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I'm absolutely stuck on getting Ubuntu Studio 20.04 + Ardour 5 + EMU 0404 PCI working as it should.

I installed Ubuntu Studio on an old PC of a buddy of mine. He wants to do some recordings and it is perfect to "recycle" the old machine. This PC includes a EMU 0404 PCI.

I have already googled many sites and did many things, such as:

  • Re-installed Ardour & Ubuntu Studio controls
  • Re-installed jack
  • Tried to install driver/firmware for EMU 0404

What is working:

  • Playing recorded stuff
    • Output to stereo-out works
  • Jack seems to work
  • Running a Behringer U-Phoria UM2 (USB) Device worked
    • Both playback and recording
  • However, the EMU 0404 (already included in the PC) could not be used

What is not working (and the reason I'm posting this question):

  • I can not use the EMU0404 stereo-input to record stuff
    • No matter what connections in Ardour I make or what additional devices I add in the Ubuntu Studio controls
    • I never got it working, that the (directly into the stereo input) plugged in guitar gets routed to the input of Ardour

Due to the fact that everything is there and and works, I think that I don't understand all the dependencies in the whole system:

  • Ubuntu Studio Controls
  • QJackCtl
  • Pulse Audio
  • Ardour Channels
  • Buses
  • Hardware
  • Settings

I have no clue what to try next, this is the reason why I'm asking for help of you guys. But I'm annoyed that I'm near the finish and only the very last thing ("Getting the input-signal working") is not working.

Below I have tried to post as much information as possible, so maybe one of you can tell me what I am doing wrong!

inxi -Fxxxrz\n\n

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-56-lowlatency x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.13 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (Focal Fossa) 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Olidata S.p.A. product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTek model: M2NPV-VM v: 1.xx serial: <filter> BIOS: Phoenix 
  v: ASUS M2NPV-VM Revision 5005 date: 06/02/2010 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: K8 rev.F+ rev: 3 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 svm bogomips: 11224 
  Speed: 1000 MHz min/max: 1000/2800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1000 2: 1000 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA G84 [GeForce 8400 GS] driver: nouveau v: kernel 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:0404 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NV84 v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP51 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:10.1 chip ID: 10de:026c 
  Device-2: Creative Labs CA0108/CA10300 [Sound Blaster Audigy Series] 
  driver: snd_emu10k1 v: kernel bus ID: 02:08.0 chip ID: 1102:0008 
  Device-3: Thomann SWISSONIC EasyKeys25 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio 
  bus ID: 2-3:3 chip ID: 07fc:1110 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-56-lowlatency 
Network:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP51 Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK type: network bridge 
  driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: f200 bus ID: 00:14.0 chip ID: 10de:0269 
  IF: enp0s20 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 698.64 GiB used: 31.88 GiB (4.6%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS541075A9E680 size: 698.64 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: B480 scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 668.19 GiB used: 31.74 GiB (4.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-2: /boot size: 944.6 MiB used: 142.1 MiB (15.0%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.82 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 31 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 0

I have already tried to re-install the alsa firmware:

cd ~
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/firmware/alsa-firmware-1.0.28.tar.bz2
tar xjf alsa-firmware-1.0.28.tar.bz2
cd alsa-firmware-1.0.28
./configure --enable-buildfw
cd emu/
make
sudo make install

Here are as many screenshots as possible:

Ardour 1

Ardour#1

Ardour#2

Ardour#3

Ubuntu Studio Controls

UbuntuStudioControls#1

UbuntuStudioControls#2

UbuntuStudioControls#3

QasMixer

QasMixer

QJackCtl

QJackCtl

At the moment I have completely lost the overview of what to connect or activate.

