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meismarv

Member

Registered: 2014-05-28

Posts: 11

Record with E-MU 0202

Hi

I have a problem with my external sound card E-MU 0202. Sound is working fine, but i cant get it to record anything.

My .asoundrc:

pcm.emu {
    type hw
	card 2
}

pcm.dmixed {
	type dmix
	ipc_key 1024
	slave {
        pcm "emu"
        period_size 1024
        buffer_size 4096
        rate 44100
	}
}

pcm.dsnooped {
	type dsnoop
	ipc_key 2048
	slave {
        pcm "emu"
        period_size 1024
        buffer_size 4096
        rate 44100
	}
}

pcm.asymed {
	type asym
	playback.pcm "dmixed"
	capture.pcm "dsnooped"
}

pcm.pasymed {
	type plug
	slave.pcm "asymed"
}

pcm.!default {
	type plug
	slave.pcm "asymed"
}

If i try to record with arecord i get

$ arecord -vv test.wav
Aufnahme: WAVE 'test.wav' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate: 8000 Hz, mono
Plug PCM: Rate conversion PCM (44100, sformat=U8)
Converter: libspeex (builtin)
Protocol version: 10002
Its setup is:
  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : RW_INTERLEAVED
  format       : U8
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 1
  rate         : 8000
  exact rate   : 8000 (8000/1)
  msbits       : 8
  buffer_size  : 743
  period_size  : 185
  period_time  : 23219
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 185
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 1
  stop_threshold   : 743
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 836543630784069632
Slave: Route conversion PCM (sformat=S24_3LE)
  Transformation table:
    0 <- 0*0,5 + 1*0,5
Its setup is:
  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : U8
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 1
  rate         : 44100
  exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
  msbits       : 8
  buffer_size  : 4096
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 23219
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 6
  stop_threshold   : 4096
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Slave: Direct Snoop PCM
Its setup is:
  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S24_3LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 44100
  exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
  msbits       : 24
  buffer_size  : 4096
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 23219
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 6
  stop_threshold   : 4096
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Hardware PCM card 2 'E-MU 0202 | USB' device 0 subdevice 0
Its setup is:
  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S24_3LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 44100
  exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
  msbits       : 24
  buffer_size  : 4096
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 23219
  tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 1
  stop_threshold   : 4611686018427387904
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 4611686018427387904
  appl_ptr     : 0
  hw_ptr       : 0

and arecord freezes, uses one of my cores completely and i have to kill it with pkill -9.

The problem is, that i don't know if this is a configuration problem or a hardware problem. Recording does however work on Windows.

Any suggestions? Has anyone ever recorded something with an 0202 or similar (0404, ...)

Greetings
marv

emeres

Member

Registered: 2013-10-08

Posts: 1,570

Re: Record with E-MU 0202

Can you set the sampling rate in alsamixer?

amixer -c 2

If you set arecord to the same format as dsnooped is and then use dnsooped or hw:2 as the device, does the behaviour stay the same? Using hardware directly should rule out an configuration error.

meismarv

Member

Registered: 2014-05-28

Posts: 11

Re: Record with E-MU 0202

Ok so you have pointed me in the right direction i think. I can now record a wav with:

arecord -D dsnooped -f S24_3LE -c 2 -r 44100 test.wav

Can you give me a hint, what i have to cange in my .asoundrc.

For completeness:
In alsamixer there is something called "Clock rate Selector" which according to http://abstractnoise.co.uk/2014/02/09/g … pberry-pi/ sets the sampling rate.

$ amixer -c 2
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 99
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 99 [100%] [-0.51dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 99 [100%] [-0.51dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 200
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 165 [82%] [-17.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 165 [82%] [-17.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Clock rate Selector',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 5
  Mono: 0 [0%]

Thanks so far for your help

emeres

Member

Registered: 2013-10-08

Posts: 1,570

Re: Record with E-MU 0202

You could add the format to dsnooped and then use arecord -D dsnooped, but even without the format calling either dsnooped or hardware direclty (hw:2) should work (if not try -D plug:dsnooped or plughw:2). You did not show your setup, but I assume you have an integral sound card and a HDMI from the gpu. Which leaves emu at position 3 (card 2 starting from 0).

If the issue is that you want to record audio from the emu with arecord command only, then I suggest using an alias for arecord. Otherwise select the appropriate device with -D switch. Or set up emu as the default card, but you probably do not want that.

Last edited by emeres (2014-05-28 12:55:43)

meismarv

Member

Registered: 2014-05-28

Posts: 11

Re: Record with E-MU 0202

You are right about my setup. E-MU as default sound card is also ok for me.

So I didn't point out what is my real problem. I want to be able to use skype. However it seems that this is a skype specific problem now, because with Teamspeak my micro works.

My symptoms in skype test call are dependent on the microphone setting:

• sysdefault -> i hear a period of nothing between the second and thrid beep (it probably listens with the other sound card)

• E-MU 0202 | USB, USB Audio (hw:2,0) -> the period between the two beeps is only 1 s without any sound

• dsnooped -> same as above (E-MU ...), but also the sound of the test-call is distorted until i set Clock Rate Selector in alsamixer to 48 kHz

I am very confused about this behaviour.

emeres

Member

Registered: 2013-10-08

Posts: 1,570

Re: Record with E-MU 0202

Wiki explains how to set default sound card.

Well, I do not use skype for several reasons, so I can be little of help, since it seems skype specific. Tox would be an alternative, but still has some way to go. The sample rate seems fixed, probably hard coded. Check out any configuration files that skype package comes with, check your ~/.config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME) directory. Maybe aoss wrapper could help, but I doubt it.

Asking skype developers for more options for configuration and/or taking a look at this specific issue seems like the way to go. It is closed source, so very limited feedback is possible from the outside. If you look through forums here, you will understand why skype has a bad reputation.

I am not going to try to convince you (and probably your friends) to switch, you should however consider it.