Axe-Fx II and Linux (again)

[volt]

Hope a Midi controller related question is not off topic here: Are there any experiences with KMI SoftStep running on Linux?

No offense intended, but I would like to see this thread concentrating on topics regarding the Axe-Fx II and Linux. Maybe open a new thread in the subforum "Other MIDI Controllers" (there is already a thread about the SoftStep, but not Linux related).

... The editor opens directly from the exe file (no installation process), saved presets can be loaded to the editor, but it can not connect to the hardware.
Keith McMillen states, that the software would be just for Windows / Mac.
Is there a chance?

At LinuxMusiscians user wolftune reported that the Windows software for the SoftStep runs under wine (LinuxMusicians • View topic - Cheap USB foot pedal WORKS! (SOLVED)). So although the post is a little old I would probably try to contact him.

 

[hdurdevic]

I am running openSUSE 13.1, kernel 3.14.4 64 bit, KDE 4.13.1. I don't have your freeze problem but the Axe-Fx II just does not disappear from KMix when disconnected. When I switch off/unplug the Axe-Fx II /var/log/messages shows some warnings like

WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 66 at /home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/kernel-desktop-3.14.4/linux-3.14/fs/sysfs/group.c:216 device_del+0x40/0x1b0()
... kernel: [ 2289.105509] sysfs group ffffffff81ea3c40 not found for kobject '...

A quick search on the internet showed that there are already several discussions about this issue which seemingly does not only affect some usb audio devices but also storage devices like usb sticks and hard disks. I did not have time to investigate further and look for a solution.

Before digging in deeper, could you please report if you encounter similar warnings? If this topic seems to be too special feel free to PM me.

P.S. Instead of rebooting did you try to restart PulseAudio. In a standard setup "pulseaudio -k" should restart the daemon.

Hi volt,
Gret to see you're still active around here. I've been away from this thread for some time so, regretfully, I haven't noticed your reply.
In the mean time I've upgreaded my distro to Linux Mint 17 KDE, and yes, the problem is still the same.
As you suspected, the messages in my /var/log/syslog are very similar to yours:

Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256226] WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 71 at /build/buildd/linux-3.13.0/fs/sysfs/group.c:214 sysfs_remove_group+0xc6/0xd0()
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256230] sysfs group ffffffff81cab480 not found for kobject 'midiC1D0'
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256233] Modules linked in: snd_seq_dummy snd_usb_audio snd_usbmidi_lib ctr ccm bbswitch(OF) pci_stub vboxpci(OF) vboxnetadp(OF) vboxnetflt(OF) vboxdrv(OF) uvcvideo videobuf2_vmalloc videobuf2_memops videobuf2_core rts5139(C) videodev btusb intel_rapl x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp dell_laptop coretemp dcdbas kvm_intel kvm crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul ghash_clmulni_intel cryptd joydev serio_raw bnep rfcomm bluetooth snd_hda_codec_hdmi snd_hda_codec_idt arc4 binfmt_misc snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec iwldvm snd_hwdep snd_pcm mac80211 snd_page_alloc snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event snd_rawmidi snd_seq iwlwifi snd_seq_device dell_wmi snd_timer cfg80211 sparse_keymap lpc_ich snd wmi mei_me mei soundcore mac_hid parport_pc ppdev lp parport hid_generic usbhid hid psmouse i915 i2c_algo_bit drm_kms_helper ahci r8169 drm libahci mii video
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256336] CPU: 4 PID: 71 Comm: khubd Tainted: GF       WC O 3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256339] Hardware name: Dell Inc.          Inspiron 7720/04M3YM, BIOS A10 09/14/2012
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256343]  0000000000000009 ffff88023370d990 ffffffff81715ac4 ffff88023370d9d8
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256350]  ffff88023370d9c8 ffffffff810676bd 0000000000000000 ffffffff81cab480
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256357]  ffff88022d476810 ffff88022d474800 ffff8802314e20f8 ffff88023370da28
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256366] Call Trace:
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256378]  [<ffffffff81715ac4>] dump_stack+0x45/0x56
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256386]  [<ffffffff810676bd>] warn_slowpath_common+0x7d/0xa0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256392]  [<ffffffff8106772c>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x4c/0x50
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256401]  [<ffffffff81230c8e>] ? sysfs_get_dirent_ns+0x4e/0x70
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256407]  [<ffffffff81231f76>] sysfs_remove_group+0xc6/0xd0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256416]  [<ffffffff81494ed3>] dpm_sysfs_remove+0x43/0x50
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256422]  [<ffffffff8148a905>] device_del+0x45/0x1c0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256428]  [<ffffffff8148aa9e>] device_unregister+0x1e/0x60
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256433]  [<ffffffff8148ab5c>] device_destroy+0x3c/0x50
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256448]  [<ffffffffa02032ed>] snd_unregister_device+0x4d/0xa0 [snd]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256459]  [<ffffffffa02ebc76>] snd_rawmidi_dev_disconnect+0xc6/0xf0 [snd_rawmidi]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256476]  [<ffffffffa020a2ea>] snd_device_disconnect+0x6a/0xf0 [snd]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256488]  [<ffffffffa020a43c>] snd_device_disconnect_all+0x4c/0x90 [snd]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256500]  [<ffffffffa0203861>] snd_card_disconnect+0x131/0x1e0 [snd]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256510]  [<ffffffffa06df480>] usb_audio_disconnect+0x80/0x1b0 [snd_usb_audio]
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256519]  [<ffffffff81541d54>] usb_unbind_interface+0x64/0x1c0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256528]  [<ffffffff8148e61f>] __device_release_driver+0x7f/0xf0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256536]  [<ffffffff8148e6b3>] device_release_driver+0x23/0x30
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256542]  [<ffffffff8148df38>] bus_remove_device+0x108/0x180
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256548]  [<ffffffff8148a9e9>] device_del+0x129/0x1c0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256554]  [<ffffffff8153f730>] usb_disable_device+0xb0/0x290
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256560]  [<ffffffff815342ad>] usb_disconnect+0xad/0x200
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256565]  [<ffffffff81536d65>] hub_port_connect_change+0xd5/0xb50
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256571]  [<ffffffff8153e134>] ? usb_control_msg+0xd4/0x110
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256577]  [<ffffffff81537ca4>] hub_events+0x4c4/0xa20
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256582]  [<ffffffff81538235>] hub_thread+0x35/0x160
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256590]  [<ffffffff810aae90>] ? prepare_to_wait_event+0x100/0x100
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256595]  [<ffffffff81538200>] ? hub_events+0xa20/0xa20
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256602]  [<ffffffff8108b312>] kthread+0xd2/0xf0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256608]  [<ffffffff8108b240>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x1d0/0x1d0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256615]  [<ffffffff817263fc>] ret_from_fork+0x7c/0xb0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256619]  [<ffffffff8108b240>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x1d0/0x1d0
Sep  4 20:23:40 localhost kernel: [30207.256623] ---[ end trace 7148faae08f28dc0 ]---

You say it is a know problem?

Btw. thank you again for all your trouble!

 

[volt]

Hi hdurdevic,

unfortunately I did not find time to investigate this issue much more.

However one thing I noticed was that if you start a virtual machine with VirtualBox and then connect the Axe-Fx II to the USB port of the virtual machine (by checking the entry for the Axe-Fx II in the list of the virtual machine's USB devices), the Axe-Fx II disappears from KMix. As soon as you disconnect the Axe-Fx II from the virtual machine (by unchecking the entry for the Axe-Fx II in the list of USB devices) it reappears in KMix. So it shows just the behaviour I would expect when dis- and reconnecting the Axe-Fx II physically from the "real world" USB port or switching the Axe-Fx II off and on again.

