Setting up an M-Audio FireWire Solo with Ubuntu/Linux…

***IMPORTANT UPDATE: one of our readers has advised that recent versions of the firmware for the FireWire Solo are responsible for issues relating to an inability to get sound output from the unit in Linux. If you encounter this issue, and have already tried the suggestions in the Comments section, please consider changing your firmware version to FW_WDM_5.10.0.5036.exe (the last known good version – many thanks, laban!)

You can find it here (opens in new window):

Please also note that you shouldn’t have to update or install any firmware – it ought to work out of the box.***

***UPDATE: we’ve received some feedback from the good people at M-Audio, who have advised against leaving the unit plugged in: “…we advise against using the AC power adapter when bus power is available; this often causes problems and can possibly damage the device.” Our previous instructions to leave the unit plugged in have therefore been deleted.***

I’ve responded to a number of questions as to how to get the M-Audio Firewire Solo recording interface up and running with Ubuntu/Linux. The Firewire Solo is a device which allows one to connect a microphone or guitar/instrument to a firewire input on your computer and allows for excellent transfer rates and low latency.

I’ve promised to put together complete instructions, so, at long last, here they are. If you have any questions/ issues/ suggestions/ comments or selected curse words, please feel free to comment below.

Before starting, I’d highly recommend installing the real time kernel if you want to get the lowest latency possible – you can find the kernel in the multiverse repository of Ubuntu’s Synaptic Package Manager as “linux-rt”.

The first thing you’ll need to do is get the JACK Audio Connection Kit and the qjackctl graphical interface. JACK is a tool which allows you to route sound signals to and from various applications, while qjackctl is a simple way to control JACK instead of using the command line. If they aren’t available from your distro (Ubuntu has them in the Multimedia (universe) repository and you can simply install them using Synaptic Package Manager) you can get them here:

• http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net/
• http://jackaudio.org/

You’ll also need QT4 (Ubuntu repository: “libqt4-core”) and freebob (Ubuntu universe repository under “libfreebob0” – that last digit is a zero; NOTE: freebob support is now built into JACK, so you can skip installing it unless, for some bizarre reason, you insist on using an old version of JACK):

• http://www.trolltech.org/products/qt/
• http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=117802

We’re also going to use Ardour to test/troubleshoot the M-Audio Firewire Solo, so you’ll need to install that. Ardour is an excellent digital audio workstation that works great with the Solo to create super-low latency recordings. Ubuntu users can get it via Synaptic (universe repository) – just search for “ardour”, mark it for installation and hit the “Apply” button. If you’re using a distribution that doesn’t make ardour available, you can download it here:

• http://ardour.org/download

And, one last program you’ll want: gscanbus. This is a program you can use to reset your firewire bus if you run into problems – I’ve found it invaluable. Ubuntu users can find it in the universe repository and install it using Synaptic. Others can find it here:

• http://freshmeat.net/projects/gscanbus/

Next you need to make the following change to add your user name to the “disk” group so that you’ll be able to get a 1394 handle (read: so you’re able to use the firewire port):

# useradd -G disk username

replacing your user name in “username”.

In order to run JACK with real time priority without being root, you’ll need to edit your /etc/security/limits.conf file. Open a terminal and type:

#sudo gedit /etc/security/limits.conf

That’ll bring up a text editor showing the contents of limits.conf. Add the following to the end of the file (but before the line “End of file” – that should remain the last line) and save it:

@audio – rtprio 99
@audio – memlock unlimited
@audio – nice -10

This allows the audio group the ability to get a priority of 99, allows it to use all the memory (you can use finite number if you want, expressed in bytes (ie: “512000”)), and makes it very unlikely to share resources (the lower the nice number the more CPU time a process gets). (**Thanks to Minghio for noticing I’d missed this important step!**).

OK, now you’re ready to start hooking up the FireWire Solo. Run a firewire cable from the back of your FireWire Solo to a firewire port on your computer. ***EDIT: we’ve received some feedback from the good people at M-Audio, who have advised against leaving the unit plugged in: “…we advise against using the AC power adapter when bus power is available; this often causes problems and can possibly damage the device.” Our previous instructions to leave the unit plugged in have therefore been deleted.***

Next, you’ll need to make a decision about what you’re going to route the output of the FireWire Solo to. There are several options: you can run a S/PDIF cable from the Out socket on the back of the Solo to the input of a receiver; you can run balanced outputs to an amp; you can connect a cable to the headphone output on the front of the Solo unit and run that to the sound card line-in input on your computer or you can simply use headphones – your call.

Once you’ve hooked up your output, plug a guitar or a mike or what have you into the Solo’s front panel. Make sure the “Input Select” button on the front of the Solo is in the out position (ie “front” is selected). Set the input dial to 3/4 and the output dial to 1/2.

