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I'm trying to record something via my line input. I can hear the sound perfectly well through my headphones, but for some reason I can't get anything to recognise the fact that it exists...
I've tried numerous programs (KRec, Sound Studio, Audacity - old version, newer version complained about certain FLAC header differences), so I know it must be something wrong on a more basic level.
I ran alsamixer and made sure the line and mic were selected for input.
The monitors in all the programs I've used fail to pick up any sound at all.
I'm using Slackware 11 (w/ kernel 2.4.33.3) on a Pentium D machine. My motherboard is an ECS C-19A and I'm using on-board sound.
All playback works perfectly, it's just input!
The user i'm using is a member of the "audio" group and has full access to /dev/dsp.
Check your kmixer settings to make sure Line is checked(green) as the input source, then make sure your audio system, alsa preferably, is configured as full duplex.
similar problem here. I have no problem hearing the mic input with a pair of headphones -- so it's not the sound card; it's the configuration. But I cannot for the life of me get that d*mned sound-recording programmes to pick up the signal from the mic and record it.
have tried with them all, but would prefer to stick to KRec. ONE single time, fresh after a re-boot, I managed to get some sound input, or throughput, rather (after not having had it for some time) -- but the sound record programmes weren't playing nicely, and after one of them crashed it's gone back to the old status quo.
Soundcard is the onboard card for my HP Pavillion -- Kmix i.d.'s it as an ATI IXP. Have tried adjusting various settings with KMix and Alsamixer. Currently in Kmix, the Line, CD, and Mic sliders have a green light and the Mic has a red light on. I've tried turning full duplex on in the KControlPanel sound controls.
I'm usually pretty good at making semi-educated guesses and punching buttons till things in Linux work; but this one's doing my head in.
Now that I'm on a Linux machine while reading this I can check my configs. Quite a while back I unchecked "Enable the sound system" in KDE's Control Center because the aRts system was causing problems for me. That might be worth a try. Also try alsamixer in a Konsole window and make sure Line-In is not muted. If it's MM press M to change it to OO. alsamixer and KMix are independent of each other. IIRC, the Line-In connection is amplified by the sound card while the Mic is not. Some cards have a Mic Pre-Amp that can be toggled.
doctor-frog, which Pavilion model do you have? Try running /sbin/lspci in a Konsole to see exactly what kind of sound card you have. For a long time I used the Trident 4D driver with my ze4315 because that's what was recommended in the installation guide I followed. I finally looked at my lspci and saw that it uses the ALI M5451 chip. I built the kernel module for it and greatly improved the audio quality and enabled input. If you're source device is connected to Line-In then Line should have the light, not Mic.
Now that I'm on a Linux machine while reading this I can check my configs. Quite a while back I unchecked "Enable the sound system" in KDE's Control Center because the aRts system was causing problems for me. That might be worth a try. Also try alsamixer in a Konsole window and make sure Line-In is not muted. If it's MM press M to change it to OO. alsamixer and KMix are independent of each other. IIRC, the Line-In connection is amplified by the sound card while the Mic is not. Some cards have a Mic Pre-Amp that can be toggled.
doctor-frog, which Pavilion model do you have? Try running /sbin/lspci in a Konsole to see exactly what kind of sound card you have. For a long time I used the Trident 4D driver with my ze4315 because that's what was recommended in the installation guide I followed. I finally looked at my lspci and saw that it uses the ALI M5451 chip. I built the kernel module for it and greatly improved the audio quality and enabled input. If you're source device is connected to Line-In then Line should have the light, not Mic.
yeh, sorry, I know I should have given more detailed info. it's reporting back: Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02). Alsamixer reports the chip as Realtek ALC658D. YaST (I'm using SuSE 10.2) shows I've got the appropriate driver installed as STI SB xxx/400/xxx/xxx (whatever other numbers the xxx's represent).
Line In is not muted.
As for the lights, I've tried both Line in and Mic; neither work. The device itself is a cheapie microphone connected to the standard (pink) Mic In jack that's on all computers these days. Front one. There's also a back one. Tried it; same results.
tried un-ticking 'enable the sound system'. Didn't do any harm -- everything still worked as before; but it didn't help, either in terms of hooking up the input with the recording software. Just out of curiosity, what precisely does that do? I wouldn't even have imagined that 'disabling the sound system' would have solved my problems!
I never had much luck with cheapie (condensor) mic's. I haven't tried one since the days of Win98. They just don't have enough power. When I successfully recorded from input with my Linux machines I was using a cassette walkman connected to Line-In to copy cassettes. If you can hook up something like that it might help you figure out when you get things setup properly.
KDE, and I think Gnome too, has their own sound enhancement system. It provides some nice features and tweakable adjustments but it seemed unstable to me, no matter if it was set to aRts, alsa or any other choice. I got a lot of crashes when I changed something and it caused audio problems with some games. Maybe it's better now, I just haven't thought to try.
I never had much luck with cheapie (condensor) mic's. I haven't tried one since the days of Win98. They just don't have enough power. When I successfully recorded from input with my Linux machines I was using a cassette walkman connected to Line-In to copy cassettes. If you can hook up something like that it might help you figure out when you get things setup properly.
FWIW, that one brief five-minutes when I had things working -- and God only knows how -- I did manage to make (but not save) a test recording with KRec, so I know the mic's o.k. -- at least enough to make the box hear it / me. but d*mned if i can figure out what settings I might have stumbled upon (if, in fact, I did) to make it all work. sigh.
maybe I'll see what I get on my laptop. I don't need this to work on a regular basis. Just enough to record a few idents for my Live365 stream now and again. (By the way, if anyone likes country music ... !)
---
update: just had a go with the equipment on my laptop. worked without a hitch. for that, I needed the mic input (green) and record (red) lights on in KMix. Line In did not record. Although that's not a foregone conclusion, I suspect that setup will need to be similar on the desktop box.
so still very confused as to what it might be. But at least I've got a (hopefully) temporary measure up and running.
grrr. it seems like a lot more little things like this go wrong ever since I've installed SuSE 10.2; 10.0 was so much more stable on my machine. I hope the next release shows some improvement.
Last edited by doctor-frog; 06-22-2007 at 01:19 PM.
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