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OH OH OH I know the answer to this one I believe. Ubuntu's sound runs off ALSA I believe. Alsa has been around forever, so it has a lot of software compatibility and tons of people that work behind it. It is one of the most flexible audio tools out there that can interact directly with hardware to create a sound. I've found that alsa gets me the best sound compared to pulseaudio (which still has to use alsa) and win7. that said I am no computer science major so my information might be incorrect. Check these links out:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page
http://tuxradar.com/content/how-it-works-linux-audio-explained
are you getting in over your head? probably.
is there any reason it might be actually impossible? probably not.
your best bet would be to get in contact with these folks: http://www.alsa-project.org/
The bug report on the change describes some of the reasoning.
My understanding is that Firefox has to have the code in place for each audio backend. So they have the PulseAudio API if the user has it installed, and other sound API (like ALSA) as a fallback for people who don't have PulseAudio.
Obviously maintaining each one of these systems has its own problems. Any bugs or problems with audio playback because of an ALSA configuration would be reported and handled, which is less time spent making other improvement. Plus, I've heard the PulseAudio API is pretty good to work with (especially with async sound sources, which Firefox uses) as opposed to the dated and bloated ALSA API. So it's obviously in their best interest for maintenance to pick one and focus on it, and they opted for the newer and easier to manage pulseaudio.
So it's not that it stopped working, it's that they decided it wasn't worth the hassle of maintaining. Especially if the non-pulse systems are a fraction of the userbase. Like all compatibility changes, it does suck for the people who can't or don't want to get it working, but that's a core problem with all software development (and especially Linux, where sometimes the program you want comes with 5 other daemons and libraries).
I've used several different Fiio cards (the e7 and e17), and they work fine. The ODAC works fine too and sounds great. The Asus U7 works, but needs tweaking (it doesn't "just work").
A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't need a driver in windows it very likely works on Linux (because it's UAC1 compliant). The reverse is not necessarily true, for example, devices that advertise UAC2 audio class complaince will also work on modern kernels but wouldn't work on windows without a driver.
The alsa-matrix is a good source of authoritative info on sound devices too: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main The only important thing to realize is that class-compliant audio devices aren't necessarily listed in the alsa-matrix, so you shouldn't draw a negative inference if a device is not listed. Put another way, if it's not listed in the ALSA matrix that doesn't mean it won't work, but if it is listed as working in the matrix that means it should definitely work.
It's supposed to be supported since kernel 3.14, maybe you're suffering from this bug?
I'm curious why "mostly"? What issues did you run into that made you seek Windows?
>well if it wasn't for the mastering and recording two tracks which featured a hardware synthesizer and guitar it would be 100% on Linux
What was the issue here exactly? I've never had issues when using hardware synths so I am curious. Issues with your interface? I have had success using E-MU (6 in/8 out) interfaces with things like emu10k1, I've seen reports that the 18i20 is compatible out of the box on *Buntu. I'd appreciate more details on this, thanks.
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/_2test_2pcm_8c-example.html
Simple and will always work. Only the most broken software has problems with ALSA. (Adobe Flash and Gstreamer 0.10)
Do not recommend Pulse to game developers, recommend SDL2 (the "2" is important). Just give them a link to this or the SDL2 documentation.
ALSA has a mixer plugin which allows multiple programs to play through an interface which would normally only support one program. You set up the plugin as its own interface and specify a slave interface where you want the mixed data sent: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc#Software_mixing
I'm doing a similar thing between my Apple II and my Linux desktop PC. I'm just using the soundcard (the Apple has no casette control). AFAIK the RaspPi has an audio jack, just use that. On Linux, basically all soundcards use ALSA drivers (with other soundsystems like pulseaudio or jack on top); I'd assume it's the same for the RaspPi. So the simplest way to output sound is to use a library like libsndfile from C or C++, make it produce a WAV file or write sound data in AU format to stdout (you can't use WAV for this, because it needs to know the length in the header), and play sound from this file or inside a command line pipe using "aplay" or "paplay" from the command line.
You can also use the libasound library from C (and maybe C++) to access ALSA directly. That's a bit more complicated. Google for tutorials or example codes, e.g. the example code for "aplay.c".
I don't know anything about the TRS-80 casette control, so if you can ignore the control and just play sound at the right time, the above should already work.