Start up qjackctl. If you’ve installed it via Synaptic it should appear under the Sound & Video sub-menu of the Applications menu. Otherwise, you can simply type the following into a console:

#qjackctl

Click the “Setup…” button on the qjackctl panel and you’ll see the “Settings” page. Here are the settings you’ll want to select to get the M-Audio FireWire Solo up and running – you’ll be adjusting these later:

• Server Path: /usr/bin/jackd
• Driver: freebob
• Interface: hw:0 (<–that’s a zero)
• Audio: duplex
• Input Latency: 0
• Output Latency: 0
• Realtime: check this box so an “X” appears
• Priority: 89
• Frames/Period: 256
• Sample Rate: 48,000
• Periods/Buffer: 3
• Port Maximum: 256
• Timeout (msec): 2000
• Start Delay (secs): 2
• Verbose Messages: check this box so an “X” appears

This will result in a latency of 16 ms, fairly high but you can reduce this later, once the M-Audio FireWire Solo is up and running. Click the “OK” button, closing the Setup menu. You’ll have to restart JACK for the settings to take effect: click the “Stop” button, then the “Start” button. Now click the “Messages” button so you can monitor the output of JACK, and also click the “Connections” button – this is where you can connect inputs and outputs of different applications to route them through JACK.

A word about latency: the formula for latency is:

Frames per Period X Periods per Buffer
Sample Rate

With our settings above therefore, it is 256 X 3 / 48000 = 0.016 secs or 16 ms.

Now a word about X-Runs: X-Runs occur when either there’s too much data flowing into your buffers and the buffers get overwhelmed or there’s not enough data flowing into the buffers and the program find the buffers empty. You want to avoid X-Runs at all costs – they cause popping and other noises in your recordings and just generally wreak havoc. Your goal should be to get the latency as low as possible without causing X-Runs. How low can you get it? On my set up the latency is 2 ms round trip and 0.7 ms one way to Ardour. The human ear can’t detect anywhere near there, but it’ll probably pick up the 16 ms we’re using for now.

OK, start up Ardour: if you used Synaptic it should appear under the Sound & Video sub-menu of the Applications menu. Otherwise, you can simply type the following into a console:

#ardour2

In the dialogue box, type “test” and click the “OK” button. The Ardour editor will appear. Click “Session” at the top left of the menu bar and select “Add Track/ Bus”, then click “+Add”. You now have a track to use for testing purposes.

If all has gone well, the connections box should now look like this:

If the connection box doesn’t show the connections, you’ll have to connect manually: simply click “ardour” on the left, then “freebob_pcm” (the name may vary), then click “Connect”. Also click “freebob_pcm” on the left and “ardour” on the right and again click “Connect”.

Now in Ardour, click the red record dot on the track you added (Audio 1, left side of Ardour’s screen) and the master record button at the top of Ardour:

Now click “Windows” in the menu bar and select “Show Mixer” – this will allow you to confirm your signal is making it through JACK.

OK, pick up your microphone/ guitar/ whatever and make some noise!

Do you hear anything? Does the level meter in the mixer window show any signal? If so, you’re good to go! Now you can go back to the Setup menu in qjackctl and start experimenting with reducing the latency – start by lowering the Frames/Period and testing for X-Runs. Other options to change (see explanation of latency above) are the Periods/Buffer (decrease this) and the Sample Rate (increase this).

If not, here are some common errors and their solution:

1) JACK won’t start and displays the error message:

15:39:14.900 Could not connect to JACK server as client. Please check the messages window for more info.

-Here’s where gscanbus comes in handy to reset your firewire bus. In a terminal console type:

#gscanbus

A box will pop up showing your firewire connections. Click “Control” and select “Force Bus Reset”. Now start up qjackctl and it should work.

2) The message window of qjackctl shows numerous X-Runs.

-Stop qjackctl, open the Setup window and change your settings to increase the latency. Try changing the Frames/Period to 1024 or reduce the sample rate to 44,100 and then restart qjackctl. Experiment with lowering the settings to find the lowest latency you can get without any X-Runs. Here’s a screenshot of my setup, which is rock-solid (I can leave it up for days on end without ever encountering an X-Run):

My computer is an AMD X2 6400+ (3.2Ghz) with 4GB RAM (at CAS latencies of 4-4-4-12). The OS and Ardour are on one HDD while recordings go onto 2 X 320GB Seagate drives in a RAID 0 array.

3) The mixer window in Ardour shows a signal but no sound comes out.

– Click “Options” from Ardour’s menu bar, select “Monitoring” and pick “Software Monitoring”.

4) Ardour’s mixer window shows nothing in the level meter while playing your instrument.

– Check the “Connections” box in qjackctl and make sure you have Ardour (“ardour”) connected to the Solo (“freebob_pcm” – may vary) and the Solo connected to Ardour. Expand each of the connections and make sure that you’re using the correct input (the guitar plug on the front of the FireWire Solo should be the second input); also ensure your outputs are connected properly in the right window: if you’re using S/PDIF, the connections from Ardour should go into the S/PDIF outputs in freebob_pcm (these should be the lower 2 connections). Otherwise, use the top 2 connections.

If your connections are OK and you’re still not getting sound, plug some headphones into the front of the FireWire Solo unit. Do you hear anything in the headphones? If so, check the physical connections between the outputs of the Solo and your receiver/ amp/ etc.

-If you don’t hear anything in the headphones, try cranking up the input dial on the front of the Solo and play your instrument (suggest you remove the headphones first – ear damage happens quickly and permanently) – does the clip light on the front of the Solo come on? If not, check the cable between your instrument and the FireWire Solo unit.

If none of that works, please leave a message in the comment box explaining your situation and I’ll try to help as best I can.

Please feel free to leave any comments/ suggestions/ corrections and happy recording!