FM3 editor from Virtual Machine

framos

framos

Inspired
Hi All,

I run Linux on my laptop, and have Win10 as a boot option exclusively for running FM3 software (FractalBot and FM3 Editor).

I don't mind booting Windows for firmware upgrades, etc., however, I'd really prefer to instead start a virtual machine for everyday tweaking on FM3 Editor.

I attemped a Win10+VMware player approach, which works almost fine, except that it sometimes gets "out of sync" with the FM3.

Do any of you run a comparable setup?

Thanks!
Fabiano
 
There's a degree of lag no matter what with the editor; more if you're working with higher CPU-consuming presets, and typically more with a beta FW release. Which FW are you using and how out of sync are we talking?
 
I'm on 4.01, but it happened on all FWs since I got the FM3 on early 2021.

What happens it that, for instance when switching or saving presets, the device would change/save the preset but the editor stays stuck as if waiting for the device to ack. This would occur randomly say once every 10min or so.

I tried to increase the VM's memory, adding more vCPUs, tried USB 2.0 and 3.0, but did not seem to help.
 
... was wondering if anyone had a simillar issues or even report some other approach/VM technology/config/optimization that works better.
 
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framos said:
I'm on 4.01, but it happened on all FWs since I got the FM3 on early 2021.

What happens it that, for instance when switching or saving presets, the device would change/save the preset but the editor stays stuck as if waiting for the device to ack. This would occur randomly say once every 10min or so.

I tried to increase the VM's memory, adding more vCPUs, tried USB 2.0 and 3.0, but did not seem to help.
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What is the device doing when this happens?

In some of Austin Buddy's videos, he just quits and restarts the editor to get it to refresh. Obviously, that doesn't work right if the changes aren't saved on the device.

Also, how are you passing the USB connection to the VM? Just the USB connection, or does VMWare Player and your setup allow you to pass the root hub or controller?
 
Restarting the editor works, but sometimes the sync issue causes me to lose some unsaved preset parameters, thus the problem.

I pass the usb connection directly, and the windows serial drive does the job within the VM.
 
It just occurred to me to install only the fractal serial driver within the VM, and avoid the fractal audio driver altogether (as I only need the Editor, the audio part works fine on Linux).

I also changed the "Refresh Rate" in the editor to medium (though honestly I have no idea if it has anything to do with it).

So far I can no longer reproduce the issue... Fingers crossed!
 
framos said:
It just occurred to me to install only the fractal serial driver within the VM, and avoid the fractal audio driver altogether (as I only need the Editor, the audio part works fine on Linux).

I also changed the "Refresh Rate" in the editor to medium (though honestly I have no idea if it has anything to do with it).

So far I can no longer reproduce the issue... Fingers crossed!
Click to expand...
Are you trying to use the audio in linux and the control software in windows at the same time? I could imagine that causing problems.
 
There is some amount of device translation happening when you run in a VM. I would expect a less than optimal experience. It’s definitely an edge case and I would be very surprised if it were supported.
 
Just curious if you've tried to run it natively with Wine?

I don't currently use Linux at home as I get enough exposure at work, but there are some like @AlbertA that have been using Linux for a long time with Fractal gear.
 
marsonic said:
Are you trying to use the audio in linux and the control software in windows at the same time? I could imagine that causing problems.
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Not really. But I had both the serial and the audio drivers installed in the VM.

My hope was that avoiding the (unnecessary) audio driver would be one less thing messing with the USB from within the VM once FM3 was plugged in. Not sure if that or the refresh rate setting, but the fact is that it seems to have worked, used for a couple of hours yesterday without any glitches.


unix-guy said:
Just curious if you've tried to run it natively with Wine?
Click to expand...

Tried once, installed and opened FM3-Edit without issues, but could not connect to FM3. I saw a few threads on this approach, seems I need some extra config, but never actually tried harder.

Running with Wine would be even better for me, though! If @AlbertA has any tips I'd love to hear them!
 
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framos said:
Not really. But I had both the serial and the audio drivers installed in the VM.

My hope was that avoiding the (unnecessary) audio driver would be one less thing messing with the USB from within the VM once FM3 was plugged in. Not sure if that or the refresh rate setting, but the fact is that it seems to have worked, used for a couple of hours yesterday without any glitches.
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That does make a bit of sense. Yay!
framos said:
Yes, tested again today, working well, finally.

Glad to hear about kvm/qemu as well.
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That's awesome that it's working. Audio and VMs can get funky.

AFAIK, the Fractal USB control connection is actually MIDI SysEx....but I'm really not sure why I think that except that the MIDI In light turns on when the controller is connected. But, if it is, that's why I asked about trying to split audio and control and use them both at the same time....it seems like FM3-edit actually works by polling the hardware, not the hardware pushing every change to the application.

I'm glad it works. Maybe one of the devs will chime in on why....but....at least it seems to work for now.

It always warms my heart when people jump through the hoops to make music stuff work on Linux. I dramatically prefer FreeBSD, followed by Linux, followed by the things I actually use on a daily basis, mostly because I can't get plugins working.
 
I tried using my Axe II editor through wine (with Bottles), but it was plagued with issues. Installing the editor (and drivers) in my KVM Windows VM and passing through the USB connection direct to the VM worked like a charm, it's just about as quick as it ever was bare metal, and I no longer struggle with disconnects.

The problem is I can't use the editor and record at the same time since the whole USB device is passed through, but I hardly ever want to use both USB audio and midi capabilities at the same time.
 
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