Be careful if you want to use GPIO on the RaspPi. The GPIO pins are connected directly to the CPU, and if you put the wrong voltage on them, or if there are glitches, or static, you can fry your CPU. Always put some buffer IC between the GPIO pins and whatever you want to do. These ICs can also convert voltages.
It still doesn't preclude it from being a driver issue. Has anybody lodged a bug with Pulse or the ALSA driver maintainer about this?
All your bitching on Reddit isn't going to do shit. Raise some bug reports or STFU.
EDIT:
So 10 seconds of google and I now can say its your fucking hardware.
Your hardware lies to the ALSA scheduler.
Old clients (ie not PulseAudio) used the interrupt based scheduler. Pulse uses the NEW 'glitch-free' system-timer based scheduler because it should be better than the interrupt one. The ALSA scheduler requires the HARDWARE to return the correct timing information to work.
The reason your hardware probably doesn't is because on Windows and Dos and previously Linux, nobody used the timing info. They just used the interrupts to determine when to feed the sound card.
Go do some fucking reading and stop being an uninformed dick.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/371595/for-pulseaudio-what-does-tsched-do-and-what-are-the-defaults http://www.alsa-project.org/~tiwai/lk2k/lk2k.html
EDIT 2: http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/pulse-glitch-free.html Pottering explains how it is supposed to work, but drivers/hardware that lie or have crappy timers isn't the fault of PA. If this is as widespread as you claim, lodge some freaking bug reports with the packagers.
I am using an Edirol/Roland UA-25 for recording, MIDI and playback. Seems like all the problems that arose were my fault, so I can recommend it. It's a bit older as well, so you might be able to find a cheap one.
The HDA (high definition audio) devices that ship in most laptops are these rather complex programmable controllers. They are presented to the software system as a series of pin complexes and mixers that can be connected up in various ways each with varying toggles.
Its possible that on /u/neutralinostar's laptop the way to turn on the headphones is to switch the entire audio pipeline to a second output pipeline that connects to the headphone jack, while on your laptop it could be that the final output pin is toggled.
As a result he could have two independent volume controls active, one for each pipeline, at all times, while you might have only one volume control shared between the outputs.
HDA analyzer could help you identify how yours is configured.
The chipset doesn't matter so much as the card's model.
Different hardware will have different components. Some will have drivers written, some wont. My xonar d1 and my HT-Omega eClaro both use the same chip but the eClaro does not have a working driver.
That link shows it to be a USB device. If that's the case it might work. You'll have to try it out to find out if it's not listed here:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
So download a livecd of your distro pick and see if it works.
You can have a look here http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main and consider sound cards with a [usb] tag.
I think the ASUS Xonar U7 (http://www.asus.com/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/) might be a good choice for you.
Creative doesn't contribute drivers to Linux. I also have a Audigy. It makes a nice bookend. For recording and DAC, I use an external sound card. And Jack.
Most people will recommend swapping for a supported Asus Xonar series for Linux. They're excellent cards, which you might have overlooked if you were only looking for decent ones.
http://alsa.opensrc.org/Asoundrc read this, and i think 6:Default PCM device should fix it
the official page wasn't as helpful but still informative:
Yes, the data from that config would actually fix some things. Also read this! in addition to get more information, but then your second issue is to tell flashplugin/skype or open-alsoft et-fraggin'-cetera to use that device.
It's a mess really since everything but professional-audio seems to auto to pulseaudio already. PA isn't bad in itself, it's just such a hacky solution to the internal issues of the kernel framework thats hard to make much sense of and even more difficult to solve since any internal work on it would pretty much break userspace and nobody wants that. :D
If you are stumped with USB cards try a firewire one by adding a firewire PCi-e card (preferably Texas instrument chipset). Look at Sunix cards for example. Then go to http://www.ffado.org/ to check for compatibility. An usb interface that have full functionality under linux afaik is this one (audio and midi) http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-25EX/index.html
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Roland_Edirol
Take a look at these : http://martinezjavier.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/mmap-support-for-raspberry-pi-bcm2835-alsa-driver/
Alsa API for direct pwm write... http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm.html
This link should help, but you should note that they don't suggest doing this as there is no reliable synchronization and drift will occur over time.
The first step in your process may be buying (or renting) hardware that has multi-channel input over a single device and then configuring audacity to use that. Audacity also does not have the capability to specify device channels to specific tracks, meaning you must record at the maximum number of supported channels and you can not name them beforehand.
