constant cracking/static sound with M-Audio 1010lt ?!!

[davedionl]

Hi everyone !

I'm new here  I was using Ubuntu before, but now I turned my self to AV-linux ...
with Ubuntu I had this cracking sound and now I'm having this same noise with AV-linux
I don't know what's the problem ...
I tried different latency in Jack but doesn't seem to make a difference
here come a little bit of my configuration :

Intel Core i3 (3.2ghz)
4 GB ram
Nvidia GeForce GT 220
M-Audio Delta 1010lt

AV-linux 5.0.2

/proc/interrupts :

           CPU0       CPU1       CPU2       CPU3       
  0:        120          8          2          6   IO-APIC-edge      timer
  1:          1          0          1          0   IO-APIC-edge      i8042
  4:          0          1          1          1   IO-APIC-edge   
  5:          0          0          0          0   IO-APIC-edge      parport0
  8:          0          1          0          0   IO-APIC-edge      rtc0
  9:          0          0          0          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   acpi
 12:          2          0          0          2   IO-APIC-edge      i8042
 16:     112715     113018     112876     113229   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb1, mei, hda_intel
 17:          9         10          8          8   IO-APIC-fasteoi
 18:          0          0          0          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ata_generic
 19:      25453      25435      25612      25543   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ata_piix, ata_piix
21:     598345     597928     598097     597631   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ICE1712                 <-- M-Audio 1010lt
 23:      48179      48292      48118      48271   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb2
 41:       8120       8149       8128       8136   PCI-MSI-edge      eth0
 42:          7          7          8          9   PCI-MSI-edge      hda_intel
 43:        160        146        143        158   PCI-MSI-edge      nouveau

I don't know if that one can help ... but anyway

I'm kind of despair  so I hope it will ring a bell to someone ... thank you

In the next hour I'll try my TASCAM US 122 just to see if it's the same ... I'll come back with that answer

[GMaq]

Hi,

We must shop at the same store, I also have a US-122 and a 1010LT. Is the crackling on recording or playback?

[davedionl]

hehe that's funny 

both ... in and out example :
if I record something from my Korg microstation (don't say to me that you got a microstation too  )from the analog input of the 1010lt when I playblack the crackle are there
and if I use Swami to play a SF2 it crackle to

by the way, I couldn't start the US122 in jack the ok button in the setup stay grey !? I mean I can't press on it ...

[davedionl]

I found that I'm not the only one who got that kind of problem
on http://alsa.opensrc.org/Ice1712 they talking about it
I tried those tips they give but none of them worked

in BIOS in PCI latency Timer: I set the higher value possible
So I did "echo 00000001 >/proc/irq/19/smp_affinity" to tell to use only the first cpu (no distribution)
I did the same with the 4 cpu

I installed the pae kernel cause I got 4gb ram ...

now I feel really tired I got my mind messed up thinking about returning on windows for my studio 

please help !!! please help !!! please help !!! please help !!! please help !!! please help !!! please help !!!

[GMaq]

Hi,

I'll have a look on my machine with the 1010Lt's later today when I get a minute and see if I can reproduce the issue and post back. Did this crackling occur when you used the LiveDVD as well or just start after you installed AV Linux?

[davedionl]

ok im on the AV linux LiveDVD right now I played with Yoshimi what a great synth !!! its just to bad that Im must play with all that crackling/static sound at the same time ....
as you understand its the same situation with the LiveDVD

... Ill distract my mind a bit for the next hours see if I can come up with a miracle idea :P


LiveDVD didnt work ... why not a fresh install ... didnt work to ... I think Im gonna put that crying smiley again ...

[GMaq]

Hi,

Well I'm afraid I can't reproduce this issue here on a machine with 2 1010LT's. I'm using a buffer of 512fpp and 2 periods/buffer at 44100k and playing back a few projects with Ardour and Renoise on both 1010LT's I'm not getting any audio artifacts or scratchy noises. Regarding your US-122 is it the older US-122 or the newer and much different US-122L?

[wyeth]

ok im on the AV linux LiveDVD right now I played with Yoshimi what a great synth !!! its just to bad that Im must play with all that crackling/static sound at the same time ....
as you understand its the same situation with the LiveDVD

... Ill distract my mind a bit for the next hours see if I can come up with a miracle idea :P


LiveDVD didnt work ... why not a fresh install ... didnt work to ... I think Im gonna put that crying smiley again ...

