alsa configuration

heysean · 08-18-2009, 12:05 PM

Hello there!

I've been trying to set up sound for my card for over 2 weeks now with no success. I'm using Fedora 11 with an EMU 1616m soundcard [which I believe is detected under alsa as an emu10k1]

My main problem is that, even though lspci detects my soundcard [as an Audigy, but from what I've gathered is also a 10k1. Figured it was close enough for the time being] alsa does not.

lspci returns:

Code:

[sean@sefedora ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SMBus (rev a2)
00:0a.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a1)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 IDE (rev a1)
00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0e.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0e.2 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0f.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI bridge (rev a2)
00:0f.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP55 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:11.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:12.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:13.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:14.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
04:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value
04:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller (rev c0)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7950 GT] (rev a1)

What I'm looking at is:
04:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value

However, "alsactl restore" and "aplay -l" tell me:
alsactl: load_state:1608: No soundcards found...

and

aplay: device_list:223: no soundcards found...

I've been researching for a good bit now and all attempts have lead me to dead ends or forum posts with only 1 post, or a post where the OP is having the exact same problem as me, and the rest of the posts have absolutely NOTHING to do with the problem (like fixing the microphone). I tried posting at fedoraforums.org and believe the post has 70+ views with no replies, so I'm attempting to reach out to a new set of users.

Here is that post.

With all the research and attempting things and being unsuccessful so many times I'm left quite confused and on the verge of moving back to Windows. I don't want to, but if I can't get the $400 sound card i got a month ago to work in it, there is really no point in me continuing on as I feel it'll be a waste of equipment and money.

[side note: I got the card before I decided to use linux]

ak99505 · 08-18-2009, 12:40 PM

if you run lsmod what does it do,
lspci just shows that the kernel knows it's there, but you still need to make sure
the drivers are loaded

you'll have to run lsmod as root

GlennsPref · 08-18-2009, 12:46 PM

Hi! Welcome to LQ!

your card is listed here,
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...-Creative_Labs

Code:

E-MU 1616m notebook CA0102, FPGA   Details 	[PCI] [ANALOGio] [RCAio] [TOSio] [ADATio] Support arriving in 1.0.15

E-MU 1616 notebook CA0102, FPGA    Details 	[PCI] [ANALOGio] [RCAio] [TOSio] [ADATio] Support arriving in 1.0.15

E-MU 1616m PCI CA0102, FPGA    Details 	[PCI] [ANALOGio] [RCAio] [TOSio] [ADATio] Support arriving in 1.0.15

E-MU 1616 PCI CA0102, FPGA    Details 	[PCI] [ANALOGio] [RCAio] [TOSio] [ADATio] Support arriving in 1.0.15

also make sure you have alsa-plugins installed.

I'm not familiar with your card, but had heaps of trouble with mine (see tag)

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page
latest "alsa-driver-1.0.20"

Also your kernel version may help, type...
uname -a

you want something better than 2.6.23..kernel (I think, can't find that reference now)

Here is some more info that may help you...
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...e-emu10k1-fpga

cheers and all the best, Glenn

heysean · 08-18-2009, 03:45 PM

Thanks for the welcome.
I'll try the stuff as soon as I get off of work.
1 hour away!

John VV · 08-18-2009, 04:06 PM

also don't be to surprised if there is no fix for the sound on fedora 11
there have been pulse audio issues since fedora 8

and on fedora 11 some people have NOT been able to get the sound to work
Mine did not work for a month , until a bug fix was released .

windtalker10 · 08-18-2009, 04:20 PM

You may also try installing oss insted of alsa, which some feel gives a better quality sound,,,, assuming oss can be had with Fedora.

heysean · 08-18-2009, 05:10 PM

Allllrighty.
Firstly, thank you for the replies.

Here is what lsmod gave me:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
rndis_host              5888  0 
cdc_ether               4332  1 rndis_host
usbnet                 12800  2 rndis_host,cdc_ether
mii                     4008  1 usbnet
fuse                   49764  2 
sco                     9356  2 
bridge                 41496  0 
stp                     1944  1 bridge
llc                     4788  2 bridge,stp
bnep                   10888  2 
l2cap                  18912  3 bnep
bluetooth              44908  5 sco,bnep,l2cap
sunrpc                152416  1 
ip6t_REJECT             3160  2 
nf_conntrack_ipv6      11368  2 
ip6table_filter         3136  1 
ip6_tables             10728  1 ip6table_filter
ipv6                  232512  26 ip6t_REJECT,nf_conntrack_ipv6
p4_clockmod             4208  0 
dm_multipath           13636  0 
uinput                  6496  0 
nvidia               9573864  36 
firewire_ohci          19116  0 
firewire_core          36496  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t               1580  1 firewire_core
i2c_nforce2             6096  0 
pata_amd                9840  0 
soundcore               5404  0 
forcedeth              47124  0 
asus_atk0110            8232  0 
serio_raw               4856  0 
pcspkr                  2156  0 
floppy                 48052  1 
hwmon                   2148  1 asus_atk0110
ata_generic             4264  0 
pata_acpi               3624  0 
sata_nv                19980  3 
nouveau               436416  0 
drm                   166144  1 nouveau
i2c_algo_bit            4788  1 nouveau
i2c_core               18016  5 nvidia,i2c_nforce2,nouveau,drm,i2c_algo_bit

