With a bunch of debian packages, I was able to get Audacity to work.
Known bugs:
Playback/recording will halt if focus is lost
For recording to work, you need to change recording device to hw:0,1 and input device must be configured in xfce4-mixer.
Ok, so I tried to get recording to work... without success, so far. Can this use the Pandora's inbuilt mic? Is the xfce mixer the one that's on the taskbar? If so, how do I select an input device? I don't see an option for it.
I also tried to connect a Zoom H2 recorder by USB, but the Pandora didn't recognize it. I had really been hoping that I'd be able to use the H2 to do some multitrack recording in Audacity.
in mixer controls choose 'select controls' and then tick 'left input source' and 'right input source'
thne in the main screen you should get a new tab called 'options'
her now choose for left inpout source - main mic
and for right input source - line in
the recording does not do proper stereo and there is a lot of noise
Thanks a lot peelie, I got it to work by following your instructions. It actually sounds pretty good to me - not too noisy. The sensitivity seems to be set very low by default... do you know how to raise it?
I'm not surprised by the fact that it's not stereo - after all, the Pandora's mic is a tiny hole in its case. I just set Audacity preferences (in Edit) to record mono.
Is there some place where I could learn about how to set these things up - basically, how that Xfce mixer works? I suspect that it might be possible to get it to recognize my Zoom H2 recorder, if only I knew what I was doing.
I've only set it up in Windows before.
EDIT: Ok, there's some information on the wiki... going to study it and then try again. If it's not too much trouble, could someone explain what the "left" and "right" input sources do, exactly?
EDIT2: I'm not sure, but I think Audacity crashed. It happened not when I was recording but when I was opening the mixer. Out file:
Code:
=======================================================================================
PND_SCRIPT : pnd_run.sh
PND_ARGS : -p /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/menu//audacity.pnd -e ./run -b audacity
PND : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/menu//audacity.pnd
PND_FSTYPE : Squashfs
APPDATADIR : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/audacity
APPDD_FSTYPE : vfat
PND_CPUSPEED : <unset>
EXENAME : ./run
ARGUMENTS : <unset>
=======================================================================================
[13h25m50 START ]=== Mount the PND ==================================================
[13h25m50 INFO ] Mounting : mount -t squashfs "/dev/loop1" "/mnt/pnd/audacity"
[13h25m51 INFO ] Mounting the Union FS : mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs="/media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/audacity=rw+nolwh":"/mnt/pnd/audacity=rr" none "/mnt/utmp/audacity"
[13h25m51 SUCCESS ]=== Mount the PND ==================================================
[13h25m52 START ]=== Starting the application (./run ) ==============================
[13h25m54 INFO ] ./audacity: /usr/lib/libjpeg.so.62: no version information available (required by /mnt/utmp/audacity/lib/libwx_gtk2u_core-2.8.so.0)
[13h25m54 INFO ] ./audacity: /usr/lib/libjpeg.so.62: no version information available (required by /mnt/utmp/audacity/lib/libtiff.so.4)
[13h57m58 INFO ] ././run: line 5: 7051 Killed ./audacity
[13h57m58 FAILED ]=== Starting the application (./run ) ==============================
[13h57m59 START ]=== uMount the PND =================================================
[13h58m00 WARNING ] Found /dev/loop2 loop as unused. flushing
[13h58m00 INFO ] cleanup done
[13h58m00 SUCCESS ]=== uMount the PND =================================================
=======================================================================================
Return code is : 1
Is that a crash? Maybe I hit something by accident...
Doesn't look like a crash, more like an emergency landing. iirc anything but return code 0 indicates an error, too bad we don't have any error message to link it too.
By the way, where does it store the recordings before they are saved by the user? Not on NAND I hope...? That might mean that the length of your recordings is quite limited...
The Zoom H2 is supposedly "Linux compatible". When I plug it into Pandora's USB slot, it turns on. I set it to record mode (rather than storage), then it just says "loading" forever.