If you're in a large enough center, audio rental shops can rent you the equipment you're looking for. Usually at pretty good rates.
You need to enable software mixing most likely. Lookup dmix on the alsa web page and there is an example of how to create a per user .asoundrc file that enables software dmix plug of your card.
Some distros have this setup as default in system wide config I believe.
Are you saying that now you can't do anything in either Windows or Linux with the laptop?
Also, do you have ALSA set up and working in Debian?
Do you have the MIDI that Rosegarden is playing hooked up to some sort of software synth?
1) Fedora's fine, it's basically Redhat RHEL/CentOS Beta.
2) Fedora and CentOS by default use Gnome, but you can pick KDE or XFCE during the install process.. Or just install a base (no GUI) system and 'yum groupinstall' X Windows and XFCE.. I'm not sure how easy it would be to install LXDE on PPC, you'd probably have to build it yourself.
3) Linux has amazing support for hardware, much better than both Windows and OSX, and it's all built into the kernel. That sound card is supported by Alsa at least, and maybe other drivers, I'm not really the guy to talk to about linux sound though..
That RAID card will likely 'Just Work', every single RAID card I've tried in the last 3 years has (on Linux, at least).. You might have trouble managing/monitoring it with the vendor provided tools if they haven't released a PPC build or source code, but you may be able to use other tools.
Reading through the first few chapters of the RHEL/Centos documentation should help you out a bunch starting out.. and a simple google search like (for example) "<feature/problem/error message> fedora 12" will bring up an amazing amount of information for pretty much anything you'll run into.
Good luck!
Ok thank you! I'll give this a go!
​
The alfa-info says
​
LSA Information Script v 0.4.64
This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnostic information about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware.
dmesg lspci aplay amixer alsactl /proc/asound/ /sys/class/sound/ ~/.asoundrc (etc.)
See '/usr/sbin/alsa-info --help' for command line options.
Newer version detected: 0.5.0 To view the ChangeLog, please visit http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh.changelog ALSA-Info script has been downloaded /tmp/alsa-info.96aoKeK7Ou.
>alsa-info
This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnosticinformation about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware. dmesg lspci aplay amixer alsactl /proc/asound/ /sys/class/sound/ ~/.asoundrc (etc.)See '/usr/sbin/alsa-info --help' for command line options.Newer version detected: 0.5.0To view the ChangeLog, please visit http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh.changelogALSA-Info script has been downloaded /tmp/alsa-info.ujgM4SDhqK.Please, re-run it from new location.
I ran the command and this was the output:
rqi@MS-7596-6882e5d1:~$ alsa-info ALSA Information Script v 0.4.64 --------------------------------
This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnostic information about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware.
dmesg lspci aplay amixer alsactl /proc/asound/ /sys/class/sound/ ~/.asoundrc (etc.)
See '/usr/sbin/alsa-info --help' for command line options.
Newer version detected: 0.5.0 To view the ChangeLog, please visit http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh.changelog ALSA-Info script has been downloaded /tmp/alsa-info.MXYWcMZcOL. Please, re-run it from new location.
ALSA Information Script v 0.4.64
--------------------------------
This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnostic
information about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware.
dmesg
lspci
aplay
amixer
alsactl
/proc/asound/
/sys/class/sound/
~/.asoundrc (etc.)
See '/usr/sbin/alsa-info --help' for command line options.
Newer version detected: 0.5.0
To view the ChangeLog, please visit http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh.changelog
ALSA-Info script has been downloaded /tmp/alsa-info.k9IhptlviY.
Please, re-run it from new location.
​
Here, sry for the late reply
hm, I did check qtractor settings several times, but I understand that I could have missed it anyway.
After checking:
Well, I was unable to find a way to switch qtractor to jack midi, besides qtractor project description says
"Uses JACK for audio and ALSA sequencer for MIDI as multimedia infrastructures. "
Also there's a post on its forum, where a dev states they're not going to implement that feature.
I think its quite likely its impossible to switch qtractor to jackmidi.
So the questions is still open
with 'speaker-test -c6', I get outputs from all channels (except LFE/subwoofer), but only in the front left and right speakers. Using this command after setting the PulseAudio profile to Analog Surround gives no audio whatsoever.
Here's the alsa-info.sh output:
~~alsa-info~~
edit: Just realized that the dmesg output didn't print. here's an updated link.
