How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

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basskwee
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How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

Hello musicians, I am feeling like a real dummy.

I bought an USB interface as an input for my guitar and as an external soundcard for my laptop. It is a ART USBmix 3 channel mixer. I selected this device when I found it somewhere on a Linux website to be good and Linux compatible. The mixer seems to work very well as audio goes in and out, and I have disabled the internal soundcard of the laptop with Pulseaudio. Now the problem that I can not solve is that the mixer seems to feed back the sound that comes from the laptop to my headphone, which results to (of course) very loud feedback skrieking sound.
I have tried to make all sorts of connections and disconnections in Jack but no luck, it is "no sound" or feedback when I play guitar.
What am I doing wrong here? Maybe I have made some stupid basic mistake with the hook-up? Any comments are very welcome.

Kind regards,
Bas
glowrak guy
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by glowrak guy »

I uninstall pulseaudio using a package manager like synaptic. (It's main lib
might be kept as a dependency)

Then I use a jackd supporting patchbay like qjackctl for connections.
qjackctl setup panel has widgets to click, located by

Input Device
Output Device

to list and select your audio device choices, as the choices you want may differ
when not recording the guitar.

In a rare case, you might need to disable the internal soundchip in the bios,
or blacklist it's kernel module, by naming it in a text file, in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Here is an example entry from blacklist.conf

# snd_intel8x0m can interfere with snd_intel8x0, doesn't seem to support much
# hardware on its own (Ubuntu bug #2011, #6810)
blacklist snd_intel8x0m

youtube has some good qjackctl videos

www.libremusicproduction

has a good tutorial article using jackd for audio connections.

Cheers
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

Thanks Glowrak Guy,
I am afraid that I do not understand much of your reply. Looks like there is no straightforward solution of my problem. I thought that I am just trying some basic functionality: to play guitar over an external interface/soundcard. Never realised that this could not work due to feedback, the interface sends all output back to the input. As standalone the ART USBmix workst great by the way.

I am now studying http://libremusicproduction.com/ as you suggested. This is a very interesting website, thanks for the link! I am afraid that I have to digest all this first to be able to understand how I can get my interface to work properly.

Cheers, Bas
Pablo
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by Pablo »

Are there any controls available in alsamixer?

(Type "alsamixer" in a terminal, then F6 to select the USB card)
stanlea
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by stanlea »

What's the use of the Switchable assignment of USB playback to channels 2 and 3 ?
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

Pablo wrote:Are there any controls available in alsamixer?

(Type "alsamixer" in a terminal, then F6 to select the USB card)
I tried alsamixer, can assign usb soundcard, seems the same as with Pulseaudio. Still the same feedback when I try to play (with rakarrak).
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

stanlea wrote:What's the use of the Switchable assignment of USB playback to channels 2 and 3 ?
When I switch this off there is no sound at all in my headphones from the monitor output.
brau
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by brau »

I have anone PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 and have to kill pulseaudio at startup everytime. I see that you uninstalled pulse, but I would still check the sound configuration to ensure the setup is right.

Just my 2 cents.
stanlea
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by stanlea »

Or just de-activate the onboard sound chip in the bios setup.
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

Okay I have tried anything now already. Is the ART USBmix just crap? Shall I return it? What interface can actually work. Am I the only one that can not play guitar over Guitarix or Rakarrak or whatever???
Can anybody show a working configuration?
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

stanlea wrote:Or just de-activate the onboard sound chip in the bios setup.
Why can this solve my feedback problem????, anyway I just tried it and the feedback is just the same.
Thanks anyway.
Cheers, Bas
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

brau wrote:I have anone PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 and have to kill pulseaudio at startup everytime. I see that you uninstalled pulse, but I would still check the sound configuration to ensure the setup is right.

Just my 2 cents.
I have not uninstalled pulse (have I??). What does Pulseaudio have to do with my feedback problem??

As I understand it right I only use audio, no MIDI, no ALSA, over USB input and playback, but somehow my external soundcard (the ART USBmix) sends the playback sound back into the input causing the feedback. In Jack I see system on the left side as well as on the right side. As these are the same "thing" i figure that input and output are connected and causing the feedback. So I really have no idea how this very straightforward configuration (to just play guitar over my linux laptop) could ever work. Any Guitarix user here?????????
Pablo
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by Pablo »

system: capture (which corresponds to the analog input of the audio card) has to be connected to guitarix input and guitarix output to system: playbacks (which corresponds to the analog output going to the speakers) . Don't connect system: captures directly to system: playbacks.

If jack connections are OK and you still have the feedback it means that there is undesired "hardware mixing", i.e., mixing that takes place in the soundcard itself, which sends the output signal not only to the speakers but also to the input. There are two possible ways to resolve the problem: By hardware configuration (have you read the ART USB manual?) or by means of the low level software mixer, i.e., alsamixer.

I really don't know if alsamixer has access to the internal mixer. Probably not but, in case it has, make sure that all the capture (input) levels in the Playback view are set to zero.
asbak
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by asbak »

basskwee wrote:As I understand it right I only use audio, no MIDI, no ALSA, over USB input and playback,
That's incorrect. You are using ALSA + JACK which sits on top of ALSA.
but somehow my external soundcard (the ART USBmix) sends the playback sound back into the input causing the feedback. In Jack I see system on the left side as well as on the right side. As these are the same "thing" i figure that input and output are connected and causing the feedback. So I really have no idea how this very straightforward configuration (to just play guitar over my linux laptop) could ever work. Any Guitarix user here?????????
I'm not familiar with the ART card but as others have suggested it could be doing some kind of internal hardware mixing. Something similar happens with the cheap Behringer Phono USB cards. The typical DJ solution in that case is that they cut the traces on the circuit board to prevent this from happening. In other words, that particular card requires a hardware hack.

For what it's worth, the old Edirol UA-25 doesn't have such issues as you describe, I use it without problems.

A potential workaround you could try is to get one of those cheap USB Guitarlink cables and to use that for the guitar, then monitor the signal through the ART. It would require some more advanced Jack configuration settings which most people typically don't know about or understand.
Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
basskwee
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Re: How set up USB interface? (for dummy) ART USBmix

Post by basskwee »

asbak wrote:
For what it's worth, the old Edirol UA-25 doesn't have such issues as you describe, I use it without problems.
So maybe I will get rid of the ART USBmix and purchase an Edirol UA-25. Is the Focusrite Scarlett Solo also a good alternative? I see a lot of them second hand on the internet. This time I want to be sure to get something that really works and has a lot of users here on the forum just in case...

Cheers, Bas
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