Scarlett 18i8 2nd on Ubuntu 20.04 - no inputs

gkhouri · February 13, 2023, 12:40am

Friends, anyone know why the inputs get disabled on my 18i8 (2nd gen) when I connect it (usb 2) to my laptop (Lenovo T530) under linux?

The 18i8 works fine if I boot the same laptop into Win 10. When I shut down the laptop under Windows, the inputs remain active. But as soon as the linux kernel begins loading (5.4.0-139-lowlatency), the inputs go dead, although ALSA / PA recognize it - I just can’t get any sound into Ardour or any app.
I have a Lenovo T590 laptop with the same linux kernel, and the 18i8 works as expected with it - Ardour and all.
If I plug in a MOTU M4 usb interface to my T530, it works as expected.
I have searched for days for an answer - can anyone help? I have also tried booting with the generic kenel but no luck.

Many thanks

x42 · February 13, 2023, 5:54am

The most likely cause of this is the mixer - on Windows Focusrite Control.

In a terminal window run alsamixer and then <F6> to select the 18i8, and check the various levels.

–

Other than that, check that the device is not in use. Open a terminal window and run the following command:

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

It will not modify your system; it lists all soundcards, their current settings and applications using them. Then copy+paste all the output of that script and paste it here.

gkhouri · February 13, 2023, 7:11am

Thanks Robin.
alsamixer sees the device and its ports. The playback view shows the outputs (lines, headphones, mixes …) and lets me adjust their levels. However, the capture view shows all 18 ports (pcm1-18) with the correponding assigned channels/ports (analog 1-8, s/pdif 1-2, adat 1-8) with no levels. Incrementing port 1 (up-arrow) just changes the assignment from analogue-1 to analogue-2, etc…
pauvcontrol sees it as both an input and output device.

Here’s the soundcard output:
Part I: ALSA
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version k5.4.0-139-lowlatency.
Card 0 (PCH):

Playback Device 0 (ALC269VC Analog):
- Subdevice 0 (hw:PCH,0,0):
  closed
Playback Device 3 (HDMI 0):
- Subdevice 0 (hw:PCH,3,0):
  closed
Playback Device 7 (HDMI 1):
- Subdevice 0 (hw:PCH,7,0):
  closed
Playback Device 8 (HDMI 2):
- Subdevice 0 (hw:PCH,8,0):
  closed
Recording Device 0 (ALC269VC Analog):
- Subdevice 0 (hw:PCH,0,0):
  closed
  Card 1 (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
  ========================================
  Part II: jack processes
  1432 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/python3 -u /usr/bin/autojack

gkhouri · February 13, 2023, 7:37pm

FWIW:
I upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04 but no change in behavior - inputs go dead when the kernel starts.
syslog looks like this:
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 158.996905] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 159.078284] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1235, idProduct=8204, bcdDevice= 6.2f
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 159.078295] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=3, SerialNumber=2
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 159.078299] usb 1-1.2: Product: Scarlett 18i8 USB
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 159.078302] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Focusrite
Feb 13 10:07:20 bud kernel: [ 159.078304] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 00038107
Feb 13 10:07:23 bud kernel: [ 162.139478] usb 1-1.2: Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2/3 Mixer Driver enabled pid=0x8204
Feb 13 10:07:23 bud kernel: [ 162.151854] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
Feb 13 10:07:23 bud systemd-udevd[4237]: controlC1: Process ‘/usr/sbin/alsactl -E HOME=/run/alsa -E XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/alsa/runtime restore 1’ failed with exit code 99.

gkhouri · February 20, 2023, 8:49pm

If I boot the same computer from a 20.04 or 22.04 usb stick or different hard drive, the Scarlett interface works fine. So clearly there is some configuration file/parameter that’s the problem. I’ve tried uninstalling and re-installing alsa and pulseaudio to no avail.

ccaudle · February 21, 2023, 1:28am

Looks like alsactl attempts to load but crashes. Check alsamixer and alsactl to see if the input levels are set to 0.

