Ubuntu Version:
installed Ubuntu 25.10 via USB Stick, then upgraded to Ubuntu Studio via Terminal
Desktop Environment (if applicable)
just what comes with vanilla Ubuntu 25.10
Problem Description
I can’t get any Sound Input from my Audio Interface into any DAW (Ardour, Reaper).
Playing back Audio Files (e.g. via VLC Player) works and so does playing Videos from the Browser.
I’m a new Linux User. I’m trying to learn and understand, but I still need to wrap my Head around certain Things.
Relevant System Information
Focusrite Scarlett 18i8, 2nd Generation
Screenshots or Error Messages:
Not relevant I think, but I’ll gladly provide them upon Request
What I’ve Tried:
I can see on the Hardware itself that it receives a strong enough Signal. I’ve tried looking at the alsamixer but there is nothing muted there. When I check Carla, there are Lines connecting the Audio Interface’s Inputs to the DAW and then back to the Audio Interface’s Outputs. Both Ardour and Reaper show the correctly labled Inputs, but if I select them there is no Sound coming from them.
Hey! Good news — this is a pretty common issue with audio interfaces on Linux, so we should be able to get it sorted.
Before we do anything, unplug any other audio devices you have connected — headsets, USB mics, anything like that. Just leave the Scarlett plugged in. This makes sure our test uses the right device.
Then open a terminal and run this:
pw-record --target=auto /tmp/test.wav
Speak or play something into your interface for a few seconds, then press Ctrl+C to stop. Then run:
pw-play /tmp/test.wav
If you hear yourself back, the interface is working fine and the issue is just in how the DAW is connected — easy fix. If you hear nothing, the problem is a bit lower down and we’ll dig into that next.
Just paste back whatever happens and we’ll go from there!
That’s not supported. The only supported method of upgrading to Ubuntu Studio adding Ubuntu Studio onto Ubuntu Desktop (or any other flavor) is to use Ubuntu Studio Installer – Ubuntu Studio .
If nobody here has any idea (audio interfaces tend to be quite a bit more advanced than your average sound card), then you might be comforted to know there is a whole community dedicated to Linux Audio and have developed plenty of resources to help, including irc channels and mailing lists.
Sadly, I don’t have any way to help because, besides Focusrite Scarlett audio interfaces being close to the gold standard on Windows, their proprietary software only runs on Windows. There have been efforts to reverse-engineer them to Linux, but I have no experience with them as I try to use them. I only own Class-Compilant devices, which Focusrite products claim to be but are not.
EDIT: Just a side-note, I attempted to package alsa-scarlett-gui for Ubuntu but it has an incompatible license problem: while it is licensed GPL-3-or-later, it has a source component that is GPL-2-only, meaning it has a license incompatibility issue as GPL-2-only (not or-later) cannot be compiled with a higher level of the GPL. This means it cannot be distributed by Debian or Ubuntu.
Ok so that’s actually helpful to know, even if it’s not the answer we wanted! It tells us the problem is happening at a lower level than the DAW, so we know where to look next.
Can you run this in bash and paste back what it gives you?
Yeah, my Acquisition of the Audio Interface lies circa 10 Years in the Past and I’ve only recently switched to Linux. Some of my Webcams also have to go unused now. But then again, I’ve also had Gear that stopped being supported on Windows.
Edit: thanks for the Links, I’ll be sure to check them out.
I’ve manage to get it running. The Problem was that somehow the Input Routing was messed up and I didn’t realize it.
I’ll document my Solution here so that others might benefit from it.
The first step was installing the Alsa-Scarlett-GUI by Geoffrey D. Bennett ( alsa-scarlett-gui/docs/INSTALL.md at master · geoffreybennett/alsa-scarlett-gui · GitHub ). At this Point I was still convinced that my Problem had something to do with the Drivers or Jack. This was unnecessary from a technical Viewpoint, but it helped me clue in to what the Problem was.
I’ve manage to install the GUI. However, the Main Window is not where I realized that Something was amiss. If you click on View → Routing you get to see a visual Representation of your Device’s Routing. Mine looked like Abstract Spaghetti. If yours look like that too, that’s the Source of your Woes.
You can click the “Presets” Button on the top left even though it is greyed-out and looks like it is deactivated. There you can choose “Direct”. That will direct every Hardware Input to it’s corresponding PCM Input. This was the crucial Step to get my Audio Interface working again.
You don’t need the Alsa-Scarlett-Gui for this, you can do it with the vanilla alsa-mixer, but it lacks a visual Representation and there’s a crucial Step you need to do. If you open alsa-mixer, you need to press F6 to chose your Device, but you also need to press F4 or F5 to see the relevant Info. Mine was set to F3 and only showed me countless Matrix Options from which I concluded that the whole alsa-mixer was not relevant to the Solution of my Problem. With F4 you can directly see your Input Sources. They should be set to their relative Analogue Input. With F5 you have to press the Right Arrow Key on your Keyboard several times.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this Thread!