New User question - emagic unitor 8

Installation & Configuration Linux
#1

Hello everyone

I have just installed ubuntu studio on a new PC following the demise of my old PC which was running Cubase SX /Creamware Luna on windows XP. The Creamware card is I iknow a non starter .
My question is regarding my emagic unitor 8 midi interface which is plugged into a serial card which the PC can see , lspci reveals:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 05)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d5)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev d5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C220 Series Chipset Family H81 Express LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G96 [GeForce 9400 GT] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)
04:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 03)
05:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller (rev 41)
05:00.1 USB controller: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller (rev 41)
05:00.2 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD72010x USB 2.0 Controller (rev 02)
05:01.0 Serial controller: WCH.CN CH352 PCI Dual Serial Port Controller (rev 10)
alastair@alastair-All-Series:~$

IS there any chance of getting this interface to work or do I need to buy a modern one.

Many thanks in adavnce

#2

Is this the original that has no USB option?

In Linux has support for it in the USB driver, but that seems to be “Emagic Unitor 8 MK ii” specific. Try lsusb if you can connect it via USB.

If this is indeed serial only, you might be able to tinker a bit, and manually bridge one of the /dev/ttyS* serial ports to MIDI (assuming its raw MIDI over serial port) with https://github.com/robelix/hard-dj/tree/master/ttymidi#readme – While it may work, I would not expect this to be suitable for a professional DAW setup.

Try sudo dmesg | grep tty and sudo cat /proc/tty/driver/serial that may show which serial ports correspond to the serial controller. then e.g. ttymidi -s /dev/ttyS3 -v

Realistically you’ll have more fun with a modern new device though.

#3

Many Thanks Robin

This is indeed MIDI only .It cost £45 in 2005 off ebay and has given great service since so I think its due to retire :slight_smile: Would the later version with USB work easily ?

Warm regards

#4

I have no first hand experience with this, so I cannot say for sure. There is however a dedicated USB driver for the Emagic Unitor8 in the Linux kernel, so I dare say the answer is yes.

The “mk2” USB device is also rather dated. Are they still being manufactured?

In general: all modern class-compliant USB devices will work out-of-the-box on Linux. Those are all devices that work on iOS, macOS. Also all those don’t need a driver on OSX or Windows should work.

Alternatively start a thread here “recommended USB midi devices” How many MIDI I/O ports do you need?

#5

Should have read serial only

Many thanks Robin

#6

I use the AMT-8 The newer version of unitor 8.
It works right out of the box!

#7

Many thanks for that, off to ebay we go I think.

So far it’s going pretty well midi man 1010 worked with ardour as soon as I disabled the internal audio.

Having used the stienberg product since the atari 1040 and Pro 24 my main focus is now is learning a new set of keyboard shortcuts…

Many thanks

Alastair