29 May
2022
29 May
'22
12:31 p.m.
Hi list,
I am thinking of replacing my RME HDSP CardBus+Multiface after twenty years
because it has never been really stable (firmware doesn't load reliably,
multiface is sometimes randomly detected as digiface, random I/O box
disconnects locking up jackd, etc.). This is sad because it is such a
great card. Now I am looking for similar specs with a class compliant
USB connection. I am trying to avoid Motu and the newer RME devices
because I would pay a lot for (DSP/Mixer) features that would remain
inaccessible for me from within Linux. It seems, and hesitate to say so,
that the Behringer UMC1820 is the closest to my needs. Has many I/Os and
most if not all of its settings should be configurable from the boxes
hardware controls. The only thing I am wondering about is how I can tell
the card to be a digital clock source or follower. Is this something
that can be set with alsamixer perhaps? Does anyone have the card and
can confirm and report on its reliability perhaps?
Thanks!
Peter
29 May
29 May
2:37 p.m.
"Peter P." <peterparker(a)fastmail.com> writes:
Hi list,
I am thinking of replacing my RME HDSP CardBus+Multiface after twenty years
because it has never been really stable (firmware doesn't load reliably,
multiface is sometimes randomly detected as digiface, random I/O box
disconnects locking up jackd, etc.). This is sad because it is such a
great card.
Do you have a computer with genuine CardBus interface or some adapter,
like Expresscard to CardBus? If the latter, it might help to downgrade
your Expresscard slot to Expresscard 1 speeds in the BIOS.
It seems, and hesitate to say so, that the Behringer
UMC1820 is the
closest to my needs. Has many I/Os and most if not all of its settings
should be configurable from the boxes hardware controls. The only
thing I am wondering about is how I can tell the card to be a digital
clock source or follower. Is this something that can be set with
alsamixer perhaps? Does anyone have the card and can confirm and
report on its reliability perhaps?
It is likely that you'll have worse SNR ratios. Behringer has been sort
of a hit&miss company for me that has deficits in its part sources and
circuitry and support, resulting in audio quality problems, driver
problems, device durability problems.
At the same time, they have a few hits as well which not only have a
great price but actually also good value. Off of the top of my head I
can think of the BCF2000 MIDI controller and the B-5 microphone. I
don't have significant personal experience with Behringer soundcards,
that's just a general observation.
--
David Kastrup
3:17 p.m.
David,
* David Kastrup <dak(a)gnu.org> [2022-05-29 12:37]:
[...]
Do you have a computer with genuine CardBus interface
or some adapter,
like Expresscard to CardBus? If the latter, it might help to downgrade
your Expresscard slot to Expresscard 1 speeds in the BIOS.
Thanks! It is a genuine
CardBus interface. Fiddly and mechanically
unreliable as it is. :)
[...]
It is likely that you'll have worse SNR ratios.
Behringer has been sort
of a hit&miss company for me that has deficits in its part sources and
circuitry and support, resulting in audio quality problems, driver
problems, device durability problems.
At the same time, they have a few hits as well which not only have a
great price but actually also good value. Off of the top of my head I
can think of the BCF2000 MIDI controller and the B-5 microphone.
True, I just
discovered that I am earning money with my BCF2k since 2007
already and it has never ever caused a single problem. And despite its
fader motors being too loud for studio automation mixing I use it for a
lot of live work. I even sent back its successor, the x-touch because
its faders are just as noisy and is merely heavier, bulkier and more
expensive.
Anyone else with experience of the UMC1820 perhaps?
cheers, P
3:19 p.m.
David Kastrup <dak(a)gnu.org> writes:
[...]
At the same time, they have a few hits as well which
not only have a
great price but actually also good value. Off of the top of my head I
can think of the BCF2000 MIDI controller and the B-5 microphone.
Former BCF2000 owner here, I couldn't agree more. Although there
apparently have been durability issues with the BCF2000 as well. I put
mine away for a few years, and when I tried to use it again, the USB
port had died. As a fan of motorized faders, I quickly found the MOTÖR
49 which is even more of a joy for a hardware controller with motorized
faders. Built my whole home studio around this interface, and love it.
But thats basically OT for what the original poster was asking. Just my
2 cents.
--
CYa,
⡍⠁⠗⠊⠕
6:51 p.m.
I own the mentioned device and have been using it with JACK and PipeWire for
a while now, mostly to drive multichannel setups. Haven't done much recording
with it, so I can't say much about the preamp quality.
Regarding the clock source part, I'm not sure because that's something I never
needed.
My general impression is that it runs stable and reliable, haven't had any problems so
far (after 5 years or so). Used it
at home (in my not-so-super-dry garage) and for 8-channel concerts, so it has been moved
around quite a bit.
