What are the most usual ALSA utilities in GNU/Linux based operating systems?
 

Hi:

There is a package, in the slackware distros, alsa-utils-xxxx.tgz by name, xxxx = some version #, with stuff such as alsamixer, arecordmidi, aplay, etcetera. Are these programs typical of a GNU/Linux O.S. or, on the contrary, few distros include them?

I have being googling and searching wikipedia in order to answer this question, but with no results. On the other hand, I understand ALSA is a main component in linux systems sound/audio subarchitecture(?).

Alas! -------------------- Wikipedia.org

But then, utilities associated with ALSA, I bet are a must in a linux system.

Well..., I have just learned ALSA was added for kernel >= 2.5 and at the same time OSS was deprecated! All the more so, then, those applications ought to be typical of a GNU/Linux O.S., I guess. Am I right? All the best.

EDIT: At the risk of being tiresome, I dare ask the analogous question in regard to cdrecord. Is it a main component of most linux systems?

hi

I am not sure what sound problems you are having to ask this question but each kernel may have a different alsa so try

your alsa-utils version will be seen by checking your package manager pls.

2) because different distros are free to distribute whatever Gnu/Linux or GPL variants there are around they are not forced to include your version of the utils package or include it at all.

However I suggest most make it available in their repositories and certainly the main distros do.

So either way if you try a diff distro you can install it if its not automatically included

good luck

I am not a burner so suggest you separate post cdrecord

Thank you aus9 for your kind reply. It's more of a general problem than a particular one. You'll see. Just now, my problem is an insignificant one. I happened to record audio into a WAVE file, via the arecord command, and now I realize I did it with the recording level at 100%. The outcome, distortion.

And I assumed I could fix the file by using software in the alsa-utils. As I am no expert, in order to do this, I thought LQ could be a good source of info, as it generally is. But here comes the everlasting question: what could be the most suitable LQ forum for me to refer to? Two possibilities: either every linux user is acquainted with the alsa-utils tools, assuming he has some interest in audio/computer stuff, or this is not the case (pretty tautology). In fact I tended to believe the former was the most likely case.

Now, thanks to your post, I know I can rely on a generalized knowledge, by LQ users interested in sound, of command line tools for ALSA. I recognize all this may sound ridiculous, but consider every now and then I find myself involved in audio tasks like the present one. So what I need is kind of a general solution to a wide class of audio related problems. And a good starting point is to know where to look for advise, i.e., what is the more suitable forum for the case. Pity LQ has no multimedia forum, though.

I could have answered your question by simply stating that I have no sound problems at all, with the possible exception of this trifle, at the present time. So it only remains for me, to determine at which forum I would get the more useful and faster reply. Although I always can accelerate the process, by making inroad into the alsa-utils manuals. I'll look into the LQ tutors to see if I find something about sound recording and digital signal processing. Please forgive the length of this post and all the best.

I'm not an ALSA expert, but it seems to primarily for sound driver management, not for audio editing.

I would suggest taking a look at Audacity; it's specifically a sound editor. There are Slackbuilds for versions 11 up.

Yes. I think I'll download the slackbuilds for audacity once and for all. They even have it for the exact slack version I am running.

Your tip about ALSA makes much sense to me, not withstanding the little I know about the audio/computer thing. For instance, it is easily seen that alsamixer does no other thing than pass commands to the driver(s) under user supervision. LQ forever.

try sox?

http://linux.die.net/man/1/sox