Once a year or so, I spend a couple of weeks playing with audio applications on Linux to see what’s new, and it’s that time again. I’m not a regular Linux user but I can follow instructions. All versions of what I’m running are what was current within the last week or two, so unless there was a short term bug that’s been fixed, I’m using a reasonably up-to-date OS and applications.
I’m working with a fresh installation of Ubuntu Studio since it includes FFADO and Ardour. My goal here was to get Ardour working with my Mackie mixer with the optional Firewire I/O card. I actually started out with a just plain Ubuntu but got tangled up with compiling FFADO and then trying to get JACK to recognize it (including attempting to rebuild JACK). I figured that a pre-installation of at least the basics would be a better place to start.
I’m at the point where I have Ardour working with the Mackie and I’m getting a handle on using it. I’m not bubbling over with enthusiasm yet, seeing as how I have perfectly good Windows DAW applications, but I recognize the potential. Playback is still full of mutes and squeals, but I figure that’s a matter of optimization or “this combination just won’t work right”, but I’m content to troubleshoot that later on.
Anyway, I’m trying to get over an annoyance. If I don’t start JACK manually (I’m using qjackctl for that), when I start Ardour, it complains, after trying to start the audio engine, that it doesn’t have anything to talk to. I don’t recall the exact text, but that’s what it means. But if I start JACK first, Ardour comes up normally, I’m able to select Firewire as the audio driver, and it sees the Mackie inputs and outputs.
I seem to remember being told during one of my previous excursions that JACK should start when Ardour starts, but that’s not happening. I asked on an Ubuntu forum if there was a way that the OS would start it on boot-up and there I learned about the etc/default/jackd file. I looked for it, edited it so that it should work, but it still doesn’t start JACK. Here’s what my file looks like:
Set to “yes” to start jackd at boot
START_DAEMON=yes
The jackd process will run under this user
USER=mike
Options to pass to jackd
OPTIONS="-R -d alsa -d hw"
Initially, START_DAEMON=no, and USER=fred, so those are the changes I made. The OPTIONS is as it came out of the box. I’ve tried different options, including none and I still can’t get JACK started without kicking it with qjackctl.
After a successful Ardour session, my .jackdrc file contains:
-r -dfirewire -r44100 -p1024 -n3 -i2 -o2
I’ve tried using this as the OPTIONS entry in the etc/default/jackd file, but that didn’t work either.
I’ve tried using Audacity as an alternative test. I don’t need to start JACK manually in order to get that to work, but neither can I get it to recognize the Mackie Firewire card at all. It only works with the computer’s internal sound card or a Behringer 2-channel USB interface.
So what am I missing? I don’t mind clicking on qjackqtl before starting Ardour, but I’m sure there’s a way I can avoid that.