SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

Fluxed · 2012-04-09 23:04:19

Hey, I've had this card laying around for a while now but never tried using it until a few days ago. I can get it to work in the sense that sound is working. But AlsaMixer shows no controls except for "Power LED". I've searched around everywhere and can't seem to find anything to get it all working, mostly all dead end forum posts from Ubuntu/Gentoo/CrunchBang that are all people with similar/same issues. Any help would be appreciated.

This is the card; http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Bla … B0017QQQAE

Alsamixer

aplay -L

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
default:CARD=S51
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=S51
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=S51,DEV=0
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

Also not too worried about the volume knob but it would be great if that could work too, but i'd mainly like to get the volume controls working at the least.

Last edited by Fluxed (2012-04-09 23:47:55)

Fluxed · 2012-04-11 23:48:54

Nothing?

Trilby · 2012-04-11 23:59:26

This is something I've just been learning a little about. I just got a usb 7.1 card set up with the generous help of another member here.

If sound is working at all through the card, was that acheived by making an .asoundrc? If so, what is in it? If not ... put something in it! ;o)

Edit: as I understand it (which isn't very good yet to be honest) the output of `aplay -l` with a lower case L might be more relevant for the first steps.
This will tell you the device number to set up in .asoundrc.

Last edited by Trilby (2012-04-12 00:05:13)

Fluxed · 2012-04-12 00:52:27

I set the .asoundrc to set the card as default, other than that haven't been able to get much done with it, been messing with it for about a week now and have barely made any ground.

Last edited by Fluxed (2012-04-12 00:52:45)

Trilby · 2012-04-12 01:21:20

Have you done anything like this

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1

pcm.upmix51 {
    type upmix
    slave.pcm "surround51"
    delay 15
    channels 6
}

pcm.!default "plug:upmix51"

Where the "1" on lines 1 and 3 comes from the output of `aplay -l`

purzel · 2012-04-12 11:06:39

Hi!

I have the same sound card, (and until recently) it worked perfectly.

I spent many many hours trying to get it to work with alsa without success. I'd suggest you install pulseaudio (use wiki) and pavucontrol. In pavucontrol you should be able to change the output of the card to 5.1. And thats basically it :-)

After first install it might be that pavucontrol only shows stereo output for the card but a reboot will solve this and you should have all modi available.. 5.1,4.1,2.0 etc...

However a recent system upgrade broke my pulseaudio, but before that it worked fine :-)

cheers!
purzel

P.s.
Sometimes when starting any application wich uses pulseaudio, a periodical clicking sound could be heard. stopping the application and waiting for a few seconds until it was over usually solved this too...

Trilby · 2012-04-12 11:20:56

Switching to a new audio system which has a set of problems itself probably should not be resorted to until the basic recommended configurations of alsa are attempted.

What is in my post above for .asounrc is right out of the alsa wiki. There is a much more complete and elaborate .asoundrc that can be found in user Breb's signature on these forums. It is so elaborate though, that for learning/testing purposes a more streamlined and to the point version such as above may be a better start.

In any case, a couple of these settings should be tried in .asoundrc before one resorts to jumping ship from alsa.

purzel · 2012-04-12 11:29:38

Well the clicking sound also occurs in alsa so that specific problem is not pulseaduio exclusive.

But yes pulseaudio also has a lot of problems, however in my opinion it is much easier to manage the sound with it, especially with a usb sound card and and when switching the output-modes regularly... (hdmi/5.1/2.0)

Also the last time I tried to understand the alsa syntax I was very close to biting my laptop...

cheers!

Fluxed · 2012-04-12 13:23:49

Trilby wrote:

Have you done anything like this
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1

pcm.upmix51 {
    type upmix
    slave.pcm "surround51"
    delay 15
    channels 6
}

pcm.!default "plug:upmix51"
Where the "1" on lines 1 and 3 comes from the output of `aplay -l`

This has been about all I could do, just to set the card as default. Nothing else that I've tried or could find seemed to help at all.

As to the rest, I'm not really a big fan of pulse, the few times I've tried it there's always been at least a few problems to deal with and it's always been a pain.

Trilby · 2012-04-12 13:44:08

Fluxed wrote:

This has been about all I could do...

What is this? Did I just coincidentally type in exactly what is already in your .asoundrc? Have you tried any other recommended options in .asoundrc? What is ACTUALLY in your .asoundrc?

Fluxed · 2012-04-12 13:51:04

The first 3 lines exactly (aside from card number)

And yes, I've tried using a number of configs along with several guides for Ubuntu and other distro's that I've found, but they make no difference in terms of the mixers, it always just shows "Power LED" which when muted makes the LED blink as it should. It also seem's most are also quite dated, and from what I can understand from searching around is that /a lot/ x-fi cards are supported natively now with alsa.

purzel · 2012-04-12 16:38:52

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I like pulseaudio so much as it is the only working option I've found so far....
Jack works too but only stereo...

Please let me know if you find a working solution to this! (Or if you know a different usb-soundcard that supports 5.1)

cheers!
purzel

Trilby · 2012-04-12 22:45:46

Fluxed wrote:

The first 3 lines exactly (aside from card number)

But the other 7 lines - the important ones - not exactly? Or not at all?

*facepalm* ... I'll wish you the best of luck as it seems you do not want help.

Last edited by Trilby (2012-04-12 22:46:22)

Fluxed · 2012-04-13 01:52:13

Trilby wrote:

Fluxed wrote:
The first 3 lines exactly (aside from card number)
But the other 7 lines - the important ones - not exactly? Or not at all?
*facepalm* ... I'll wish you the best of luck as it seems you do not want help.

Tried yours, didn't do anything different than the first 3 that I originally had. Ergo, only using the ones currently relevant, that actually do anything (set as default card).

Arch Linux

#1 2012-04-09 23:04:19

SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#2 2012-04-11 23:48:54

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#3 2012-04-11 23:59:26

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#4 2012-04-12 00:52:27

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#5 2012-04-12 01:21:20

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#6 2012-04-12 11:06:39

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#7 2012-04-12 11:20:56

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#8 2012-04-12 11:29:38

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#9 2012-04-12 13:23:49

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#10 2012-04-12 13:44:08

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#11 2012-04-12 13:51:04

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#12 2012-04-12 16:38:52

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#13 2012-04-12 22:45:46

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

#14 2012-04-13 01:52:13

Re: SB X-Fi 5.1 Surround ( USB ) Problems.

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