[Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

lilsirecho · 2005-01-01 18:58:32

I include my alsamixer display:
.....................................................................................................................................───────[AlsaMixer v1.0.7 (Press Escape to quit)]─────────────┐
│ Card: USB Audio │
│ Chip: USB Mixer │
│ View: Playback │
│ Item: PCM │
│ │
│ ┌──┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ └──┘ │
│ 86<>86 │
│ < PCM > │
│ │
└..........................................................................................................................................

In KDEMIXER two options are available:

USB Audio
──────C-media PCI─CMI8738-MC6

Until I placed ...snd-usb-audio first in the modules list of rc.conf I had no USB mixer in KDE.

Best of 2005 to you!─────────────────────────────────

Kitsunebi · 2005-01-01 21:25:32

Bittersweet success:

I have "sound," but it sounds like rocks in a blender. Anyway, here are the steps so far:

Pacman -Sy alsa-lib alsa-utils alsa-oss
(Then go somewhere and:)
mkdir alsacvs
cd alsacvs
(pacman -S cvs here, if needed)
cvs -d ':pserver:anonymous@cvs.alsa-project.org:/cvsroot/alsa' login
[Press Enter again at the password prompt]
cvs -z3 -d ':pserver:anonymous@cvs.alsa-project.org:/cvsroot/alsa' co -P .
(Note the period at the end)
cd alsa-driver
./cvscompile --with-cards=ca0106 --with-sequencer=yes
make
(as root:)
make install
modprobe snd-ca0106
modprobe snd-pcm-oss
modprobe snd-mixer-oss
modprobe snd-seq-oss

then follow the Wiki from step 3 under 'Configure Alsa'

(I'm not sure if the snd-mixer-oss and snd-seq-oss modules are necessary or not)

Though I now have sound and alsamixer works, the sound is terrible. It breaks up at regular intervals (gives me a headache). Unfortunately, the only suggestion I've been able to find so far has been to reduce the sampling rate from 44kHz to 22kHz. I tried this in XMMS, and it sounded a little better (every time it broke up, it didn't last as long), but it's still not good enough. Also, I would think there would be a way to avoid changing the configuration in every program I want to use.

Any ideas?

EDIT: with-card=ca0106 -> with-cards=ca0106

Kitsunebi · 2005-01-02 00:39:01

Success!

.asoundrc from http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/DigitalSoundHowTo :

# Override the default output used by ALSA.
# If you do not override the default, your default
# device is identical to the (unmixed) analog device
# shown below.  If you prefer mixed and/or digital
# output, uncomment the appropriate four lines below
# (only one slave.pcm line).
pcm.!default {
  type plug
## Uncomment the following to use mixed analog by default
  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"
## Uncomment the following to use unmixed digital by default
#  slave.pcm "digital-hw"
## Uncomment the following to use mixed digital by default
#  slave.pcm "dmix-digital"
}

# Alias for analog output on the nForce2 (hw:0,0)
# - This is identical to the device named "default"--which
# always exists and refers to hw:0,0 (unless overridden)
# - Therefore, we can specify "hw:0,0", "default", or "analog"
# to access analog output on the nForce2
pcm.analog {
 type plug
 slave.pcm "analog-hw"
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for (rate-converted) mixed analog output on the
# nForce2 (hw:0,0)
#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and
# convert to the rate required for the dmix plugin
# (in this case 48000Hz)
pcm.mixed-analog {
 type plug
 slave.pcm "dmix-analog"
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.mixed-analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the
# nForce2 (hw:0,2)
#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and
# convert to the rate required for the S/PDIF hardware
# (in this case 48000Hz)
pcm.digital {
 type plug
 slave.pcm "digital-hw"
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.digital {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for mixed (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the
# nForce2 (hw:0,2)
#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and
# convert to the rate required for the S/PDIF hardware
# (in this case 48000Hz)
pcm.mixed-digital {
 type plug
 slave.pcm "dmix-digital"
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.mixed-digital {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# The following devices are not useful by themselves.  They
# require specific rates, channels, and formats.  Therefore,
# you probably do not want to use them directly.  Instead use
# of of the devices defined above.