I just found out through further testing that the sound dies as soon as I input my earphones the sound works fine without them. Here is my before alsa log "http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=6ed1961cfcd1823be3e75253e46b21f62dadc5d4" here is my after alsa log "http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=5003a05cdb0d36e9818a6773e550fb8f4d415054" I wasn't really able to get a pulseaudio log because it can't connect to the audio server anymore. But I do have this pulseaudio log of me trying to run it in terminal: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwNT__NpRZFvNXljVUU1N0p2UkU/view?usp=sharing Thanks.
Thanks for reply. Sound works with your audio patches but no perfectly, crackling noise happens more often in online video(youtube, flash video) than local media files playing, i think it depends on cpu useage.
Here is my system information from alsa-info.sh script, maybe you can dig more in it.
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=f93f3be1ec2f896ba6670d20b6e37f589b44fd10
Also another error message from xorg.log about alsa
Jul 13 11:12:17 [pulseaudio] [alsa-sink-1] alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write. Jul 13 11:12:17 [pulseaudio] [alsa-sink-1] alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_soc_sst_cht_bsw_rt5645'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers. Jul 13 11:12:17 [pulseaudio] [alsa-sink-1] alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.
I gotta say, multi-track recording in Linux is an adventure at best. I say this as a pro Linux admin who previously spent 10 years doing Linux-based audio work in the broadcast industry.
That said, if you just want to plug in a USB multi-track interface and have it working quickly, please strongly consider using an OS that your interface manufacturer supports.
However, if you have a lot of time and you're up for the whole tinkering/hacking experience, there is good info out there...
Ubuntu specific:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/SupportedHardware#USB
More complete:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
If you're also considering firewire:
Good luck!
First, is your soundcard even detected?
Try running these commands in terminal to run AlsaInfo:
cd ~/
wget http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh -O alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh
Can confirm that the D1 works great with Linux.
Anyone tried following the instructions on http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Module-oxygen for the DG? The vendor matrix for that card links there.
Generally Linux support for sound cards seems pretty horrible, maybe we should email all manufacturers asking them about it so they might notice that there is some demand.
HoTS is not native, but supposedly works very well in Wine (a translation layer that allows one to run Windows programs in other operating systems)
CS:GO is native and, from my experience playing with Windows users, seems to be more stable on Linux.
If you like GRID 2, you might also like GRID Autosport, which is native on Linux and works well.
For dual booting, the Arch Wiki may help. You'll also need to partition the SSD so that both can be installed on the same drive.
As for your audio card, it does not appear to be supported as it is not in the Alsa Matrix. That means you probably won't have audio via your discrete card. The other hardware shouldn't cause any issues.
> Does linux play nice with optical audio out? (my receiver doesn't have HDMI) Also unsure of what network chipsets to look for (for some reason I always end up with one that linux doesn't recognize).
Many sound cards work, but far from all. I recommend you have a look at the ALSA compatibility matrix and search the web.
Are you thinking about getting an external or internal sound card? I think external cards are more likely to work, since they follow the USB Audio standards, while internal cards depends on the manufacturer's attitude towards Linux or if someone has managed to reverse engineer it.
I have an Asus Xonar D1 in this computer. It works great but I haven't tried spdif out.
For my laptop I have a Xonar U7 which was a bit troublesome in the beginning but I think most problems have been fixed in later kernels. The card can be set to use USB Audio Class 1 with a switch, and while this removes some features (such as recording) it might work better if you're stuck with an older kernel/ALSA version. The card looks like it only has RCA spdif but if you use either the bundled adapter or a special cable you can get optical instead.
It sees one audio output on your GPOU (that's probably over HDMI) and the onboard intel one.
I presume you're trying to get the Intel one to work, right?
The answer lies in this page. I must say the documentation ans solutions I found for Debian and its derivates is a lot better than openSuse's. Mustbe the bigger userbase, probably.
What it boils down to is having to compile and install the drivers for Alsa.
Looks like an awesome card. Doesn't seem to be supported.
I'm in a similar same with a Sound Blaster ZX, but my card is not even listed.
I'll have to have a dig for that then. Any idea what could be causing me audio problems? It only seems to recognise the hdmi audio since I used it through my tv:
Your ALSA information is located at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=174e56bed23c03566ad6888843036b4bb9be2364
Apparently I exceeded the character limit without noticing. My alsa data can be found here: Your ALSA information is located at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=174e56bed23c03566ad6888843036b4bb9be2364
My problem is that once I connected the hdmi audio, pulse stopped recognising any other audio output.