Will the Pandora, in principle, accept microphones other than the internal one?
Ok, after connecting the Zoom H2 recorder (and selecting "Audio I/F" instead of "Storage" on its screen) I typed this into the terminal:
dmesg | grep -i usb
and got this:
Code:
[ 12.865417] usbmon: debugfs is not available
[ 12.876098] ehci-omap ehci-omap.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[ 12.898498] ehci-omap ehci-omap.0: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00, driver 10 Dec 2004
[ 12.906524] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 12.912292] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 13.024200] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[ 13.031005] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[ 13.038330] usb usb1: Product: OMAP-EHCI Host Controller
[ 13.043701] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.27.46-omap1 ehci_hcd
[ 13.049926] usb usb1: SerialNumber: ehci-omap.0
[ 13.054595] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 13.059631] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 13.065734] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 13.070495] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
[ 13.669616] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 13.675262] usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver
Now, I'm not fluent in Linux, but it seems like it's registering it as a mass storage device rather than a recording device.
EDIT: If I try reattaching it and selecting "storage" instead of "audio I/F", it acts exactly the same, and this line gets added:
Code:
[ 2135.625152] hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2
recording sound worked for me after I increased the buffer from 100ms to 1000ms and setting the latency corretction from -130ms to -1300ms (I just added a zero each, no idea if these settings are optimal).
Before changing that, the recording only worked for like 9sec (33kbit, mono) then suddenly stopped.
I can also change focus, close the pandora lid and use other programs without disrupting the recording!
One thing I had problems with is changing the tmp folder: if you have an ext formatted SD card you need to make sure that everyone (i.e. audacity) has writing permissions. On my fat32 card I could not change the tmp folder, Audacity did not save my changes and lost the dir on restart (the pnd of audacity is located on the ext3 SD card).
It finally managed to set the tmp folder to SDext3/pandora/recs.
Setting the tmp folder to /pandora/appdata/audacity/tmp as a standard would be a good idea, as it help linux noobs like myself to record things without too much hassle. The standard location on the NAND is not a good idea and has to be changed manually atm.
Good job and thx a lot! I was really looking forward to getting Audacity on my Pandora and you did it! yay!
Something else that would be very nice, and simple to fix...
Please make it so that the default saving & loading location for project files is the appdata/audacity directory, not the NAND... and yes, keeping temporary files in that directory by default would be nice as well (unless there's a good reason not to - is there one?).
In other news, I had a bit of a problem with saving project files today.
I had been recording some multitrack audio and had about 10 overlapping tracks. When I tried to save it, it would not let me, saying that there was no room (which didn't make sense to me since I had several gigabytes free on my SD card, at least... and yes, I did select the SD card when I was saving, not the NAND directories). Finally, it let me save a "compressed" file to my SD, which means it converted all the tracks to OGG first. BUT I later found out that it had only saved 8 out of the 10 tracks that I had made.
Frustrating... any idea what went wrong?
This is also about the time that I had Xfe crash on me when I tried to confirm that I did, in fact, have enough room on my SD card. Here's the out file from that:
Code:
=======================================================================================
PND_SCRIPT : pnd_run.sh
PND_ARGS : -p /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/menu/System//xfe.pnd -e scripts/xfe.sh -b xfe
PND : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/menu/System//xfe.pnd
PND_FSTYPE : Squashfs
APPDATADIR : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/xfe
APPDD_FSTYPE : vfat
PND_CPUSPEED : <unset>
EXENAME : scripts/xfe.sh
ARGUMENTS : <unset>
=======================================================================================
[14h52m56 START ]=== Mount the PND ==================================================
[14h52m56 INFO ] Mounting : mount -t squashfs "/dev/loop0" "/mnt/pnd/xfe"
[14h52m56 INFO ] Mounting the Union FS : mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs="/media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/xfe=rw+nolwh":"/mnt/pnd/xfe=rr" none "/mnt/utmp/xfe"
[14h52m57 SUCCESS ]=== Mount the PND ==================================================
[14h52m57 START ]=== Starting the application (scripts/xfe.sh ) =====================
[14h53m18 INFO ] df: unrecognized option '--block-size=1'
[14h53m19 INFO ] BusyBox v1.13.2 (2010-06-27 17:35:25 CEST) multi-call binary
[14h53m19 INFO ]
[14h53m20 INFO ] Usage: df [-Pkmhai] [-B SIZE] [FILESYSTEM...]
