[Alsa-user] Aureon 5.1 USB MKII

[Andreas Hartschen]

Hello everybody,
as a linux/alsa(OpenSuse 10.0/alsa 1.0.10) newbie I have some questions:

My audio runs on an external USB Card (Terratec aureon 5.1 USB MKII).

When I run alsaconf, the usb-device is not recognized, just a so called "ISA
nonPnP card", the configuration of which is said to produce an unstable
system.
So I quit alsaconf. As a result there is neither "/etc/alsa.conf"
nor ."asoundrc". How do I produce them in the right way?

I'd like a duplicated stereo device (front and rear speakers) as default and a
surround51 device for 5.1 channel surround. How do I configure these and how
do I hand them over to xmms and mplayer?

"speaker-test -c 6" is producing audio from all 6 Speakers correctly.
How comes there are no surround controls in my alsamixer?

B.t.w.: In the past week I made several unsucsessful attempts to produce 5.1
surround with mplayer. Yesterday I installed vlc as an alternative and -
success: there it is!
So, as a WIN-User I'd probably stop wondering about things and enjoy, but: hey
man, this is Linux! I'd like to know what's going on ;-)

Cheers,
Andreas

[Clemens Ladisch]

Post by Andreas Hartschen
My audio runs on an external USB Card (Terratec aureon 5.1 USB MKII).
When I run alsaconf, the usb-device is not recognized, just a so called "ISA
nonPnP card", the configuration of which is said to produce an unstable
system.
So I quit alsaconf. As a result there is neither "/etc/alsa.conf"
nor ."asoundrc". How do I produce them in the right way?

Those files are never generated by alsaconf because the default settings for
each card should be correct.

Post by Andreas Hartschen
I'd like a duplicated stereo device (front and rear speakers) as default and
a surround51 device for 5.1 channel surround. How do I configure these and
how do I hand them over to xmms and mplayer?

Try this in your /etc/asound.conf (but it's untested):

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:X" # replace X with the card number
ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.2.0 1
ttable.3.1 1
}

pcm.!surround51 {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:X" # like above
}

Post by Andreas Hartschen
"speaker-test -c 6" is producing audio from all 6 Speakers correctly.
How comes there are no surround controls in my alsamixer?

alsamixer shows the mixer controls of the sound device.
The Aureon probably doesn't have hardware surround controls.


HTH
Clemens

[Andreas Hartschen]

Hi,
thanks a lot, Clemens!

Post by Clemens Ladisch
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:X" # replace X with the card number
ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.2.0 1
ttable.3.1 1
}
pcm.!surround51 {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:X" # like above
}

I put the above into ~/.asoundrc instead of /etc/asound.conf
and I actually get 5.1 surround sound with "mplayer -channels 6 dvd://..."
but I'm afraid I don't get any sound in xmms.

So I trashed the "pcm.!default ..." portion and xmms at least puts out
standard stereo (2ch) again.

I left the "pcm.!surround51..." portion untouched and mplayer keeps on playing
surround sound.

Now, that's quite a success for me.
Cheers
Andreas

Andreas Hartschen D-Aachen

[Clemens Ladisch]

Post by Clemens Ladisch
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:X" # replace X with the card number
ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.2.0 1
ttable.3.1 1
}

Sorry, these ttable entries are wrong. Correct would be:

ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.0.2 1
ttable.1.3 1


HTH
Clemens

[Andreas Hartschen]

Post by Clemens Ladisch
ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.0.2 1
ttable.1.3 1

Sorry Clemens, but these don't seem to work either.
Regards
Andreas

[Clemens Ladisch]

Post by Andreas Hartschen

Post by Clemens Ladisch
ttable.0.0 1
ttable.1.1 1
ttable.0.2 1
ttable.1.3 1

Sorry Clemens, but these don't seem to work either.

What happens?


Regards,
Clemens

[Andreas Hartschen]

Post by Clemens Ladisch
What happens?

When I put the follwing portion

pcm.!default {
      type plug
      slave.pcm "hw:0,0"       # replace X with the card number
     ttable.0.0 1
    ttable.1.1 1
    ttable.0.2 1
     ttable.1.3 1
}

into .asoundrc and try to play (stereo-)sound in xmms it says:

"Couldn't open audio:
Please check if your soundcard is configured correctly, if the right plugin
was chosen or if another program is blocking the soundcard"

With aplay the following returns:

***@linux:~> aplay /home/and/Musik/tuf/Liebeslied2.wav
ALSA lib conf.c:1592:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:9:1:Unexpected char
ALSA lib conf.c:2837:(snd_config_hook_load) /home/and/.asoundrc may be old or
corrupted: consider to remove or fix it
ALSA lib conf.c:2700:(snd_config_hooks_call) function snd_config_hook_load
returned error: Das Argument ist ungültig
ALSA lib conf.c:3066:(snd_config_update_r) hooks failed, removing
configuration
aplay: main:544: audio open error: Das Argument ist ungültig

Mplayer doesn't seem to be affected by the "pcm.!default..." portion,
without options it plays normal 2-ch stereo,

with the -channels 6 option it plays Surround Sound (thanks to the
"pcm.!surround51.." portion.

Cheers
Andreas


Andreas Hartschen
Sträterstr. 9
52066 Aachen
Tel.:[phone]
Mobil:0175 8366952

[Clemens Ladisch]

Post by Andreas Hartschen
ALSA lib conf.c:1592:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:9:1:Unexpected char

It seems a mailer inserted some junk into the code, probably a non-breaking
space or something like that.

Please delete your .asoundrc and try the attached one.


HTH
Clemens

[Andreas Hartschen]

Post by Clemens Ladisch
It seems a mailer inserted some junk into the code, probably a non-breaking
space or something like that.
Please delete your .asoundrc and try the attached one.

Sorry Clemens, but there is no attachment to your mail.

Regards

Andreas Hartschen D-Aachen

[Clemens Ladisch]

Post by Andreas Hartschen

Post by Clemens Ladisch
Please delete your .asoundrc and try the attached one.

Sorry Clemens, but there is no attachment to your mail.

Oops ...

[Andreas Hartschen]

Post by Clemens Ladisch
Oops ...

Thanks again, Clemens. Now .asoundrc doesn't disturb aplay or xmms when
playing normal stereo, but the rear boxes still keep silent (muted?).
Regards

Andreas

[Raja Mallik]

Hi All,

I have a query on I2s DAC port to alsa.

Do Alsa-driver support I2s other than ac97 codec?

If so, is there any examples or reference that can help me in
understanding how that works..

Regards
Raja

[James Courtier-Dutton]

Post by Raja Mallik
Hi All,
I have a query on I2s DAC port to alsa.
Do Alsa-driver support I2s other than ac97 codec?
If so, is there any examples or reference that can help me in
understanding how that works..
Regards
Raja

A sound card will contain 3 things.
1) DAC
2) ADC
3) Audio Controller.

The PC CPU talks normally over the PCI bus to the Audio Controller on
the sound card. The controller then in turn talks to the DAC over the
I2S interface.
So, the issue is knowing how to program the controller, and is not
really an I2S issue at all.
This normally helps if you have the data sheet for the controller.
Examples of controllers:
inte8x0
emu10k1

Summary:
The answer to your question is yes.

James