Get a notepad, take notes, remove all peripherals but mouse/keyboard, and go in the bios, and disable everything like bluetooth, webcam, network, power management, cpu scaling. If you have a separate video card,  pull it and use the motherboard video. If its pci video card, try swapping slots with the 1010, and use a standard video resolution like 1280x1024. If there are multiple hard-disks, disconnect them, and use just the boot drive.
Try boot options noapic nolapic and noioapic, one at a time. I there is a wonky interrupt corrupting timing,
one of these might modify it.    Must put a fork in the evil one

Speaking of timing, try a puppy studio live cd, it is one of few distros
with an RT kernel, from a puppy forum:

Thought you might like to know that this iso (377.92mb) is available for download now, with 10wt3ch's permission:
www.puppylinuxstuff.meownplanet.net/10wt3ch/PuppyStudio3.3-rt.iso

[trulan]

...if it's really an RT kernel you are after, there are several available here, ready to install in AVLinux:
http://www.bandshed.net/kernels/
And while they are relatively old (in Linux terms), they are built from the same upstream Linux sources as Puppy Studio's kernel.  Two warnings though:  Using firewire on these kernels will require some system modifications, and the NVidia drivers will not work with the 2.6.33-RT kernels without some patching to the driver.

Actually, go ahead and try one of the RT kernels, it may be worth a shot.  It would at least be an informative test.

[davedionl]

Thanks for your reply.

So I'll try to remove everything in my system one by one if it don't work I'll try a rt kernel on AV Linux ... but at the same I'll try the puppy studio on my old laptop: just to take a look

EDIT :

so every thing is disconnected from my computer no usb except my mouse and keyboard, I took my Nvidia out of my box; connected my screen to the motherboard VGA out
still getting the noise grrrrrrrrrrrr.... ill go with the rt-kernel now (already installed it) and Ill reset the BIOS to default value by the way and Ill come back with the result ...

its a negative result

[GMaq]

Hi,

Is there any chance or possibility of trying the 1010LT in a different computer with the AV Linux LiveDVD?, that would at least help rule out if it is the actual 1010LT itself or something to do with your current other hardware. If as you say this problem also occurs in Ubuntu than it seems a bit more likely to be a hardware issue than a software issue, although ALSA drivers in both Debian and Ubuntu are virtually identical since Ubuntu uses Debian and many of the deep core packages are shared between the two.

[wyeth]

Thanks for your reply.

So I'll try to remove everything in my system one by one if it don't work I'll try a rt kernel on AV Linux ... but at the same I'll try the puppy studio on my old laptop: just to take a look

EDIT :

so every thing is disconnected from my computer no usb except my mouse and keyboard, I took my Nvidia out of my box; connected my screen to the motherboard VGA out
still getting the noise grrrrrrrrrrrr.... ill go with the rt-kernel now (already installed it) and Ill reset the BIOS to default value by the way and Ill come back with the result ...

its a negative result

just a heads up, sometimes the systems 'bios reset defaults' option is not optimized for
every resellers system. If you notice any performance irregularities, take a quick tour and look for oddities.  

can you post your .jackdrc ?

[Rock And Roll Over]

Is your computer properly grounded? Are there any electrical issues where your system is set up?

[wyeth]

Is your computer properly grounded? Are there any electrical issues where your system is set up?

I was getting weird noise awhile back, and it turned out my wife had installed a bunch
of the new poisonous flourescent lightbulbs,  in a chandelier fixture with a dimmer, if it was on
at the same time as any other flourescent fixture, it was a real squeelfest. So I stocked
up on a few dozen of the regular lightbulbs.

[iliverez]

Hi,

Well I'm afraid I can't reproduce this issue here on a machine with 2 1010LT's. I'm using a buffer of 512fpp and 2 periods/buffer at 44100k and playing back a few projects with Ardour and Renoise on both 1010LT's I'm not getting any audio artifacts or scratchy noises. Regarding your US-122 is it the older US-122 or the newer and much different US-122L?

Is this tested with AVLinux 5.02? I wonder if there is a regression in newer kernels. My brother has an audiophile 2496 (ICE1712 based) which has many problems even in simple playback. The PC is running ubuntu (natty and then oneiric). I have tried it with LXDE and the low latency kernel from kxstudio PPAs without any success. I was using this card myself in the past with AVLinux4 and I had no problems at all. The other possible problem in my brother's case is that maybe there is an issue with the integrated graphics card, nvidia 8200 I think, because even just moving the mouse makes things worse. The same PC behaves much better with the internal HDA interface.

[davedionl]

can you post your .jackdrc ?

