Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

hatten · 2010-10-06 04:18:26

I'm having two computers on my desktop, and I've got tired of plugging the sound cable in and out all the time. I've put one cable from the other computers out into this computers in, and tried playing around with various settings in alsamixer, but nothing worked. I haven't managed to find anything with my search-engine-fu either.

lspci:

05:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster

There's a lot of options in alsamixer, and I've no clue which I should use. I've reset the values since i tried it earlier.
amixer

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono: Playback 55 [22%] [-50.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line in',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 255
  Front Left: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 255
  Front Left: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 255
  Front Left: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Rear',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Unknown',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 255
  Front Left: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 207 [81%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255

  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Rear',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Side',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Phone' 'Mic' 'Line in' 'Aux'
  Item0: 'Line in'
Simple mixer control 'CAPTURE feedback',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'Digital Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'IEC958 out' 'i2s mixer out' 'IEC958 in' 'i2s in' 'AC97 in' 'SRC out'
  Item0: 'i2s in'
Simple mixer control 'Shared Mic/Line in',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Line in' 'Mic in'
  Item0: 'Line in'

kmason · 2010-10-06 04:23:46

What about your speakers? Do they have a line-in jack in them?

karol · 2010-10-06 10:00:29

I think pulseaudio can do that for you - have you tried it?

kgas · 2010-10-06 11:31:47

with your setup you need both computers to be on to hear the music. The other way what I have is a simple two way switch to switch between the computers.
here is one link for you Two PC one speaker

thisoldman · 2010-10-06 11:35:39

I'd go for a hardware solution. A simple line level mixer circuit is shown here: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/mixer.html. Note that there are no level controls.

An alternative would be to buy a "line level audio mixer." In the United States, an adequate one sells new for $30 to $50.

Darksoul71 · 2010-10-06 14:24:19

It would be interesting to know wether both PCs are running in order to produce sound or if you need the speakers to work with both PCs independently.

For the later one a simple "mixer" as described by thisoldman will do the job just fine.

For the first one you would need to connect the line-out of PC1 to line-in of PC2. Then unmute line-in on PC2 in the mixer et voila: Sound of both PCs on one set of speakers. Using PA to send the sound output of PC1 to PC2 via network is another approach of course.

hatten · 2010-10-06 18:41:02

PC2 will always be on, PC1 will sometimes be on. PC1->PC2->speakers. Both should be able to play sounds at once.

I thought it would be as simple as to only unmute line-in, but I've never seen weirder a(lsa)mixer options. I've tried changing analog/digital source and everything, unmuting everything and playing around with the sources too, but it doesn't wanna work.

Maybe completely unrelated, but the sound isn't saved on reboot either (It did before changing motherboard and inserting sound card.)

My speakers only have one line-in.

I have not tried pulseaudio, I thought it would be possible with alsa so I tried that first (as I already had it installed)

Last edited by hatten (2010-10-06 18:42:01)

karol · 2010-10-06 18:44:22

"sound isn't saved on reboot" - you mean the alsamixer settings?

hatten · 2010-10-06 18:48:14

yeah, upon starting mocp I get deaf =p

skunktrader · 2010-10-06 19:02:32

Did you try this yet?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Als … at_startup

hatten · 2010-10-06 19:05:01

I did a new alsactl store and diffed the new and old files, looks like as the settings are different, they're not the ones that are saved. Thanks.

Darksoul71 · 2010-10-07 11:31:45

hatten wrote:

PC2 will always be on, PC1 will sometimes be on. PC1->PC2->speakers. Both should be able to play sounds at once.
I thought it would be as simple as to only unmute line-in, but I've never seen weirder a(lsa)mixer options. I've tried changing analog/digital source and everything, unmuting everything and playing around with the sources too, but it doesn't wanna work.

Soundcards often have strange looking mixers. You should
1st: Check if there is any sound output of PC1 with a headset
2nd: Consult the documentation of the soundcard on PC2 which of the 3.5 mm connectors is "line-in"
3rd: Connect a contiuous sound source (e.g. MP3 player, walkman, discman) to this line-in port
4th: Play around with your mixer until you hear your externally connected sound source.

Sometimes soundcard (esp. those onboard chips with 7.1) use a 3.5 mm connector as input and output as well. Sometimes you need to "tick a box" in order to switch from center rear to line-in.

Sometimes you can tinker a bit and use an internal CD-ROM connector on the soundcard for external devices. I did so once with a cheap soundcard when I required a second sound input.

Pulse Audio on the other hand isn't so hard to set up and works at least for some peoples.

hatten · 2010-10-07 18:53:03

1. Yes.
2. Well, blue
3. playing webradio on PC1
4. Will do.

Darksoul71 · 2010-10-07 19:27:04

hatten wrote:

1. Yes.
2. Well, blue
3. playing webradio on PC1
..

I didn´t want to annoy you with my comments. I remember clearly when I fuddled around 2 hrs to get the line-in of my mobo soundcard until I found out that I simply muted the output of my TV card (which I wanted to capture).

hatten · 2010-10-07 19:58:36

fail@darksoul

After having tried every single combination possible, I tried some googling. It seems that sound in for this card doesn't work
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index. … ative_Labs , CA0106.

Off to try pulseaudio then.

Darksoul71 · 2010-10-07 20:24:33

Sorry to hear...sometimes the ALSA featureset is..well..incomplete..for certain soundcards.
And why not simply buying a AV switch at ebay ? They usually sell for something like 10€. Of course PA is cheaper

May be this page helps:
http://linuxundich.de/en/ubuntu/sounds- … -umleiten/

Last edited by Darksoul71 (2010-10-07 20:28:17)

hatten · 2010-10-08 21:14:48

After having read some pulseaudio I'm severely confused, it's definitely not KISS! =p
I think I'll just settle on moving the cable whenever I need the other comp, it got a sound-out on the front so it's not that bad. Otherwise I might see if I can dig up another sound card in my collection.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-06 04:18:26

Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#2 2010-10-06 04:23:46

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#3 2010-10-06 10:00:29

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#4 2010-10-06 11:31:47

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#5 2010-10-06 11:35:39

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#6 2010-10-06 14:24:19

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#7 2010-10-06 18:41:02

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#8 2010-10-06 18:44:22

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#9 2010-10-06 18:48:14

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#10 2010-10-06 19:02:32

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#11 2010-10-06 19:05:01

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#12 2010-10-07 11:31:45

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#13 2010-10-07 18:53:03

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#14 2010-10-07 19:27:04

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#15 2010-10-07 19:58:36

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#16 2010-10-07 20:24:33

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

#17 2010-10-08 21:14:48

Re: Using sound-in to have two computers on one pair of speakers

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