Another observation: When I disable pulsaudio and use just ALSA the Axe-Fx II does not appear in KMix. But the sound card used by the OS for music playback is automatically switched to the Axe-Fx II (which I gave the highest priority for music playback) as soon as it is connected. Even an already running audio stream will keep on playing through the Axe-Fx II! When I then disconnect the Axe-Fx II the running audio stream does not get switched back to the second priority sound card until the audio player (I used Amarok for testing) is restarted.

Man am I tired, I hope it's halfway clear what I wrote...

 

[volt]

For me, all apps are running OK (native and under Wine), but I'm having some problems with PulseAudio platform itself. Well, at least I think it is PulseAudio, for all I know it could also be ALSA or GStreamer. I don't know how to detect the source of the problem.
The problem arises when I unplug AxeFx - PulseAudio (or whatever) does not realize it is disconnected (in contrast to other USB soundcards I have), so any app trying to use audio gets frozen. The only way to correct this state is to restart the machine which is a nuisance.

Running Linux Mint 14, kernel 3.13.2 64bit / KDE + PulseAudio (?)

If there is someone more experienced in Linux audio here, I would certainly appreciate some help in resolving this.

H.

I have no real solution up to now but possibly a workaround:

After powering off the Axe-Fx II or disconnecting it from the USB port, run (*not* as root) from a terminal:

pulseaudio -k
start-pulseaudio-x11
start-pulseaudio-kde

This should kill pulseaudio first. On many systems pulseaudio starts again automatically, but the following lines are (at least the last line is, start-pulseaudio-x11 is maybe not necessary in this context) important nonetheless to load some additional modules that are normally loaded during the login process. It is likely that applications using pulseaudio need to be restarted. If possible I would terminate such applications before disconnecting the Axe-Fx II.

If that works, you can put the the three lines above into a bash script.

 

[Bzerk]

Hey are you the same Bzerk that coded ElevenHack? If so, welcome to the dark (less orange) side!

Sorry for the late answer Hellbat. Yes, I am the Bzerk from ElevenRackPresets.
I had the opportunity to get a FX2XL, the kind of offer you cannot refuse I kept my orange box for some guests instruments.

 

[volt]

@hdurdevic

While I am still running openSUSE 13.1 64bit, in the meantime I updated to kernel 3.17.4. After installing the latest updates of ALSA 1.0.28 and pulseaudio 5.0 for openSUSE during last week, I did a quick "USB disconnect" test yesterday. And yes... no more issues here when disconnecting and reconnecting the Axe-Fx II:

When disconnected the Axe-Fx II disappears as expected from KMix and the sound device for a running playback stream is directed to the internal sound card (as the device with lower priority than the Axe-Fx). As soon as the Axe-Fx II is connected to the USB port again, it reappears in KMix and a running playbackstream is redirected from the internal sound card to the Axe-Fx II.

During the last weeks I have been watching some interesting changes / bug fixes related to usb audio in the release candidates for the upcoming kernel 3.18 and I was hoping for an improvement - but not before kernel 3.18... Unfortunately I don't know what has brought the change right now. It could well be that "minor" updates to ALSA or pulseaudio were the reason and not the kernel. So, at the moment I just can recommend to update to the latest versions and see if this helps you for your Mint Linux, too.

 

[hdurdevic]

@hdurdevic

While I am still running openSUSE 13.1 64bit, in the meantime I updated to kernel 3.17.4. After installing the latest updates of ALSA 1.0.28 and pulseaudio 5.0 for openSUSE during last week, I did a quick "USB disconnect" test yesterday. And yes... no more issues here when disconnecting and reconnecting the Axe-Fx II:

When disconnected the Axe-Fx II disappears as expected from KMix and the sound device for a running playback stream is directed to the internal sound card (as the device with lower priority than the Axe-Fx). As soon as the Axe-Fx II is connected to the USB port again, it reappears in KMix and a running playbackstream is redirected from the internal sound card to the Axe-Fx II.

