Ok this is a very annoying problem. I've been through the various threads related to sound issues in the latest Ubuntu but i haven't seen my particular issue.

Once an application uses sound, say audacious, no other application can use sound. The ability to listen to an mp3 player like audacious while browsing through youtube videos and being able to hear them is something I can do with the oldest crappy version of windows around. There has to be a way to get a modern linux distro like ubuntu to do the same. Currently Pulseaudio was setup in the system->sound configs along with the first two items set to autodetect. I have since changed everything to ALSA with absolutely ZERO change.

Another related issue is that I want my WINE applications (WoW and Vent) to be able to use this great new invention called sound too. I'd like to do the unthinkable...I want them ALL to be able to access and use the sound card!! I KNOW ITS CRAZY.

I've tried so many different things and somehow managed to get the default sound recorder application to record and playback audio properly but it still doesn't play back recorded sounds with enough volume to be hear using, say, Vent.

So there you have it. Multiple applications cannot access sound, and recording voice doesn't work without tweaks which only makes it playback with low volume.

Anyone know how I can fix this travesty?

Thanks much.

The best thing I can suggest is to subscribe to the ALSA users mailing list: ALSA Mailing Lists
Send them an e-mail describing your problem. They will probably request more information from you (e.g. output of dmesg and lspci).

Unfortunately, ALSA is a bit of a roulette game. This is due to the fact that it works for most people, and the people for whom it does not work do not have the time to diagnose and fix the problems.