[14h53m20 INFO ]
[14h53m20 INFO ] Print filesystem usage statistics
[14h53m21 INFO ]
[14h53m21 INFO ] Options:
[14h53m22 INFO ] -P POSIX output format
[14h53m22 INFO ] -k 1024-byte blocks (default)
[14h53m23 INFO ] -m 1M-byte blocks
[14h53m23 INFO ] -h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
[14h53m24 INFO ] -a Show all filesystems
[14h53m24 INFO ] -i Inodes
[14h53m25 INFO ] -B SIZE Blocksize
[14h53m26 INFO ]
[14h53m26 INFO ] /usr/pandora/scripts/pnd_run.sh: line 387: 4427 Segmentation fault "./$EXENAME" $ARGUMENTS
[14h53m27 FAILED ]=== Starting the application (scripts/xfe.sh ) =====================
[14h53m27 START ]=== uMount the PND =================================================
[14h53m28 INFO ] cleanup done
[14h53m28 SUCCESS ]=== uMount the PND =================================================
=======================================================================================
Return code is : 1
EDIT:
And yes, I tried once again to save a project file, and it doesn't work. This is the error message it gives:
"Could not save project. Perhaps /media/mmcblk0p1/001b is not writable or the disk is full."
If it helps, I'm using the fat32 file system.
@Alerino, thanks! Looks like I'll need to go shopping for a hub.
@zapman, there's a nice tutorial about Latency in Audacity over here. There's also a nice video tutorial over here about a related issue.
Okay, I went out and bought a USB hub, and I can confirm that the Zoom H2 recorder works now, and can record stereo into Audacity (you have to set both "left input source" and "right input source" to "line-in" in the Xfce mixer settings, and in Audacity you need to go to Edit->Preferences, select the USB audio device in "devices", and make sure recording is set to "stereo").
It seems to be possible to use it without an external power source supplying power to the USB hub. Although I think it may be on the limit of what the Pandora can supply in terms of power supply, because I noticed very faint horizontal bands slowly moving across the Pandora's screen when it was plugged in. Is that a dangerous sign? According to the spec, it draws 300mA.
Could anyone who has an ext2/3 formatted SD card please try to save a .aup file onto their SD card?
From zapman's previous post, I gather that there might be a problem with FAT file systems.
I want to figure out what I have to do to save lossless Audacity project files, so I can continue working on a project after a few days and not have my project file degrade in quality every time I save it.
If it means buying a new SD card and formatting it in ext2/3, I'll do that.
I really don't know why it behaves as it does, but if you don't want to buy another SD-card, maybe you can shrink the partition on a SD-card, create another one and format that as ext?
Maybe I'll try that... how would I do that, though?
By the way, my screen just froze up totally while using Audacity; I can only use the mouse, but can't click on anything. I was working on something and really don't want to close it, so I don't know what to do. For now, I'm just waiting and hoping that it'll unfreeze.
Is it possible that it used up all of my RAM space for recording, so now the Pandora can't do anything? The first symptom was that when playing my tracks back, it took a very long time to start. Then after a while, it played them back silently. Then it just froze.
Maybe it's possible to quit Audacity but recover the individual WAV files from the tmp folder?
The "Pandora" button still works, and brings up a pop-up of things I can close (Audacity and pnd_run.sh are running). I can't click on "cancel" in the Pandora-button popup, though; when I try to, it just flickers.
Probably out of RAM, only a matter of time before the kernel will start killing off random applications. If you where recording to /tmp, I'd say it's highly likely that you used up all RAM.
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