I guess I'm one of the people who never had much trouble with Behringer devices. The
UCA202 works
like a charm, and on the several occasions I worked with X32s in their several flavors, it
was a
good all around experience (in fact, the latter one seems one of the only class-compliant
devices with
such a high channel count).
Best,
N
Peter P. wrote on 29.05.2022 10:29 (GMT +02:00):
Hi list,
I am thinking of replacing my RME HDSP CardBus+Multiface after twenty
years
because it has never been really stable (firmware doesn't load reliably,
multiface is sometimes randomly detected as digiface, random I/O box
disconnects locking up jackd, etc.). This is sad because it is such a
great card. Now I am looking for similar specs with a class compliant
USB connection. I am trying to avoid Motu and the newer RME devices
because I would pay a lot for (DSP/Mixer) features that would remain
inaccessible for me from within Linux. It seems, and hesitate to say so,
that the Behringer UMC1820 is the closest to my needs. Has many I/Os and
most if not all of its settings should be configurable from the boxes
hardware controls. The only thing I am wondering about is how I can tell
the card to be a digital clock source or follower. Is this something
that can be set with alsamixer perhaps? Does anyone have the card and
can confirm and report on its reliability perhaps?
Thanks!
Peter
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8:32 p.m.
Nik,
thanks! Are you refering to the UMC1820 or UCA202? Has the UMC1820
really been around for five years already?
What does alsamixer show you for the device when you scroll through the
"Playback" "Capture" "All" views with the TAB key?
best, P
* nik(a)parkellipsen.de <nik(a)parkellipsen.de> [2022-05-29 16:52]:
I own the mentioned device and have been using it with
JACK and PipeWire for
a while now, mostly to drive multichannel setups. Haven't done much recording
with it, so I can't say much about the preamp quality.
Regarding the clock source part, I'm not sure because that's something I never
needed.
My general impression is that it runs stable and reliable, haven't had any problems
so far (after 5 years or so). Used it
at home (in my not-so-super-dry garage) and for 8-channel concerts, so it has been moved
around quite a bit.
I guess I'm one of the people who never had much trouble with Behringer devices. The
UCA202 works
like a charm, and on the several occasions I worked with X32s in their several flavors,
it was a
good all around experience (in fact, the latter one seems one of the only class-compliant
devices with
such a high channel count).
Best,
N
Peter P. wrote on 29.05.2022 10:29 (GMT +02:00):
Hi list,
I am thinking of replacing my RME HDSP CardBus+Multiface after twenty
years
because it has never been really stable (firmware doesn't load reliably,
multiface is sometimes randomly detected as digiface, random I/O box
disconnects locking up jackd, etc.). This is sad because it is such a
great card. Now I am looking for similar specs with a class compliant
USB connection. I am trying to avoid Motu and the newer RME devices
because I would pay a lot for (DSP/Mixer) features that would remain
inaccessible for me from within Linux. It seems, and hesitate to say so,
that the Behringer UMC1820 is the closest to my needs. Has many I/Os and
most if not all of its settings should be configurable from the boxes
hardware controls. The only thing I am wondering about is how I can tell
the card to be a digital clock source or follower. Is this something
that can be set with alsamixer perhaps? Does anyone have the card and
can confirm and report on its reliability perhaps?
Thanks!
Peter
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31 May
31 May
12:19 a.m.
Hi,
Now I am looking for similar specs with a class
compliant
USB connection.
I know it's not a "recent" device and it's not class-compliant but if
it
matches your requirements you might want to take a look at the
Roland/Cakewalk/Edirol UA-101. It's USB 2.0, not class-compliant but
perfectly supported by Linux since ages and it even still runs on my
Windows 10 machine. It is no longer supported on macOS but that makes it
actually quite a bit cheaper when buying it used.
Lots of stuff can be configured on the device itself (sample rate,
internal clock or via optical SPDIF, Input/Output-Blending on the
Monitor output, ...
Has served me very well and has plenty of IOs compared to its small size.
The larger UA-1000 might even support coaxial SPDIF I/O, Wordclock and
ADAT. I never had one in my hands, unfortunately.
Jannis
12:51 a.m.
Jannis,
* Jannis Achstetter <jannis_achstetter(a)web.de> [2022-05-30 22:20]:
Hi,
Thank you, this looks like a nice interface indeed, and buying
it second
hand sounds like a viable route. It seems that a mix of all outputs is
being sent to the phones output at the front[1]. Is it channels one and two? Since you
mention that it is not class compliant but "supported", does this device
have specific alsa drivers?
[1]
https://dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/styles/news_large/s3/imagelibrary/e/ed…
[...]
Now I am looking for similar specs with a class
compliant
USB connection.
I know it's not a "recent" device and it's not class-compliant but if
it
matches your requirements you might want to take a look at the
Roland/Cakewalk/Edirol UA-101. It's USB 2.0, not class-compliant but
perfectly supported by Linux since ages and it even still runs on my
Windows 10 machine. 
