I’m on Ubuntu Studio 26.04. A friend asked me to set up SonoBus so we could collaborate on some audio mixing. I hadn’t heard of it before, but just installed the latest stable version via snap. Unfortunately, every time I try to change the output from < < none > > to Default ALSA, I get an error:
According to this thread, we’re supposed to use Jack, but that advice was written 5 years ago. I know a lot has changed with Ubuntu Studio, and I wanted to check in to get the recommended guidance for using SonoBus today!
This question reads like a support request; but you’ve posted in a discussion area for Ubuntu Studio where the current development release is Ubuntu Studio 26.10 due out in October 2026.
Discussion is mostly about unreleased products, if you want help with a released product you should be seeking support in my opinion (which isn’t here).
Are you seeking support? if so please move your post to the support area (or I can move it for you). You should also provide release details; as software changes over time, and you give no release specifics.
Not an Ubuntu Studio user, but all audio should be handled by Pipewire now. It’s a drop-in replacement for PulseAudio, and, apart from its native proctocol, speaks ALSA, JACK and PulseAudio. See if there is a native PipeWire device type; in case there isn’t, use JACK. For the latter you may need to install the pipewire-jack package — don’t know if Ubuntu Studio installs it automatically, but vanilla Ubuntu does not.
Although I think this should have happened automatically during installation already, you may want to check if SonoBus is allowed to access the audio backend. Running this command in a terminal should show the available plugs and their connection status:
snap connections sonobus
If you don’t know what to make of it, post the output here.
Or try the Ubuntu Studio equivalent of Settings → Apps → Permissions:
Turns out, I was wrong. It seems as if SonoBus does not install with the appropriate auto-connections, which is a bit odd. I have just tested this and was able to reproduce the error you are seeing. Allowing the app to play and record audio fixes it, in that I can select ALSA now. JACK seems to be a different matter, because, even with the “jack1” connection allowed, there are no inputs/outputs to choose from. But then again, it’s been ages since my last experiences with JACK, so there might be some setup steps I missed, on top of just installing pipewire-jack. Others may be able to speak to that.
Please put all log and other console/terminal output in pre-formatted code blocks (open a new line and click the </> icon in the editor first, then paste into the new element), ideally wrapped in a “Hide Details” element, if it’s more than just a few lines. See items 4 and 5 in the Posting Guide.
Optional helper script
If you are so inclined, I took it upon myself to provide a little helper script for that.
I am fairly new to the ins and outs of Linux audio drivers. I knew Pipewire has supplanted JACK as the predominant Ubuntu Studio audio driver of choice (which is why I made this thread to get updated guidance), but I’m not sure how to harness it to make Sonobus work.
Neither of those interfaces connect by default, so it’s an extra step as part of the snap installation. The sonobus folks really should document that on their snap store entry.
Thank you! Sure enough, now the whole suite of options comes up when I select input/output. Do I need to reissue these commands on every restart, or are they permanent?