Greenonline
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SHUred
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  • The screenshot of qasmixer shows only output devices, but we need to see capture devices. Also scroll down with the small scrollbar beside the two buttons in the lower right corner to see more options, best to make the window bigger so all options fit in the window. – mook765 Dec 06 '20 at 14:37
  • Hello mook765, thanks a lot! I dont know how to switch to "capture" devices ... this is all i can see here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nti282bv7vh5lt/Bildschirmfoto%20vom%202020-12-06%2017-17-14.png?dl=0 – SHUred Dec 06 '20 at 16:18
  • You can switch displaying playback and capture devices on and off with te two buttons in the right lower corner. – mook765 Dec 06 '20 at 16:22
  • Aaaah! Now i get it! Seems like some of the inputs are deactivated hah? Is the "stereo in" something like "aux"??? https://www.dropbox.com/s/lbs0p4p1pte183a/Bildschirmfoto%20vom%202020-12-06%2017-28-15.png?dl=0 – SHUred Dec 06 '20 at 16:29
  • It's hard to see due to dark theme. You'll have to try out a bit. I use only built-in audio which has totally different options. Also check the connections inside jack with carla, maybe this gives a clue. – mook765 Dec 06 '20 at 17:39
  • OK, ill try to play around with some of the settings in yasmixer. Maybe theres something i just need to activate. I never did something with carla ... Never opened it, and was not necessary for using the behringer usb-device What do you think could go wrong in Carla? I can provide you screenshots if needed Like this one from the "default screen" https://www.dropbox.com/s/49mkrxc9n4tustp/Bildschirmfoto%20vom%202020-12-06%2020-33-35.png?dl=0 – SHUred Dec 06 '20 at 19:34
  • Carla will show you the connections in jack, you can see which way your audiostream goes, you can add and remove connections. Just open the `Patchbay`-tab and you'll see what I mean. – mook765 Dec 06 '20 at 19:44
  • Did I read that right that you're connecting a guitar directly to a line-level input? Don't these need a pre-amp? – Sebastian Dec 06 '20 at 22:49
  • @mook765: Thank you very much. I dont have permanent access to this PC. I will test these things in the coming days and give feedback to you – SHUred Dec 07 '20 at 03:54
  • @Sebastian: Yes thats what we tried so far. We were hoping to get it running without the need of pre-amps. But we already saw that we have a hard time, supressing the noise generated through the amplification of the recorded "raw-guitar" signal. Do you have experience with that? – SHUred Dec 07 '20 at 03:54
  • @Sebastian: Edit: But as already mentioned, we first could only try the behringer usb-device. If/How it works with the EMU, we will see as soon as we geht the input-signal running ... – SHUred Dec 07 '20 at 04:12
  • No experience with e-guitars, all I know is you don't plug an instrument-level output into a line-level input. Might explain why you're not hearing any input, although I suppose you should hear _some_ signal. – Sebastian Dec 07 '20 at 21:20
  • @Sebastian Yes i always think about that, but as we were using the USB device it worked, but due to the fact that you have to amplify the signal, all the noise gets louder. Our hope was, that the EMU has a lower noise level and we can get rid of the noise by using some equalizers/noisegates etc ... So my guess is, that the signal would be loud enough to mention it (same as with the Behringer USB-device) – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 17:48
  • @mook765: As promised i spent another few hours at the pc and tested stuff. [Qasmixer]: All sliders set to max. Played around with the dropdowns at the lower section --> No input signal found [Carla]: After your hint with the Patchbay layer i now realized what carla does (see Screenshots) But: No matter what i connect --> No success [UbuntuStudioControls]: I feel like these settings are just a try to merge all settings of important programs (QJackd, Carla, PulseControl, QASMixer, ...) together to have easier configuration --> But i think these settings become inconsistent very fast – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 18:03
  • @mook765: A long story short: After the first boot of the pc and setting the interface to emu PCI, it (again) worked to output sound. After more tries and 1000 settings-tests nothing worked, even if i tried to re-configure it as at the beginning. Please have a Look at all the different screenshots from different programs i took. They all show different configurations etc. but i wanted to give you as many possibilities to find something i am doing permanently wrong. My last guess is, that the EMU really has a defect and stops working after a certain amount of time and then completely does nothi – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 18:06
  • @mook765: Especially one test made me think about a hardware defect: I took a working stream (mp3 in VLC player) and selected in Pulse Audio via dropdown the on-board nvidia-card --> Heard the song on the headphone-jack --> As i re-configured it to the EMU analog output --> Nothing at the speakers connected to the EMU. Im again completely lost and we maybe will have to give up on the EMU and use the USB-device again – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 18:09
