Hilo and Linux

I'm also using the Hilo as part of an active speaker set up, and have a couple of software requests.  JRiver Mediacenter 21 does the filtering; the Hilo's Mon outputs handle mid/treble, and bass signals are sent over the AES output to a Benchmark DAC-1. Line-in is used for analogue input, and line-out feeds a Stax headphone amp for late night listening. Different Hilo scenes handle the different signal routing necessary for each application. I like the flexibility that Hilo gives me; it's not far off being a perfect digital pre-amp.

Request 1: I'm using the Hilo under Windows 10 but only 'under protest'! I'd much rather use Linux. I gave up with RME gear because they would not support open source, and was disappointed that the Hilo did not work on Ubuntu when the sales material indicated that it should.  If you could find the engineering time, could you rectify the incompatibility between the Hilo and alsa's USB audio class2 implementation, please?

Request 2: I'd like a 'one touch' mute control for multiple channels. It would be nice to control both Mon-out and AES-out levels with the Hilo, but I appreciate that they are operating in different signal domains.  

David
thanks for replying so quickly. I appreciate that in the Pro Audio world, OSX and Windows are the big beasts you have to support. Nevertheless, I feel I have to challenge your assertion that you are completely compliant because you have a solution that works with just one vendor!

In my professional life, one thing I learned very quickly was that a standard was only a standard if it was supported by multiple suppliers. In the nineties (when I was doing this kind of work) I encouraged my software teams to regularly port their code between Unix, Windows and Linux as the only way to ensure that we weren't going to become stove-piped into one supplier's implementation. I think I even had a Mac which could run our code as well, between crashes.

Linux/open source developers put a huge amount of effort into their products, and test against as many hardware implementations as they can. Many internet standards  were, and still are first implemented using open source. Wouldn't it be worth Lynx sparing a few hours of time to investigate why the Hilo does not register the right number of channels when it is plugged into a Linux PC, and investigate whether a solution is possible?

David,
the Linux system log reports the following:
dmesg -e output
[Sep21 22:05] usb 5-2: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.532469] usb 5-2: New USB device found, idVendor=247f, idProduct=3231
[  +0.000005] usb 5-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=28, Product=27, SerialNumber=1
[  +0.000002] usb 5-2: Product: Lynx Hilo
[  +0.000002] usb 5-2: Manufacturer: Lynx
[  +0.000002] usb 5-2: SerialNumber: 3200722110
[  +0.024634] usb 5-2: __uac_clock_find_source(): selector reported illegal value, id 40, ret 6
[  +0.000005] usb 5-2: parse_audio_format_rates_v2(): unable to find clock source (clock -22)
[  +0.001748] usb 5-2: __uac_clock_find_source(): selector reported illegal value, id 40, ret 6
[  +0.000673] usb 5-2: __uac_clock_find_source(): selector reported illegal value, id 40, ret 6
[  +0.000005] usb 5-2: parse_audio_format_rates_v2(): unable to find clock source (clock -22)
[  +0.054691] usb 5-2: __uac_clock_find_source(): selector reported illegal value, id 40, ret 6
[  +0.000964] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

aplay -l output:
card 3: Hilo [Lynx Hilo], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

There's a lot more stuff from the verbose diagnostics which I can email or Dropbox if you wish. I've used other USB devices by Focusrite and M2Tech without trouble. I'd certainly appreciate your spending some time on this.

Wikipedia quotes figures by Gartner which says that 54% of all devices now in use worldwide run Android - another important OS for the future?

Here's a link which you might find interesting - the Royal Navy has also tried to follow this model for the past 10 years or so. http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/underseawarfaremagazine/Issues/Archives/issue_37/HowAndWhy.html

Errrmm....the Hilo screen's 'About' page reports a firmware date Feb 17 2047; the Windows 'Hilo Remote' app reports the firmware date as Jan 12 2000. Neither date makes much sense. Is there something  wrong with the way numbers are being handled by Lynx's own software?

David,
I see numbers displayed incorrectly/inconsistently on the device's own status screen. It seems natural, then, for me to ask you, as the developer,  to check whether there might also be errors in numeric information sent from Hilo over USB. That's all. Asking me whether it is relevant or not sounds, well, passive-aggressive. Sorry, but it does.

I've subscribed to the Linux Audio User group and am awaiting confirmation of membership. Once that is received, I will send information from the debug tools.