will not start with Jack running

Audacity Help Forum GNU/Linux
1

using
Linux Mint 19
Audacity v2.2.1
Distribution’s release

audacity will not start up if Jack is running. There are error messages but when I try to include them in this forum, posting is blocked by Cloudflare. I will try to add them as an attachment.

A similar problem was reported at http://mxlinux.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43541 but the solution given there (set default-fragment-size-msec = 2 in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf) did not work for me.

2

Is Linux Mint your usual operating system? (Your profile says Mac OS)

That other topic is unrelated - they do not have Jack running.
Do you have Jack running? How did you start Jack?
Why are you using Jack?
Does Audacity work for you with PulseAudio?

3

Audacity does work with Jack not running.

I’m trying to use Audacity in conjunction with sound production and processing applications such as amsynth and Bristol, using Jack to connect. Jack is started using QjackCtl (version 0.4.5).

I tried it again with the QjackCtl Messages window open, and upon trying to start Audacity, I start getting this message repeatedly:

XRUN callback (42 skipped)

4

So you are saying that Audacity doesn’t work with Jack running, and doesn’t work when Jack is NOT running?
Do you mean that you can’t get Audacity to run at all (irrespective of Jack)?


That indicates that your computer is not running fast enough to maintain the audio stream.

5

No, read my message again: “Audacity does work with Jack not running.”

New information: After several minutes (I probably gave up too soon before) Audacity threw these messages

Expression ‘err != ETIMEDOUT’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1017
Expression ‘result’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1037
Expression ‘AddStream( stream )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1313

and the GUI came up but froze up when I tried to record; I had to force quit Audacity, QjackCtl, and jackdbus.

6

I replicated as follows:

  • Restart system
  • Log in, start Terminal. No other apps running. (WM is Cinnamon.)
  • Start QjackCtl from terminal command line
  • Start Audacity from terminal command line. Prints some warnings/errors up through:

Expression ‘stream->playback.pcm’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 4628
Expression ‘stream->playback.pcm’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 4628

Then nothing happens for 10 minutes, during which Jack generates XRUN callback messages, after which:

Expression ‘err != ETIMEDOUT’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1017
Expression ‘result’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1037
Expression ‘AddStream( stream )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/jack/pa_jack.c’, line: 1313

and at that point the GUI appears. I haven’t gotten playback or recording working after that. XRUN callback messages continue.


Computer is i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz × 6 with 8 GB memory. Is that insufficient especially with nothing else running?

7

I seem to be unable to edit my profile for some reason.

8

Do other recording programs (such as Ardour) work with your current Jack configuration?

If your main OS is Linux, I can update that for you.