Arch Linux

mads-b

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2007-12-22

Posts: 10

Website

Limited options in alsamixer

I got a new motherboard recently, named P5E-VM HDMI. Apart from obvious kernel problems associated with such a change (kernel panics), I have one more trivial problem.

The card has HD audioports, and the ALSA-driver used is snd_HDM_intel. I connected my 5:1 audio system to this setup.

The problem arises when I see that I do not have a "tone" checkbox in the alsa mixer. I had one on my Audigy 2 card, which enabled me to adjust subwoofer volume with the LFE slider. Without the "tone" checkbox, the LFE slider is dead.

The Audigy 2 card is by far sold and gone. What to do?

Last edited by mads-b (2008-04-06 13:05:09)

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Memento Mori

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

Motherboard on-board snd-hda-intel cards are rubbish

grep -i tone /usr/src/linux/sound/pci/emu10k1/*
<get matches>

grep -i tone /usr/src/linux/sound/pci/hda/*
<no matches>

Buy a PCI soundcard. But do some research before you choose

mads-b

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2007-12-22

Posts: 10

Website

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

You may call them rubbish, and maybe they are, but I'm getting increasingly frustrated at linux' inability to show some flexibility at this area. The ALSA system is extremely rigid, giving no room for adjustments. At least in windows I have the opportunity to software adjust the sound before I output it to the speakers.

As I said, I had a Audigy2 PCI soundcard before, but got rid of it as soon as I bought this mobo. The audigy2 was also irritating to setup in linux. How I miss the creative audio suite for windows

Anyway, I tried OSS recently, but the mixer (ossxmix) was far too user-hostile and complex for me to use. What to do?

The concept of custom-fitting a computer to a OS instead of vice-versa seems too foreign to me, especially when I chose arch for this reason.

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Memento Mori

B15HOP

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 138

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

Audio really needs a hand these days. If Nvidia and AMD are able to get the video drivers upto speed, I don't see why creative labs shouldn't either. I didn't buy an Audigy to just sit in my pc and pretend to be a sound card...

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"The ecological crisis is a moral issue."

wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

With Alsa you can do a lot of things with the sound before the output, but the set up is not trivial. (i.e. I'm too stupid to explain it properly)

I once copied together a config to output stereo sound on multiple outputs (on a realtec alc660 iirc), so I could use loudspeakers and earphones and switch them on/off on a pure software base. Volume adjustment was possible, too. Do a search on asoundrc for more information.

jb

Member

From: Florida

Registered: 2006-06-22

Posts: 466

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

A couple wiki's to help out with asoundrc:

http://alsa.opensrc.org/.asoundrc
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ALSA_Compl … udes_dmix)

Last edited by jb (2008-04-08 17:24:41)

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Dheart

Member

From: Sofia, Bulgaria

Registered: 2006-10-26

Posts: 956

Re: Limited options in alsamixer

You could give oss4 a try...

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No, you cannot hide nor flee
You know what I'm looking for
Pleasure your torture, I will endure...