[Cbe-oss-dev] USB sound recording issue

[Andrew Friedley]

Thanks for the response!

Geoff Levand wrote:
> On 02/13/2009 08:28 AM, Andrew Friedley wrote:
>> I'm not sure if this is the best place for this; if I should go 
>> somewhere else let me know.
> 
> There is a Linux USB ML with USB experts, but they don't know the
> PS3 specifics:
> 
>   linux-usb at vger.kernel.org
>   http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> 
> There is also an ALSA ML, which is usually helpful.

Are you suggesting I report this problem there as well?


>> I'm trying to do basic sound (guitar) recording using a PS3 and an Art 
>> Tube MP USB preamp.  The preamp works fine for recording on Linux using 
>> an x86 PC and tools like arecord/aplay.
> 
> x86 is little endian, 32 bit.
> PS3 is big endian, 64 bit.
> 
> These differences often cause problems with audio drivers and apps.
> 
> If all bugs are fixed, then that device should work on PS3, as PS3
> has standard EHCI/OHCI USB hardware.

Understood -- FWIW, the PC was an x86_64 chip running a 64-bit only distro.

> 
>> On the PS3, the preamp works perfectly using arecord the first time.
> 
> Just to confirm, you can record some sound successfully?
> 
> And you can record as long as you like the first time?
> 

Yes, I just recorded for 60 seconds no problem, the WAV file plays back 
fine.


>> The preamp is detected as a USB audio device:
>>
>> input: Burr-Brown from TI               USB Audio CODEC  as 
>> /devices/ps3_system/sb_05/usb1/1-2/1-2.1/1-2.1:1.3/input/input1
>> input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.00 Device [Burr-Brown from TI 
>> USB Audio CODEC ] on usb-sb_05-2.1
> 
> This does not say audio device, but HID.  Those words 'audio' are
> just text that came from the device.
> 
>> Any time after that though, after a few seconds I get this error:
> 
> Is anything recorded, or just an error?

No, arecord does not create an output file at all.


> The keyboard uses the same driver as your device (HID).  What about
> during the recording, does the kbd work?

Yes, during the first arecord run that works.  The keyboard stops 
working as soon as arecord exits.


> It seems to be a problem in the linux drivers (just a guess).
> 
> What about non-HID devices, like a USB mass storage device, do they
> work after the error?

I plugged in a USB stick after getting into the failed state; nothing 
showed up in dmesg and I did not get any /dev/sd* devices.


>> With my custom kernel, I went through and 
>> enabled all of the USB and ALSA verbose/debugging options.  Would it be 
>> useful to send the full dmesg log?
> 
> Yes, it is the only way forward I think.
> Also, give the output for that device from 'lsusb -v'.

Available here:

http://www.osl.iu.edu/~afriedle/dmesg.txt
http://www.osl.iu.edu/~afriedle/lsusb.txt
http://www.osl.iu.edu/~afriedle/lsusb-timeout.txt

I got output containing timeouts and other errors when running lsusb 
after running arecord (lsusb-timeout.txt).  Some output was generated in 
dmesg as well; it's included in dmesg.txt.  lsusb.txt is a run of lsusb 
-v before breaking the system.


>> Is there a fix for this?  Is there any other information I can provide?
> 
> Yes, some how, some way, it can be fixed.  The problem is figuring out
> what the exact probelm is.  I do not have that device to test with.

OK thanks for the help.  I see your other email, I'll work on testing 
those things right now.  I'm not sure I have a USB 1.0 hub, I have a 
monitor with a USB hub built into it; not sure if it's 1.0 though.  I'll 
try it.

Andrew