DaemonForums  

Go Back   DaemonForums > OpenBSD > OpenBSD General

OpenBSD General Other questions regarding OpenBSD which do not fit in any of the categories below.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   (View Single Post)  
Old 27th September 2018
Os Miridium Os Miridium is offline
New User
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 5
Default External DAC / sound card in OpenBSD

Hi there,

fairly recent OpenBSD convert here after a decade on linux. I must say I am pleasantly surprised how often I can just do what "feels like it should work" and it actually works. Nice. However, I still have some things to work out.

I am now trying to connect a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB DAC to my OpenBSD system to use as an external sound card. From what I have figured out so far, it seems I need to point an audio "device" (probably audio1) at the one of the stereo output channels of the Scarlett. If I understand these two correctly, the interface should show up in dmesg as connected to audio1 with a line like:
Code:
audio1 at uaudio0
There is no such line in my dmesg. It seems like this might/should happen automatically or can be done manually. My question is, how do I make it so?

Here is my $ dmesg | grep audio
Code:
audio0 at azalia1
uaudio0 at uhub0 port 4 configuration 1 interface 0 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 3
uaudio0: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
uaudio1 at uhub0 port 4 configuration 1 interface 3 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 3
uaudio1: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
uaudio0 detached
uaudio1 detached
uaudio0 at uhub0 port 4 configuration 1 interface 0 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 3
uaudio0: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
uaudio1 at uhub0 port 4 configuration 1 interface 3 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 3
uaudio1: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
azalia1 being the internal sound card.

I did not find a solution (or did not recognize it as the solution) in the man pages of sndio, sndiod, audio, audioctl, or mixerctl. Where else did I miss to look?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Os
Reply With Quote
  #2   (View Single Post)  
Old 27th September 2018
ibara ibara is offline
OpenBSD language porter
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 783
Default

First thing to check: is this connected to a USB 3.0 port? uaudio doesn't work on USB 3.0 ports (yet); connect it to a USB 2.0 port if you can.
Reply With Quote
  #3   (View Single Post)  
Old 27th September 2018
Os Miridium Os Miridium is offline
New User
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 5
Default

Ah, that is mighty good to know! It is indeed connected to a USB 3.0 port. I cannot right now but I'll check what happens when switching it over to a 2.0 port as soon as I can tomorrow and report back.

Thanks,
Os
Reply With Quote
  #4   (View Single Post)  
Old 28th September 2018
Os Miridium Os Miridium is offline
New User
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 5
Default New try on USB 2.0

Now I moved the DAC over to a USB 2.0 port. Still no
Code:
audio1 at uaudio0
Here is the new $ dmesg | grep audio
Code:
audio0 at azalia1
uaudio0 at uhub3 port 5 configuration 1 interface 0 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 2
uaudio0: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
uaudio1 at uhub3 port 5 configuration 1 interface 3 "Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB" rev 2.00/1.25 addr 2
uaudio1: audio descriptors make no sense, error=4
I do have the /dev/audio1 file, so that can't be it. This is my $ ls /dev | grep audio
Code:
audio
audio0
audio1
audio2
audioctl
audioctl0
audioctl1
audioctl2
The Midi-section of the Multimedia FAQ mentions that
Quote:
The output of the keyboard can be connected to the input of the synthesizer, as follows:
Code:
$ cat -u < /dev/rmidi0 > /dev/rmidi1
I have a shadow of an inkling that that may be the method of connecting the device that I am looking for. If so, then the question is: Which file do I cat into which?

Thanks,
Os
Reply With Quote
  #5   (View Single Post)  
Old 10th October 2018
Paianni Paianni is offline
Port Guard
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 17
Default

You are trying to use a Class 2 USB Audio (UAC2) device, and these aren't supported in OpenBSD, only UAC1. A popular UAC1 device with a combined DAC/ADC is the Behringer UCA200/202/222, but there are also separates like the ODAC rev. B and Altor's experimental Olivine ADC.
Reply With Quote
  #6   (View Single Post)  
Old 16th October 2018
Os Miridium Os Miridium is offline
New User
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 5
Default

@Paianni
Ah, now that sounds like it may solve my problem, thanks!

