Ardour crashes JACK when exporting

#21 
========================================
Part I: ALSA
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version k5.4.0-91-lowlatency.

Card 0 (NVidia):
  * Playback Device 3 (HDMI 0):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,3,0):
      closed

  * Playback Device 7 (HDMI 1):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,7,0):
      closed

  * Playback Device 8 (HDMI 2):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,8,0):
      closed

  * Playback Device 9 (HDMI 3):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,9,0):
      closed

  * Playback Device 10 (HDMI 4):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,10,0):
      closed

  * Playback Device 11 (HDMI 5):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:NVidia,11,0):
      closed

Card 1 (US16x08):
  * Playback Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:US16x08,0,0):
      closed

  * Recording Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:US16x08,0,0):
      closed

Card 2 (Generic):
  * Playback Device 0 (ALC892 Analog):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:Generic,0,0):
      used by: ArdourGUI (PID 18074)
      access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED
      format: S32_LE
      subformat: STD
      channels: 6
      rate: 48000 (48000/1)
      period_size: 256
      buffer_size: 512

  * Playback Device 1 (ALC892 Digital):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:Generic,1,0):
      closed

  * Recording Device 0 (ALC892 Analog):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:Generic,0,0):
      used by: ArdourGUI (PID 18074)
      access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED
      format: S32_LE
      subformat: STD
      channels: 2
      rate: 48000 (48000/1)
      period_size: 256
      buffer_size: 512

  * Recording Device 2 (ALC892 Alt Analog):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:Generic,2,0):
      closed

Card 3 (MS2109):
  * Recording Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:MS2109,0,0):
      closed

Card 4 (USB):
  * Playback Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:USB,0,0):
      closed

  * Recording Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:USB,0,0):
      closed

Card 5 (MS2109_1):
  * Recording Device 0 (USB Audio):
    - Subdevice 0 (hw:MS2109_1,0,0):
      closed

========================================
Part II: jack processes
   2121 ?        SLs   25:22 /usr/bin/jackdbus auto
========================================
Part III: jack-dbus config
--- status
stopped

Card 0: Don’t know what that Nvidia thing is
Card 1: Is my Tascam 16x8 USB Interface
Card 2: Something “Generic” probably on the motherboard, never used that
Card 3: MS2109 is 1 out of 2 Capture Cards for live streaming
Card 4: Must be my Scarlett 2i4 USB Interface
Card 5: MS2109_1 is 2 out of 2 Capture Cards

Update for my situation so far:
I figured out that I got no I/O with ALSA backend because the Input and Output Device were set to HD-Audio Generic. When I select my Scarlett 2i4 USB as Input and Output Device with 48kHz 256 Samples Buffer size and 2 Periods, it crashes, means it is Running for couple of seconds and then Stops itself. With 3 Periods however it seems to be running stable.
My new problem now is that I only get 1 device as an Input Device but when I record drums I need 2. Is that even possible with ALSA?

By the way:
Thanks guys for the time and help. This audio thing really isn’t an easy journey, so I appreciate your efforts to help and bear with me.

#22

Yes, but not [yet] using the GUI. It can be done by setting the ARDOUR_ALSA_EXT environment variable.

Assuming you also want to add card5. start Ardour like this

ARDOUR_ALSA_EXT="hw:MS2109_1" Ardour6

(or lowercase ardour6 if you got ardour from a GNU/Linux distro.)

Then pick the ALSA backend with Card 4 and you get both.

–

You can also specify more devices, semicolon separated, and provide additional parameters as well. e.g.

ARDOUR_ALSA_EXT="hw:2@48000/512*3;hw:3@44100"

This adds hw:2 (Card2) running at 48kHz sample-rate, 512 samples/cycle and 3 cycle-periods, and hw:3 using 44.1kHz sample-rate with the same buffer-size as the main device configured in the GUI)

run aplay -l to list devices.

1 Like
#23

wow, this really seems to work and after exporting the audio setup doesn’t crash, at least from Ardour I’m able to play back the session. However I notice that while the ALSA backend is Running in Ardour I don’t get any system audio out, VLC media player, browser sources like YouTube. Only when I Stop the ALSA backend in Ardour the system audio works fine. Is that intended?

And also:
With that ALSA backend and the environment variable to bind additional hardware, is there anything to take care of in order to use MIDI sources like an USB MIDI keyboard, let’s say?

#24

Things like PulseAudio, JACK and PipeWire are able to multiplex audio; meaning that several clients can use the sound card at the same time.

When you’re using Ardour with the low level ALSA backend it hogs the sound card, without going through the fancy multiplexing services of the above.
Not being able to use VLC and YouTube at the same time is as expected.

#25

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