With ALSA only one application plays sounds

simopal6 · 06-16-2006, 09:14 AM

Hi!
Actually i'm not sure this is a hardware question more than a software one.
I use KDE and i lately managed to make my soundcard work with ALSA. I found a problem when two or more than one application use the soundcard.
Example 1: XMMS plays an MP3 and Gaim try to play a sound notifying that a message has arrived: i hear only XMMS;
example 2: i launch Gaim and sound works. Then i launch TeamSpeak and it says that my microphone and speakers are muted;
example 3: i launch TeamSpeak and it works; then i launch Gaim and it doesn't play sound.

Is there an explanation to this?
Thank you!

cs-cam · 06-17-2006, 02:02 AM

Google for dmix. Alsa is supposed to have it enabled by default but that doesn't work all the time and occasionally it needs to be set up manually.

simopal6 · 06-17-2006, 05:59 AM

What exacly is dmix? Is it included in alsa or do i have to install it?
And how can i configure it to solve my problem?
Thank you

cs-cam · 06-17-2006, 06:09 AM

It's part of ALSA and Google will be much more informative than I would as I don't use ALSA. Search for yourself.

simopal6 · 06-20-2006, 05:25 AM

Er...Is there anyone who knows how to handle this problem with alsa?? I searched for it but i can't understand how dmix works and how i have to edit the asoundrc file...

bkz81 · 07-20-2006, 04:36 PM

I'm in the same boat. I would like to use Teamspeak and Cedega for Battlefield 2 but still can't do it. I would be using linux more if i got this sound issue fixed. I'm using the onboard sound.

AMD64 X2 4200
Windows XP Professional X64/ SUSE 10.1 64BIT(Dual Boot)
2GB PC3200
2X 250 SATA2 Hard drives
DVD/CDRW 16X Burner
ASUS AN832 SLI-Deluxe
Nvidia 7800GTX 256MB PCI-E
Gigabyte 3D Aurora Case (Black)

Bariton · 07-20-2006, 05:45 PM

you have to say alsa to use dmix in the /etc/asound.conf or the ~/.asoundrc, for me it is like this

Code:

pcm.dmixed {
        ipc_key 1025
        type dmix
        slave {
                pcm "hw:0,0"
                rate 44100
        }
}
pcm.dsnooped {
        ipc_key 1025
        type dsnoop
        slave.pcm "hw:0,0"
}
pcm.output {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "dmixed"
        capture.pcm "dsnooped"
}        
pcm.dsp {                               # linking to dmixed sectiion for oss emulation
        type plug
        slave.pcm "output"
}
pcm.!default {                          # linking to dmixed section for normal alsa
        type plug
        slave.pcm "output"
}

ctl.mixer {
        type hw
        card 0
}

Many soundcards support from their own the mixing of several audio streams, for them who don't do that, there is the dmix plugin.
For programms which don't support alsa, there is the alsa emulation module snd-pcm-oss, try to load it when a program don't run with alsa.

greets,
bariton

bkz81 · 07-20-2006, 06:57 PM

Ok now i'm lost and frustrated. My sound for teamspeak doesn't work now. If i could finally solve this problem, i can use linux more and maybe like it. I have uninstalled and reinstalled teamspeak but that didn't work. When i put my options in teamspeak to use /dev/dsp1 i get a green light but no voice or sound. When i put it back to oss/dev/dsp i get no green like and my push to talk button doesn't work.

Bariton · 07-21-2006, 03:59 AM

Do you have a headseat with usb or do you use line in from your onboard soundcard?

Post what

Code:

arecord -l

says.

bkz81 · 07-21-2006, 07:02 PM

I did both under user mode, and root. Not sure what all this means.

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [NVidia CK804 - MIC ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 0: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 2: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
brooklynzoo81@SUSE64:~> su
Password:
SUSE64:/home/brooklynzoo81 # arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [NVidia CK804 - MIC ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 0: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 2: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
SUSE64:/home/brooklynzoo81 #

I have another sound card on the PC as you can see the C-Media. But i don't use it because it is not compitable with windows xp x64, thank you once again for your time on this matter.

bkz81 · 07-21-2006, 07:49 PM

I got my sound to work with teamspeak again. I have something on my sound settings for the onboard nvidia that blocked my sound. But i'am still having the same problem when using teamspeak and cedega together

Bariton · 07-22-2006, 04:13 AM

did you load the snd-pcm-oss module before you start ts?
is /dev/dsp the device you entered in ts?

did you installed alsa by source or as rpm? i compiled it for me and that was much better then the rpm builds. be sure that you have alsa-oss installed.