How to know what settings to use for new session setup?

Installation & Configuration Linux
#1

I have tried what feels like every combination possible for the initial session setup and I cannot get Ardour to detect the input from my digital audio interface.

The Ardour manual regarding session setup does not provide much in the way of troubleshooting, so I’m hoping someone here can tell me what diagnostics to run to determine my initial settings.

System: Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon
DAI: M-Track Duo USB audio interface (a basic two-input DAI)

New Session Setup Window
Audio Systems Available: ALSA, JACK, Pipewire

If ALSA Selected:

Input device: None, HDA Intel PCH, USB Audio Codec
Output Device: HDA Intel PCH, HDA NVidia, USB Audio Codec

My first assumption was to use USB Audio Codec, thinking it referred to my audio interface, but this produces an electronic squeal in my headphones and crashes Ardour. The other options also produce “Audio Backend Error” with no further information.

When selecting JACK:
Driver options: ALSA, OSS, FreeBoB, FFADO, NetJACK, Dummy
Device options: HDA Intel PCH, HDA NVidia, USB Audio Codec

Selecting ALSA for the driver and USB Audio Codec for the device crashes Ardour with the error “Could not connect to Audio/MIDI engine”

Selecting PulseAudio as the audio system only provides “Default Playback” in the Device dropdown, and does not detect inputs.

What diagnostics do I need to run to determine which combination of these settings actually works?

Thanks so much for your input! I had this working at one point and I don’t know what the heck changed.

#2

If you use PulseAudio, you should be able to switch the output device in sound settings (or use pavucontrol). What happens if you do that?

ALSA + USB Audio Codec should work, if nothing else. Are there any errors in the system log (sudo journalctl -xe in a terminal) that might point at issues when the M-Track is connected?

#3

Open a terminal window, enter the following command, then press Return

cd /tmp && wget https://ardour.org/files/adevices.sh && bash ./adevices.sh

It will not alter your system. You can paste the output here.

Where do you expect to hear the output from?

#4

I have the M-Track Solo interface, and that one sure uses “USB Audio Codec” in cadence/qjacktrl, as i use jack not pipewire, and in ardours audio Audio/Midi setup preferences.