Re: Compatible USB Audio Interface

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On 07/25/2013 09:40 PM, Christopher Antila wrote:
On 07/25/2013 03:43 AM, Brendan Jones wrote:
On 07/25/2013 01:26 AM, profiles wrote:
Hello,

I am a musician and recently joined this mailing list. I use Fedora18
and would like to use it to create music. I am having trouble getting
off the ground as I have not identified a USB Audio Interface that is
compatible with Fedora. I have visited the ALSA soundcard matrix wiki
and a number of forums in hopes of finding a device. Unfortunately many
of the models and makes talked about are a few years old now and,
frequently, are no longer available from distributors. I imagine a few
people on this list use some sort of soundcard to test/use all of the
great software that is being created for linux users.

I am inviting suggestions from people with experience in the application
of audio hardware in the fedora environment. I am looking for a device
that uses an independent power plug, connects with usb 2.0, and has both
MIDI and analogue inputs and outputs. A device similar to this would be
great:

http://www.presonus.com/products/AudioBox-44VSL/media

As long as it is a class 2 compliant USB audio device you should have no
issues (that's USB 1.1)

There are reports of a similar device working well here:

http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7543

My Roland/Edirol UA25EX works fine here, although in advanced mode it is
not strictly a USB 1.1 device. I suggest the best place to look is the
ALSA device matrix [1] for compatibility and post an email on
linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx just to make sure - that's your
best bet.

Please , let us know how you get on

[1] http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main

Hi Occhi:

I've been shopping for a new audio interface for a couple of months now.
My requirements are similar to yours, but I also want a device with
S/PDIF support, preferably optical. Here are some general observations.

It seems like buying an audio interface is more similar to buying audio
equipment than computer equipment. You said most of the recommended
interfaces are a couple of years old, and that seems true to me too, but
I don't think that's a problem by itself. Another issue is the USB 2.0
one... if you want an interface that is going to work easily, you should
probably avoid interfaces that are "USB 2.0 only," because Linux support
tends to be weaker. If what you're looking for is something that will
work easily, I would consider buying something used. The Roland/Edirol
interface Brendan mentioned seems to be widely used and recommended.

For a while there, even this was not working for me properly in advanced mode (advanced mode gives you full 24bit/96 plus MIDI - normal mode is just class 2 1.1 compliant). The problem with USB audio devices is they are somewhat temperamental when having to share bandwidth with other USB devices. This is further complicated in laptops when your internal USB root hub is used by the webcam for example. On my desktop I ensure that the sound card is the only device on that particular bus - having a wireless mouse desktop on the same bus can cause Xruns for example. I have not tried a USB 2.0 device on linux as yet.

They are more expensive, and you may need to buy a PCI-firewire card these days, but you are less likely to have problems with a firewire device. The ffado project has a comprehensive list of devices reported to work: http://www.ffado.org/?q=devicesupport/list

Here in Germany for example there seems to be a saffire Pro 26 for only 275 euro on ebay-kleinanzeigen. It is listed as having full support by ffado.


That's not where my search ended. As it turns out, digital in-/out-puts
are a bit of an issue, and since I'm replacing another device (with
neither MIDI nor S/PDIF---this is why), I want to be sure the new device
will have superior audio characteristics. I found a device that may be
exactly what you want: the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (see link below).
People say it has excellent sound quality, it works out-of-the-box with
Linux, and it's a USB 2.0 device with MIDI ports. To get the S/PDIF
outputs, I think I'm going to get the similar 6i6 model. The 6i6 is
apparently a bit of a struggle to set up, but somebody has to do the
testing, and it might as well be me.

http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i4
It seems to have almost the exact same specs as the UA25EX. Does anyone have any experience with the 6i6 or 18i18 models? They are still pretty affordable here at 248 and 348 euros respectively. Hmmm, very interested.

As always, I'm curious to know about other people's experiences.

Look I'm really interested in peoples experience with there USB devices that have more than two ins and outs. I haven't tried one as yet but will be on the market for a new interface soon. I am using a cheap Behringer UCA 202 when I need an extra out for monitoring (but that's not recording, just useful for DJing at parties ;)


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