Scarlett solo set up

[Memphiscraig]

I’m a longtime Linux user who recently decided to get into home recording, an area where I know almost nothing.

I bought a Focusrite Scarlett Solo third gen, based on reading it is “plug and play” with Linux.

I use a computer I built for gaming about eight years ago, before I quit gaming when I had a kid:
AMD Athlon 860K Quad Core
16 GB RAM
Nvidia Gtx 960

Dual boot Windows/Linux Mint 21.2

I spent an evening trying to get the Solo to work in Windows Mint, but instead it ended up making it where I was getting no sound at all, even from computer speakers hooked to motherboard audio port.

The Solo works in windows, so it isn’t a hardware or BIOS issue, but I avoid Windows as much as possible.

I then installed Ubuntu Studio 22.04 on a new partition on the hard drive. I like everything about the Distro, except I still can’t get the Solo to work. I’ve followed tutorials and tried setting up Jack with both Studio Controls and QjackCtl.

If I stop Jack, I can get audio from sources like YouTube to play through the headphone Jack on the Solo. If I start Jack, I get no audio from the computer or the Solo when I attempt using either a guitar or microphone connected to the Solo. I’ve made sure volume isn’t turned off on QasMixer.

In terminal, it shows me having three soundcards – the generic one on the motherboard, Pulseaudio Jack, and the Nvidia GPU. Could the GPU be causing me problems?

With Jack running, if I look at the Graph in QjackCtl, it shows Jack System capture_1 and capture_2 connecting to front-left and front-right of PulseAudio Jack source. And it shows PulseAudio Jack sink front-left and front-right connecting to Jack System playback_1 and playback_2. Then there are some Alsa Midi-throughs Jack generic captures and playbacks that aren’t connected to anything.

I don’t know what else I need to do. If I talk into microphone or strum guitar, I see the green lights turn on on the front of the Solo telling me it is getting a signal.

[Gps]

Lets start with lsusb in the command line.

What does it say ?

Here is mine:

Code: Select all

lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0e6f:02a4 Logic3 PDP Wired Controller for Xbox One - Stealth Series | Phantom Black
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1a2c:0e24 China Resource Semico Co., Ltd USB Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c084 Logitech, Inc. G203 Gaming Mouse
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1235:8211 Focusrite-Novation Scarlett Solo (3rd Gen.)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

As you can see, device 005 is the solo.

[Memphiscraig]

I see mine is Device 003. It also said my laser printer was Device 003 so I disconnected it to avoid any confusion. That didn't solve the problem, but at least now Device 003 only refers to the Solo.

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f9:0330 Brother Industries, Ltd HL-L2380DW
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 003: ID 1235:8211 Focusrite-Novation Scarlett Solo (3rd Gen.)
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 046d:c31c Logitech, Inc. Keyboard K120
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[Gps]

Because I am on openSUSE, I can't give you any specif hints, but

Now you have make sure, look under volume settings, if your Linux distro is using the solo. (and not HDMI, which is you vid card audio part)
Then in Jack which I don't use either, also make sure jack is using the solo.

[Memphiscraig]

In audio system settings, I did need to make the GPU HDMI inactive. That allowed me to get options of “built in analog stereo” to get sound from headphone jack of computer tower or “Scarlett Solo analog stereo” output to get sound from it, from sources like web browser, if Jack is stopped. So that’s a start.

For recording device, I have “Digital input S/PDIF Scarlett Solo.” Still not getting sound when I start Jack and strum a guitar plugged into the Solo.

I found this video in another thread on this board and it was overall very helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEduGnD6ZKQ

At 2:05 he changes the interface, but mine shows “(default)” as my only option. In the advanced tab, I do have input and output both set for Scarlett Solo USB.

Other options I’m considering toying with:
Trying Pipewire. Some people say it’s great, others say it won’t work.
Trying AV Linux MX 21.3 instead of Ubuntu Studio 22.04.

[Gps]

I think I am using pipewire.

Code: Select all

 ps -e | grep pipewire 
 2426 ?        00:00:35 pipewire
 2671 ?        00:01:00 pipewire-pulse

[Memphiscraig]

I got it figured out.

The Scarlett Solo is indeed plug and play with very easy set up once you know what you are doing. I wanted to explain what I did here for anyone whose own search engine brings them here. I hate searching and finding where someone else was describing the exact same problem I was having but then never says how or if they resolved it.

Of the two things I was planning to try:
frames period 1024
Installing Pipewire on Ubuntu Studio totally broke the audio. I had no sound of any kind and "dummy output" as my only option when I checked in volume controller.

Installing AV Linux on a new partition got me up and running fairly quickly. The main thing, after installing all updates, was to immediately go into configuration in volume control to turn off the audio from the GPU and then set the Solo as analog output and digital input. I made sure to turn on "direct monitor" button on the Solo for sound to come from it. Then going into QjackCtl, clicking set up and not messing with anything except the main settings menu that comes up, where I did sample rate 44100, frames/period 1024 and periods/buffer 2.

Then I used this tutorial to get going in Ardour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQM12Rx0Hf0

At that point I was recording myself playing guitar.

Then I reinstalled Ubuntu Studio on its partition and did the same thing to set it up, only using QjackCtl and not touching Studio Controls. I had everything working on it in a few minutes as well.

Now I can boot into AV Linux or Ubuntu Studio to record, so I can spend some time trying both to figure out which one I prefer. All super easy to get set up, but apparently before I turned off GPU audio on my initial install of Ubuntu Studio I messed things up playing with other settings, and the more I did, the worse I was making things.

Now I'm moving on to learning Hydrogen so I can hopefully get myself some drum beats to play bass with. My whole goal here was to be able to record myself playing bass with a drum beat to put myself playing guitar and singing on top of that.