Ill post it tomorrow

and I'll try to shutdown every little electric thing in the house see if the noise still go on ...
and I'll try my sound card in a windows environment
(never had a windows on this computer so I don't even know if that card is in good shape - its brand new do - )

to wyeth

Try boot options noapic nolapic and noioapic, one at a time.

what are those setting where can I try them ... I'll Google that anyway

And I'll try the PuppyLinux Live cd as well ... already tried it on my old compaq laptop everything was fine
right now I'm installing AV linux on that laptop

I'll come back tomorrow with all those tests and results

thank you all

[trulan]

Boot options:  At the grub boot menu, instead of hitting 'enter' to boot, hit 'e' to edit the boot command.  Navigate to the line that looks something like this:

Code:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.6-avl-5 root=UUID=a7143c0d-bc4c-4865-a408-6cbfd63c5809 ro  threadirqs transparent_hugepage=never quiet

...and add your desired boot option in the end part among the boot options already there by default, like this:

Code:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.6-avl-5 root=UUID=a7143c0d-bc4c-4865-a408-6cbfd63c5809 ro  threadirqs noapic transparent_hugepage=never quiet

...then hit <ctrl>x to boot.  If you find a boot option that helps, you can then set grub to put it there automatically.  But I'll save the instructions on that for if and when you need them.

[davedionl]

Ok sry i'm late :P

so I tried noapic nolapic et no noioapic ; nolapic (thanks trulan for the little How to) seems to make a little difference ... but really not enough :S
I tried the Puppy studio 3.3 rt liveDVD it don't make any difference
and I install windblows 7 and guess what !? it's worst !!!
so I made an update on my bios ... by the way my motherboard is the Intel 5 serie DH55TC
I didn't stop by see if there is new options but I'll do it soon as a reboot

I closed all electrical stuff in my house (did it with the electric main panel) wasn't the problem
next step : install my M-audio Delta 1010lt on another pc (PIII 1000mhz, 512 mb ram, running on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04)
I'll come back later with the result ...

Now for the moment I wanna use my Tascam US 122 (pas la US 122L) but jack don't wan't to start

19:57:20.650 JACK démarre...
19:57:20.651 /usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:0 -r48000 -p1024 -n2
jackd 0.121.3
Copyright 2001-2009 Paul Davis, Stephane Letz, Jack O'Quinn, Torben Hohn and others.
jackd comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
19:57:20.673 JACK a été démarrer avec le PID=3248.
JACK compiled with System V SHM support.
loading driver ..
apparent rate = 48000
creating alsa driver ... hw:0|hw:0|1024|2|48000|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
control device hw:0
configuring for 48000Hz, period = 1024 frames (21.3 ms), buffer = 2 periods
ALSA: final selected sample format for capture: 24bit little-endian
ALSA: use 2 periods for capture
ALSA: final selected sample format for playback: 24bit little-endian
ALSA: use 2 periods for playback
ALSA: could not start playback (Broken pipe)
DRIVER NT: could not start driver
cannot start driver
19:57:22.832 Impossible de connecter le serveur JACK comme client. - L'opération a échoué. - Incapable de se connecter au serveur. Veuillez consulter la fenêtre des messages pour plus d'informations.
19:57:25.534 JACK s'arrête...
DebugModuleManager::unregisterModule: Could not unregister DebugModule (                                                   
19:57:26.287 JACK a été arrêté avec succès.
19:57:26.953 JACK a planté.

sorry for some french in that ... I don't even know why it's in french

I'll look around for that US122 problem ...

[wyeth]

http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/manuals/Delta1010LT-Manual.pdf

Hi, have you checked and tested the jumper locations mentioned in the docs?

[davedionl]

No I didn't try those jumper cuz I didn't think it was relevant at the time (it's for the power that go tru the XLR input; that I don't use for the moment)
but now everything could be relevant !! I'm so desperate about this card

didn't try it in another computer yet ...

Now I think I'm gonna concentrate on my music for some days ... now that I got my US122 working

at worst I'm gonna call M-Audio to ear what they gonna say about it ....

Now I need to install my Zoom H4N on my AV linux laptop ... Gmaq do you have a H4N too :P

[JMac]

Hi,

I have a Zoom H4n which is a very handy unit.  However, it is based on USB2 and does not work well via USB on Linux.  However, there is a verdy simple work-around - simply connect the line out into your computer's line in.  The audio signal will run through your onboard soundcard and the Zoom acts as a microphone.

I have had good success with this setup, even on my little Netbook which is very slow.

Good luck,

JMac

[davedionl]

Hey tks Jmac that's a good work around ... i'll use this solution if I don't find any ...

I made some fast search on google and it seems like some people have been able to use the H4N as a USB sound card in full duplex mode with jack ... I'll try that later and I'll give you some feedback

[JMac]

Hi,

Before, I was able to get the Zoom to work via USB but the latency was very high given it is USB2.  Thus, the workaround I suggested where the on-board soundcard works much faster.

JMac

[davedionl]

I'm back :P
ok so I got some development about that problem ... it's not the card
I called M-Audio and spoke with a tech he made me turn off the c-state and c2 state in the bios and guess what
everything is fine ... under windows
under linux ... same problem as usual

so now that I know this I'm confused !?

