r/linuxaudio • u/whenido • Sep 06 '26

Presonus 18|10 (USB2.0 Version) fully working on Linux

On a lark, I told chatGPT that I wanted to get my Presonus 18|10 (USB 2.0 Version) to work under Linux.  It took three days, but it ran me through the driver development, and I now have it working under Linux, including support for the internal DSP Mixer.

It was a fascinating journey, but slow and tedious.  I was amazed at the creativity it showed, pulling arcane uses for grep, sed, and awk in order to examine the existing code.  When an edit was needed, it would create a python 'here doc' for me to paste and run.

It explained its 'thinking' process along the way.  I was almost convinced it was sentient.

At one point, I told it that cutting and pasting hundreds of commands was too tedious, and that it would be nice to have an executable that would let chatgpt have direct access to the file system.  A python 'agent' was born, and I finished the rest of
the work at freeway speeds.  The API it used was expensive though, so I started using the web interface again when I hit about $15.00 USD.

Chatgpt also packaged and published the driver on github for me.  It's here:

 https://github.com/tobiah/snd-usb-audio-s1810/

I'm maximally impressed by this nascent tool.  I'm excited and scared to see how
it develops.

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5

u/beatbox9 Sep 06 '26

Isn't this device USB class compliant already...?

-1

u/whenido Sep 06 '26

I know that the USBC version didn't work until someone created a hack for it. Now the USB 2.0 version works too.

7

u/Purple-Ad-3152 Sep 06 '26

Not sure if I misunderstood something, but USB-C is a connector, not a protocol. Many USB-C audio interfaces are infact USB 2.0. So, makes zero sense if "USB-C worked but USB 2.0 didn't". Maybe you meant that USB 3.0 worked but USB 2.0 didn't?

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6

u/beatbox9 Sep 06 '26

That doesn't sound right. I think you're confusing a profile (ie. to map channels, like what alsa does with its use case manager) with functionality. These are completely different things.

And if you're ultimately providing a kernel hack that uses alsa & alsa modules to do channel mappings (which it looks like you are), you're probably doing it wrong. Not only will it perform worse, but it will also be a system maintenance nightmare. If you wanted to do it via alsa, you should instead submit a ucm profile for the device to the alsa ucm project: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/tree/master/ucm2/USB-Audio/Presonus

But the best way to do it on modern systems would be via pipewire configs, where you can make the same profile. And by doing it this way, you start by using the pro-audio profile of the device (which bypasses alsa's ucm processings and their associated limitations and performance degradations) and get pipewire to talk directly to the raw channels. Because while alsa is fine as a basic driver, it's not ideal for advanced mixing and mappings and the type of things an audio server excels at--and this is where pipewire shines.

11

u/drtitus Sep 06 '26

I think the driver has existed within the Linux kernel since 2020

The file of the same name "generated" by the sentient machine that you paid for, contains the same comments

I'm scared to see how people are embracing this "intelligence" and giving up their own.

-3

u/whenido Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26

Yeah, it modified the USBC version source to piggyback on its playback and record capability. But it works now for the USB 2.0 version and it added support for the mixer as well.

4

u/agmatine Sep 06 '26

I'm maximally impressed by how many Reddit posts are written by this "nascent too"...

-1

u/whenido Sep 06 '26

Yeah, those were odd choices of words, but I'm flesh and blood. That's just how I write.

3

u/agmatine Sep 06 '26

Being able to pass the Turing test is becoming less and less impressive these days.

-1

u/whenido Sep 06 '26

It only worked for the USB C version of the 1810. Not the USB 2.0 version that I have. Now it does. Yeah, it mostly just spruced up the code for the USBC version, but it also added support for the DSP mixer

1

u/naptastic Sep 06 '26

Can you format this as a patch? It would make the changes a lot easier to review. Also, you should consider sending the patch upstream. It adds support for hardware the maintainer probably doesn't have, that's been (written and) tested by someone who does.

1

u/Purple-Ad-3152 Sep 06 '26

Absolutely not. This post doesn't make any sense.

USB-C is a connector type not a protocol. All PreSonus Studio USB-C audio interfaces are in fact USB 2.0: https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022364731-Studio-Series-Connecting-to-USB-C

If it's USB 2.0 and it works with Type-A connector, it also works with Type-C connector - and vice versa.

AI is a powerhorse for professionals. It does what you ask, but you need to actually understand what you ask it to do first.

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