A quick sifting through some USB info seems to suggest that the UAC standard numbers are tied to the general USB standard releases, meaning all USB 1.x devices should have UAC1, all USB 2.x devices should be UAC2 etc. Can anyone confirm ore refute that? If my assumption is correct that would mean I should be able to use a Behringer Xenyx 302 USB, which seems to be USB 1.1 (according to a customer review complaining about this fact, although the manufacturer does not bother to say so anywhere in the obtainable official info) . Has anyone by any chance thried this particular device? It does have a few handy features that the UCA2xx series is missing.

Thanks again,
Os
Reply With Quote
  #7   (View Single Post)  
Old 28th October 2018
Paianni Paianni is offline
Port Guard
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 17
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Os Miridium View Post
@Paianni
Ah, now that sounds like it may solve my problem, thanks!

A quick sifting through some USB info seems to suggest that the UAC standard numbers are tied to the general USB standard releases, meaning all USB 1.x devices should have UAC1, all USB 2.x devices should be UAC2 etc. Can anyone confirm ore refute that? If my assumption is correct that would mean I should be able to use a Behringer Xenyx 302 USB, which seems to be USB 1.1 (according to a customer review complaining about this fact, although the manufacturer does not bother to say so anywhere in the obtainable official info) . Has anyone by any chance thried this particular device? It does have a few handy features that the UCA2xx series is missing.

Thanks again,
Os
Yes, if an audio device is listed as USB 1.1 compliant in the specifications, it will almost certainly work. However, most of them don't support 24-bit quantisation, which is kinda important for studio recording.

Last edited by Paianni; 28th October 2018 at 05:48 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #8   (View Single Post)  
Old 29th October 2018
Os Miridium Os Miridium is offline
New User
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 5
Default

@ Paianni
Quote:
Yes, if an audio device is listed as USB 1.1 compliant in the specifications, it will almost certainly work. However, most of them don't support 24-bit quantisation, which is kinda important for studio recording.
Thanks! Of course the manufacturer does not tell us that it is USB 1.1 compliant, just that it is a USB interface. But since they fail to bragg about being USB 2.0, it seems likely enough to me to be 1.1 to justify ordering the thing and giving it a try. I'll report back on success or failure.

Indeed the Behringer Xenyx 302 USB is 16-bit @ 48 kHz, so indeed not what most people would consider "studio quality". But since I need the thing mainly as a flexible audio output device (D to A) for home entertainment purposes that is not too big a concern to me. I might use it for some quick sketching of musical ideas, but the fact that OpenBSD does not support USB 2.0 audio means that my Linux machine together with the rather good sounding Focusrite interface will remain my actual recording station for the time being.

Best Regards,
Os
Reply With Quote
  #9   (View Single Post)  
Old 31st December 2018
ibara ibara is offline
OpenBSD language porter
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 783
Default

This may help get your audio device working:
https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=154627230907954&w=2
Reply With Quote
Old 18th February 2019
new2BSDlol new2BSDlol is offline
Port Guard
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 21
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paianni View Post
ODAC rev. B
Very interesting, and it has been updated https://blog.jdslabs.com/2017/04/odac-vs-ol-dac/
Reply With Quote
Old 15th March 2019
ibara ibara is offline
OpenBSD language porter
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 783
Default

USB audio devices may work on USB 3.0 ports now:
https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-cvs&m=155269204722555&w=2

(This commit will make 6.5)
Reply With Quote
Old 28th March 2019
new2BSDlol new2BSDlol is offline
Port Guard
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 21
Default

Support for USB audio is being upgraded from Class 1 to Class 2 in 6.5 as well... https://www.openbsd.org/65.html
Quote:
uaudio(4) has been replaced by a new driver which supports USB audio class v2.0.
I bought an OL DAC to use with OpenBSD because it uses USB Audio Class 1... but I don't regret it, it sounds great compared to my motherboard audio and supports up to 96kHz sample rate which is plenty.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
audio, dac

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
how to run 5.1 sound card philo_neo71 NetBSD Package System (pkgsrc) 2 7th March 2016 07:45 PM
USB sound card J65nko General Hardware 3 1st November 2014 05:12 PM
Video card instead of sound card ripe OpenBSD General 12 2nd May 2013 04:02 PM
Getting Xfce4 to recognize sound card harishankar NetBSD General 5 13th November 2011 10:30 AM
Recording sound with external sound card backrow OpenBSD General 5 21st August 2009 08:17 PM


All times are GMT. The time now is 08:27 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content copyright © 2007-2010, the authors
Daemon image copyright ©1988, Marshall Kirk McKusick