK2, PulseAudio, including 'pulseaudio-module-jack' and pajackconnect and that is what the default configuration posted above requires to work

[delete000]

Thanks for the replies. Turns out I was careful enough to disable pulseaudio as user with scripts in my home folder. Removing those restores system-wide defaults. The only problem now is that Mixbus won't start if pulseudio is running and routed through jack. When I start Mixbus it does not recognize that jack is running and prompts me to start it. The "Messages" window of qjackctl shows the following as Mixbus is attempting to start:

Code: Select all

JackPosixProcessSync::LockedTimedWait error usec = 5000000 err = Connection timed out
Driver is not running
Cannot create new client

If I disable the pre- & post-startup scripts on qjackctl setup, so that pulseaudio is not routed through jack, then Mixbus starts normally.

Any suggestions?

[delete000]

@delete000

Did you remove 'pajackconnect'? It is not a repository package.

The default AV Linux setup depends on JACK2, PulseAudio, including 'pulseaudio-module-jack' and pajackconnect and that is what the default configuration posted above requires to work

@GMaq
In fact, pulseaudio routing through jack with firewire seems to be broken even after a fresh installation of AVL MX21. Audio does not start on apps that attempt to output to pulseaudio and Mixbus / Ardour won't start if pulseaudio is running. Is this expected behavior?

EDIT: pulseaudio works just fine with the exact same jack configuration using ALSA and the onboard soundcard. So the issue seems to be related to firewire.

[GMaq]

FireWire is obsolete, FFADO is unmaintained and the ALSA Firewire stack is incomplete. I ditched my last FireWire interface about 8 years ago and I never test AV Linux with FW stuff so you may well be right...

Anyone else here using AV Linux with FireWire interfaces? Could you share your experiences?

[delete000]

In case this is useful, here is what Mixbus reports before failing to create ports in jack:

Code: Select all

$ /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/bin/mixbus6
Mixbus6.2.407 (built using 6.2-407-g970ec2cc9 and GCC version 6.3.0 20170516)
Mixbus: [INFO]: Your system is configured to limit Mixbus to 4096 open files
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading system configuration file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/etc/system_config
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading user configuration file /home/ko/.config/mixbus6/config
Mixbus: [INFO]: CPU vendor: GenuineIntel
Mixbus: [INFO]: AVX-capable processor
Mixbus: [INFO]: AVX with FMA capable processor
Mixbus: [INFO]: CPU brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz
Mixbus: [INFO]: Using AVX and FMA optimized routines
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading plugin meta data file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/share/plugin_metadata/plugin_tags
Cannot xinstall SIGPIPE error handler
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading default ui configuration file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/etc/default_ui_config
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading user ui configuration file /home/ko/.config/mixbus6/ui_config
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading 451 MIDI patches from /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/share/patchfiles
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading color file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/share/themes/dark-mixbus.colors
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading ui configuration file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/etc/clearlooks.rc
Mixbus: [INFO]: Loading bindings from /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/etc/ardour.keys
Loading ui configuration file /opt/Mixbus-6.2.407/etc/clearlooks.rc
Announcement string is too long (probably behind a proxy).
Cannot read socket fd = 17 err = Success
CheckRes error
JackSocketClientChannel read fail
Cannot open ardourprobe client
JackShmReadWritePtr1::~JackShmReadWritePtr1 - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
Cannot read socket fd = 14 err = Success
CheckRes error
JackSocketClientChannel read fail
Cannot open ardourprobe client
JackShmReadWritePtr1::~JackShmReadWritePtr1 - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
Cannot read socket fd = 14 err = Success
CheckRes error
JackSocketClientChannel read fail
Cannot open ardourprobe client
JackShmReadWritePtr1::~JackShmReadWritePtr1 - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
Cannot read socket fd = 14 err = Success
CheckRes error
JackSocketClientChannel read fail
Cannot open ardourprobe client
JackShmReadWritePtr1::~JackShmReadWritePtr1 - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock

Mixbus starts fine if pulseaudio source & sink are not present.

