Ardour 7 ALSA no input or playback

Ahpt · December 18, 2022, 8:28pm

Hello, I have a scarlett 2i2 third generation connected via usb to my Debian 11 system. In Ardour, I attempt to connect via ALSA to have the interface as both the input and output, as I listen to the output of my system via the output port on the interface.

When I do this, the audio playing on my system anywhere else immediately stops and won’t play without stopping the system in Ardour. The input still doesn’t work while this is running, and I’m not allowed to change my sample rate above 44.1 kHz, which is odd considering I’ve unlocked the interface and should be able to reach 192 kHz. I’ll attach some code and the image of the hardware configuration screen. I will say that I have a minimal system, and I’m trying to keep it as bare bones as possible, so I’m not looking to install jack unless Ardour requires this (which I’ve read around and it seems as though it does not). I DO have pulseaudio installed. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can provide to help solve my issue. Thanks for your time!

Here is my lspci -k

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Root Complex
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Root Complex
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse IOMMU
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse IOMMU
00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:01.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:01.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
	DeviceName:  Onboard IGD
00:03.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:03.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:04.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:05.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:07.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:07.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B]
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B]
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:08.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:08.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B]
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B]
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 61)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. FCH SMBus Controller
	Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c_piix4, sp5100_tco
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 51)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. FCH LPC Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 3
	Kernel driver in use: k10temp
	Kernel modules: k10temp
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 5
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 6
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 7
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller PM9A1/PM9A3/980PRO
	Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller PM9A1/PM9A3/980PRO
	Kernel driver in use: nvme
	Kernel modules: nvme
02:00.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Switch Upstream
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:08.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:09.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:0a.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse PCIe GPP Bridge
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller PM9A1/PM9A3/980PRO
	Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller PM9A1/PM9A3/980PRO
	Kernel driver in use: nvme
	Kernel modules: nvme
05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260 (rev 29)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 26)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169
07:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP
07:00.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
07:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
08:00.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 51)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
	Kernel modules: ahci
09:00.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 51)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
	Kernel modules: ahci
0a:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080] (rev a1)
	Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080]
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia
	Kernel modules: nvidia
0a:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GA102 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
	Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation GA102 High Definition Audio Controller
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
0b:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Function
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Function
0c:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP
0c:00.1 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Cryptographic Coprocessor PSPCPP
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse Cryptographic Coprocessor PSPCPP
	Kernel driver in use: ccp
	Kernel modules: ccp
0c:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
0c:00.4 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

hardware-config

paul · December 18, 2022, 9:16pm

Ardour takes exclusive control of the audio hardware if the ALSA backend is used. This is intentional.

If you do not want this, you will need to use the PulseAudio backend, which only offers playback (no recording).

Regarding the sample rate settings, I suggest you explore that with some other software. If Ardour offers only 44.1kHz, there’s a reason (in the device driver) for that.

onyeibo · February 13, 2023, 7:03pm

This information is illuminating because I have always wondered why pavcontrol cannot detect audio devices when Ardour is running with ALSA. If the PulseAudio backend offers only playback, then what about JACK (I see that on the Audio/MIDI setup dialog)?

GuntherT · February 13, 2023, 10:45pm

JACK can offer playback and recording, and with the proper setup it can allow other programs’ audio to continue to work while Ardour is running. However, it is more complicated to use, and if you don’t want to get into the weeds configuring it yourself, you may want to consider using a distro such as AVLinux that takes care of the setup for you.

ccaudle · February 13, 2023, 10:58pm

A lot of distributions have switched to Pipewire, which offers JACK API implementation as well as PulseAudio API, so desktop software and production software can run together. OP mentioned Debian 11, I am not sure of the state of Pipewire in Debian at the moment.

onyeibo · February 14, 2023, 2:50am

I am on Fedora Linux. Pipewire is the default now although I don’t see that on the Audio/MIDI setup dialog

GMaq · February 14, 2023, 3:17am

Bearing in mind that Debian 11 was released quite some time ago the official party line is that it is not default (PulseAudio still is) however it can be installed from the repos and the backports repos are keeping pace with latest PW versions but to set up it requires some manual config. MX Linux, the base of AV Linux and also based on Debian 11 has some better metapackages that pull in Wireplumber and set up a working config for you. I’ve tried it in some development VM’s but it’s beyond me what’s so much better about it, having to custom launch apps with prepended commands to use JACK is already far more complicated than the OOTB JACK/Pulse setup in AV Linux. Whether it’s watching Youtube Plugin tutorials while running Ardour or dumping Audio right out of a browser or media player into Ardour I find a good JACK/Pulse setup to be effortless. I’m not against PipeWire but I’ve never been dissatisfied with JACK/Pulse and have never had connection or performance issues so PW is a tough sell for me…

When I don’t require special routings Ardour direct to ALSA without a graph full of other running Wireplumber connections is straightforward and as reliable as a battleship…

ccaudle · February 14, 2023, 3:22am

Pipewire does not have a specific backend. On Fedora you have to install the pipewire-jack-audio-connection-kit package, then you use the JACK backend of Ardour.

system · May 16, 2023, 9:23am

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