During the last weeks I have been watching some interesting changes / bug fixes related to usb audio in the release candidates for the upcoming kernel 3.18 and I was hoping for an improvement - but not before kernel 3.18... Unfortunately I don't know what has brought the change right now. It could well be that "minor" updates to ALSA or pulseaudio were the reason and not the kernel. So, at the moment I just can recommend to update to the latest versions and see if this helps you for your Mint Linux, too.

That are some pretty great news. I've been using your tip on restarting pulseaudio from command line and that was already a great improvement over restarting the entire machine.
I'm currently using the default kernel from LM17 but I guess I'll switch to the bleeding edge now
Thank you again for all you efforts and help you provided to me (and other Linux users here), I appreciate it greatly.

P.S. I've noticed that on recent versions of Axe-Edit the tuner function works really slow, lagging quite much. I'm not sure if it's due to AE itself, or the versions of my sw (the switch to AE3 happend at the same time as I installed the new version of LM distro). Did /do you have any similar experiances? Other stuff is working fine, except for fw update through FractalBot, so I'm doing it again through CLI. This is a bit off-topic tough...

 

[volt]

That are some pretty great news. I've been using your tip on restarting pulseaudio from command line and that was already a great improvement over restarting the entire machine.

Glad if I could help

P.S. I've noticed that on recent versions of Axe-Edit the tuner function works really slow, lagging quite much. I'm not sure if it's due to AE itself, or the versions of my sw (the switch to AE3 happend at the same time as I installed the new version of LM distro). Did /do you have any similar experiances?

Just did a test and did not find that slow or laggy. But I do not use Axe-Edit's tuner too often, so I can hardly compare the speed the current version to an older one. So I took a video to allow you to compare - just to find out we cannot upload videos here, only link to URLs... but I have no webspace available. If you are interested, PM me with your email address and I will send you the file. The video file has about 1.5MB.

Other stuff is working fine, except for fw update through FractalBot, so I'm doing it again through CLI.

Up to now I did not experience any problems doing firmware updates through FractalBot, but have to admit, I did the last updates using the CLI... Ah, just saw FW 17 has been released... and loaded it with FractalBot successfully. Do you get an error message from Axe-Edit?

 

[claxxical]

Anybody have any luck with Axe Edit 3.1.3? Mine won't install here.

 

[volt]

Anybody have any luck with Axe Edit 3.1.3? Mine won't install here.

I have no issues so far installing and running Axe-Edit 3.1.3 with wine. Do you get some error message you could post? What Linux distro do you use and is it 32bit or 64bit?

 

[claxxical]

Ah! I just had to disable dwrite. Sorry about that, I should've seen it before. Working great, thanks!

 

[volt]

Great! I assumed you were not able to install Axe-Edit, i.e. to run the installer successfully. But as disabling dwrite helped I guess not installing but starting Axe-Edit has been the problem, right?

 

[claxxical]

Yup exactly, sorry for the confusion!

 

[tacklemcclean]

I have an Axe FX 2 XL and I'm trying to get this working.

If I've understood the info correctly I do not have to patch any kernel since I'm using a higher number than 3.10 (I'm on Ubuntu 14.04 which is ).
But I have to upload firmware to the Axe FX.

I tried downloading the shell script but the password didn't work. Tried with both the following semicolon and without.

I'm not sure I understand this part though, since isn't the Axe FX firmware something you update when FAS release a new version? That's what I usually do. Is this some extra firmware specific only for the USB part?

Thankful for any hints on how to get started!

Edit:
I found the "Axe-Fx_II_USB_Driver_Setup_Linux" script at axefx.fr

Trying that, I seem to install it correctly but I cannot see the device in my audio settings.