ClausRogge · February 21, 2023, 6:26am

I’m following this thread as I have the same problem but with my Tascam US-16x08

ClausRogge · February 21, 2023, 6:04pm

arecord -l shows it as card1, device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 … whatever that means. But when I go to “Sound” in Settings (on the GUI), the only Input Device listed is the Internal Microphone - Built-in Audio but the Output Device has it listed.
What can I do? gkhouri, did you find out anything?? Is it ok to come with my related questions BTW or should I start a new thread every time?

gkhouri · February 22, 2023, 12:07am

to be clear: when I connect my Scarlett 18i8, the inputs on the 18i8 itself go dead (no signal on the box). Perhaps alsa sets the inputs to 0 on the box. As I stated earlier, alsamixer can adjust the output levels on the 18i8, but the capture controls make no sense, only changing the device’s input assignment for the specific pcm chosen.
Some relevant (I think) /var/lib/alsa/asound.state entries for the Scarlett:

This is the line 1 playback volume, which alsa mixer sees and can control and it looks it’s at full volume:
control.6 {
iface MIXER
name ‘Line 01 (Monitor L) Playback Volume’
value 127
comment {
access ‘read write’
type INTEGER
count 1
range ‘0 - 127 (step 1)’
dbmin -12700
dbmax 0
dbvalue.0 0
}
}

Here are some input entries for line/mic 1 (shortened by me):
control.18 {
iface MIXER
name ‘Line In 1 Level Capture Enum’
value Line
comment {
access ‘read write’
type ENUMERATED
count 1
item.0 Line
item.1 Inst
}
}

control.32 {
	iface MIXER
	name 'Mixer Input 01 Capture Enum'
	value 'Analogue 1'
	comment {
		access 'read write'
		type ENUMERATED
		count 1
		item.0 Off
		item.1 'Analogue 1'
		item.2 'Analogue 2'
		... 
		item.7 'Analogue 7'
		item.8 'Analogue 8'
		item.9 'S/PDIF 1'
		item.10 'S/PDIF 2'
		item.11 'ADAT 1'
        ...			
        item.18 'ADAT 8'
		item.19 'Mix A'
		...'
		item.28 'Mix J'
		item.29 'PCM 1'
		item.30 'PCM 2'
		...
		item.36 'PCM 8'
	}
}

control.50 {
	iface MIXER
	name 'PCM 01 Capture Enum'
	value 'Analogue 1'
	comment {
		access 'read write'
		type ENUMERATED
		count 1
		item.0 Off
		item.1 'Analogue 1'
		...
		item.8 'Analogue 8'
		item.9 'S/PDIF 1'
		item.10 'S/PDIF 2'
		item.11 'ADAT 1'
		...
		item.18 'ADAT 8'
		item.19 'Mix A'
		...
		item.28 'Mix J'
		item.29 'PCM 1'
		...
		item.36 'PCM 8'
	}
}

The “value” for the input should be a number, and not ‘Analogue 1’, no? So when you increment the value in alsamixer, it changes the value to ‘Analogue 2’, ‘Analogue 3’ etc., through all of the input ports, instead of giving it a volume number value.
Does the file need to be edited manually to make it work?

gkhouri · February 22, 2023, 12:10am

Claus, I did find this page which might be useful to you/us:

ccaudle · February 22, 2023, 12:40am

That isn’t setting the volume, it is setting which physical input is assigned to that internal routing point. Like a patchbay.

gkhouri · February 22, 2023, 9:32am

Thanks Chris. I don’t know what a proper input entry in asound.state should look like for this device.The man page says something about editing asound.state it by hand if things aren’t working. But I have no idea if that’s even my problem.
There is some default configuration in a new 20.04 and 22.04 installation that works with the 18i8 that has changed on my system and I don’t know where to look.

gkhouri · February 22, 2023, 10:17am

FWIW: I deleted all of the entries related to the Scarlett 28i8 from /var/lib/alsa/asound.state and now the 18i8 works. The inputs on the box are active and I can record with it in Ardour. alsactl puts those entries in the file when it is given the ‘store’ command, according to the man pages, but without the entries I was able to use the box. I plugged the box into another 22.04 computer, recorded with it, and rebooted. There was no entry in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state for the Scarlett in this other computer, so clearly the entries are not needed to record in Ardour. As I speculated, it seems asound.state might need to be modified manually for some specific features to get it box to work right
Pehaps someone who knows how this all works can explain.

GuntherT · February 22, 2023, 6:40pm

There is a user (geoffrey) on Linuxmusicians.com who has put a lot of work into making these devices function on Linux and is probably the foremost expert on this stuff. I would recommend hopping over there and checking under the “Computer Related Hardware” section if you need further help. He seems pretty responsive to those who provide him information he can use to troubleshoot things. Here is a link to his GitHub page where you can download the control app he wrote.

gkhouri · February 22, 2023, 9:48pm

Thank you GuntherT. A while back I only knew of geoffrey’s fixes that required recompiling the kernel, and I didn’t want to go there. I just compiled an ran his alsa-scarlett-gui and it works great!

system · March 22, 2023, 9:49pm

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