Hi all…
Apologies if this is not the right place for this topic, but I cant get any version of surge xt later than 1.1.2 to run in Ardour or as a stand alone (running jack). I have installed 1.3.1, 1.3.2 and 1.3.4 (latest), but nothing happens when I try to run it as a stand alone, and within Ardour, I create a midi track and choose Surge XT but it does not appear within the track at all.
Spent quite a bit of time trying to work out why this is not working but can find no solution. Am running AV MX Linux (21 with xfce), everything is up to date, last thing I tried was to run;
sudo apt install build-essential libcairo-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-util-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libasound2-dev libjack-jackd2-dev
which is suggested on Github… But nothing seems to make any difference…
I would be happy with ver 1.1.2 but many of the patches produce an error saying that 1.1.2 is the wrong version for the patch…
Anyone else getting the same problem?
Slightly off topic, but is there a reason why I cant choose stereo or mono when creating a midi track? I have to select audio track, then change stereo/mono, then go back to creating a midi track…
First of all, why are you running AV Linux 21 when 23 has been out for a while?
Hi,
What happens if you run the standalone from a terminal? What messages does the terminal print.
What often happens is Plugin developers move their development base to newer Distro versions and the base libraries (most often libc6) they build their Plugins with are newer than what older Distros have so the Plugin and underlying support libs are mismatched.
If you are using AV Linux 21.X it is based on Debian 11 which is one version behind the actual current Debian Stable release Debian 12 ‘Bookworm’ which AVL 23 is based on. As time goes on less and less Plugins will be compatible with the ‘oldstable’ support libraries in Debian 11 and Plugins will stop working.
This is a definite downside to Linux as a production platform but it is a very common problem as Distros age…
Hi jmantra
For various reasons I changed the Desktop Environment in AV Linux 23 and also needed to integrate PipeWire. Let’s just say I learned VERY quickly how averse people are to change… For this reason some people have continued to use AVL 21 because of the familiarity of both XFCE4 and the solid JACK/Pulse setup it had.
It has been very difficult to parse out what actually ‘doesn’t work’ and what people simply ‘don’t like’ in AVL 23. Work is ongoing to refine the experience and fix known problems and limitations but as they say “you’re only as good as your last haircut” (or Distro release).
With the new AVLinux change, Mixbus and Ardour started crashing. I also missed a clear start menu where everything has content. In the new one, the menu is quite confusing and you have to use a lot of searching. Hopefully it will develop in the future.
Thanks Mika,
That’s entirely fair and as a User you can choose whatever you like…
AVL-23 also changed the Kernel, pretty much every support lib with the change to Bookworm, the complete Audio subsystem, Video drivers, the yabridge version and the Wine-Staging version so there are a lot of things to throw darts at indeed. My Studio box has had Enlightenment on it for 5 years to help vet it for AV Linux, my son and I log a lot of hours out there yearly and 98% of our problems are either from upgrading Ardour and encountering new bugs, or trying to chase Windows Plugins with Wine updates. I don’t think I’ve ever had a crash from the DE or underlying wheels and chassis. Of course that doesn’t mean that other people don’t have these issues, every system is different for sure.
I will agree that Enlightenment either has a too basic and old menu or a too much at once menu, that is a weakness. I personally put my commonly used stuff in the Dock or on the Panel and after that it’s not too much of a hardship.
Something that people overlook is that you can install XFCE4 alongside Enlightenment, you will get the ugly Debian XFCE4 defaults at first but within minutes you can change the theme and Icons to whatever you like just like any Debian/MX XFCE4 system. Same goes for KDE Plasma but in my experience it doesn’t play very nice with other installed DE’s it’s better to install KDE and remove other things and let KDE be the boss.
I’m a AVL 21 hold-outer, and while, yes, I’m quite happy with the way it works, I must point out that the lack of a migration path (between 21 & 23) is the biggest bottleneck for me. I’ve got quite a big setup, both Linux- and Wine-side.
And the number of times it’s been said that Pipewire “just works”, well… the posters and postettes of this site suggest otherwise.
That being said, I greatly appreciate your work!