# Alias for analog output on the nForce2 (hw:0,0)
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,
# channels, and format
pcm.analog-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
 # The default value for device is 0, so no need to specify
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.analog-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for digital (S/PDIF) output on the nForce2 (hw:0,2)
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,
# channels, and format
pcm.digital-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
 device 2
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.digital-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for analog output on
# the nForce2 (hw:0,0)
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,
# channels, and format
pcm.dmix-analog {
 type dmix
 ipc_key 1234
 slave {
   pcm "analog-hw"
   period_time 0
   period_size 1024
   buffer_size 4096
   rate 48000
 }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.dmix-analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for digital (S/PDIF) output
# on the nForce2 (hw:0,2)
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,
# channels, and format
pcm.dmix-digital {
 type dmix
 ipc_key 1235
 slave {
   pcm "digital-hw"
   period_time 0
   period_size 1024
   buffer_size 4096
   rate 48000
 }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.dmix-digital {
 type hw
 card 0
}

I'm so happy!

Big thanks to everyone who helped 8)

EDIT: To get mplayer to work, add the following to ~/.mplayer/config: ao=alsa

molinero · 2005-01-26 11:31:03

This may be a stupid question but I cannot find the answer myself. When I try to ./cvscompile --with-cards=ca0106 --with-sequencer=yes I get the following error:

No alsa-kernel is found. Please specify the correct location via ALSAKERNELDIR evironment variable.

I am not sure what that means - google on alsakerneldir did not help me. I read the INSTALL file and it said to

 make ALSAKERNELDIR=../alsa-kernel all-deps (if the alsa-kernel dir is really there)

But the dir is not there ... do I have to download the alsa-kernel and where would I do that?

I have the Soundblaster live 24bit card

tmadhavan · 2005-01-26 12:29:19

Me too, can't get it working properly at all.

Tried pacman alsa, worked kinda. Compiled from source, movies worked, games worked, mp3s didn't.

As far as I can tell the support for the card is just shat atm, tho hopefully that will improve.

T

molinero · 2005-01-26 13:48:08

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa- … php?id=724

I think I'll wait for it ... rather than building from cvs. According to the bugtrack only 48kHz works anyway.

tmadhavan · 2005-01-26 20:40:24

The funny thing is, I didn't compile from cvs. Couldn't even get the cvs, or get the snapshots to work (behind an annoying uni firewall) . I just downloaded the source that was released just recently of the 1.0.8 release... it's not working properly at the moment, I have no idea how to even get the game sounds I had previously.

T.

molinero · 2005-01-30 21:07:19

Okay - i couldn't wait... Compiled it from source but the sound is so terrible that it makes me want to die.

KalephOne · 2005-05-30 04:58:11

Kitsunebi, I cant thank you enough for posting about using alsacvs and that asoundrc!!! I just bought a msi k8n sli motherboard that comes with a creative live 24bit and was lost trying to make it work, and now it works like a charm

Thanks a lot!

Kitsunebi · 2005-05-31 04:26:33

No problem. I'm glad you got it to work.

That's one thing I love about the Arch community: most the time, if I have a problem, all I have to do is search through the forums to find an answer. I'm glad to have contributed to that.

tmadhavan · 2005-05-31 10:16:19

So, is the old ca0106 working properly now?

Does the SB Live 24bit work, with surround and mic input? If so I'll rack it in my machine, if not I'll stick with my (mic-less ) cs46xx card.

T

Kitsunebi · 2005-05-31 12:27:12

I still have the occasional problem with it, and I've never tried to use the mic. But then, I haven't bothered updating these drivers since I wrote this post half a year ago, either. Perhaps KalephOne is the better one to ask, since he's up-to-date.

As for me, it works with XMMS and mplayer, and those two programs make up 95% of what I use, sound-wise.

Oh, and four days ago, the following appeared in that bug-track molinero posted:

The ca0106 is supported. And after alsa-driver 1.0.9, it will have capture support as well.
It does not support the sample rate of 44100, so you have to resample it to 48000 in order to play the sound.
Either use the alsa device "plug:front" so that alsa does the resampling for you, or use an application that can resample the sound. e.g. xine.

Arch Linux

#26 2005-01-01 18:58:32

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#27 2005-01-01 21:25:32

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#28 2005-01-02 00:39:01

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#29 2005-01-26 11:31:03

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#30 2005-01-26 12:29:19

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#31 2005-01-26 13:48:08

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#32 2005-01-26 20:40:24

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#33 2005-01-30 21:07:19

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#34 2005-05-30 04:58:11

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#35 2005-05-31 04:26:33

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#36 2005-05-31 10:16:19

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

#37 2005-05-31 12:27:12

Re: [Solved] Creative Labs|SB Audigy LS - ALSA problem

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