Dev1 Galaxy Forum / Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 08:14:19 +0000

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone that has participated in this thread so far, providing help and suggestions. I believe that the HiFi settings are working, but not for any positive reason, but rather because midi over web has completely stopped working, as websites, like tomplay.com still go through the motions (sheet music appears, cursor moves correctly, etc.), but there is no audio whatsoever coming out. Neither backing track, nor lead melody. I have long suspected that there was a relationship between the Linux audio servers and problems that I have experienced with midi over web in the past, usually partial outages - a clear change in the reliability I expect and need. However, midi over web audio does not work at all after having changed to the HiFi settings. Zero, zilch, nada niente.

---

As far as I can tell, all other audio works:

$ speaker-test --channels=2
 
speaker-test 1.2.14
 
Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 12 to 96000
Period size range from 6 to 48000
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 12000
was set buffer_size = 48000
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.001396
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right

YouTube works, as does the LXMusic player...

----

I should probably emphasize here, as I have done throughout this thread, that I am referring to output here. Midi over Web input will be of interest later, with sites such as flowkey.com, but at this point, I am only concerned about getting midi over web to work with tomplay.com output. The concept is the same as with 8notes.com, but more advanced in my opinion, should someone be familiar with 8notes.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:52:27 +0000

alsaucm is a command-line configuration tool for managing ALSA Use Case Manager (UCM) settings. It is still broken. This is how it works for you:

$ alsaucm -c U192k list _cards
ALSA lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import U192k use case configuration -2
alsaucm: error failed to open sound card U192k: No such file or directory

However, some mixer controls are available.

It’s usually easier to roll your own compile than to prod the official Debian packages into shape — assuming you don’t mind a bit of tinkering while the maintainers are otherwise engaged.

You can clone the latest version directly from the repository:

git clone https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf.git

UCM (ALSA Use Case Manager) is not inherently "broken," but its functionality depends on the availability of proper configuration files and hardware support. When UCM is not working or unsupported for a specific audio device, ALSA falls back to using generic drivers, which provide basic audio functionality but lack advanced features like audio profile switching (e.g., speaker, headphone, microphone routing).

UCM is not so much broken as it is… lacking a bit of attention. One might say the situation is not entirely ideal — though that rather understates the case. Most users manage to muddle through, patching things themselves, since raising a ticket tends to result in what one could politely call enthusiastic disregard.

The system functions adequately, assuming one doesn’t mind rolling their own fixes while the maintainers appear to be on a long tea break.

SUMMARY

UCM (ALSA Use Case Manager) isn't broken per se — more neglected. The configurations lag behind modern hardware, and while maintainers aren’t exactly ignoring reports, responses are… glacial. Users often find themselves patching things locally or sourcing updated configs from Git, as distributions take their time catching up.

Bug reports exist, some with patches attached, but progress is slow. Debian and SUSE have accepted updates, and new versions like alsa-ucm-conf 1.2.15.3 are available upstream — but getting them into stable releases takes time. In the meantime, users roll their own fixes, which works, provided one doesn’t mind a bit of DIY.

So yes, it functions — just not without a little persuasion.

When the developers can't quite sort out the existing issues, the natural course is to introduce something altogether more ambitious — like PulseAudio or PipeWire — leaving the rest of us to carry on as best we can.

Ah, yes — removing PulseAudio can feel rather like the rabbi’s remedy: when life’s unbearable, bring in a goat. Things get worse, certainly — noisy, smelly, chaotic — but then, at last, you’re allowed to remove it. And suddenly, everything’s wonderful. No goat. Just the usual family fuss. Bliss.

So it is with PulseAudio. Install it, and the system groans under latency, glitches, and needless complexity. Remove it, and lo — sound works again. Not because it was magic, but because the goat’s gone.

A spot of perspective, really.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (greenjeans) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:06:55 +0000

AlsaTune may work.

Possibly. But if Alsa has a bug then maybe not. Looks like they patched the bug you referenced earlier back in September though. Worth a try.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:03:21 +0000

And does the fact that I have the controls that are listed with the command:

$ amixer -c U192k controls

mean that alsaucm is currently using the HiFi "verb" setting?