My kernel version is 2.6.29.6-217.2.3.fc11.i586

Quote:

also make sure you have alsa-plugins installed

Is there a specific one I need?

alsa-plugins-arcamav.i586 : Arcam AV amplifier plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-jack.i586 : Jack PCM output plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-oss.i586 : Oss PCM output plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i586 : Alsa to PulseAudio backend
alsa-plugins-samplerate.i586 : External rate converter plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-speex.i586 : Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
alsa-plugins-upmix.i586 : Upmixer channel expander plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-usbstream.i586 : USB stream plugin for ALSA
alsa-plugins-vdownmix.i586 : Downmixer to stereo plugin for ALSA

I'd be using my soundcard for production purposes, from what I understand is the purpose of JACK?

Quote:

also don't be to surprised if there is no fix for the sound on fedora 11
there have been pulse audio issues since fedora 8

If this is the case and F11 is the reason why it isn't working, is there another release or distro that would be recommended? I've tried Ubuntu and managed to get alsa compiled and working properly and still no sound. I was told that it is still having a lot of issues with sound itself, which is why I migrated to Fedora.

I'm moreso looking for a stable release/distro that I can use to get myself comfortable with the ins and outs of linux before I get to the breaking of things to learn how to fix it for fun. Ha.

Quote:

You may also try installing oss insted of alsa, which some feel gives a better quality sound,,,, assuming oss can be had with Fedora.

From what I understand OSS is for legacy soundcards?

Please correct me if I've understood anything wrong.

John VV · 08-18-2009, 06:37 PM

OpenSUSE or Debain might be good choices . Fedora is a FAST development distribution and as such it is not VERY stable and bugs are not always fixed . One of the main philosophies behind fedora is " what new things can we add and how fast "

ak99505 · 08-19-2009, 02:59 PM

I don't see anything in your modules that look like audio drivers for your card so you need to find out if you can get them installed
glenspref looks like he has what you're looking for in his post. if it doesn't work I'd do what John said and give another distro a try
debain is a good one and I'd recommend ubuntu to, it does a pretty good job of recognizing everything

heysean · 08-19-2009, 04:46 PM

Ubuntu doesn't like the 1010 card.
BUT!
I installed openSUSE 11.1 when I was on lunch.
When I came back home, booted it up and it detected and installed the drivers for it.
Worked off a fresh install.

Thank you so much for the suggestion John, and thank you everyone else for your help :]
Now I just get to learn another distro from scratch again. Haha.

GlennsPref · 08-20-2009, 05:31 AM

Quote:

make sure you have alsa-plugins installed

If you are using pulseAudio, this is the minimum.

Quote:

alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i586 : Alsa to PulseAudio backend

If your using jack, lookout for any alsa and jack plugins.

Jack is a sound and midi server, a sound server like pulseAudio,

I had to disable PulseAudio in hardware audio settings and

add pcspkr to my modules blacklist to enable usb-sound module and alsa to load

Quote:

pcspkr 2156 0

in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mdv

Code:

# blacklisted modules for PCI coldplug
# see also /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-compat
# this is /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mdv

blacklist snd_pcspkr

I chose gtstreamer as the a back end for phonon (kde4)

Thankfully the distro does not always dictate the window environment. Kde, gnome, xfce4....

Suse is similar in many ways to Fedora, rpm package management at least.

Suse is well known for their audio production "meta tag" for installed audio packages including specially configured kernels and enhancements for producing audio on a pc.

I'm glad you got it working.

regards Glenn

heysean · 08-20-2009, 10:34 AM

What I gathered about JACK seems like it's the ideal choice for audio production in linux.
If I'm going to be recording with my soundcard, should I just stick with PulseAudio or move to JACK?

I do have to say, however, the GUI interface is extremely lacking in suse.
I'm not very fond of the 'everything pops up in a window and all the objects are grouped' vista-ish feel.
Also, from doing a bit of research and realizing I'll probably get yelled at for saying this :P, YUM seems to be just overall better than zypper. In speed, being informative, and just overall organization of the output.

It's a shame it doesn't work on 11.1 :/

GlennsPref · 08-20-2009, 06:04 PM

Hi, Jack is not a replacement to Pulse.

Rather, Jack is a sequencer that will start all the audio programs running.

So instead of having to press "Play&Record" on the drums machine, the midi seq, the recorder, and the sampler...

Jack does it.

Quote:

The Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) is Paul Davis's professional-quality low-latency audio server and transport control interface.

I realise this is not what I said in an earlier post.

You can however use alsa-mixer instead of Pulse.

some links I have found useful...
http://jackaudio.org/
http://www.linuxmusicians.com/
http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/apps/all/jack?redirect=1

Also, if you're adventurous check my blog for an audio setup.
It's incomplete, but includes all the references I used during setup on my system.
Cheers, Glenn