  • @mook765: Here the Link to the Screenshots. Thanks to all of you trying to help me: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fodsgeuihhqi0nz/AAAd4TTuTGsbYyM_Ou3YvmlSa?dl=0 – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 18:10
  • @SHUred Looks like you don't connect properly. Look at `Bildschirmfoto_2020-12-08_21-00-00.png`. If you connect `capture_1` with `playback_1`, `capture2` with `playback_2` you should hear something. You'll need to adjust input volumes in quasmixer. If you use a passive guitar pick-up you'll need to use a preamplifier since passive pick-ups need high input impedance, otherwise you'll get low signal with less high frequencies. – mook765 Dec 09 '20 at 18:32
  • @mook765: OK! First thing i will try! As you already know i tried 1000 trial and error combinations until now. but i dont think i tried this in particular. I will tell you what the next loop brings! Thanks! – SHUred Dec 09 '20 at 18:50
  • @mook765: OK tested it --> With EMU: Nothing works --> With USB-Behringer: Works as you described it, but with the USB-device it also worked before --> I think i understood the whole environmend enough to guess: Either the EMU has a defect, or the drivers/compatibility just dont (and will never) work --> Im lucky because another friend of mine has also a EMU0404-PCI left --> I will switch the hardware to see if it was a defect and tell you how it works – SHUred Dec 12 '20 at 07:54
  • @Sebastian: We experimented with the USB-device a bit more for directly plugging in a guitar --> High noise, but this Plugin https://github.com/lucianodato/noise-repellent is just awsome in learning and afterwards supressing noise --> Not a good solution for making records, but a simple one to just record ideas --> Can you tell me what is a common/good/compact and easy to handle solution to "directly use a guitar"? What kind of device would be perfect to use with USB and have a "perfect" recording quality? – SHUred Dec 12 '20 at 07:58
  • Question in general: As i use the USB-device for recording, the latency is relatively high --> You definetly can mention a lag --> My current knowledge is: I cant do anything about it, because the Processor-Power does limit the reduction of buffer size --> NOW THE QUESTION: Can i expect to have less latency, as soon as i get the EMU running or is this only dependent to the calculation-power of the PC? – SHUred Dec 12 '20 at 08:00
  • In general, you want to connect the right level inputs and outputs. If you use a guitar (instrument level), you either need to amplify it with a pre-amp that provides a line-level output, or if your audio interface has an instrument level input (that means it has a pre-amp built-in) you can plug it directly into that. Those are the two options. Plugging an instrument out into a line in, then boosting the volume and afterwards filtering out the noise is a bad solution. – Sebastian Dec 12 '20 at 11:58
  • @Sebastian:Sounds logic! Thank you! – SHUred Dec 12 '20 at 13:58
  • @mook765: next tests done: Switched the Hardware --> Seems that the EMU we put in was more modern (PCIe and Metal-Cover on top) --> Pretty sure though that the old one was NOT broken, same as the NEW one --> We then tried several things and made progress --> We got it working again, to output sounds correclty by setting up the qas-mixer --> (DSP 0 = 0202 DAC Left) & (DSP 1 = 0202 DAC Right) --> Since this setting, we can always make sure that output works --> The weird thing is, that this works with more than one "EMU0404,0,X-out" blocks in Carla – SHUred Dec 14 '20 at 17:00
  • To sum it up a bit: I think that i still dont fully understand the concept of DSPs and all the clustering/numeration of all Blocks and DSPs --> Would be no problem if we just found one working combination --> THE FINAL PROBLEM is now the same as at the very beginning --> We tried all settings in the qas-mixer for the inputs via the droptowns --> No chance and never could hear anything --> We connected the output of my cellphone to have a LINE OUT and not a "un-gained" guitar --> Does anyone see the solution or maybe can figure out what i still dont understand? IT HAS to be just a setting – SHUred Dec 14 '20 at 17:03
  • Screenshots: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dd8pud1w3d8nmsx/AABpDhPC_iZYamOvHtlmEiJYa?dl=0 – SHUred Dec 14 '20 at 17:04
  • @mook765: One more thing to add --> As you see in PXL_20201214_160340434.jpg, i can set "0202 ADC Left" and "0202 ADC Right" to a DSP in the qas mixer --> Due to the fact, that the ouptut is named "0202 DAC Left/Right", im pretty sure, that the "0202 ADC Left/Right" must be exactly the stereo input, where i plug in the recording devices --> So what should i do, after i set one of the dsps to "0202 ADC Left/Right" ... where (in Carla) do i get the signal from and do i have to stay away from DSP 0 and DSP 1 since this plays a role for the outputs? – SHUred Dec 15 '20 at 11:02

1 Answers1

0

You could try the patchbay Emutrix to connect the physical inputs to the virtual inputs.

Note: I am not affiliated to the producers of this software in any shape or form.

Greenonline
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