[pulseaudio-discuss] 'Failed to find a working profile' for firewire sound devices

[Takashi Sakamoto]

> Thanks. To start somewhere, what type of playback/recording do you want
> to work? As in, what sample format, what number of channels etc?

I apologize but currently I have no better answer for this question.
(It's an evidence that I'm a newbie for this project...)

Let me describe about devices which the drivers enable:
- S32 for capture, S16/S32 for playback
- its range of the number of channels for playback/capture is between 2 
to 34 (depending on devices)
- some devices change its number of channels at the same sampling rate 
according to settings
- Playback stream don't always go to fixed output port because the 
devices have rich internal mixer.

The device are not designed as a standard sound devices with 
2/3.1/4/4.1/5/5.1/7.1 positions. The devices are designed for studio use.

Currently I load module-alsa-sink/module-alsa-source in my hand and 
check PulseAudio can use the devices. For example, this device has 16ch 
for capture and 12ch for playback at 44.1kHz:

######
$ pactl list sources
...
Source #3
	State: RUNNING
	Name: alsa_input.hw_1_0
	Description: Motherboard
	Driver: module-alsa-source.c
	Sample Specification: s32le 16ch 44100Hz
	Channel Map: 
front-left,front-right,rear-left,rear-right,front-center,lfe,side-left,side-right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7
	Owner Module: 27
	Mute: no
	Volume: 0: 100% 1: 100% 2: 100% 3: 100% 4: 100% 5: 100% 6: 100% 7: 100% 
8: 100% 9: 100% 10: 100% 11: 100% 12: 100% 13: 100% 14: 100% 15: 100%
	        0: -0.00 dB 1: -0.00 dB 2: -0.00 dB 3: -0.00 dB 4: -0.00 dB 5: 
-0.00 dB 6: -0.00 dB 7: -0.00 dB 8: -0.00 dB 9: -0.00 dB 10: -0.00 dB 
11: -0.00 dB 12: -0.00 dB 13: -0.00 dB 14: -0.00 dB 15: -0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 100%
	             0.00 dB
	Monitor of Sink: n/a
	Latency: 1448 usec, configured 20000 usec
	Flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
	Properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "24"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "FW 1814 PCM"
		alsa.id = "BeBoB"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "FW 1814"
		alsa.long_card_name = "M-AUDIO FW 1814 (id:131, rev:1), GUID 
000d6c04007feef8 at fw1.0, S400"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_bebob"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:0c:06.0"
		sysfs.path = 
"/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:0c:06.0/fw1/fw1.0/sound/card1"
		udev.id = "firewire-0x000d6c04007feef8"
		device.bus = "firewire"
		device.vendor.name = "Texas Instruments"
		device.product.name = "Motherboard"
		device.string = "hw:1,0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "5644800"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "2822400"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.description = "Motherboard"
		device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone-firewire"
	Formats:
		pcm

$ pactl list sinks
Sink #1
	State: IDLE
	Name: alsa_output.hw_1_0
	Description: Motherboard
	Driver: module-alsa-sink.c
	Sample Specification: s16le 12ch 44100Hz
	Channel Map: 
front-left,front-right,rear-left,rear-right,front-center,lfe,side-left,side-right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3
	Owner Module: 26
	Mute: no
	Volume: 0: 100% 1: 100% 2: 100% 3: 100% 4: 100% 5: 100% 6: 100% 7: 100% 
8: 100% 9: 100% 10: 100% 11: 100%
	        0: 0.00 dB 1: 0.00 dB 2: 0.00 dB 3: 0.00 dB 4: 0.00 dB 5: 0.00 
dB 6: 0.00 dB 7: 0.00 dB 8: 0.00 dB 9: 0.00 dB 10: 0.00 dB 11: 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 100%
	             0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: alsa_output.hw_1_0.monitor
	Latency: 20078 usec, configured 20000 usec
	Flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
	Properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "FW 1814 PCM"
		alsa.id = "BeBoB"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "FW 1814"
		alsa.long_card_name = "M-AUDIO FW 1814 (id:131, rev:1), GUID 
000d6c04007feef8 at fw1.0, S400"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_bebob"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:0c:06.0"
		sysfs.path = 
"/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:0c:06.0/fw1/fw1.0/sound/card1"
		udev.id = "firewire-0x000d6c04007feef8"
		device.bus = "firewire"
		device.vendor.name = "Texas Instruments"
		device.product.name = "Motherboard"
		device.string = "hw:1,0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "2116800"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "1058400"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.description = "Motherboard"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-firewire"
	Formats:
		pcm
######

I must consider about how PulseAudio handle these devices but I have a 
little knowledgement about PulseAudio. So I need your help.


Thanks

Takashi Sakamoto