RME Fireface 400 mostly usable (I think)
Implementation of the remaining mixer and device controls for the Fireface-400 is now complete, although some combinations of settings are yet to be tested (particularly those associated with clock sources). This means that the Fireface-400 is getting close to being usable with FFADO now (at least on my system). Wider testing of svn head is encouraged so we can identify any remaining rough edges and see how it performs on a variety of computers. Please use the ffado-devel mailing list to report bugs and other problems. Read more for further details.
All CueMix abilities available in the device are accessible via ffado-mixer including mute and phase invert (hint: right-click on the relevant matrix mixer node).
Known issues and points to note:
- When toggling the phase inversion status, the relevant matrix node goes smoothly to full volume prior to settling back to the inverted state at the designated volume. The cause of this is yet to be determined.
- Bandwidth limiting hasn't been tested.
- The device may still fail to synchronise properly with the PC on startup. If this occurs, stop jack and restart and it should be good. I'm still looking into this.
- Please report any occurances of the device loosing sync (and jackd crashing) after an extended time of apparently correct operation.
- Most device setting combinations have not been tested - please report any issues you find.
- 1x sample rates (44.1 kHz, 48 kHz) have received the most testing to date. 4x rates have been run very infrequently and may still have issues.
- ffado-mixer does not yet allow setting to be saved to the devices NVRAM. This will come, but probably only once I've made some tangible progress on the Fireface-800.
With the Fireface-400 mostly working I intend to move onto the Fireface-800 soon.
Could not communicate with the FFADO DBus service
I installed FFADO, QjackCtl and the FFADO mixer and I get this error when starting the mixer: "Could not communicate with the FFADO DBus service"
this is a fresh install of ubuntu 12.04. Is it my firewire that's messed up?
Re: Could not communicate with the FFADO DBus service
That's interesting; most of the time the ffado DBUS service will be automatically started by ffado-mixer if it's not detected.
Did you install ffado, qjackctl and ffado-mixer from Ubuntu packages, or did you compile these yourself?
Could you try runing "ffado-dbus-server" in a terminal and see if it exits with an error? If it's running properly it will spit out some messages (potentially lots) and then sit around waiting. If the latter behaviour is noted, try running ffado-mixer again while ffado-dbus-server is still running - does that change things?
It might be easier to report your findings back to either the ffado-users or ffado-devel mailing lists; often problems are more easily worked out via email than a series of forum posts.
I would really appreciate a
I would really appreciate a picture diagram of the connections for Fireface.
Re: Fireface connections
It's pretty straight-forward: firewire cable between the device and the PC. Then plug audio lead into inputs and outputs as required in your situation. I'm not sure there's much more I can say on the subject. :-)
Could you please post some pictures of the mixer and Jackd
Could you please post some pictures of the ffado mixer and Jackd .
Re: Could you please post some pictures of the mixer and Jackd
I'm not sure what this would achieve. Jackd is a command line program so there's not a lot to take a picture of. Qjackctl is a graphical front-end to jackd but for screenshots of that you'd best go to Qjackctl's own website.
As to the mixer, what exactly are you trying to determine from these requested screen shots?
Re: FireFace UCX ?
Thanks for your message.
The status of the Fireface UCX with respect to FFADO is unknown at present, but it's a fairly safe assumption that it won't just work straight away. As you mention, the UCX implements both firewire and USB connectivity, and this represents a significant difference to the previous Fireface models. It therefore seems a fairly safe bet that the programming methods used for the UCX via the firewire port will be quite different to the previous Fireface 400/800 models. Perhaps there is some overlap, but there's no guarantee that the overlap is in the areas which would permit basic functionality without changes to FFADO. The only way of knowing this would be to test it. Obviously the UCX contains a bunch of additional DSP functionality which will not be supported without explicit support for this being added to FFADO.
I do not have a UCX to test with (I'm not in a position to afford to buy one at the moment). I will however make some enquiries to determine how similar the devices are at the protocol level; this will determine how much work it will be to support the UCX. I'll post an update when I have sufficient information to make a determination.
Re: FireFace UCX/UFX?
I'm finally in a position to provide an update regarding the UCX and UFX devices. In short, I can confirm that the UCX and UFX devices will not function with FFADO as it currently exists (svn r2195). While similar to the earlier fireface units, there are differences which will require some additions to the FFADO RME driver. This is especially true in the area of TotalMix (that is, the onboard mixer/DSP).