Before installing, if I type lsusb to list USB devices, the Axe FX shows up as ID 2466:0003
This differs from what I've seen mentioned in the thread; 8003. I suppose it's because I have the Axe FX 2 XL.
I tried changing the 8003 to 0003 at the two places it's used in the sh install script. But after installing it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Edit 2:

Ok so after dancing some dances I managed to get it to show up with analog output in the audio section of the control panel. But not much more than that. Will try in Ardour and see what happens.

Edit 3:

So my problem now seems to be that the drivers are probably not working right with Axe FX XL. I'm guessing. Has anyone had luck with it?
As I start up Ardour I come to the audio/midi setup panel where it has already picked JACK for audio system, ALSA as driver and finally Axe-FX II as Device. But it can't continue with these settings. "Could not reconnect to the Audio/MIDI engine" is what I get.

Any tips?

 

[volt]

If I've understood the info correctly I do not have to patch any kernel since I'm using a higher number than 3.10 (I'm on Ubuntu 14.04 which is ).
But I have to upload firmware to the Axe FX.

Correct.

I'm not sure I understand this part though, since isn't the Axe FX firmware something you update when FAS release a new version? That's what I usually do. Is this some extra firmware specific only for the USB part?

Yes, this firmware has nothing to do with the "main" firmware (currently at version 17.02). The firmware we speak of here has to be loaded into the dedicated USB chip (Cypress EZ-USB FX2LP) of the Axe-Fx II. This can be done manually using fxload or by a UDEV rule. My script creates a UDEV rule and places the necessary files into the Linux system.

Before installing, if I type lsusb to list USB devices, the Axe FX shows up as ID 2466:0003
This differs from what I've seen mentioned in the thread; 8003. I suppose it's because I have the Axe FX 2 XL.
I tried changing the 8003 to 0003 at the two places it's used in the sh install script. But after installing it doesn't seem to make any difference.

VIDID 2466:0003 indicates the USB chip of the Axe-Fx II before the USB firmware has been loaded. After that the Axe-FX II registers as a USB audio device with 2466:8003. This does not need manual intervention.

Edit 2:

Ok so after dancing some dances I managed to get it to show up with analog output in the audio section of the control panel.

Great.

Edit 3:

So my problem now seems to be that the drivers are probably not working right with Axe FX XL. I'm guessing. Has anyone had luck with it?
As I start up Ardour I come to the audio/midi setup panel where it has already picked JACK for audio system, ALSA as driver and finally Axe-FX II as Device. But it can't continue with these settings. "Could not reconnect to the Audio/MIDI engine" is what I get.

Any tips?

It is unlikely that the driver is not working as it is not a "driver" in the windows sense. The Axe-Fx II is a USB Audio Class 2.0 (UAC2) compliant device. Once the USB firmware has been loaded, the Axe-Fx II should be detected by any OS which handles UAC2 (not Windows btw) and working as a sound card without any "driver".

Before trying with Ardour which requires JACK I would do some simple tests first:

1. General testing:

From the CLI

cat /proc/asound/cards

You will see the number of each sound card. The Axe-Fx II should be in the list, too.

Then

cat /proc/asound/devices

Look for the entries with [ x-0]: where "x" stands for the sound card number of your Axe-Fx II. There should be entries with "digital audio playback", "digital audio playback" and "raw midi" at their end.

2. To test MIDI functionality:

see post 51

3. To test audio functionality:

a) for playing back a stereo audio file *recorded with 48kHz 24bit*:

aplay -D hw:x,0 path_to_your_playback

b) for recording a *4 channel* (stereo wet and stereo dry channels from the Axe-Fx II) audio file:

arecord -D hw:x,0 -d 10 -c 4 -f S24_3LE -r 48000 hw:x,0 path_to_your_recording

The "x" after "hw:" again stands for the sound card number your Axe-Fx II has gotten.

4. To rule out your problems are JACK related try playing and recording audio files with a software like Audacity which does not need JACK.

5. Ardour

Did you set the sampling rate to 48kHz?

