Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[François Isabelle]

Hi.

I'm unable to record using the Roland SD-50 on Linux.

My alsa configuration is available at the following address:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=19aeffd0d30e952fdd12d589929fbe2a0f98ad7f

There is something odd with playback as well. With the sound control
panel ( unity-control-center ). The test output only works when the
SD-50 input is selected from the input tab.

So, I'm pretty sure there is simply some mix up in the mixer
configuration... and I'd like to contribute making it work. ( I have
some programming stills :-) )

Although Alsa with Jack and Ardour makes a pretty decent and promising
environment for audio production on Linux. It's hard to believe that
device support is still an issue after more than 20 years of Linux, darn
manufacturers !

On another note, if anyone has a good recommendation for USB Midi+Audio
+ Sound Module to replace this SD-50 on Linux , I'd be willing to hear
about it...
I want the sound module to be able to use it when not connected to a
computer.
I want USB because I don't want to take it off with the laptop as well.
I really though the SD-50 would make my day...

Thank you.
François

Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[Daniel Mack]

On 06/04/2014 02:21 PM, François Isabelle wrote:
> I'm unable to record using the Roland SD-50 on Linux.

What exactly is the problem and how did you test? What does 'arecord
-Dplughw:3 file.wav' say?


Daniel
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[François Isabelle]

Le 04/06/2014 08:30, Daniel Mack a écrit :
> What exactly is the problem and how did you test?

I tried the "input" view meeter in pavucontrol first.

And this is what I get when trying the record from the command line:

isabellf@brahms:~/alsa-driver$ LC_ALL=C  arecord -Dplughw:3 file.wav
arecord: main:722: audio open error: Device or resource busy


I also checked the alasmixer capture parameters it says:
    This sound device does not have any capture controls.

François
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[Daniel Mack]

On 06/04/2014 03:10 PM, François Isabelle wrote:
> Le 04/06/2014 08:30, Daniel Mack a écrit :
>> What exactly is the problem and how did you test?
> 
> I tried the "input" view meeter in pavucontrol first.
> 
> And this is what I get when trying the record from the command line:
> 
> isabellf@brahms:~/alsa-driver$ LC_ALL=C  arecord -Dplughw:3 file.wav
> arecord: main:722: audio open error: Device or resource busy

Then some other application has control over the device, most probably
pulseaudio or JACK. Check if prepending arecord with "pasuspender --" helps.

> I also checked the alasmixer capture parameters it says:
>     This sound device does not have any capture controls.

That can well be. alsamixer only lists controls that are exposed by the
hardware, and there might well be none.


Daniel

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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[François Isabelle]

Le 04/06/2014 09:26, Daniel Mack a écrit :
> Then some other application has control over the device, most probably 
> pulseaudio or JACK. 
> Check if prepending arecord with "pasuspender --" helps. 

You were right, but now the read seems to block..

isabellf@brahms:~/alsa-driver$ LC_ALL=C  pasuspender --  arecord 
-Dplughw:3 file.wav
Recording WAVE 'file.wav' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
arecord: pcm_read:2031: Got SIGINT, exiting.
read error: Interrupted system call

And the resulting file has no data.

isabellf@brahms:~/alsa-driver$ hexdump file.wav  -C
00000000  52 49 46 46 24 00 00 80  57 41 56 45 66 6d 74 20 
|RIFF$...WAVEfmt |
00000010  10 00 00 00 01 00 01 00  40 1f 00 00 40 1f 00 00 
|........@...@...|
00000020  01 00 08 00 64 61 74 61  00 00 00 80 |....data....|
0000002c
isabellf@brahms:~/alsa-driver$ ^C


François.
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[Clemens Ladisch]

François Isabelle wrote:
> My alsa configuration is available at the following address:
>
> http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=19aeffd0d30e952fdd12d589929fbe2a0f98ad7f

OK, the kernel is new enough.

> I'm unable to record using the Roland SD-50 on Linux.

And when you're playing something at the same time?

> There is something odd with playback as well. With the sound control
> panel ( unity-control-center ). The test output only works when the
> SD-50 input is selected from the input tab.

So it works only if both playback+capture are used?

> So, I'm pretty sure there is simply some mix up in the mixer
> configuration...

If so, the configuration cannot be accessed from the computer.
Check the device settings.
(Do the current settings work with Windows?)


Regards,
Clemens
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[François Isabelle]

Le 04/06/2014 15:28, Clemens Ladisch a écrit :
> François Isabelle wrote:
>> My alsa configuration is available at the following address:
>>
>> http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=19aeffd0d30e952fdd12d589929fbe2a0f98ad7f
> OK, the kernel is new enough.
yes, I'm on Ubuntu 14.04
>
>> I'm unable to record using the Roland SD-50 on Linux.
> And when you're playing something at the same time?
I didn't try that so I just did: no success.


I noticed a bunch of these in the kernel logs, wondering if they could 
have an effect ...

74593.911782] retire_playback_urb: 827 callbacks suppressed
[74682.797798] retire_playback_urb: 827 callbacks suppressed
[74687.812561] retire_playback_urb: 831 callbacks suppressed
[74692.827336] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed
[74697.842108] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed
[74702.856874] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed


>
>> There is something odd with playback as well. With the sound control
>> panel ( unity-control-center ). The test output only works when the
>> SD-50 input is selected from the input tab.
> So it works only if both playback+capture are used?
That's not what I meant. I mean that the  SD-50 output using pulseaudio 
only seems to work when the pulse audio default input is set to the 
SD-50 as well.
I think I should probably get pulseaudio out of the mix for now, and 
focus on the core alsa support.
Is this SD-50 card  known to work ?
>
>> So, I'm pretty sure there is simply some mix up in the mixer
>> configuration...
> If so, the configuration cannot be accessed from the computer.
> Check the device settings.
> (Do the current settings work with Windows?)
There is very little configuration parameters on the device itself, 
except input selection for mic/guitar and power selection between bus 
and power cord. It was working with windows last time I checked and I 
didn't change it.

Right now, I'm not getting any output when using:
  pasuspender --  speaker-test -Dplughw:3

But if I deselect and reselect the input device in the audio control 
panel or select the S/PDIF ouput instead (which the unit does not have) 
the sound panel built-in sound check starts working again..

This is a big snafu state.

Looking forward for some troubleshooting ...
Thanks.
François.

>
>
> Regards,
> Clemens
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> Alsa-devel@alsa-project.org
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[Clemens Ladisch]

François Isabelle wrote:
> [74593.911782] retire_playback_urb: 827 callbacks suppressed
> [74682.797798] retire_playback_urb: 827 callbacks suppressed
> [74687.812561] retire_playback_urb: 831 callbacks suppressed
> [74692.827336] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed
> [74697.842108] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed
> [74702.856874] retire_playback_urb: 832 callbacks suppressed

This is because of some error message that was repeated too often.
That comes before these "callbacks suppressed"?


Regards,
Clemens
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Re: Recording support for Roland SD-50 USB Audio device

[François Isabelle]

> This is because of some error message that was repeated too often.
> That comes before these "callbacks suppressed"?
> 
Only the detection of the device.
But you  know what ?! I found at that the device no longer records on Windows either and I think the input might be broken (barely audible white noise at maximum gain) , I'll have it checked by a tech.

Thank you
François 

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