Gitarové fórum A.D. 9.1.2004

Ubuntu Studio, JACK, and Fast Track

Buoyed by our success with the KeyStudio, we set up Fast Track USB, but this time we didn't get far. The unit's power LED lights up when plugged in, and the unit is correctly recognized by JACK and listed as Fast Track in the interface list. A problem with any audio recording on a computer is that the PC's other activities can interrupt the smooth flow of data, resulting in pops and pauses. On Linux systems these are known as Xruns, and JACK will let you know if you are suffering from them. Fast Track didn't cause any, which is good, but we were not able to record any audio in Audacity, Rosegarden, or Ardour. Out of the three, Audacity was the only one that gave any indication that something was wrong, telling us to check our interface settings whenever we attempted recording. Rosegarden and Ardour didn't throw up any errors at all, they just failed to capture or transmit any audio to or from the Fast Track.

There is an open source driver for M-Audio USB interfaces, but unsurprisingly it hasn't been updated for the recently released Fast Track yet. Until it is, it doesn't look like we'll be using Fast Track on Linux.