Refer to INSTALL.md for prerequisites, how to build, install, and run.
If no interface is detected (usually because there isn’t one connected!) you’ll see this window:
Plug in an interface or select the menu option File → Interface Simulation and load a demo file to make more interesting things happen.
If your interface is fresh out of the box (or you haven’t updated it using the manufacturer’s software), you may need to update the firmware and/or disable MSD Mode first.
Some interfaces require a firmware update before all their functionality is available. If the firmware is not available on your system, you’ll see this window:
In this case, click on the link, download and install the firmware
package, then restart alsa-scarlett-gui.
If a firmware update is required and the firmware is available, you’ll see this window:
Click “Update”, then “Yes” to update the firmware.
The update will take about 15 seconds, and then your interface will restart, showing the main window.
If MSD Mode is enabled (as it is from the factory) and a firmware update is not available or required, then you’ll see this window:
Click the “Enabled” button to disable MSD Mode, then click “Reboot” to restart the interface, and in a moment the main window will appear.
The View → Startup menu option opens a window to configure settings that only take effect when the interface is powered on.
The options common to all interfaces are:
-
Reset Configuration: this will reset the configuration to the factory defaults. This is particularly useful with the 4th Gen and Vocaster interfaces if you’ve made a mess of the configuration and want to start again.
-
Update Firmware: if a firmware update is found in the
/usr/share/firmware/scarlett2directory, then an option to update the firmware will be available here.
The File menu contains options to load and save the configuration, load a configuration in simulation mode, and to exit the application.
The entire state of the interface can be loaded and saved using the File → Load Configuration and File → Save Configuration menu options.
Internally, this uses alsactl:
- Load:
alsactl restore USB -f <fn> - Save:
alsactl store USB -f <fn>
The saved state files can be used to simulate an interface if you
don’t have one attached. The demo directory in the distribution
contains a sample file for every supported model.
The GUI can load an alsactl state file saved from a real interface
and display a GUI as if the corresponding interface was connected.
This is useful if you don’t have an interface connected and want to try, develop, or debug the GUI.
Either specify the .state filename on the command line or select the
menu option File → Interface Simulation to load.
The controls and menu items which are available vary widely, depending on your specific interface.
There are three broad categories of interfaces with different capabilities; each category of interface is described in a separate ocument:
-
Minimal number of controls, and they mostly accessible through hardware buttons anyway. Not very interesting.
-
Scarlett 2nd Gen 6i6+, 3rd Gen 4i4+, Clarett USB, and Clarett+
Full routing and mixing capabilities.
-
Full routing and mixing capabilities, remote-controlled input gain, but no output controls.
-
Load/Save uses
alsactlwhich will be confused if the ALSA interface name (e.g.USB) changes. -
Load/Save is not implemented for simulated interfaces.
-
The read-only status of controls in interface simulation mode does not change when the HW/SW button is clicked.
-
When there’s more than one main window open, closing one of them doesn’t free and close everything related to that card.
-
There is no facility to group channels into stereo pairs (needs kernel support to save this information in the interface).
-
There is no facility to give channels custom names (needs kernel support to save this information in the interface).