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:27:52 +0000

It was already patched, because you have controls

$ amixer -c U192k controls
numid=19,iface=CARD,name='Internal Validity'
numid=15,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Switch'
numid=16,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Switch',index=1
numid=17,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
numid=18,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume',index=1
numid=2,iface=MIXER,name='Line A Playback Switch'
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='Line A Playback Volume'
numid=4,iface=MIXER,name='Line B Playback Switch'
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='Line B Playback Volume'
numid=20,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Capture Switch'
numid=21,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Capture Switch',index=1
numid=22,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Capture Volume'
numid=23,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Capture Volume',index=1
numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Input 1 Capture Switch'
numid=5,iface=MIXER,name='Input 1 Capture Volume'
numid=8,iface=MIXER,name='Input 2 Capture Switch'
numid=7,iface=MIXER,name='Input 2 Capture Volume'
numid=10,iface=MIXER,name='Input 3 Capture Switch'
numid=9,iface=MIXER,name='Input 3 Capture Volume'
numid=12,iface=MIXER,name='Input 4 Capture Switch'
numid=11,iface=MIXER,name='Input 4 Capture Volume'
numid=14,iface=PCM,name='Capture Channel Map'
numid=13,iface=PCM,name='Playback Channel Map'

It might be possible to use them:

man amixer

$ man amixer | grep EXAMPLES -A17
EXAMPLES
       amixer -c 1 sset Line,0 80%,40% unmute cap
              will set the second soundcard's left line input volume to 80% and right line input to 40%,  unmute  it,
              and select it as a source for capture (recording).

       amixer -c 1 -- sset Master playback -20dB
              will set the master volume of the second card to -20dB.  If the master has multiple channels, all chan‐
              nels are set to the same value.

       amixer -c 1 set PCM 2dB+
              will increase the PCM volume of the second card with 2dB.  When both playback and capture  volumes  ex‐
              ist, this is applied to both volumes.

       amixer -c 2 cset iface=MIXER,name='Line Playback Volume",index=1 40%
              will set the third soundcard's second line playback volume(s) to 40%

       amixer -c 2 cset numid=34 40%
              will set the 34th soundcard element to 40%

AlsaTune may work.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 08:32:15 +0000

$ alsaucm --version
alsaucm: version 1.2.14

$ apt-cache show alsa-ucm-conf | grep Version
Version: 1.2.14-1

Broken *!#£? Any possibility of pining this alsa with earlier version of alsaucm? Other work around?

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:02:50 +0000

As noted in the GitHub issue
_https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/issues/564#issuecomment-3016922013
when ALSA is broken, PipeWire users are affected — and AlsaTune may not resolve the underlying issue.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (greenjeans) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:34:21 +0000

I have this exact same audio interface. If your only using alsa try greenjeans AlsaTune gui. It picked up mine straight away and it is very loud with my behringer truth monitors. I'm using devuan 5 not 6

At minimum this would be a good troubleshooting step. As long as the OP returned everything to the original default first after this 2 page ordeal. Download it, delete any existing .asoundrc or .asound.conf files, install and run the app, on first run it will detect lack of .asoundrc and offer to install the one that comes with the package, let it do so. Check sound with test tone. Click the "Soundcard" button to open a window to select cards and see if the Behringer is there, if so then highlight it and apply and then check sound again.

ETA: Big caveat, if you are running a DE that has it's own built-in mixer AlsaTune won't run right, won't hurt anything but you won't have its extended functionality for the most part. Also goes without saying, but it's not compatible with Pulse or Pipe. If you're running LXDE you should be fine.

If you're running LXDE using PcmanFM for your file-manager, then boy-o-boy do I ever have some scripts to share with you.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 23:58:44 +0000

What is your version?

alsaucm --version

apt-cache show alsa-ucm-conf | grep Version

_https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/issues/564#issuecomment-3016922013
Hi, this has been broken for a while. It affects UMC204HD and UMC404HD at least but possibly other cards too.
The last working release is v1.2.12.
v1.2.12:
$ amixer -c U192k controls
...