PS: Changed the thread title to better reflect the issue.

[GMaq]

Mixbus 6?

Does this also happen with the version of Mixbus or Ardour that AV Linux 21 came with?

Also are you using your FireWire device with ffado? (Not default in AVL) or with the ALSA driver?

[delete000]

Mixbus 6?

Does this also happen with the version of Mixbus or Ardour that AV Linux 21 came with?

Also are you using your FireWire device with ffado? (Not default in AVL) or with the ALSA driver?

I'm using ffado and jack2-firewire (repo versions installed with apt-get).

The Ardour output is somewhat different, but the behavior is identical - no jack ports:

Code: Select all

$ /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/bin/ardour6
Ardour6.9.0 (built using 6.9 and GCC version 6.3.0 20170516)
Ardour: [INFO]: Your system is configured to limit Ardour to 4096 open files
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading system configuration file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/etc/system_config
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading user configuration file /home/ko/.config/ardour6/config
Ardour: [INFO]: CPU vendor: GenuineIntel
Ardour: [INFO]: AVX-capable processor
Ardour: [INFO]: AVX with FMA capable processor
Ardour: [INFO]: CPU brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz
Ardour: [INFO]: Using AVX and FMA optimized routines
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading plugin meta data file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/share/plugin_metadata/plugin_tags
Cannot xinstall SIGPIPE error handler
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading default ui configuration file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/etc/default_ui_config
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading user ui configuration file /home/ko/.config/ardour6/ui_config
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading 452 MIDI patches from /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/share/patchfiles
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading color file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/share/themes/diehard3-ardour.colors
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading ui configuration file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/etc/clearlooks.rc
Ardour: [INFO]: Loading bindings from /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/etc/ardour.keys
Loading ui configuration file /opt/Ardour-6.9.0/etc/clearlooks.rc
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy
Found nothing along /home/ko/.config/ardour6/templates:/opt/Ardour-6.9.0/share/templates
Announcement is: Version 8.2 has been released. Update at https://ardour.org/download
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy
ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy

[GMaq]

Hmmm

Code: Select all

ALSA: Cannot open device 'hw:Fireface400,0': Device or resource busy

Out of some dark cupboard in my brain comes the dim memory that if you want to use ffado you have to block the ALSA driver modules..?

viewtopic.php?t=19429

[delete000]

Maybe, but the issue is not ffado, since without pulseaudio everything works just fine.

What I suspect instead is pajackconnect. Instead of that I tried the alternative in this answer:
https://askubuntu.com/a/1248738

Now everything works. Could this be a preferable default for AVL-MXE?

[GMaq]

Interesting,

This is the first report I've had that pajackconnect didn't work and with the shrinking numbers of FireWire users maybe I'm just not hearing about it which I find to be very surprising. In any case I'd like to hear from more AVL users with FireWire devices to see if other factors are involved..

Other things to consider; A growing number of people don't use JACK at all, if their workflow with Ardour or Mixbus is all within the DAW then JACK is not necessary and using ALSA directly cuts out all of the Audio server middlemen. This is how I work in my own Studio.. As far as AVL-MXE the next iteration has moved to PipeWIre after a very long and irritating transition so by default 'pipewire-jack' will handle the JACK duties and pajackconnect has been made obsolete.

I'd be interested to know if you don't use FFADO and use the ALSA FireWire driver does it work then? I feel that pajackconnect would work with the FireWire ALSA driver just like any other ALSA device works with it..

[delete000]

@GMaq I've had zero luck trying to use ALSA directly with my interface (RME Fireface 400). Ardour / Mixbus with ALSA detects the device but will not start ["Failed to open audio device (Typically caused by hardware parameter settings)"].

It's true that firewire is dead and the associated libraries are unmaintained. It's just out of stubbornness that I insist on using this interface which I paid dearly to purchase 15 years ago. I'm nevertheless happily surprised that I can connect it to a USB-C port and it works (more or less) out of the box. Not bad for obsolete technology.