Distorted audio from Focusrite 2i2

Using KDE plasma, Archlinux, Pipewire, Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen

Audio from built-in audio and via GPU into display speakers all works fine but audio through my Focusrite is badly distorted, like it is running at super-low quality.

I've spent most of today trying to work out how to make pipewire use the right bit/sample rates. It. This should be a basic GUI feature, and certainly shouldn't need to sudo edit cryptic files to configure this stuff. I use Reaper and I'll need to change bit / sample rates from time to time, so having to make with config files is just nuts. This should be a basic function available in the control panel (Like windows has had for decades). / rant

Anyway, I genuinely want to fix this problem and would really like a GUI tool for it, but a working config edit will do at this point. I can' also make a script to tweak it on demand I suppose.

There is a video that suggests building a new kernel driver for it, which is even more nuts for something so basic.

13 comments

Hey,

I'm on mobile so I don't have a detailed answer at this time but I had the exact same distorted audio issue. I even thought it may be a lemon 2i2 and got a FR Clarette to replace it.

I could not find a fix with Pipewire but fixed it by uninstalling it for Pulseaudio. Sounds like a step backwards but it now works perfectly
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This sounds very much like the problems I had recently with two different brand new interfaces, trying to connect over USB-C. Fortunately they were both bundled with a C-to-A USB cable, which had them both working perfectly.

Over USB-C it was disto city, like when a cable is half-unplugged. I thought maybe it was something to do with the type of USB-C ports my laptop has (one is thunderbolt, one is dual-C / thunderbolt). What sort of cable are you using?
- Interesting. I'm not using USB C but it is in a 3.2 port so so maybe switching to a 3.0 port will help. I'll give it a go.
  
  Edit: Nope didn't work.
  
  Ah well it was worth a try.
  
  I'm guessing then it's a sample rate issue, unfortunately I don't use Linux so don't think I can be of much help there. I know I've had issue before where the interface and windows were both set to a different rate (44.1 / 48) and it caused all sorts of serious sound issues. Hope you figure it out, when I can't figure out an issue with my music setup it drives me nuts!
I have had issues before with the 2i2 on Linux, where it seemed that no matter the setting in software, the hardware would always sample at a set 44.1kHz. So, with software thinking it was sampling at one rate, the playback would always be at the wrong speed. Doesnt sound like the the same as your issue of distorted audio, but yes, clearly there is something lacking in the kernel drivers for the 2i2!

Wish I could offer a fix but I have used it so sporadically thay I just tolerated my single choice for sample rate.
- I'll try using 44.1 and see what happens. Though I'd like to be ablet to change it 96khz as well sometimes.
  
  This could indeed be a samplerate mismatch between applications and os. At least that's a thing in Windows If you want to use 96khz, make sure all the running applications + Linux uses it.
It's the audio actually clipping from the amplitude being too loud, like distortion on a guitar?

If you're able, you should an example and share it. I am guessing that you're experiencing buffer underruns, and you're recognizing it as something else.

This might help: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio/Troubleshooting
- Not like a guitar distortion. More like robotic low quality sound.
  
  "Robotic low quality" sounds like buffer underruns. Any audio example, even from a cell phone held up to speakers, will be fine to help troubleshoot this.

13 comments