Public bug reported:

Hi!

This is a weird one: I wanted to use my Zoom H4n Pro as a recording
device with Linux Mint Mate 21.2 and kernel 6.5.0-14-generic. lusb tells
me

Bus 002 Device 009: ID 1686:0045 ZOOM Corporation Handy Recorder stereo
mix

, cat /proc/asound/cards shows

2 [H4]: USB-Audio - H4
ZOOM Corporation H4 at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4.2, full speed

and I can even record from it using the terminal with

arecord -D hw:2 -f cd foo.wav

. So from a hardware/driver perspective, things seem fine.

However the device only sporadically shows up in the "Sound Preferences"
applet,

pulseaudio -k

typically helps to refresh. But once I click some radio buttons in
"Choose a device for sound input" in the "Input" tab, the entries
related to my Zoom H4n Pro disappear and I'm left with "Monitor of
Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" being the only available option.

If Audacity is already open and I immediately start a recording after
pulseaudio -k, the first attempt succeeds but as soon as I click "Play",
the H4n device is gone.

So there obviously is something going on (could be how Audacity handles
input devices as well) that makes Pulse Audio revert to some default
setting whenever I try to record. arecord from the console works every
time, but it is quite tedious if you're used to an Audacity workflow. I
don't have pavucontrol installed because I don't really need it and I
also worry that it might interfere with the Sound Preferences applet
that comes with Linux Mint by default.

I also tested the Jabra Speak 410 handsfree station I had available.
This seems to reliably work as an input/microphone device and as on
output device/loudspeaker. For as long as the device is attached, the
sound preferences dialog shows "Jabra SPEAK 410 Mono" in the input tab
and "Jabra SPEAK Analog Stereo" in the output tab. I can record from and
play with it as often as I want in Audacity.

The Zoom H4n Pro on the other hand always shows up in the sound
preferences dialog after executing pulseaudio -k. I can then start
Audacity, start/stop monitoring and record from the Zoom H4n Pro (shown
as "Handy Recorder stereo mix Analog Stereo" in the input tab of sound
preferences) as often as I want.

But the moment I hit the "Play" button in Audacity, the Zoom device is
gone from the list of input devices in sound preferences and not coming
back unless I run pulseaudio -k again.

Updated the Zoom's firmware to 1.10, did not change anything. Using
different USB cables or ports did not make a difference either. So the
issue could also be how Audacity adresses input devices or what it does
to play audio which sort of messes things up in conjunction with the
Zoom's firmware.

And finally: The issue does not seem to show up on Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
with Kernel 4.15.0-20-generic #21-Ubuntu. That is a different
motherboard (ASUS B365M-K instead of P7P55D) but I doubt that it makes a
difference at that level.

If you want me to test something or provide more logs, just go ahead.
Any help highly appreciated. Thank you.

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2055259

Title:
  Zoom H4n Pro not seen as recording device in Audacity but works with
  arecord

Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Hi!

  This is a weird one: I wanted to use my Zoom H4n Pro as a recording
  device with Linux Mint Mate 21.2 and kernel 6.5.0-14-generic. lusb
  tells me

  Bus 002 Device 009: ID 1686:0045 ZOOM Corporation Handy Recorder
  stereo mix

  , cat /proc/asound/cards shows

  2 [H4]: USB-Audio - H4
  ZOOM Corporation H4 at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4.2, full speed

  and I can even record from it using the terminal with

  arecord -D hw:2 -f cd foo.wav

  . So from a hardware/driver perspective, things seem fine.

  However the device only sporadically shows up in the "Sound
  Preferences" applet,

  pulseaudio -k

  typically helps to refresh. But once I click some radio buttons in
  "Choose a device for sound input" in the "Input" tab, the entries
  related to my Zoom H4n Pro disappear and I'm left with "Monitor of
  Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" being the only available option.

  If Audacity is already open and I immediately start a recording after
  pulseaudio -k, the first attempt succeeds but as soon as I click
  "Play", the H4n device is gone.

  So there obviously is something going on (could be how Audacity
  handles input devices as well) that makes Pulse Audio revert to some
  default setting whenever I try to record. arecord from the console
  works every time, but it is quite tedious if you're used to an
  Audacity workflow. I don't have pavucontrol installed because I don't
  really need it and I also worry that it might interfere with the Sound
  Preferences applet that comes with Linux Mint by default.

  I also tested the Jabra Speak 410 handsfree station I had available.
  This seems to reliably work as an input/microphone device and as on
  output device/loudspeaker. For as long as the device is attached, the
  sound preferences dialog shows "Jabra SPEAK 410 Mono" in the input tab
  and "Jabra SPEAK Analog Stereo" in the output tab. I can record from
  and play with it as often as I want in Audacity.

  The Zoom H4n Pro on the other hand always shows up in the sound
  preferences dialog after executing pulseaudio -k. I can then start
  Audacity, start/stop monitoring and record from the Zoom H4n Pro
  (shown as "Handy Recorder stereo mix Analog Stereo" in the input tab
  of sound preferences) as often as I want.

  But the moment I hit the "Play" button in Audacity, the Zoom device is
  gone from the list of input devices in sound preferences and not
  coming back unless I run pulseaudio -k again.

  Updated the Zoom's firmware to 1.10, did not change anything. Using
  different USB cables or ports did not make a difference either. So the
  issue could also be how Audacity adresses input devices or what it
  does to play audio which sort of messes things up in conjunction with
  the Zoom's firmware.

  And finally: The issue does not seem to show up on Linux Mint 19.1
  Tessa with Kernel 4.15.0-20-generic #21-Ubuntu. That is a different
  motherboard (ASUS B365M-K instead of P7P55D) but I doubt that it makes
  a difference at that level.

  If you want me to test something or provide more logs, just go ahead.
  Any help highly appreciated. Thank you.

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