[Ardour-Users] Ardour Monitoring

Ralf Mardorf ralf.mardorf at alice-dsl.net
Wed Mar 29 07:31:24 PDT 2017


On Wed, 29 Mar 2017 15:56:03 +0200, Robin Gareus wrote:
>On 03/29/2017 12:00 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>And now we're getting a bit off topic..> I tested the Presonus 1818VSL
>and the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 and then
>> decided to buy the Focusrite. 
>.]  
>
>What criteria did you use to make that decision?
>
>
>I prefer the 1818VSL. Compared to the 18i6, it works more reliable at
>low latency on this system, has a lower noise-floor and latching gain
>knobs that don't wander (I only have one of each, so I can't rule out
>any manufacturing aberrance, maybe I was lucky with the 1818VSL and
>unlucky with the 18i6 -- jnoisemeter is your friend). I also prefer the
>Presonus pre-amps, but that's personal taste I suppose.> However,
>hardware monitoring of both
>> audio interfaces is _not_ supported.

The original reason to chose the Focusrite was iPad 2 compatibility.
The Presonus needs an active USB hub to work for recording, while
playback didn't work at all. The Focusrite works without an USB hub,
without limitation. However, for Linux it also has one advantage that
would make me buy the Focusrite again. The Focusrite I've got is from
the 2nd generation and allows lower latency than the Presonus!
Unimportant to me: It has got 2 more analog I/Os and two individual
headphone outputs. The headphone outputs sound different crappy
than those of the Presonus, but I dislike those outputs of both devices.
If I need good headphone output, I'm using my RME card. The Focusrite
mixer for the 1st generation doesn't work with my Focusrite and I'm not
interested in experiments, to get it perhaps working, since I don't
need it. If needed hardware monitoring, I could do zero latency
hardware monitoring using an analog mixing console.

>I don't think that's true for the 1818VSL. Saving settings on the
>device never worked for me

You aren't missing something, you just misunderstood what I've written.

As already mentioned by my first reply, it doesn't work for the Presonus
but it's said that it should work for the Focusrite. I can't test it,
since I'm not using a Mac (I don't have the money for a Mac) or Windows
(I don't have the nerves for Windows outside a VM).

Alsamixer:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.1.3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Card: Scarlett 18i20 USB                                                              F1:  Help               │
│ Chip: USB Mixer                                                                       F2:  System information │
│ View: F3:[Playback] F4: Capture  F5: All                                              F6:  Select sound card  │
│ Item: ADAT Validity                                                                   Esc: Exit               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                         ┌──┐             Internal             ┌──┐               ┌──┐                         │
│                         │OO│                                  │OO│               │OO│                         │
│                         └──┘                                  └──┘               └──┘                         │
│                 <  ADAT Validity   >   Clock Source    Internal Validity   S/PDIF Validity
┌────────────────────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.1.3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Card: Scarlett 18i20 USB                                                              F1:  Help               │
│ Chip: USB Mixer                                                                       F2:  System information │
│ View: F3: Playback  F4:[Capture] F5: All                                              F6:  Select sound card  │
│ Item:                                                                                 Esc: Exit               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                                                                                                               │
│                             This sound device does not have any capture controls.                             │  

[rocketmouse at archlinux ~]$ uname -a
Linux archlinux 4.9.18-rt14-1-rt-pussytoes #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Tue Mar 28 15:07:55 CEST 2017 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Regards,
Ralf

-- 
"Michael" described Floyd as "an idiot savant", and added, "Give him
any two numbers, and he can multiply them in his head, just like that."
Homer, testing Floyd, said, "Five times nine", and Floyd instantly
responded "Forty-five", which impressed Homer.



More information about the Ardour-Users mailing list