/A.A.Hamilton wrote:/> /Apologies if this looks like a set of dumb questions. In fact it IS a> set of dumb questions, to which I cannot seem to get answers on either> the OpenSuSE or Audacity forums.> /First, you can use the script alsa-info.sh --no-upload and the output will have relevant sound information.The script is found at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh If you run it as a straight script with no options, that is alsa-info.sh you can paste the link back here so other people canlook at it and see your sound setup. Helps immensely in diagnosing problems. Try using aplay. It is closer to the metal. aplay -vv -D plughw:0,0 some.wav What does the output look like. If you run dmesg immediately after you run theabove command, are there any errors? dmesg | less will let you go to the bottomand look around with the command G . Typing q gets out of less. Are you running a sound server of any sort? This might be causing you problems. Thefact that you are seeing Pulseaudio in your output suggests you are. If pulseaudio isn'tsupported by the application, it will block the applications access to alsa. I don't thinkaudacity supports pulseaudio yet. After you disable pulseaudio, try the aplay command above again. > /> I'm creating a long track record of no success in using Audacity on a> hardware setup which I have converted from Win XP to SuSE 11. I> previously had been using Audacity for some years on this hardware under> Win XP. **> /Was there some proprietary firmware available for your card in XP that isn't availableunder Suse? If it is the ca0106 mentioned below there shouldn't be.> /> (For those with infinite patience the problem is that I can record,> about 95% of the time, but can playback only about 1% of the time. The> output level meters show that I have made a valid recording but there is> no output on my speakers. The system will play audio CDs, outside of> Audacity).> /95% of the time, not 100%. Only 1% of the time playback. But you canplayback? What happens if you disable pulseaudio? The only acceptablenumbers here are 100% for both capture and playback. I have used the alsa ca0106 driver successfully with audacity for bothcapture and playback in the past. You will be able to also once youget the configuration issues out of the way.> /> Others have directed me to check my mixer settings with alsamixer. This> utility confusee me no end and has given rise to many questions, all of> which must be hard, because I can't get an answers.>> . If I invoke alsamixer with the simple command 'alsamixer' (no> parameters), in either user or root status, I get a DOS like screen> showing information for (among other items) something called 'CARD' with> content 'PulseAudio'. What does 'card' mean? Why is PulseAudio involved?> I thought I was using ALSA?> /Alsa has the drivers and libraries that address sound devices. A sound serversits on top of alsa and only lets it be accessed via the sound server. Pulseaudiois a sound server that lets you transparently do all kinds of fancy things tosound streams easily at the price of a loss of fine sound system control. So youare using ALSA, just via pulseaudio. Again, I suggest you disable pulse andtry.> /> There is also an item called 'chip', also with content 'PulseAudio'.> What chip is this?>> What do I do with this 'card' and 'chip' information?>> In 'Playback' mode one recording level bar, labelled 'Master' is> displayed. I am able to set volume levels here and use the M-key toggle> but can do nothing more. Is this the equivalent of the playback volume> control under Windows?>> /I'm not familiar with Windows so I can't answer this. Normally, thereare many controls here. The output of the shell script above list allof them.> /If I tab into 'Capture' mode one recording level bar, labelled> 'Capture' is displayed. I am able to set volume levels here, and the> space bar toggle is effective; the M-key toggle is not. What exactly is> this 'Capture' device? Is this the equivalent of the recording volume> control under Windows?>> /Again, I don't know Windows. But there are usually many moreitems here as well. They too will show up in the shell script output.> /Irrespective of where I set the levels in these 2 modes, or whether I> select 'Capture' as a recording device or not, I am unable to playback> any recordings in Audacity - even after loading project files recorded> under Windows.>>> /This really points to a pulseaudio compatibility problem.> /This is all in great contrast to the 'other' Alsamixer which is> available to me - invoked by issuing the command 'alsamixer -c 0'> (just as an aside, the alsamixer man pages and help information have> been unable to explain to me, in a way that I can understand, how to set> the parameters for -D option. I have tried more than 200 combinations of> strings of alpha-numerics to follow -D, but have found nothing that is> acceptable to alsamixer - not even those that by fortuitous circumstance> turn out to be an obscene permutation of Western characters. Is this> some sort of virility check, to qualify ones-self to be a real alsa> user?)>> /This is the same alsamixer, just specifying that card 0 be used explicity.This card is the default as well. I've never used the -D option with alsamixer.:-)> /Invoked in this way alsamixer now shows 'Card' as CA0106 - what is> this? And what happened to the previous entry of 'PulseAudio'? 'Chip' is> now shown as blank. Does his mean that alsamixer cannot detect it in> this mode? What happened to the previous setting of 'PulseAudio'?>> /This is a generic soundblaster live card. You are now seeing the alsainformation rather than the pulseaudio information.> /A wide variety of device volume controls is now displayed, including a> device called IEC958. In terms of my sound card (Creative Labs Sound> Blaster Live! 24 bit 7.1 card - a widely used, entry level consumer> quality sound card, designed in the 90s) I have absolutely no idea what> this device it. This is the only device on which the M-toggle is> effective. The space bar toggle is not effective on any device in any> mode (Playback, Capture, All). No master volume control is displayed.> /IEC958 is digital output rather than the standard analog output.> /> Some times, after fiddling with this version of alsamizer (in an> entirely random fashion) Audacity will 'see' a playback device called> ALSA dmix. If I select this device then I can playback recorded sounds.> I have no idea what this device is or where Audacity finds it. Out of> about 100 recording attempts over the last 3 weeks, this playback device> option has appeared only 2 times. This number is too low for me to> correlate it with any specific setting in the second version of> alsamixer.>> /dmix is a mixer plugin built into alsa.> /The other recording and playback devices identified with Audacity - with> names of the form CA0106: CA0106 (hw:0,0) - bear no relationship, in my> mind, to the hardware features on my sound card - like 'Line In' or> 'Mic' or 'Line Out'. I have no idea what those esoteric and generic> names mean. Even worse, the second version of alsamizer lists devices> called IEC958 something or other or 'i2s in'. I have no idea what the> devices are or if I should use them.>> The bottom line is that the evidence I have found so far suggests either> that alsa cannot recognise my very common sound card, or cannot co-exist> with Audacity in OpenSuSE 11 or both.>> /Again, I think you are having a pulseaudio compatibility problem.> /Is there a 3rd version of alsamixer, invokable in some other way, which> will fix this?> / Well, there is a version that is more direct called amixer. But I don'tthink you want to go there. ;-) Just disable pulseaudio and try again. You can enable it for other things,but not while you are using audacity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW!Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project,along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lamenessand boredom. 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