1 Topic by augustl (edited by augustl 2012-03-22 11:27:53)

  • Registered: 2012-03-22
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Topic: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Disclaimer: I'm not very familiar with the world of pro audio equipment, and also not very familiar with how the Linux audio stack works.

The way I understood it, USB thumbsticks is an example where you don't need a driver. If you're a thumbstick maker, you just implement a non-proprietary interface, and then your USB  thumbstick will work on any computer that implements the freely available USB harddrive spec.

Are there some kind of standards for how USB audo interfaces work? And if there is, does the Babyface implement it? I'm fine with not being able to access the DSP effects and the EQ stuff and so on (i.e. the proprietary control panel app). As long as I get the audio MIDI, with a reasonably low latency compared to using proprietary drivers, I'm happy.

Edit: one example is USB DACs. From what I've learned, any USB dac will work on Linux, since it's standards based (apparently).

  • Jeff
  • Jeff
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

You need a Class Compliant audio interface for Linux. The Fireface UCX has a special firmware mode for this, but not the Babyface.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • Registered: 2012-03-22
  • Posts: 2

Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Jeff wrote:

You need a Class Compliant audio interface for Linux. The Fireface UCX has a special firmware mode for this, but not the Babyface.

TIL, Thanks! The Fireface UCX looks pretty nice too, perhaps I'll just get that one instead smile

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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Is it possible to have the Class Compliant mode added to the Babyface firmware?

  • Registered: 2011-01-11
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

fb_ wrote:

Is it possible to have the Class Compliant mode added to the Babyface firmware?

+1

OSCAR for Android and iOS with TotalMixFX templates: http://www.oscar-app.de
  • igny
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

After reading "11/27/2012 RME adds stand-alone and Class Compliant operation to Babyface".  Can we expected that it will works with linux?

Has anyone tested it?

Thanks a lot

  • Registered: 2012-12-10
  • Posts: 6

Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

@igny: yes, the Babyface basically works in Linux.
You have to patch the ALSA driver like described here:
http://sergey.vlasov.me/2012/09/using-f … linux.html
Unfortunately the patch disables the mixer and any other controls.
Don't know what mixer features would be available via the class compliant mode though.
In qjackctl you can access all 10 ins and 12 outs and midi.
Mic gain and out level of main and headphone out can be adjusted via the Babyface itself.
Due to the lack of the (matrix-)mixer zero-latency monitoring is not possible at the moment.

  • igny
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Thanks a lot man¡  That's a great new.

It seems easy.  You've only to hack the alsa file.  It's suposed you don't need to compile the kernel?

Thanks again :-)

  • Registered: 2012-12-10
  • Posts: 6

Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

No, only the ALSA drivers. The drivers are normally in the kernel source and therefore built with the kernel as modules.
However you can build the drivers standalone. Probably the kernel headers must be installed on your system to do so!

  • igny
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Thanks again sigma6.  Thanks a lot.:-)

  • hemat
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Re: Babyface - will it work at all? And other questions.

Jeff wrote:

You need a Class Compliant audio interface for Linux. The Fireface UCX has a special firmware mode for this, but not the Babyface.

thanx Jeff i'll try it

my link: http://bit.ly/18eCAKl
website: http://bit.ly/11fn3Fz