1 Prerequisites
- run alsa-conf to detect card & install drivers automagically
- run modconf if alsa-conf was not successful
apt-get install modconf alsa-utils
2 Software installation
Installing 'self-sufficient' audio software
- i.e. only one piece of software may run & produce sound at a time
apt-get install alsamixergui xmms alsa-oss audacity
Installing advanced audio software
- i.e. one piece of software may run & pipe sound into another software for editing
apt-get install qjackctl jamin hydrogen ardourHere's an example of a fairly exhaustive use of pipes with connection settings [click right 'view image' to enlarge]
Other interesting audio software
timidity - muse - rosegarden - gtick
3 Hardware overview
- to list available audio hardware [use modconf first to install relevant modules]
cat /proc/asound/cards 0 [CK804 ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK804 NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at 0xd0203000, irq 17 1 [UART ]: MPU-401 UART - MPU-401 UART MPU-401 UART at 0x330, irq 10 2 [VirMIDI ]: VirMIDI - VirMIDI Virtual MIDI Card 1
cat /proc/asound/CK804/codec97#0/ac97#0-0 [...] Capabilities : DAC resolution : 16-bit ADC resolution : 16-bit 3D enhancement : No 3D Stereo Enhancement [...]
cat /proc/asound/devices 18: [0- 2]: digital audio playback 25: [0- 1]: digital audio capture 16: [0- 0]: digital audio playback 24: [0- 0]: digital audio capture 0: [0- 0]: ctl 1: : sequencer 33: : timer 40: [1- 0]: raw midi 32: [1- 0]: ctl 75: [2- 3]: raw midi 74: [2- 2]: raw midi 73: [2- 1]: raw midi 72: [2- 0]: raw midi 64: [2- 0]: ctl NOTE: under qjack.ctl above addresses correspond to hw:0,0 for capture & hw:0 for playback
cat /proc/asound/pcm 00-00: Intel ICH : NVidia CK804 : playback 1 : capture 1 00-01: Intel ICH - MIC ADC : NVidia CK804 - MIC ADC : capture 1 00-02: Intel ICH - IEC958 : NVidia CK804 - IEC958 : playback 1
4 Audio software running with alsamixergui [/dev/dsp]
depending on local configuration!
- will display warning (or occasionally crash) if two pieces of software are trying to use the sound card at the same time
aoss audacity
- selecting inputs using alsamixergui & audacity's preferences window
alsamixergui -> audacity line -> igain aux -> mic NOTE: conflicts with qjack.ctl when using hw:0
hydrogen
- default settings
preferences > audio > driver alsa hw:0 i.e. can work w/o jack NOTE: will also run with jack & hence should enable sending output of drums to ardour [check http://wolever.net/~bennyp/ardourtut.3.php]
5 Audio software running with qjack.ctl
- will not work with [dev/dsp]
example of failure:
creating alsa driver ... /dev/dsp|hw:0,1|1024|2|44100|2|2|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit ALSA lib control.c:895:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL /dev/dsp control open "/dev/dsp" (No such file or directory) cannot load driver module alsa
jamin
- connecting inputs & outputs using jamin
ports > in > groups > alsa_pcm OK jamin OK or run manually through each subsection
ardour
- set up the following sound flow
alsa_pcm --> qjack.ctl --> jamin --> ardour --> jamin --> alsa_pcmHere's where to tick boxes to validate sound input & output in ardour
session > add track windows > mixer > audio 1
input > edit > jamin: out_R input > edit > jamin: out_L output > edit > out_1 ardour:master/in 1 output > edit > out_2 ardour:master/in 2 OR click on [master out]
input > edit > master input ardour: ardour:audio1/out1 input > edit > master input ardour: ardour:audio1/out2 OR click on [1+2] which corresponds(?) to alsa_pcm:capture_1 alsa_pcm:capture_2 (but does it bypass jamin by connecting directly to the alsa_pcm driver?) output > edit > alsa_pcm:playback_1 output > edit > alsa_pcm:playback_2connections under ardour will appear in connections window of qjack.ctl,
which is v. helpful for checking connections visually