Very fair as well,
I’m essentially a one-man band working outward from ISO’s and introducing a lot of customization that isn’t in a Repository. Jumping from one Debian platform to another is a bit dodgy even with vanilla Debian so yes when you add the MX Linux (lifesaver!) layer and my own AVL stuff it’s more than I can juggle to do all the extra stuff required to make a guaranteed to work migration path… That is the kind of stuff Big Box Linux can do for you and they do it very well.
In comparison I’m building Linux heathkits in my garage…lol
Glen, you have done a tremendous job for Linux audio and that should not be underestimated. I will follow up and try it again as soon as a new version is released. I appreciate it
Thanks for all the replies, guys, and it is very much sounding like my attachement to AV MX Linux 21 is the likely problem… jmantra, the reason I hang onto 21 is I do not get on with the elightenment desktop, not for the want of trying, I use several distros for various reasons and have tried elightenment on a couple of them, but it is xfce for me every time and I always go back to it. Enlightenment was a real struggle for me…
I used to be a huge fan of Ubuntu Studio, but the snap thing steered me away from it and into the arms of AV MX Linux (thank you Glen!) and I have never looked back, everything simply works, and works so very well with it… I now use MX Linux as my daily driver because of that and love it, am using MX Linux 23 (with xfce) which has pipewire and it is incredibly stable, but when making music or doing my photo/video editing I am straight into AV Linux. I think this surge xt problem is the first real issue I have had with it…
Glen, can I really use xfce with AV MX Linux 23? I tried to do that the day you released 23 and there were so many errors that I abandoned it, if I can use xfce now then that is a game changer for me… I will also reinstall surge xt 1.3.4 (went back to 1.1.2) and try it in a terminal. let you know what happens…
Hi,
Yes, you should be able to install XFCE4 into AVL 23.X. Note I haven’t done it personally nor can I offer a lot of support if you do. I would try it in a Virtual Machine, a throwaway install or a Live USB with persistence to see before harming a production system… Once installed you will have to select the XFCE4 session in lightDM.
Secondly if you already use MX Linux then you might be interested in this thread where I’ve started to make some of the AVL stuff self-contained and Desktop Environment agnostic so MX Users (and other inhabitants of the Debuntuverse) can use them outside of an AVL install. Read the details in the first forum post because some outside programs like yabridge and Wine-Staging may need to be manually installed for full functionality.
Thank you Glen…!
Lots to try there, can take a full system image of my current AV MX Linux 21 and restore it if needs be, will update this post with my results with installing xfce, may help other folk in a similar position… Will give it a try tomorrow…
Reinstalled Surge XT 1.3.4 (sudo dpkg -i surge-xt-linux-x64-1.3.4.deb), install completed fine, rebooted… Ran this from a terminal, same result from a terminal in /usr/bin
$ Surge XT
bash: Surge: command not found
You need to run this command with quotes:
"/usr/bin/Surge XT"
Without quotes it truncates the command to just “Surge” which doesn’t exist…
$ “/usr/bin/Surge XT”
/usr/bin/Surge XT: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.30’ not found (required by /usr/bin/Surge XT)
I was betting it’s a GLIBC issue, and I see evidence of that in the interwebs:
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/7431
When I try to load vst3, I get this:
swell: dlopen() failed: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found (required by /usr/lib/vst3/Surge XT Effects.vst3/Contents/x86_64-linux/Surge XT Effects.so)
swell: dlopen() failed: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found (required by /usr/lib/vst3/Surge XT Effects.vst3/Contents/x86_64-linux/Surge XT Effects.so)
only vst3 scans. All other plugins do not scan successfully. VST3 scans successfully, but does not load successfully.
Bingo! “GLIBC” “libc6” same sh*t different name. Debian 11 has v. 3.4.27 I believe. Surge XT is working on AVL-23 so kudos to the surge guys for at least going back to current Debian Stable, some Plugin devs just do latest Arch or Ubuntu…
wow… nice to see your sherlocktelepathy working so well…! So that means I have to install AV 23 to get it working? Can see libc ver 2.31 in my repo…
Hi
I have all the issues in this thread. AVL21.3 is rock solid and great but newer plugins and apps wont work with the latest libc6 debian11 can use
and its getting more all the time
AVL 23 is not so user friendly and mx linux currently has problems with nvidia graphics drivers which cause havoc in Ardour.
But as time passes, hopefully the issues will gradually go away, until a new version of Debian comes out. 