Could you try to configure and start JACK before opening Ardour? I am running openSUSE 13.1 (64bit) and using QJackCtl. In QJackCtl I set the driver to ALSA, audio to duplex, the input and output device to "hw:II" (which corresponds to the Axe-Fx II on my system) and the sampling rate to 48000.

 

[tacklemcclean]

Thanks for the helpful reply volt!
First off let me apologize as I've failed to mention that I'm running Ubuntu in a VM, Windows 7 as host, using VMWare Workstation. I realize that of course might make things different and could be the culprit. Was up too late eager to make things work forgetting the most basic things.

In any case I've followed your instructions and ended up half way sort of.

From the CLI

cat /proc/asound/cards

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [AudioPCI       ]: ENS1371 - Ensoniq AudioPCI
                      Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1371 at 0x2040, irq 16
 1 [II             ]: USB-Audio - AXE-FX II
                      Fractal Audio Systems AXE-FX II at usb-0000:02:03.0-1, high speed

So far so good!

Then

cat /proc/asound/devices

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ cat /proc/asound/devices
  1:        : sequencer
  2: [ 0- 0]: raw midi
  3: [ 0- 1]: digital audio playback
  4: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
  5: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
  6: [ 0]   : control
  7: [ 1- 0]: digital audio playback
  8: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
  9: [ 1]   : control
 10: [ 1- 0]: raw midi
 33:        : timer

I think this too seems good right? My M-audio Delta 1010LT is device one, same as we see as Ensoniq AudioPCI above.

2. To test MIDI functionality:

see post 51

I tried that, and although my file turns out bigger (13086 bytes) than what's mentioned in the post I assume it's working? Send it to the Axe FX shouldn't really do anything special I suppose, in any case it moves me to the recall menu (from the utility menu I was previously on).
Guessing it works!

3. To test audio functionality:

a) for playing back a stereo audio file *recorded with 48kHz 24bit*:

aplay -D hw:x,0 path_to_your_playback

This fails for me.

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -D hw:1,0 teststereo.wav 
Playing WAVE 'teststereo.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo
aplay: pcm_write:1939: write error: Input/output error

Naturally the file I'm trying to play is 24bit, 48khz and stereo.

b) for recording a *4 channel* (stereo wet and stereo dry channels from the Axe-Fx II) audio file:

arecord -D hw:x,0 -d 10 -c 4 -f S24_3LE -r 48000 hw:x,0 path_to_your_recording

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ arecord -D hw:1,0 -d 10 -c 4 -f S24_3LE -r 48000 hw:1,0 testrecord6.wav
Recording WAVE 'hw:1,0' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 4
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
Recording WAVE 'testrecord6.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 4
arecord: set_params:1297: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS:  RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT:  S24_3LE
SUBFORMAT:  STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 24
FRAME_BITS: 96
CHANNELS: 4
RATE: 48000
PERIOD_TIME: 125000
PERIOD_SIZE: 6000
PERIOD_BYTES: 72000
PERIODS: 4
BUFFER_TIME: 500000
BUFFER_SIZE: 24000
BUFFER_BYTES: 288000
TICK_TIME: 0

Not sure what's happening here either, I'm seeing it as I'm recording two files. The ^C abort is after waiting for a while

As long as my input is analog I can make the output wav file (which is named hw:1,0) contain some noise. Listen to the noise here: test1.wav - Delorean Files (loud noise, watch your ears!!)

Trying to troubleshoot the playback briefly I found I can output device and PCM names, not sure it's helpful but maybe:

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 1: ES1371/2 [ES1371 DAC1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: II [AXE-FX II], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

(end of output)


kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -L
default
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
sysdefault:CARD=AudioPCI
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Front speakers
rear:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Rear speakers
surround40:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
iec958:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=II
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Hardware device with all software conversions

 

[tacklemcclean]

Thanks for the helpful reply volt!
First off let me apologize as I've failed to mention that I'm running Ubuntu in a VM, Windows 7 host, using VMWare Workstation. I realize that of course might make things different and could be the culprit.

