[LAU] getting LFE channel to work with PulseAudio 5.1

[john gibby]

Goodness, I'm so frustrated...

Finally I managed to get the LFE channel to show up as a pulseaudio sink.
Now I have all 6 (5.1) channels there, and last night I managed to get it
all started and watch a movie, and it sounded good.  My Pianoteq didn't
work (notes played from the app, but not from the actual keyboard), but I
thought I would be able to figure that out soon.   But then I came home
from work and now I'm stuck again.  Can't get anything to work!! I don't
really know what I'm doing, so I spend hours trying different combinations,
but I'm not getting anywhere.  Here are the pieces of my puzzle:

1. qjackctl and hdspmixer.  I know I have to run hdspmixer to get driver
loaded for the RME 9652 card, but now I cannot get Jack Audio Connection
Kit to show the 26 system input and outputs for the RME.  It shows just 2
inputs and 2 outputs.  Just last night I had it showing the 26 inputs and
26 outputs, but no more; no matter what I do, just 2 and 2.  I put snd_hdsp
in my modules.conf, which changed the RME to be at the top of the modules
list, and that seemed to be OK last night.  When I include "hdspmixer &"
 (OR, hdsploader &) in the "run at startup" here's the messages I see in
Jack when I let it autostart:

20:19:49.410 Statistics reset.

20:20:07.892 ALSA connection change.

20:20:07.902 Startup script...

20:20:07.902 /usr/bin/hdspmixer &

Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory

Cannot connect to server request channel

jack server is not running or cannot be started

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory

Cannot connect to server request channel

jack server is not running or cannot be started

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

20:20:07.914 ALSA connection graph change.

20:20:08.304 Startup script terminated successfully.

20:20:08.304 JACK is starting...

20:20:08.305 /usr/bin/jackd -t2000 -dalsa -r48000 -p64 -n2 -D
-Cplughw:DSP,0 -Pplughw:DSP,0 -o26

20:20:08.309 JACK was started with PID=2918.

20:20:10.520 Could not connect to JACK server as client. - Overall
operation failed. - Unable to connect to server. Please check the messages
window for more info.

20:20:10.576 JACK is stopping...

Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory

Cannot connect to server request channel

jack server is not running or cannot be started

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping
unlock

20:20:10.605 JACK was stopped

20:20:10.605 JACK has crashed.


When I don't use autostart, and just run it manually after restarting
Linux, Jack doesn't crash, but I still only see 2 input and 2 outputs.
Doesn't matter if I run hdspmixer before or after qjackctl; always the same
result...

2. Ecasound - I have an ecasound script that implements my DSP ladspa
crossovers and it works fine.  It processes the LFE channel fine. But I
can't get far enough to run it anymore.

3. pulseaudio -k.  I use this command to start or reset pulseaudio.  I
don't seem to have much problem anymore with PA; the LFE channel always
shows up now in the list of pa-jack-sinks.  My big problem is #1 above.
But even after I figure out #1, I still have #4 to understand, so I can get
all this work work automatically and don't have to manually run a bunch of
scripts and commands every time I want to play the piano.

4. What to put where.  I am just at a loss to understand so much about
Linux.  I have AV Linux, by the way.  Jack Audio Connection (qjackctl) has
a startup script, and an "after startup" scrip, and 2 shutdown scripts.  I
don't know what to put on each.  I thought I should put hdspmixer & on the
startup, but that doesn't work anymore.  Then there's Sessions and Startup
- Autostart.  I don't know what to run there, in the autostart tab.  There
are so many possible ways to do all this.  Then, there's where to put my
scripts - either in usr/bin, or under my home directory.  I don't
understand the difference; it seems it matters, what gets started and from
where, but I don't understand how it matters.  I do understand about chmod
a+x.

I had this working fine for months (after much struggle), then I decided to
change from 5.0 to 5.1 and process the LFE channel and BOOM, I've lost it
all.  I'm almost ready to go to J. Rivers.  Can anybody help me calm down
and learn the many things I need to learn to solve these problems?  I need
some detailed, step-by-step help; I have a child and a family I'm kind of
neglecting, I can't spend my life studying this and trying different
things...  I would really, really appreciate it...  or maybe I'm just not
smart enough for Linux; just tell me if you think I should go back to
Windows... :(

Thanks so much...
John

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 7:47 PM, john gibby <johnalan.gibby at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
> Have beat my head against the wall long enough...  I have AV Linux,
> Hammerfall DSP card, am using Ecasound with ladspa plugins for DSP
> crossover, Pianoteq piano model, and Jack to glue things together.  I built
> 2 nice large subwoofers (4 ft3 each) with 12" SBAcoustics drivers.  Just
> realized the other day that my 5.1 surround sound is missing the .1; the
> LFE channel.  I want to get it to appear in my PulseAudio sink, map it in
> the my Ecasound logic, and split the LFE signal between the 2 subs.  Since
> I use them for 20 to 80hz, maybe this will sometimes detract from accuracy
> of movie music, but still I at least want to learn how to do it and see how
> I like it.  Problem is, no matter what I do with /etc/pulse/daemon.conf,
> default.pa etc. (setting channels=6, channel order, no LFE mixing, etc.),
> I can't seem to get the LFE channel to work.  I've searched the Internet
> over and over, read everything I could find and tried setting things like
> the articles say, but still the LFE channel just won't show up.  Alsamixer
> shows front, rear and center master volume controls only; no LFE.
>  pulsevumeter, etc., show only 5 channels, nothing shows the LFE channel.
> Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
> Thanks!!
> John
>
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