Setups Tested:
As of February 2022: Bonnie, Sid, Gloria, Ximena and I were able to successfully update our RPi 4B’s to jacktrip version 1.5.1 through various methods.
Notes by Jane Wang - my test and setup:
For the initial set up I didn’t plug any audio components in, I just wanted to get the RPi 4B up and running and Jacktrip installed.
I had bought a pre-loaded 32GB MicroSD card on Vilros, so I skipped the Set up your SD card step in the online Raspberry Pi guide https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/2 the first time I tried to boot my RPi 4B. I found that the pre-loaded MicroSD card I had bought had a version of NOOBS (the OS Installer for Raspberry Pi) that didn’t work with the Raspberry Pi 4 so I had to download the latest version of NOOBS using my Macbook running MacOS 10.10.5 (Yosemite).I added a section on how to do this as it ended up somewhat involved due to my having an old MacOS.It’s possible that one can just download the Raspberry Pi OS onto the MicroSD card but I’m not sure.
I plugged my mouse into the middle USB port of the keyboard so I would have an extra USB port free on the RPi 4B board for my audio input.
My monitor was supposed to be touch screen (7” one I got off Amazon that was advertised as being compatible https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L6WT77H/) but I saw on the Raspberry Pi forum that a lot of people were having trouble getting touch screens to work with their Raspberry Pi’s so I decided not to bother trying after it didn’t seem to work - I just plugged my monitor into one of the HDMI ports so it would function solely as a monitor.
Another issue I ran into was not being able to get audio out from the headphones output jack. I looked at the forums and was finally able to get it working by switching my monitor to the 2nd HDMI output on the board and using raspi-config in Terminal to force audio out to the headphones output.
Currently for the NowNet Arts Lab Ensemble sessions, I plug the following into the RPi 4B:
- keyboard into the lower left USB port
- Tascam 4x4 USB mixer (has own power adapter) into the upper left USB port
- monitor (has own power adapter) into the 2nd HDMI port (rightmost)
- ethernet Cat6 cable (goes out to our house router)
- RPi power supply
In an earlier test with Bonnie, I was able to connect using my Apogee USB mic (that has a built-in headphone out) in lieu of my Tascam 4x4 USB mixer, plugged into the upper left USB port of the RPi 4B.Update Feb 12, 2022: I was able to manually burn a microSD via my Macbook running MacOS 10.10.5 with the latest version of RPi OS (Release Date: January 28, 2022) and jacktrip 1.5.1
Audio Devices Tested on RPi 4B by Bonnie Kwong:
1. AKG Lyra USB Mic
USB Mic into RPi 4B using a USB cable, headphones into the USB Mic
run jackd with this command:
/usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:2 -p512 -r48000
2. TASCAM 2x2 interface
aplay -l
arecord -l
both say card 2: US2x2
run jackd with this command:
/usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:US2x2 -p512 -r48000
Audio Devices Tested on RPi 4B by Sid Gulick:
1. Pyle PDUSBPP10 (~60$ on amazon)
worked with jacktrip and Audacity
This device is a USB to XLR adapter - it has a mini trs headphone socket and a female XLR connector and can provide phantom 48v power to a condenser mic. it was plug and play with the RPi 4B; had to choose Pyle USB for the input and output in Audacity and had to adjust the levels with alsamixer but the results for recording and playing back with Audacity were satisfactory.
2. Roland ua1000 audio interface
worked with jacktrip and Audacity
3. Rosetta Stone Language Program usb headphones and mic
worked with jacktrip and Audacity
4. UGREEN USB Audio Adapter External Stereo Sound Card
worked with jacktrip and Audacity
a C-Media based device. The headphones worked right away but the mic input only worked
with a mic with a mini TRS jack and it wasn't just the jack— had an adaptor
which went from XLR to TRS and that didn't work but an old tiny electret mic worked.
Audio Devices Tested on RPi 4B by Jane Wang:
1. Tascam USB 4x4 with one mic (input one), plugged into upper left USB port of RPi 4B.
2. Apogee USB mic (has it's own headphone out), plugged into upper left USB port of RPi 4B
3. Pyle PSUSBPP10, used an SM58 mic, similar results as Sid Gulick except uncertain if the gain on mic is high enough even if boosted to the max - tested with CCRMA jackloop256 successfully and Audacity.
Note: Gloria, Ximena and I found that using jackd (version 1.9.12) generates errors if either jacktrip 1.2.2 or jacktrip 1.3.0 are built onto the RPi 4B. The GUI qjackctl (version 0.5.0) however does work with both those versions of jacktrip.
Audio Device Tested on RPi 4B by Gloria Damijan:
1. Motu M2
Tested with jacktrip 1.2.2 and jacktrip 1.3.0 — jackd command didn’t work but qjackctl did.
Setup Tested on RPI 4B by Ximena Alarcón (she was able to use non-RPi Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor):
1. Audio Device: Yamaha AG06
https://www.djfinance.co.uk/yamaha-ag06-6-channel-mixing-console.html
2. Mouse: GlidePoint Touchpad
http://www.inclusive.co.uk/glidepoint-touchpads-p2406
3. Keyboard: Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard
4. Monitor: Viewsonic Monitor VP930
https://dev.ap.viewsonic.com/uk/products/lcd/vp930
Ximena used this VGA adaptor to connect with RPI's HDMI cable:
It is Ximena’s understanding that any mouse and keyboard should work with the RPi 4B.
Tested with jacktrip 1.2.2 — jackd command didn’t work but qjackctl did.
Setup Tested on RPI 4B by Anna Pasztor (Audio Monitoring Only):
Anna is a special case of someone who just wanted to be able to listen to the Nownet Arts Lab Ensemble through jacktrip with low latency. For all the tests she tried, she was able to hear locally (via the noise.wav test) clearly.
She tried using her Cyber Acoustics CA-3908 speakers through the headphone jack of the RPi and heard noise and crackles. She then tried headphones but the result was almost the same: she could only hear noise and crackles, no music or speech, the only difference was that she could distinguish between left and right. She could connect on jacktrip via hdmi monitor and could hear but the sound was bad. She also tried hooking up a USB headset via the upper left USB port of the RPi but was unable to connect to jacktrip. She didn’t pursue the USB headset test further because using the headset would not have helped her anyway for the Nownet Arts Lab Ensemble jacktrip sessions. She tested her internet speeds and they seemed in acceptable ranges. Sarah Weaver said that it sounded like an audio equipment/routing issue rather than a jacktrip issue since Anna was able to make the connection. One factor is that some headphones and headphone-like devices (such as external monitors that connect with that port) default to sample rate 44100. On jacktrip we have been using sample rate 48000. That may be why it's working in some instances but stops working when she connects jacktrip.
In the end Anna decided to upgrade her laptop instead of trying to get audio in monitor only mode working via the RPi. Another factor is that there have been several RPi forum posts about issues around the headphone jack audio from the RPi. Jane W. also tried testing jacktrip audio monitor only mode via the RPi headphone jack and also experienced unacceptably bad audio quality results.