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beachcoder

Member

Registered: 2009-10-08

Posts: 130

Unable to get upmixing to work with USB 5.1 sound card

Hello!

I'm having some trouble with an USB 7.1 sound-card that I want to use for my 5.1 sound system.
The sound-card is connected to my Lenovo Thinkpad T400 via docking staton on USB.

$ lsusb 
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 0bdb:1900 Ericsson Business Mobile Networks BV F3507g Mobile Broadband Module
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 005: ID 0d8c:0102 C-Media Electronics, Inc. CM106 Like Sound Device
Bus 007 Device 004: ID 046d:c03e Logitech, Inc. Premium Optical Wheel Mouse (M-BT58)
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 04b3:4485 IBM Corp. Serial Converter
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 08ff:2810 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2810
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_conexant    35994  1 
snd_usb_audio         116956  1 
snd_usbmidi_lib        19723  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            18710  1 snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_seq_device          5180  1 snd_rawmidi
snd_hda_intel          36520  0 
snd_hda_codec         148129  2 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6332  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                77765  3 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          7234  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              18718  1 snd_pcm
snd                    59141  13 snd_usb_audio,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi,snd_seq_device
soundcore               5450  1 snd
usbcore               178119  11 btusb,uhci_hcd,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,ehci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid,usbnet,cdc_acm,cdc_wdm,cdc_ether

So I put this into /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

options snd_slots=snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_intel
options snd_usb_audio index=0
options snd_hda_intel index=1

to always get a correct sound device order.

When I then - after reboot - play music, It works only on the two front-speakers. All other speakers - rear and center - are dead.
But when I invoke speaker-test with

$ speaker-test -c6 -D surround51 

speaker-test 1.0.27.2

Playback device is surround51
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 6 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 96 to 87381
Period size range from 48 to 43690
Using max buffer size 87380
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 21845
was set buffer_size = 87380
 0 - Front Left
 4 - Center
 1 - Front Right
 3 - Rear Right
 2 - Rear Left
 5 - LFE
Time per period = 14.569581

all speakers make a noise when they are shown during the test correctly.

In the wiki, I tried some examples on the configuration of ~/.asoundrc as described, but none of them worked - everything I specify there is effectles, even after reboot.

What I've tried so far in ~/.asoundrc (without success):

pcm.dsp {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmix"
}

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

pcm.!default "plug:upmix51"

pcm.upmix71 {
    type upmix
    slave.pcm "surround71"
    delay 15
    channels 8
}

pcm.!default "plug:upmix71"

pcm.dmix6 {
    type asym
    playback.pcm {
        type dmix
        ipc_key 567829
        slave {
            pcm "hw:0,0"
            channels 6
        }
    }
}

pcm.!default "plug:dmix6"

So what am I doing wrong?

beachcoder

Member

Registered: 2009-10-08

Posts: 130

Re: Unable to get upmixing to work with USB 5.1 sound card

Hello there!

In the german forum, I found some more help.
This configuration now got 5.1 sound mixing to work via ALSA (without using PulseAudio).

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
options snd_hda_intel index=-2
options snd_usb_audio index=-1

$ cat /etc/asound.conf 
pcm.!default
{
        type plug
        slave.pcm "surround51"
        slave.channels 6
        route_policy duplicate
} 

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Device         ]: USB-Audio - USB Sound Device
                      USB Sound Device at usb-0000:00:1a.7-5.4, full speed
 1 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xfc620000 irq 47
 4 [ThinkPadEC     ]: ThinkPad EC - ThinkPad Console Audio Control
                      ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 7VHT12WW-1.01

But this doesn't solve all my problems.
I'm still searching for a way of how to use the internal intel sound card as default PCM device if the USB sound is unplugged or not available during boot.

Any ideas?

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Unable to get upmixing to work with USB 5.1 sound card

as default PCM device if the USB sound is unplugged or not available during boot.

Edit the config files, either ALSA (e.g. ~/.asoundrc), or the config file for the app(s).

Not elegant, sadly. My example.