Add profile for Behringer UMC204HD #128
_https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/pull/128

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:30:43 +0000

Alsa refuses to cooperate:

$ alsaucm -c U192k list _cards
ALSA lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import U192k use case configuration -2
alsaucm: error failed to open sound card U192k: No such file or directory

The sound card is now default again:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [U192k          ]: USB-Audio - UMC404HD 192k
                      BEHRINGER UMC404HD 192k at usb-0000:08:00.3-1, high speed
 1 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81
 2 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c0000 irq 82

The symlinks appear to be correct:

$ ls /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/
UMC404HD.conf  UMC404HD-HiFi.conf  USB-Audio.conf

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:28:16 +0000

see above _https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=61493#p61493

ALSA UCM2 expects the configuration to be in /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD.conf when using the modern conf.d scheme.

From the official ucm.conf and documentation:

UCM2 uses conf.d/${CardDriver}/${CardLongName}.conf as the primary lookup path.
Your card’s driver is USB-Audio, so UCM searches in conf.d/USB-Audio/.
Even though you have UMC404HD.conf in /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/, it won’t be found unless symlinked into conf.d/USB-Audio/.

On Deadalus, the folder /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio already exists, but it has only one file inside

$ ls /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio 
USB-Audio.conf

$ file /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/USB-Audio.conf
/usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/USB-Audio.conf: symbolic link to ../../USB-Audio/USB-Audio.conf

Try to create symlinks so UCM finds the config:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/UMC404HD.conf \
  /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD.conf
sudo ln -s /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/UMC404HD-HiFi.conf \
  /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD-HiFi.conf

Then reload ALSA

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils force-reload

Now alsaucm -c U192k list _cards may work.

Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.

dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:25:14 +0000

$ alsaucm -n -b - <

No dice.



Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.
dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:07:43 +0000
You have the correct UCM config files (UMC404HD.conf, UMC404HD-HiFi.conf) in place — but ALSA UCM is not loading them because the card name U192k does not match the expected directory structure. 
UCM expects:
/usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD.conf
But your files are in:
/usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/UMC404HD.conf
Fix:
Create a symlink so UCM finds the config:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio
sudo ln -s /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/UMC404HD.conf \
  /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD.conf
sudo ln -s /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/USB-Audio/Behringer/UMC404HD-HiFi.conf \
  /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/USB-Audio/UMC404HD-HiFi.conf
Then reload:
sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils force-reload
Test:
alsaucm -c U192k list _cards


Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.
dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:56:32 +0000
After restart:
$ alsaucm reload
Nothing returned.
$ alsaucm -c U192k list _verbs
ALSA lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import U192k use case configuration -2
alsaucm: error failed to open sound card U192k: No such file or directory
$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [U192k          ]: USB-Audio - UMC404HD 192k
                      BEHRINGER UMC404HD 192k at usb-0000:08:00.3-1, high speed
 1 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81
 2 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c0000 irq 82
Not sure what is going on. Please advise.


Re: Behringer UMC204HD with Devuan Excalibur install and Alsa.
dummy@example.com (devuan_dk_fan) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:52:03 +0000
Hmmm. I ran
$ alsaucm reload
No complaints. However, the next command didn't work. Unfortunately I didn't copy the result down. I then rebooted and this is the result:
$ alsaucm reload
ALSA lib parser.c:244:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81)
ALSA lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use case configuration -6
alsaucm: error failed to open sound card hw:0: No such device or address
Suddenly, the Behringer card is in the wrong order priority, despite the ~/.asoundrc file supposedly setting the Behringer card to default:
$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81
 1 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c0000 irq 82
 2 [U192k          ]: USB-Audio - UMC404HD 192k
                      BEHRINGER UMC404HD 192k at usb-0000:08:00.3-1, high speed
I then tried unplugging and replugging the Behringer card, but still nothing:
$ alsaucm reload
ALSA lib parser.c:244:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81)
ALSA lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use case configuration -6
alsaucm: error failed to open sound card hw:0: No such device or address
$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c8000 irq 81
 1 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xd05c0000 irq 82
 2 [U192k          ]: USB-Audio - UMC404HD 192k
                      BEHRINGER UMC404HD 192k at usb-0000:08:00.3-1, high speed
Will try another restart.