- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated Mar 31-9:31 am by punranger.
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punranger
Hi,
In case anyone has an old Digidesign Mbox 2 audio card that they want to use on an antiX machine, I’m here to tell you that I made it work. Digidesign is known for their hostile attitude towards Linux users, so it was great to see this actually work.
If your card has v 1.43 firmware, then the card should work right out of the box. However, if your card has an older version of the firmware, you will need to update it, and the process will be convoluted. Basically, you will need to update the firmware in Windows XP. Two different approaches have been suggested online.
The first approach involves installing Windows XP in a virtual machine. I downloaded an ISO of XP – there is one on archive,org, but I had to use an alternative source. Installing XP on VirtualBox was fine. I ran into issues with this approach, however. XP does not come with included network drivers, so you need to download the drivers on your main machine, and set up a shared folder in VirtualBox to access this file. I had problems getting the shared folder to work, so I opted for the second approach. Also, I read people having problems with connecting the USB device to the virtual machine. You might get this to work, however, if you manage to get the necessary drivers and software onto your virtual XP installation…
The second approach involved updating the firmware on an actual XP installation. I was fortunate enough to have an old hard drive with a bootable installation of XP lying around, so I booted that up. (Shouldn’t take too long to install if you have a spare drive lying around.) The I first thing I had to do was install the actual drivers for the sound card. Since it’s impossible to run a browser securely on XP, I downloaded the drivers to a USB. I found driver version 9.0.2.65 (Mar 8, 2011) for Windows on this page:
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Download/Mbox-2-Drivers
The installation went OK. Next, I installed the Mbox 2 Firmware Updater v1.43 for Windows XP, which I found here:
http://secure.digidesign.com/services/avid/kb/downloads.cfm?digiArticleId=24364
Typically, like a lot of devices on XP the installation needs to be with great care taken to start the program and plug the device in at the right time. Follow the instructions very carefully.
Finally, I was able to successfully update the firmware, and voila: The card worked right out the box in antiX 21, I just needed to run the sound card chooser in the control centre.
Furthermore, I was able to connect up the sound card with the JACK audio server, and to successfully open a session in Ardour. Ardour is available for free in the Debian repo, and I must say that I’m impressed with it. (I like Waveform Free too, but couldn’t get it working on my old box.) It has some fine native plugins, and manages to run VST too. It works great with both audio and MIDI. For MIDI, I suggest starting out with the Sitala drum plugin, and a combination of synths including ZynAddSubFx/Yoshimi, Surge, Helm, Dexed, TAL Noisemaker, Tyrell Nexus 6, and Zebralette. With very modest hardware, you can indeed make professional-sounding music in antiX. I might even post a track here one day 🙂
- This topic was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by punranger.
antiX linux: The best way to revive an old computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTaUAP6sSg
marcelocripe
Helo punranger.
Please could you include your audio card data obtained from the command “$ inxi -Fxz”?
Thank you.
punranger
$ inxi -FxzAudio: Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 Device-2: Digidesign Mbox 2 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio bus-ID: 5-2:2 Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp running: yes Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.17 running: no Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yesNote: The reason I posted this tip is that this card came out around 2007, and was quite popular, so there are several old cards around that can be had very cheap or for free. I found several posts online about people trying to make it work in Linux.
Everything works fine, but I’ve had some issues with sample rate settings in Ardour. Take care to be consistent in the sample rates you use for your audio projects. If you work with original audio recordings, it may be best to stick with the default 48 khz. If you have old 44.1 khz audio files that you want to work on, it may be wise to set the sample rate accordingly. But stick with one or the other! I’m still working on finding the most appropriate JACK settings, and I’m still using PulseAudio as the default system, as you can see. Linux audio is not straightforward! But I am very pleased that I made this all work in antiX.
antiX linux: The best way to revive an old computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTaUAP6sSg
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