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs
If it's not listed there (first I hear about "Sound Blaster Z") then you're out of luck. If it's listed, then whatever that page says does apply.
From what I can tell, it will at least work as a standard "HDA" sound card, without the advanced functionality. So you should be able to at least play music through it.
I love my sound blasters, but they're older emu10k1, emu10k2 and emu20k2, which have good support.
Then I would look in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf http://alsa.opensrc.org/MultipleCards#The_older_.22index.3D.22_method
this file contains the options passed on boot to the alsa subsystem which is in the kernel, it's also possible to specify default hw through ~/.asoundrc or /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf with defaults.pcm.device 0 replacing 0 with the id of your sound card.
alsa's configuration is not really trivial at first glance, but it is really flexible, you can look there: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc#The_default_plugin
Try hack around these configurations to reselect the correct default soundcard and try select it in jack config, good luck
edit: And of course, die pulseaudio !
from what i remember reading in the ALSA wiki was that it was not supported yet... but some instances it would work.
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs
here is the list of supported devices.
I've tried finding basic drivers to install for alsa, no luck so far, and I'm unable to simply do sudo apt-get alsa-utils as it's saying it doesn't exist, probably because I don't have the drivers. This is one of the sites that actually gave me info on downloading it then it redirected me here to get the drivers, which there weren't any,
This is my soundcard's pins, mixers, and connections visualized with a tool called hda-analyzer. I was recording system audio for youtube and had to map the output back to one of the inputs, this was part of the process.
I missed that line in the op ( it's a bit late...) sorry about that.
In my googling I found this,
This might be related, though it's not the same line, and they're internal cards.
However since it works on the other PC, that's probably not the case. It's quite perplexing.
I'll try too look more after getting some rest. I recommend you make a thread in the Asus forum if you haven't.
It tells alsa to use pulseaudio ("type pulse") for output instead of straight to hardware ("type hw" which would steal from PA).
You stick it in either /etc/asound.conf or (probably preferred for a 1-user system) ~/.asoundrc
You can learn a little bit more about the asoundrc config here, and here. Although I've yet to find a definitive guide, you'd probably have to look through source to figure everything out.
hmm. okay. have you tried looking for drivers already?
Getting Windows 7 compatible interface is going to be a walk in the park. Getting an interface that is Linux compatible is going to take some work, but it isn't too bad. Having something that is both may be turn out to be more work than you realize (assuming windows 7 isn't good at supporting older controllers.)
I'd recommend first finding some midi interfaces that you like. If they are new, they will be windows compatible. Look them all up and see if they are compatible on the ALSA website.
Good Luck!
I'm not sure what to expect without a configuration. My sound certainly did not work until I made a .asoundrc file. I'm also not sure if there is a command to dump any existing (automatic) configuration to file.
Lots of reading to do: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc
I haven't heard of that bit of hardware but the alsa website might help: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
I can't see it mentioned there but it may be available under a different name.
With alsa there is a file plugin.
See: http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm_plugins.html Search for "Plugin: File"
Also consider the kernel module: snd-aloop http://www.sm5bsz.com/linuxdsp/install/snd-aloop.htm
Do these instructions help?
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Module-virtuoso
Also, have you tried adjusting the settings in alsamixer? My problems are frequently related to undue complexity in sound options from the mixer page.
How cheap? It's the cheap ones that aren't well supported, for example the Creative Labs Audigy Value (I believe) installs firmware to the card, but only during a Windows driver installation... so you need to install windows drivers for it in windows, then put the card in a linux machine.
I recently bought an ASUS Xonar DG which comes from the manufacturer fully working... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020&cm_re=asus_xonar-_-29-132-020-_-Product $34.99 til end of June - i bought this after researching what i could get in NZ, for not much, that doesn't use a shitty chipset which requires firmware additions to work (in both windows and linux... tho windows tends to automate the process duing driver install)
Before that I used an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 which also worked flawlessly.
You might want to check this... http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs - as an example, the ca0106 chipset mentioned by kofrad comes across three product lines
I have used Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS for many years. But I bet you can't find it in stores anymore.
ASUS cards seem to have features.
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Asus
http://www.asus.com/ProductGroup2.aspx?PG_ID=deBXUzMkKnQuGLGK