27 Dec
2009
27 Dec
'09
5:19 p.m.
On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 11:07:05PM +0000, Edward Barrow wrote:
I've been getting by so far with an amd64 box
running debian, jack, ardour
etc through Terratec DMX-6fire (Envy24 based) card, but now find that I need
to record more channels simultaneously.
I would like (and can just about afford) the M-Audio FastTrack Ultra, but it
doesn't look as though it is going to be easy to get it to work under Linux.
It's a USB 2.0 device - it needs those 480Mb/s to record 8 channels
simultaneously - so it isn't class-compliant.
Has anyone succeeded in getting this interface to work properly in Linux?
If not, can anyone suggest alternatives in the same sort of price range?
This is probably the most FAQ on LAU these days (well, maybe thirdmost, after questions
about PulseAudio and Xruns, and slightly ahead of questions about RT kernels).
Being shut out of the USB 2.0 market is an upcoming and serious threat to the continued
viability of Linux audio, IMHO.
USB 2.0 devices are affordable and great-- for everyone except Linux users. We have to pay
more and get Firewire-- iff we have, or can get, a laptop that has Firewire, which seems
to be on the way out.
I sure hope someone can either get a manufacturer of USB 2.0 cards to open up the specs
enough to write a driver for it, or, alternately, that the Ethernet-based Open Source
multichannel audio interface project bears fruit soon enough. I'm personally more
excited about the Ethernet interface because it'll be open and hackable, but for
cheapness and convenience, the USB2.0's are going to be hard to beat.
Someone posted a link to a USB 2.0 maufacturer that, IIRC, said they'd be willing to
help someone write a Linux driver. Did any USB developers take them up on that?
-ken