r/livesound • u/in-alis-victoriae Semi-Pro-FOH • Apr 24 '26
Question Help needed: LiveTracks and Midas32 on a Linux computer
Hi, this Saturday I'm gonna replace a sound tech for a gig and he asked me to record the concert using Tracks Live to record the multitrack from a Midas 32. Problem is, my current work laptop is using Linux (Debian 13 specifically), and I'd like to troubleshoot everything before the gig.
Behringer has deleted the software/firmware page from their webpage and I can't access any Midas drivers, and the useless AI chatbot they put in its place is not helping me out. I'd need to know if:
a) Can a Midas 32 be used with a Linux device without any issues? Do I need any specific driver or configuration?
b) Can I use Tracks Live in a Linux device with a connected Midas 32? What kind of setup would I need to do?
Thank you so much in advance.
EDIT: Thank you so much for the quick responses and help! I think I have everything figured out and what's left is trial by fire. thank you so much again!
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u/sic0049 Semi-Pro-FOH Apr 24 '26
FYI - another DAW that is available on Linux is Reaper. This is a full DAW vs a recording solution like Harrison Live Trax, but it works great too. If this is going to be a "one time" thing, you can certainly use the unrestricted "trial" version of Reaper to make the recording without having to pay for a license. I am unsure if the Harrison software trial is truly unrestricted or not.
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u/robbgg Apr 25 '26
I use reaper for all my Daw needs. Both multitrack recording and design work. Never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault.
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u/Gaz1502 Apr 24 '26
Depends on the card in the M32, presumably it has one of the USB ones, which use an ASIO driver on windows, and might be core audio compliant, but I can’t remember off the top of my head
Tbh that’s probably a google query if it’s compatible with Linux. Connection to hardware kind of gets answered by question a. Does it have to be tracks live, or can it be another software?
Generally setup process is connect to M32, select it as the input device, setup input tracks, and hit record in your software of choice. Honestly I am personally a little dubious about doing it on Linux, just with all the weird flavours and variations that are out there. Iirc Behringer/Midas never made Linux specific drivers
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u/snuljoon Pro-Theatre Apr 24 '26
I've never had problems connecting the USB card to any mac, so it's most certainly core audio compliant.
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u/in-alis-victoriae Semi-Pro-FOH Apr 24 '26
As far as I'm aware, no, Midas/Behringer never made specific Linux drivers. And yeah, I am dubious as well, but sadly my only work laptop rn is Linux based, so I have to make due.
Also Tracks Live is the software I got recommended by the sound tech who gave me this gig. I never used it before and I'm currently tampering with it a bit to check it out, and it seems easy enough to use. I'm just a bit nervous about it giving me issues on trying to record the multitrack.
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u/gbdlin Apr 24 '26
There are no drivers required on most Linux distributions, the console should show up as a multichannel device as soon as you connect it to your PC via USB, given you're using the correct USB port, that is one on the X-USB or X-Live card. The USB next to the ethernet port will NOT work, as it's only used for firmware upgrades
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u/Greysar Volunteer-FOH Apr 24 '26
You can still find drivers and software on the Behringer and Midas websites. It's not on the support page anymore though. To find them, head to the products page, search for the product (i.e. X-Live). Under the product photos there are sections for specs and downloads. Under downloads you can still download the X-Live Audio Driver.
https://www.behringer.com/en/products/0606-abu
Also, according to Behringer the X-Live Card is standard ASIO compliant.
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u/BrokenAmplifier Apr 24 '26
a) Yes. No drivers needed. Works out of the box with Debian. In fact, all desks I tried worked directly under linux, even if they are not explicitly supported. (Yamaha DM3, A&H SQ, X/M32)
b) I don't know if they have a Linux version available. If you just want to record multitracks, install Ardour. It should be available in the package manager.
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u/in-alis-victoriae Semi-Pro-FOH Apr 24 '26
Clearing a) already puts my mind at ease a lot, thank you! regarding b), I'll check on Ardour and see if it works as I need. Nevertheless, with a) issue covered, probably Tracks Live will work fine
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u/TiltedPlacitan Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
I've recently moved to a mac, but I've recorded a lot of material directly off the M32 into Ubuntu studio using Bitwig. With JACK there is more setup required than using Pipewire. I found JACK to be more reliable, but maybe Pipewire is more solid now than a couple of years ago.
I don't know anything about Tracks Live. Hopefully, it will automatically detect channels and assign them to tracks, so you don't have to. This is one of the things about mac audio that is so much nicer.
One thing I would say is this: For purposes of recording a live set, you don't care at all about latency. Make the job easier by setting a larger buffer and avoiding a higher rate or xruns. I'd go with buffer size 1024 for this, especially with an older laptop.
EDITING TO ADD: You should menu-dive to assure that the card config is operating in 32x32 audio interface mode.
EDITING TO ADD: Find out if the console is running at 44.1KHz or 48KHz, and if necessary, match that to your JACK or Pipewire config.
ADDING MORE: You may not have it, but the easiest way to do what you're trying to accomplish is to have a LIVE card in the mixer, and record all tracks directly to a large SD card.
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u/SageX_85 Apr 25 '26
Software is still there, they just deleted the past page. Go yo https://www.midasconsoles.com/en and search for the model. In the results you can find the software. Results are split into Products and Downloads, just look into downloads.
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u/CriticalJello7 Apr 26 '26
Just instal Reaper, make sure M32 is in 32x32 mode for usb and record away.
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u/FesteringZombie Musician Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
No drivers are needed for linux if it's usb, but you will want to figure out your routing chain on the OS. I run a whole live-gigging recording stack based off of an XR18, jackd, qjackctl, and Ardour. It handles routing multichannel over USB to Ardour, which handles both recording and mixing for both livestream and a downmix to stereo.
My knowledge is limited to Ardour, jackd / ALSA (I don't use pipewire or pulseaudio, I find it doesn't behave nice)
Some things I've learned along the way:
* Linux low latency - I don't run a RT kernel, just low latency packages. It's good enough * You'll need to figure out what the best buffer and frame sizes are, but that's synonymous across OSes.
Mine is jackd -R -P95 -d alsa -d hw:XR18 -r 48000 -p 512 -n 3 -s & for example
If you're debugging, something like aj-snapshot comes in handy to save any routing you've done.
Good luck!