[PATCH] ALSA: usb-audio: add IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY quirk for Behringer Flow 8
From: Gordon Chen
Date: Tue May 26 2026 - 03:29:26 EST
The Behringer Flow 8 (1397:050c) is an 8-channel USB mixer that
declares OUT EP 0x01 with implicit feedback from capture EP 0x81 via
its UAC2 endpoint companion descriptor. After 5-35 minutes of
continuous playback, the device occasionally returns a capture URB in
which every iso_frame_desc has a non-zero status (-EXDEV bursts,
visible as rate-limited "frame N active: -18" lines in dmesg from
pcm.c).
In that case snd_usb_handle_sync_urb() at endpoint.c counts bytes==0
and falls into the early "skip empty packets" return originally added
for M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. As a result the playback EP loses its
sole IFB-driven feeder and the OUT ring starves permanently: hw_ptr
stops advancing while substream state remains RUNNING. Only USB
re-enumeration recovers.
Three independent ftrace captures (taken at the moment of stall via a
userspace watchdog) consistently show:
- 60-70 capture URB completions in the 70ms window before the marker
- 0 retire_playback_urb / queue_pending_output_urbs /
snd_usb_endpoint_implicit_feedback_sink calls
- every usb_submit_urb in the window comes from
snd_complete_urb+0x64e (capture self-resubmit), none from the
queue_pending_output_urbs path
Add a new opt-in quirk QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY: when set, the
early return is skipped and we fall through to enqueue a packet_info
whose packet_size[i] are all 0 (the existing loop already maps
status!=0 packets to size 0). prepare_outbound_urb then emits a
silence packet, the OUT ring keeps moving, and the device rides
through the glitch.
The default behaviour (early return) is preserved for all existing
devices including M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. Only Flow 8 opts in here.
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Gordon Chen <chengordon326@xxxxxxxxx>
---
sound/usb/endpoint.c | 10 +++++++++-
sound/usb/quirks.c | 3 +++
sound/usb/usbaudio.h | 8 ++++++++
3 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/sound/usb/endpoint.c b/sound/usb/endpoint.c
index 6fbcb1175..24cd7692b 100644
--- a/sound/usb/endpoint.c
+++ b/sound/usb/endpoint.c
@@ -1780,8 +1780,16 @@ static void snd_usb_handle_sync_urb(struct snd_usb_endpoint *ep,
/*
* skip empty packets. At least M-Audio's Fast Track Ultra stops
* streaming once it received a 0-byte OUT URB
+ *
+ * However, on devices where bytes==0 means every sync-source
+ * packet errored (e.g. Behringer Flow 8 returning -EXDEV bursts
+ * for entire capture URBs), an unconditional return starves the
+ * IFB-fed OUT ring permanently. Such devices set
+ * QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY to fall through and enqueue a
+ * packet_info with size 0 packets, so playback emits silence
+ * and the OUT ring keeps moving.
*/
- if (bytes == 0)
+ if (bytes == 0 && !(ep->chip->quirk_flags & QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY))
return;
spin_lock_irqsave(&ep->lock, flags);
diff --git a/sound/usb/quirks.c b/sound/usb/quirks.c
index 31cbe383a..e2c95be38 100644
--- a/sound/usb/quirks.c
+++ b/sound/usb/quirks.c
@@ -2365,6 +2365,8 @@ static const struct usb_audio_quirk_flags_table quirk_flags_table[] = {
QUIRK_FLAG_PLAYBACK_FIRST | QUIRK_FLAG_GENERIC_IMPLICIT_FB),
DEVICE_FLG(0x1397, 0x0509, /* Behringer UMC404HD */
QUIRK_FLAG_PLAYBACK_FIRST | QUIRK_FLAG_GENERIC_IMPLICIT_FB),
+ DEVICE_FLG(0x1397, 0x050c, /* Behringer Flow 8 */
+ QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY),
DEVICE_FLG(0x13e5, 0x0001, /* Serato Phono */
QUIRK_FLAG_IGNORE_CTL_ERROR),
DEVICE_FLG(0x152a, 0x880a, /* NeuralDSP Quad Cortex */
@@ -2602,6 +2604,7 @@ static const char *const snd_usb_audio_quirk_flag_names[] = {
QUIRK_STRING_ENTRY(SKIP_IFACE_SETUP),
QUIRK_STRING_ENTRY(MIXER_PLAYBACK_LINEAR_VOL),
QUIRK_STRING_ENTRY(MIXER_CAPTURE_LINEAR_VOL),
+ QUIRK_STRING_ENTRY(IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY),
NULL
};
diff --git a/sound/usb/usbaudio.h b/sound/usb/usbaudio.h
index 58fd07f8c..9afcad8f1 100644
--- a/sound/usb/usbaudio.h
+++ b/sound/usb/usbaudio.h
@@ -236,6 +236,12 @@ extern bool snd_usb_skip_validation;
* QUIRK_FLAG_MIXER_CAPTURE_LINEAR_VOL
* Similar to QUIRK_FLAG_MIXER_PLAYBACK_LINEAR_VOL, but for capture streams.
* Overrides QUIRK_FLAG_MIXER_CAPTURE_MIN_MUTE
+ * QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY
+ * In implicit feedback mode, when an entire capture URB returns with
+ * all iso_frame_desc[i].status != 0 (bytes==0), do not silently return
+ * from snd_usb_handle_sync_urb. Instead fall through and enqueue a
+ * packet_info containing only size-0 packets, so the OUT ring keeps
+ * moving (emits silence). Needed by Behringer Flow 8 (1397:050c).
*/
enum {
@@ -268,6 +274,7 @@ enum {
QUIRK_TYPE_SKIP_IFACE_SETUP = 26,
QUIRK_TYPE_MIXER_PLAYBACK_LINEAR_VOL = 27,
QUIRK_TYPE_MIXER_CAPTURE_LINEAR_VOL = 28,
+ QUIRK_TYPE_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY = 29,
/* Please also edit snd_usb_audio_quirk_flag_names */
};
@@ -302,5 +309,6 @@ enum {
#define QUIRK_FLAG_SKIP_IFACE_SETUP QUIRK_FLAG(SKIP_IFACE_SETUP)
#define QUIRK_FLAG_MIXER_PLAYBACK_LINEAR_VOL QUIRK_FLAG(MIXER_PLAYBACK_LINEAR_VOL)
#define QUIRK_FLAG_MIXER_CAPTURE_LINEAR_VOL QUIRK_FLAG(MIXER_CAPTURE_LINEAR_VOL)
+#define QUIRK_FLAG_IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY QUIRK_FLAG(IFB_SILENCE_ON_EMPTY)
#endif /* __USBAUDIO_H */
--
2.54.0