Arch Linux

pinnocchio

Member

Registered: 2015-01-24

Posts: 11

No sound from Line6 Helix

Hi guys,

I'm just curious if anybody was successful using any Helix via USB in Arch? I got reports that it works in recent versions of Ubuntu and Fedora and I have successfully connected it to Ubuntu Studio 20.4 running in VirtualBox myself.

However, no luck on Arch, which is my main system. :-( Btw, the kernel is basically identical across the OSs tested and there's literally no difference in the sound/USB part. (Checked the kernel source if there's any patch by the distribution.)

I'm still trying to find the differences in versions and configuration files of ALSA/JACK/Pulse, but honestly, I don't understand it much and would appreciate some hint...

################################

I'm using Cadence/JACK. I have Helix LT, but I guess it makes no difference between all the variants.

Here's my ~/.config/jack/conf.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
JACK settings, as persisted by D-Bus object.
You probably don't want to edit this because
it will be overwritten next time jackdbus saves.
-->
<!-- Fri Oct  2 14:51:08 2020 -->
<jack>
 <engine>
  <option name="driver">alsa</option>
  <option name="realtime">true</option>
  <option name="client-timeout">1000</option>
 </engine>
 <drivers>
  <driver name="netone">
  </driver>
  <driver name="alsarawmidi">
  </driver>
  <driver name="loopback">
  </driver>
  <driver name="dummy">
  </driver>
  <driver name="alsa">
   <option name="device">hw:PCH,0</option>
   <option name="capture">hw:HELIX,0</option>
   <option name="playback">hw:USB,0</option>
   <option name="period">512</option>
   <option name="nperiods">4</option>
   <option name="monitor">false</option>
   <option name="inchannels">8</option>
   <option name="outchannels">4</option>
   <option name="midi-driver">raw</option>
  </driver>
  <driver name="net">
  </driver>
  <driver name="firewire">
  </driver>
  <driver name="proxy">
  </driver>
 </drivers>
 <internals>
  <internal name="netmanager">
  </internal>
  <internal name="profiler">
  </internal>
  <internal name="audioadapter">
  </internal>
  <internal name="netadapter">
  </internal>
 </internals>
</jack>

...and this is the log from JACK (fetched via Cadence):

Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: Starting jack server...
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: Acquired audio card Audio4
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: Acquired audio card Audio3
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: creating alsa driver ... hw:USB,0|hw:HELIX,0|512|4|48000|8|4|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: configuring for 48000Hz, period = 512 frames (10.7 ms), buffer = 4 periods
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: ALSA: final selected sample format for capture: 32bit integer little-endian
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: ALSA: use 4 periods for capture
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: ALSA: final selected sample format for playback: 32bit integer little-endian
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: ALSA: use 4 periods for playback
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: added port hw:3,0,0 in-hw-3-0-0-Scarlett-2i4-USB-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: added port hw:3,0,0 out-hw-3-0-0-Scarlett-2i4-USB-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: added port hw:4,0,0 in-hw-4-0-0-HELIX-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: added port hw:4,0,0 out-hw-4-0-0-HELIX-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: opened port hw:3,0,0 in-hw-3-0-0-Scarlett-2i4-USB-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: opened port hw:3,0,0 out-hw-3-0-0-Scarlett-2i4-USB-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: opened port hw:4,0,0 in-hw-4-0-0-HELIX-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:54 2020: scan: opened port hw:4,0,0 out-hw-4-0-0-HELIX-MIDI-1
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: JackPosixProcessSync::LockedTimedWait error usec = 5000000 err = Connection timed out
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: Driver is not running
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: Cannot open client name = dbusapi
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: failed to create dbusapi jack client
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: Unknown request 4294967295
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: CheckSize error size = 0 Size() = 12
Fri Oct  2 14:48:59 2020: ERROR: CheckRead error

When I switch the output to another interface, it works fine, so the issue definitely relates to Helix.

################################

Btw, I've also tried with ALSA utils:

$ arecord -L | grep HELIX
sysdefault:CARD=HELIX
    HELIX, USB Audio
front:CARD=HELIX,DEV=0
    HELIX, USB Audio
usbstream:CARD=HELIX
    HELIX

First one looks like it is working, it creates the file and never stop, so interrupted:

$ arecord -D "sysdefault:CARD=HELIX" -d 5 -f S32_LE -r 48000 -c 8 foo.wav
Recording WAVE 'foo.wav' : Signed 32 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 8
^C
arecord: pcm_read:2153: read error: Interrupted system call

("-f S32_LE -r 48000 -c 8" the only combination I found to make it start doing something)

This one actually end after 5 s, but the file is (almost) empty (44 B), so nothing actually recorded.

$ arecord -D "front:CARD=HELIX,DEV=0" -d 5 -f S32_LE -r 48000 -c 8 foo.wav
Recording WAVE 'foo.wav' : Signed 32 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Channels 8
arecord: pcm_read:2153: read error: Input/output error

The last one ends immediately:

$ arecord -D "usbstream:CARD=HELIX" -d 5 -f S32_LE -r 48000 -c 8 foo.wav
ALSA lib pcm_usb_stream.c:508:(_snd_pcm_usb_stream_open) Unknown field hint
arecord: main:830: audio open error: Invalid argument

################################

In Ubuntu Studio, it doesn't work ideally either (arecord doesn't work at all), but I was able to record a sound in Ardour with this steps:
1) pavucontrol - set HELIX as an input
2) start Ardour
3) create a session: system: JACK, driver: ALSA, device: HELIX, freq: 48k
4) you can connect any of 8 inputs to the recording track