I don't want to end up using LMMS in windows and certainly don't want to end up buying a new audio card

by the way my US122 got a lot of xrun and big time xrun ... even when I play mp3 I don't know if there a link between those problem

[linuxdsp]

From the 'fix' that you describe (under windows) it seems this is related to processor power saving states (P-states and C-states).  I'm no expert on this, but as far as I know the C-states (one which you disabled in the BIOS) are power saving states the processor can switch to when its idle.  In the C0 state the processor is working, in any other C state it is 'idle' with higher numbered C states representing a deeper level of 'sleep'. IIRC these are part of the ACPI standard.

This is an 'educated guess' but it might be that Windows uses a different way to control the processor performance / power usage and therefore respects the limits set in the BIOS.  Whereas it may also be that the linux kernel CPU performance / power governor works by a different route and therefore has no knowledge of the limits you set in the BIOS.

(I've had experience of on-board sound chips which could be rendered invisible to Windows by disabling in the BIOS, yet which were still visible to the linux kernel)

You may need to make sure your system is configured not to step CPU frequency etc, e.g. have the CPU power / speed governor set to 'performance' which should keep it running at full speed all the time.  This is generally recommended for stable operation with JACK (although different sound cards are more / less sensitive to this - the buffer settings will also have an effect).

[davedionl]

Thank you
I already tried to set the cpu to performance with the little icon at the right but it don't change anything and of course I tried about all the latency/buffer size imaginable form 256 to 2056 ; I tried from 44 100 khz to 96 000; I even force the 16 bit ; It just don't make any difference

That's so weird !! I mean I got a pretty good system; last intel technology i3core (dual at 3.20 Ghz) 4 GB RAM ; i mean it's not supposed to be a performance issue

  HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!
ok sry just a little screaming for help :P

[linuxdsp]

That's so weird !! I mean I got a pretty good system; last intel technology i3core (dual at 3.20 Ghz) 4 GB RAM ; i mean it's not supposed to be a performance issue

Exactly - it puzzles me that PCs have got to this situation, I mean, with more processing power than most people would ever need and what is in effect something that a few years ago would be considered a super computer, yet it still isn't possible to play audio without glitches (I could do that with no problem on a 386 25MHz many years ago, IIRC in Windows 3.1 - although I couldn't do much else with it..)

From the description of the problems you were having, and the things that seemed to fix it (in windows) I just wondered if it was related to the CPU frequency stepping or shutting down various 'idle' systems - all of which have been known to upset various JACK / soundcard combinations. Sorry it didn't help.

[varpa]

Have you checked for IRQ sharing?  If the M-Audio shares an IRQ with something else that could cause problems.  This code will list all the IRQ used by your PCI bus:

for dir in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/*; do
  device=`basename "$dir"`
  echo Checking $device
  for a in $(ls "$dir" | grep 0000) ; do
    echo -n "  ID $a has IRQ:"
    cat "$dir"/$a/irq
  done
done

[GMaq]

Hi,

I honestly have no idea what's wrong with your 1010LT, I really suggest trying it in a different computer with AV Linux or whatever Linux you'd like, it may be that the card is fine but whether it is an IRQ issue or whatever your motherboard isn't seeming terribly happy with a Linux Kernel... trying it out on a different system is the only real way to eliminate a lot of variables in this situation. Truthfully having the very latest greatest hardware is not always a guarantee for success with Linux of any kind. Hardware manufacturers to a large part have limited interest in proactively supporting Linux and because a lot of hardware drivers for Linux are either reverse engineered or created in spare time by developers there is always a lag in Linux driver support for newer motherboard technologies, it is nothing short of a miracle how well the Linux Kernel does adapt to a seemingly endless amount of varying hardware but it takes time and patience.

As far as your US-122, they work great but don't expect super low latencies from them, I routinely use mine between 512 and 1024 with 3 buffers per period with minimal rare xruns, your biggest problem is LMMS, as awesome as it may be it is well known to have extremely poor performance with JACK regardless of Linux distro, LMMS either needs very high latency settings or to be used without JACK and directly with ALSA. My guess would be you will see much better performance with your US-122 with Ardour or Qtractor. LMMS is not a good application to judge performance by.

[davedionl]

thanks Gmaq

I forgot to mentioned that I tried My 1010lt on a different box an old P3 1Ghz 512 ram running on winXP and I had the same issue but was before I called M-Audio;
I'll try it with a AVLinux Live CD soon 
And I'll try another distro too Arch Linux just for fun ....
And for LMMS ... that's so bad . I hope it's gonna be better in a newer version ; really love ardour, waiting for that 3.0 release, with midi sequencing I heard ?

varpa : thanks for that code
but I don't not what to change to make it work :S obviously I'm more newbie that you think :P

Is the result will be different of the /proc/interrupts ?