ULTRA++ installation guide

Installation guides
164

Hi, The led is just gpio controlled and not related to the codec function.

When you type alsamixer and look and select sound card (F6) do you see your soundcard with all the controls and can you change values ?

165

I donā€™t see this soundcard at all.
image

166

Please help checking and let me know, if this board is broken.
I can order another ultra+ and return this one.
Also, please suggest for my OS and Pi 4, is there is another version of the board you would recommend.

167

your board is not broken for sure, drivers are not installed, please paste those commands and send logs

168

I did this already (last night).
Anyways, I will give it another try, just in case second time is a charm.

169

I downloaded it to a different directory and installed, as the original directory already exists (from last night installation).
Please see below the trails/log:

Sanjay@sanjay:~ $ git clone GitHub - RASPIAUDIO/ultra_install
fatal: destination path ā€˜ultra_installā€™ already exists and is not an empty directory.
Sanjay@sanjay:~ $ cd Desktop/
Sanjay@sanjay:~/Desktop $ git clone GitHub - RASPIAUDIO/ultra_install
Cloning into ā€˜ultra_installā€™ā€¦
remote: Enumerating objects: 6, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Sanjay@sanjay:~/Desktop $ cd ultra_install/
Sanjay@sanjay:~/Desktop/ultra_install $ sudo bash ultra_install.sh
[sudo] password for sanjay:

  • set -o errexit
  • set -o pipefail
  • set -o nounset
  • [[ 0 -ne 0 ]]
  • ā€˜[ā€™ ā€˜!ā€™ -f /etc/rpi-issue ā€˜]ā€™
  • rm -rf WM8960-Audio-HAT
  • git clone GitHub - RASPIAUDIO/WM8960-Audio-HAT: The drivers of [WM8960 Audio HAT] for Raspberry Pi
    Cloning into ā€˜WM8960-Audio-HATā€™ā€¦
    remote: Enumerating objects: 91, done.
    remote: Counting objects: 100% (53/53), done.
    remote: Compressing objects: 100% (27/27), done.
    remote: Total 91 (delta 35), reused 33 (delta 26), pack-reused 38 (from 1)
    Receiving objects: 100% (91/91), 69.34 KiB | 461.00 KiB/s, done.
    Resolving deltas: 100% (44/44), done.
  • cd WM8960-Audio-HAT
  • apt-get -y update
    Hit:1 Index of /debian bullseye InRelease
    Hit:2 Index of /raspbian bullseye InRelease
    Reading package listsā€¦ Done
  • apt-get -y install raspberrypi-kernel-headers --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
    Reading package listsā€¦ Done
    Building dependency treeā€¦ Done
    Reading state informationā€¦ Done
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
    raspberrypi-kernel-headers
    The following held packages will be changed:
    raspberrypi-kernel-headers
    0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    E: Held packages were changed and -y was used without --allow-change-held-packages.
    Sanjay@sanjay:~/Desktop/ultra_install $

Still the same, no change even after reboot (post re-install).

170

I will have to try on monday

171

Any update on the issue here ?
It seems the board is a PoJ.

172

Indeed there was a kernel change thanks for signaling it, here is the updated version of the guide that is much simpler!

I hope the ULTRA+ will bring you Pure Optimal Joy (PoJ)

1 Like
173

It seems this ultra++ never works on Pi 4B.

Please be aware.

174

My test was done on a P4.

175

Unfortunately, following these instructions do not work on a pi zero 2 W.
Iā€™ve tried all three methods in the guide, and I am using an ULTRA V3, with the latest rasperry pi OS Lite (64-bit).

The device shows up, but no audio comes out and no audio is recorded.

What is the latest guide for installing this on a pi zero 2 W?

Thanks
-August

EDIT: found the issue - make sure to run sudo rpi-update to get the fixed kernel update.

176

yes as indicated in the guide update / upgrade is needed so the drivers could be found

177

importantly though:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

is not enough, even with the latest Raspberry Pi OS.

sudo rpi-update is also needed, as the firmware/kernel fixes that make this card work are not included in the base image. For a new user like me that wasnā€™t very obvious - excited to dive into this now!

178

thanks for sharing! just updated the tutorial

1 Like
179

I need assistance. I have tried the instructions precisely and still had no success in getting audio to record, or play back out of the built in speakers. I meanā€¦ MAYBE the recording is successful, it shows that itā€™s recording but I have no way of confirming since there is no sound coming out of the built in speakers.

I am using a Pi Zero 2W, Pi OS Lite 64 Bit. I have followed instructions exactly,
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rpi-update

I added ā€œdtoverlay=wm8960-soundcard.dtboā€ to the end of config.txt via

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

And it seems to be trying to record when I use

arecord -f cd -d5 > test.wav

but I hear nothing from the speakers when I use

aplay test.wav

I then tried to use both alternate install methods below the first one, again, following instructions exactly. In all 3 cases (installation methods) I have issues, usually alsamixer shows no controls whatsoever for volume or mics and in ALL cases the speakers will not playback any audio, in some cases I get error messages and I cannot say what error messages without going through trying each installation method again one at a timeā€¦ I guess I will do that and report back here so that itā€™s known exactly which issues I have with each installation method but. It is very frustrating because I have tried the ā€œReSpeaker 2 Mic Hatā€ as well as the Mic Ultra++ and have had no success at all

Iā€™m just trying to get a touch screen working with a Home Assistant Dashboard, as well as HA Assist voice assistant control, and a video security cam all running on the same Pi device, for my daughter in her room. I feel like this shouldnā€™t be this difficult. But right now I canā€™t even get the speakers working on my RaspiAudio Mic Ultra++ and thatā€™s only step 1.

180

I am currently trying to use Pi OS (Full) 64 Bit with desktop OS. That way I can actually follow the written steps exactly, since they are written for the Desktop version of Pi OS and see if that makes any difference.

181

Also have been struggling with this all day (the orange Ultra++).

I am trying to install it on a Pi Zero 2, Iā€™ve tried 32-bit and 64-bit light and standard desktop and I can get the drivers installed, but no matter what I do, I canā€™t hear anything from the headphone jack or from the speakers.

Is there a current method that works? I even was able to get the WM8960_Audio_HAT itself to play out of its audio jack, so I promise you I am not completely incompetent >_<

But yeah I feel like Iā€™ve tried everything but thereā€™s no way to get it sound out of the damn headphone jack :frowning:

Please help

182

OMG I got it working!

This is what I did to get it working on my headless Pi Zero 2 and orange Ultra++:

  1. 64-bit Lite (Bookworm) and edited the settings to add my WiFi and enable SSH.
  2. Ran the commands in the instructions (sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo rpi-update)
  3. Added the WM8960 line to the end of the /boot/firmware/config.txt file and rebooted
  4. Opened alsamixer and pressed F6 to switch to the WM8960 sound card.
  5. Messed around with most of the Playback channels to make sure that I didnā€™t accidentally have one of them muted.
  6. Checked arecord -l and aplay -l (the output looked the same as previous attempts, which seemed like they were right, but I still couldnā€™t hear anything UNTIL NOW)
  7. I tried to test the speaker but this command gave me a playback error: speaker-test -l5 -c2 -t wav
  8. The command that worked was: speaker-test -D plughw:1,0 -t wav -l 1 -c 2

I canā€™t believe I finally got it working!!! Now letā€™s see if I can get the line-in working, which was the entire reason I have been working on this!

183

great!

you can use presets here:

for example

alsactl --file linein.alsa restore