lsmod for the root command line: Module Size Used by Not tainted sg 32612 0 (unused) parport_pc 17988 1 (autoclean) lp 9024 0 (autoclean) parport 33280 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp] autofs 11940 0 (autoclean) (unused) ide-scsi 9312 0 scsi_mod 103904 2 [sg ide-scsi] ide-cd 29856 0 cdrom 33184 0 [ide-cd] usb-uhci 23492 0 (unused) usbcore 71168 1 [usb-uhci] lsmod for root Gnome This is where I do the rec command inside a terminal because I have access to the mixer. Module Size Used by Not tainted emu10k1 65888 1 (autoclean) ac97_codec 11872 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1] sound 70956 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1] soundcore 6436 7 (autoclean) [emu10k1 sound] agpgart 38048 0 (unused) sg 32612 0 (unused) parport_pc 17988 1 (autoclean) lp 9024 0 (autoclean) parport 33280 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp] autofs 11940 0 (autoclean) (unused) ide-scsi 9312 0 scsi_mod 103904 2 [sg ide-scsi] ide-cd 29856 0 cdrom 33184 0 [ide-cd] usb-uhci 23492 0 (unused) usbcore 71168 1 [usb-uhci] /dev/dsp crw- --- --- 1 root root dsp /dev/audio crw- --- --- 1 root root audio Creative SBLive - Emu10K1 mixer All items are at least 60 % up. Vol, PCM, Line, IGain are all 90-100 % up I've been messing with these switches for two days now and none of them help. Maybe the sound card has gone screwy. But then, why does it work fine for everything else, like playing CDs, playing ripped WAV files, playing the OS GUI noises etc. And I can hear my quitar through the computer speakers when I'm playing hooked up to the sound card's blue line-in. Two years ago I used rec and play quite a bit and it all worked fine. Wish I hadn't lost my notes on how to do it. The Sound HOWTO gave an example. I used the sound card's pink line-in for microphone and did I few words through my cheap mic. dd bs=8k count=4 < /dev/audio > sample.au So I tried it and it did create sample.au. play sample.au was silent. cat sample.au > /dev/dsp and cat sample.au > /dev/audio made distorted noises. Anybody got any idea what's wrong?