In any case I've followed your instructions and ended up half way sort of.

From the CLI

cat /proc/asound/cards

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [AudioPCI       ]: ENS1371 - Ensoniq AudioPCI
                      Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1371 at 0x2040, irq 16
 1 [II             ]: USB-Audio - AXE-FX II
                      Fractal Audio Systems AXE-FX II at usb-0000:02:03.0-1, high speed

So far so good!

Then

cat /proc/asound/devices

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ cat /proc/asound/devices
  1:        : sequencer
  2: [ 0- 0]: raw midi
  3: [ 0- 1]: digital audio playback
  4: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
  5: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
  6: [ 0]   : control
  7: [ 1- 0]: digital audio playback
  8: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
  9: [ 1]   : control
 10: [ 1- 0]: raw midi
 33:        : timer

I think this too seems good right? My M-audio Delta 1010LT is device one, same as we see as Ensoniq AudioPCI above.

2. To test MIDI functionality:

see post 51

I tried that, and although my file turns out bigger (13086 bytes) than what's mentioned in the post I assume it's working? Send it to the Axe FX shouldn't really do anything special I suppose, in any case it moves me to the recall menu (from the utility menu I was previously on).
Guessing it works!

3. To test audio functionality:

a) for playing back a stereo audio file *recorded with 48kHz 24bit*:

aplay -D hw:x,0 path_to_your_playback

This fails for me.

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -D hw:1,0 teststereo.wav 
Playing WAVE 'teststereo.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo
aplay: pcm_write:1939: write error: Input/output error

Naturally the file I'm trying to play is 24bit, 48khz and stereo.

b) for recording a *4 channel* (stereo wet and stereo dry channels from the Axe-Fx II) audio file:

arecord -D hw:x,0 -d 10 -c 4 -f S24_3LE -r 48000 hw:x,0 path_to_your_recording

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ arecord -D hw:1,0 -d 10 -c 4 -f S24_3LE -r 48000 hw:1,0 testrecord6.wav
Recording WAVE 'hw:1,0' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 4
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
Recording WAVE 'testrecord6.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 4
arecord: set_params:1297: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS:  RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT:  S24_3LE
SUBFORMAT:  STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 24
FRAME_BITS: 96
CHANNELS: 4
RATE: 48000
PERIOD_TIME: 125000
PERIOD_SIZE: 6000
PERIOD_BYTES: 72000
PERIODS: 4
BUFFER_TIME: 500000
BUFFER_SIZE: 24000
BUFFER_BYTES: 288000
TICK_TIME: 0

Not sure what's happening here either, I'm seeing it as I'm recording two files. The ^C abort is after waiting for a while

As long as my input is analog I can make the output wav file (which is named hw:1,0) contain some noise. Listen to the noise here: test1.wav - Delorean Files (loud noise, watch your ears!!)

Trying to troubleshoot the playback briefly I found I can output device and PCM names, not sure it's helpful but maybe:

kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 1: ES1371/2 [ES1371 DAC1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: II [AXE-FX II], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

(end of output)


kalle@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ aplay -L
default
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
sysdefault:CARD=AudioPCI
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Front speakers
rear:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Rear speakers
surround40:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
iec958:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=II
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=II,DEV=0
    AXE-FX II, USB Audio
    Hardware device with all software conversions

 

[tacklemcclean]

I'm awaiting mods to approve a long reply to this post, so not sure how/if it'll turn up or not.

In any case, my troubles were due to running in a virtual machine. When running as main OS it works fine under Ubuntu!

 

[ttalhaug]

Ok - this was awesome!
Now when i'm selling my AF2 - will the unit still work with windows? and is there any way to roll back these changes?


Tor Erik

 

[volt]

Ok - this was awesome!
Now when i'm selling my AF2 - will the unit still work with windows? and is there any way to roll back these changes?


Tor Erik

Yes, the Axe-Fx II will of course work with windows. There are no changes which would need to be rolled back.