man/man4/snd_uaudio.4

.\" $NetBSD: uaudio.4,v 1.15 2002/02/12 19:53:57 jdolecek Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1999 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
.\" by Lennart Augustsson.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS
.\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.Dd January 29, 2024
.Dt SND_UAUDIO 4
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm snd_uaudio
.Nd USB audio and MIDI device driver
.Sh SYNOPSIS
To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your
kernel configuration file:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Cd "device sound"
.Cd "device usb"
.Cd "device snd_uaudio"
.Ed
.Pp
Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the
following line in
.Xr loader.conf 5 :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
snd_uaudio_load="YES"
.Ed
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
driver provides support for USB audio class devices and USB MIDI class devices.
.Pp
A USB audio device consists of a number of components: input terminals (e.g.\&
USB digital input), output terminals (e.g.\& speakers), and a number of units
in between (e.g.\& volume control).
.Pp
If the device supports multiple configurations, and there have been no
user-supplied values specified through the
.Xr sysctl 8
interface, the driver will select the best matching configuration supported by
the device during attach.
"Best" means the configuration with the most channels and highest quality in
sample rate and sample size.
.Pp
Refer to the
.Ql USB Audio Class Specification
for more information.
.Sh SYSCTL VARIABLES
The following settings can be entered at the
.Xr loader 8
prompt or in
.Xr loader.conf 5
and can also be changed at runtime with the
.Xr sysctl 8
command.
For a change to take effect during runtime, the device has to be re-attached.
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.buffer_ms
Period of audio data processed at once, in milliseconds, from 1 to 8 (default
is 4).
Lower values mean less latency, but this can result in audible gaps due to
frequent CPU wakeups.
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.default_bits
Preferred sample size in bits, from 0 to 32 (default is 0).
A value of 0 sets the sample size to the maximum supported sample size.
.Pp
Set this to select a smaller sample size if the device supports multiple sample
sizes.
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.default_channels
Preferred number of sample channels, from 0 to 64 (default is 0).
USB 1.1 devices are limited to 4 channels due to bandwidth constraints, unless
a higher value is explicitly requested.
A value of 0 sets the sample channels to the maximum supported channel number.
.Pp
Set this to select a smaller channel number if the device supports multiple
channel configurations.
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.default_rate
Preferred sample rate in Hz (default is 0).
If set to 0, the device's highest supported sample rate will be used.
.Pp
Note that if VCHANs are enabled, the sample rate will be overridden by
.Pa dev.pcm.%d.[play|rec].vchanrate
(see
.Xr sound 4 ) ,
which can also be used to adjust the sample rate during runtime.
.Pp
If
.Pa hw.usb.uaudio.default_rate
is non-zero,
.Pa dev.pcm.%d.[play|rec].vchanrate
will use it as its maximum allowed value.
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.handle_hid
Let
.Nm
handle HID volume keys, if any (default is 1).
.Bl -tag -width 2n
.It 0
Disabled.
.It 1
Enabled.
.El
.El
.Pp
If
.Xr usb 4
has been compiled with
.Va USB_DEBUG
on, the following setting is also available:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Va hw.usb.uaudio.debug
Debug output level (default is 0).
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sound 4 ,
.Xr usb 4 ,
.Xr loader.conf 5 ,
.Xr loader 8 ,
.Xr sysctl 8
.Rs
.%T "USB Audio Class Specifications"
.%U http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/
.Re
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
driver first appeared in
.Fx 4.7 .
.Sh AUTHORS
This manual page was adopted from
.Nx 1.6
and modified for
.Fx
by
.An Hiten Pandya Aq Mt hmp@FreeBSD.org .
.Sh BUGS
The PCM framework in
.Fx
only supports synchronous device detach.
That means all mixer and DSP character devices belonging to a given
USB audio device must be closed when receiving an error on a DSP read,
a DSP write or a DSP IOCTL request.
Else the USB audio driver will wait for this to happen, preventing
enumeration of new devices on the parenting USB controller.
.Pp
Some USB audio devices might refuse to work properly unless the sample
rate is configured the same for both recording and playback, even if
only simplex is used.
See the
.Va dev.pcm.%d.[play|rec].vchanrate
sysctls.
.Pp
The PCM framework in
.Fx
currently does not support the full set of USB audio mixer controls.
Some mixer controls are only available as
.Va dev.pcm.%d.mixer
sysctls.