The larger UA-1000 might even support coaxial SPDIF
I/O, Wordclock and
ADAT. I never had one in my hands, unfortunately.
It seems like the UA-1000s ADAT
output merely mirrors the 8 analogue
outputs but does not provide more channels in addition sadly.
Thanks again Jannis!
1:12 a.m.
Am 30.05.22 um 22:50 schrieb Peter P.:
True, seen from the USB side of things, it's still a 10in+10out
interface, just with more flexible IOs.
One note on the UA-101 and "class compliant": I have two UA-101's here,
one is Cakewalk-branded, the other one is "Edirol"-branded. On the
Edirol one, one of the DIP-switches is labelled "Hi-Speed". This
actually turns it into a 2in+2out class-compliant interface. Maybe not
really an option but a nice feature anyways. Don't know if the
Cakewalk-branded one behaves the same and they just didn't label the
switch or if it's just not possible with that one.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/315020/Edirol-Ua-101.html?page=14
Jannis
Jannis,
...
Thank you, this looks like a nice interface indeed, and buying it second
hand sounds like a viable route. It seems that a mix of all outputs is
being sent to the phones output at the front[1]. Is it channels one and two? Since you
mention that it is not class compliant but "supported", does this device
have specific alsa drivers?
Yes, this device has a specific ALSA driver:
https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Matrix:Module-ua101
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/sound/usb/misc/ua101.c
Regarding the Monitor/Phones output: That's honestly a very good
question since I usually use outputs 1+2 only but have my speakers
connected to the Monitor ports so I can use the UA-101's hardware volume
knob to control the speaker volume.
When using it for live shows (FoH audio), I usually connect the mixing
desk's Monitor/PFL output to the inputs on the UA-101 and then the
Input/Output-Blending-Hardware-Knob is used to blend from PC audio
playback to Mixing Desk's signal (to headphones in that case).
I just did a short test and sent audio on outputs 3+4 as well and it was
also on the Monitor ports. With the proprietary Windows driver, there is
a mixer tool one can use to configure this routing and mute certain
inputs/outputs on the Monitor outputs but no one ever implemented that
for Linux. The device's alsamixer only shows one digital toggle
regarding MIDI.
So, theoretically you could configure the device's routing using Windows
once (to only have outs 1+2 on the monitor) and then use it on Linux. Or
someone implements the mixer part for Linux ;)
Not the best situation but sufficient for my needs.
The larger
UA-1000 might even support coaxial SPDIF I/O, Wordclock and
ADAT. I never had one in my hands, unfortunately.
It seems like the UA-1000s ADAT output merely mirrors the 8 analogue
outputs but does not provide more channels in addition sadly. 
1:08 a.m.
Hello,
My experience:
I had the UMC1820 working with an Olinuxino-A64 using Armbian-buster as a
recording device under a roof outside for a year (summer/winter) under a roof
and is working great so far. [1]
alsamixer is working, but did not try to sync to external source.
The only drawback was/is, that if denbian reboots sometimes the inteface is
not recognized anymore and seems the USB-bus needs a kind of reset. After
poweroff + USB-power Off it works again.
My (urgent needed) solution: I put a relais which switch power of UMC1820 off
on reboot and on after reboot.
It seems the USB-port does not reset if power stays on, but could also be a
issue from the embedded computer.
Did anybody had such a experience ?
mfg winfried
[1] https://git.iem.at/cm/diyasb
Am Sonntag, 29. Mai 2022, 10:29:18 CEST schrieb Peter P.:
Hi list,
I am thinking of replacing my RME HDSP CardBus+Multiface after twenty years
because it has never been really stable (firmware doesn't load reliably,
multiface is sometimes randomly detected as digiface, random I/O box
disconnects locking up jackd, etc.). This is sad because it is such a
great card. Now I am looking for similar specs with a class compliant
USB connection. I am trying to avoid Motu and the newer RME devices
because I would pay a lot for (DSP/Mixer) features that would remain
inaccessible for me from within Linux. It seems, and hesitate to say so,
that the Behringer UMC1820 is the closest to my needs. Has many I/Os and
most if not all of its settings should be configurable from the boxes
hardware controls. The only thing I am wondering about is how I can tell
the card to be a digital clock source or follower. Is this something
that can be set with alsamixer perhaps? Does anyone have the card and
can confirm and report on its reliability perhaps?
Thanks!
Peter
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- ritsch(a)iem.at - http://iem.at/ritsch
- Institut fuer Elektronische Musik und Akustik
- University of Music and Dramatic Art Graz
- Tel. ++43-316-389-3510 (3170) Fax ++43-316-389-3171
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9 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
David Kastrup -
Jannis Achstetter -
Mario Lang -
nik＠parkellipsen.de -
Peter P. -
Winfried Ritsch