Please, please help getting my firewire soundcard to work in Linux!

somnum · 02-22-2011, 08:31 PM

Hi there, I recently lost about a years worth of work on my Windows installation (but am not overwriting it as it may be recoverable), and at the moment, I have absolutely no sound in Linux, and I'm dying!

I have a Presonus Firepod, and I use Backtrack 4 for my distribution.
I downloaded the Freebob drivers, and I use qjackctl.

When I ran

Code:

./configure

in the Freebob directory it worked.
When I ran

Code:

make

I got a few errors, but when I ran

Code:

make install

it seemed to work perfectly.

Then, when in the qjackctl I select default hardware interface, or Hw:0, and the Freebob driver, my Presonus Firepod light turns from red, to blue, indicating it has been recognized. But I get no sound, in anything!!
If, in the connections box in qjackctl I connect Capture 1 to Playback 1, I get feedback. I would like to be able to eventually use this soundcard for everything, not just Ardour or various synths, but for playing back MP3s using VLC or something similar, but for now, I just want any sound, at all. I am at a total loss, should I try the FFADO driver?

Does anyone have any experience with this? I can't begin to tell you how appreciative I would be if anyone could help me solve this problem. THANK YOU!!

GlennsPref · 02-22-2011, 09:51 PM

Hi,

Quote:

in the connections box in qjackctl I connect Capture 1 to Playback 1, I get feedback.

, that means your card is working.

But I'm confused by the statement.

check your monitoring and sources, perhaps a mixer like kwin or alsa.

My card is usb.

Cheers Glenn

somnum · 02-22-2011, 10:18 PM

I have Jack EQ but I am unsure of what settings to use, if as you say, my card is working (and it seems like it should) but as I say, I get no sound, for anything.
Thanks

GlennsPref · 02-22-2011, 10:44 PM

Oh, what did you mean by feedback, I thought you meant squealing sounds, (?)

You can also get mechanical feedback, which could mean that the firewire card or the kernel need patching.

Check out the alsa wiki.
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page
and HW compat.
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main

cheers

somnum · 02-23-2011, 06:40 PM

Well for instance, if I start Hydrogen, which is a drum machine program which directly uses the JACK driver, I get "Error starting audio driver" and "cannot connect audio outport" when I select JACK (or any other driver) it gives the same. In Qjackctl my driver is "started" and "rolling" when this happens. If I go to "connect" and I expand system output ports and input ports connect "capture 1" to "playback 1" I get feedback in my left channel exclusively. If I connect "capture 2" to "playback 2" I get no feedback.
If I click the patchbay in qjackctl, no programs show up (such as Hydrogen), but I remember in the past stuff used to show up, but even then I got no audio. I am thinking about reinstalling my operating sytem because I have fooled with too many parameters and I may have screwed things up, so I am going to go back to default for everything, but even with default, it didn't work. So I am going to do that, but if you have any other suggestions I would appreciate them.
Thank you very much for all your help so far!! I will get to what you said after I reinstall.

GlennsPref · 02-23-2011, 07:00 PM

One more question, do you have soc (sound on chip, motherboard sound)?

if so, check if it is working.

The reason being, if that works, then most of the underlying infrastructure will be OK.

Now, it could be that the kernel sees this (on-board)sound card first, and the module is loaded, preventing the real (soundcard from getting a look in.

There is a way to order these, in /etc/modprobe.conf and /etc/modprobe.preload

example,

Code:

# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.
# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY
# for old kernel use /etc/modules

evdev

A simple way would be to turn the sound chip off in bios, once you have checked it's (the sound subsystem) is working.

Then it will be a matter of getting the 1394 firewire working (which I have not used)

Regards Glenn

somnum · 02-28-2011, 11:42 AM

I got my sound working!
It was a matter of reinstalling. Apparently I'm so idiotic that I compiled freebob when it was pre-installed in my distro. That is obviously why I was getting errors with

Code:

make

. That being said, I am not having everything working 100%, so if you wouldn't mind following me to my next thread...
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...51#post4274151