I have no control over the PCM volume levels displayed on my
Envy24 Control mixer. When the PCM volume goes into the red
the audio output sounds like a "skip" on a phonograph record.
It jumps over data and the result is a bad audio experience.
I've clicked all over the place in Envy24 and looked for some
kind of audio control on my system that might reduce the PCM
volume but nothing helps. Who's in control of Envy24 Control ?
Not me !
My system: Fedora 10 The Stanford ( CCRM ? ) programs are
installed but the real time kernel install failed, so I'm
using
2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686
Gnome 2.24.3
M Audio Audiophile 24/96 PCI card
1009.5 MB RAM, 38.2 Gigs of empty disk space
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
I'm trying to play .WAV files using XMMS 1.2.11
I've notice that Pulse Audio lurks on /usr/bin/pulseaudio
I've tried to kill Pulse Audio using
System Monitor-> Processes but it gives me the warning that
trying to kill Pulse Audio would destroy data, break the session,
introduce a security risk and inflict suffering upon my pet
hamster. How can I avoid these disasters and still remove
Pulse Audio from Fedora 10 ? I suspect it has control over
my Envy24 Control or am I just paranoid ?
I need help ! Any information would be welcome.

Fedora 11?
---------------
Slackware never hurt any hamsters!

I can not change operating system. I need the Stanford University
CCRMA music programs for home recording. That's the main job of
this computer. So it's either Fedora 10 or Fedora 9 and I suspect
Fedora 9 has even less support these days then Fedora 10.
I have read on the Internet that PCM volume in many cases must have
a volume control of its own in the mixer and can't be controlled
by the main volume. Well, I can't find ANY control of any kind
that works on my PCM volume. It's too high and its makes the
music distort. Sounds like a skipping phonograph record.
I've have used Ubuntu 7 through 8 and Slackware 10 and none of
them have this problem with the same sound card.
Anyone got any ideas ?

Can't you install them onto FC 11?

To start with, what sound card are you using. What kernel module is attached to it? What window manager are you using? What mixer are you using, such as "alsamixer"?

I have solved the problem, sort of, by axing pulse audio
with the command as root :
su -c "yum remove alsa-plugins-pulseaudio pulseaudio"

Now, the audio distortion has stopped and most tracks
only go a little into the red zone on the envy24 control mixer,
but I still have no way to adjust the PCM volume.
I'm happier than before, but not really satisfied.
There should be a way for me to adjust the PCM volume, but
I still don't know it.