The good news is that I have been able to obtain some information which should make it possible to implement audio streaming support on these devices. As for control via TotalMix: I'm still working on it. Another issue at present is that in order to implement and debug support for the UCX and UFX interfaces I'm really going to need one but at this stage I'm not sure how this will be possible in the short to medium term.
Re: FireFace UCX/UFX?
I did some tests with a friend's fireface ucx. Ffado did not work but I got 8/8 in/out-channels working with the usb-2.0-audio-driver (alsa) with help from the alsa folks. This is sufficient for me for the time being, so I am considering getting my own ucx. In this case, I could do some testing etc.. Don't know whether this can helpful at all but if you think I can do sth. please write an email to ffado-users-list (my name is florian but I don't want to post my email-adress here ;)). I subscribed there today and if there is sth. that I can do it is easier to discuss using email ... .
Re: FireFace UCX/UFX?
I'm glad to see that you managed to get the UCX partially working. As I understand it, 8 in 8 out is as much as you can expect from the USB interface at present because in order to work with ALSA, the so-called class-compliant mode of the device must be used. In this mode, audio I/O channels are limited, as is control of the device.
Offers of testing are always welcome. The best thing I can suggest at present is to keep an eye on the ffado-devel mailing list for any announcements related to the UCX/UFX interfaces. Since I'm still trying to determine how to obtain some sample devices I can't give any estimations as to the time this might take though.
please write an email to ffado-users-list (my name is florian but I don't want to post my email-adress here ;))
I completely understand - I wouldn't either. You can find my address in my recent posts to ffado-users and ffado-devel. My username is the same as for this post; my most recent activity in ffado-user has been in relation to the "Can't see any connetion in qjackctl" thread.
Fireface UFX Drivers
This sounds very good! Thank you very much for spending that much time in this project! Actually I only registered to tell you that. SAlso I want to offer my help. I own the Fireface UFX myself.
Thanks again, and have a nice weekend!
Re: FireFace UCX ?
Given the time elapsed since my last post on the subject, I thought I'd let everyone know that things are progressing and I hope to have some news soon.
Fireface UFX Drivers
This sounds very good! Thank you very much for spending that much time in this project! Actually I only registered to tell you that. SAlso I want to offer my help. I own the Fireface UFX myself.
Thanks again, and have a nice weekend!
Re: Fireface UFX Drivers
Thanks for your offer to help. Are you a programmer or just an interested end-user? If the latter, obviously there's little to be done until I am in a position to extend the driver to the UFX; however, once that's done having someone else available to test the driver would be invaluable.
By way of an update, things have moved slowly over the past couple of months, mainly due to a bunch of things requiring my attention. With those now mostly dealt with I'm hoping to pick up on this again soon.
Fireface UFX Drivers
Hi jwoithe,
i'm not really a programmer. I learned Java in IT school, but I'm mainly a network technician. So I don't really think I can help you with the coding, but I would be glad to test the drivers. I guess it's a huge bunch of work, to program such drivers..... Can you tell me how you start with such a project? I mean is there any documentation provided by RME, or do you have to find out everything by yourself, step by step. Just curious....
Regards GreyAegis
Re: Fireface UFX Drivers
..I would be glad to test the drivers.
That's great. Keep an eye on the FFADO website and the ffado-devel mailing list for news. As I think I mentioned earlier I have no ETA on this at the moment, so this is the most efficient approach.
I mean is there any documentation provided by RME, or do you have to find out everything by yourself, step by step.
In reality it's a combination of both. I do have access to some documentation (which can't be released to others), but sometimes it is necessary (or easier) to sniff the control traffic in order to clarify the information.
There is another interface family supported in FFADO for which I did have to deduce everything myself because the manufacturer outrightly refused to be of assistance. I gave a talk at linux.conf.au 2011 ("Playing with fire: protocol analysis techniques for the Firewire bus") which discussed the process in general terms. If you're interested you might like to check out the video and/or slides (a simple google search will lead you to the talk).
FireFace UCX ?
Hi, I saw that there is this new FireFace model UCX coming with a firewire as well as a usb connection. Judging from RME's webpage, there are some differences between the FF UCX and the FF 400. Nevertheless, some of the basic parameters (number of channels, sampling rates etc.) are the same for both interfaces, so I was wondering whether the ffado driver for the FF 400 might also provide some functionality for the UCX, in case it is connected using firewire. Is anything known about that ?
Thanks a lot !