I have another thread going on where I cannot record from the line in on my iMac running Ubuntu dual boot.

In this case, i have a Dell PC that I am trying to record from the same radio I use to record from on my Mac. On my iMac and my G4, recording from the radio works fine. i tried recording from the Dell with no luck. What should I do? The cable is plugged into the proper port on the back of the Dell.

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=65...11059cf6b566d5

Try running gmix and checking the input volume settings in the "Connector" dialog.

/usr/bin/gnome-volume-control

Do I just type gmix in a terminal window?

Runs fine now. Not sure why. Still no luck getting the line-in to work on my dual boot copy of Ubuntu 10.04 on my iMac . This is the machine I really need to get this working.

I hate that when stuff just starts working. It means I didn't learn anything.

The command line is "gnome-volume-control." Go to the input tab and check all the input items.

You might also run, from the command line, "sudo alsamixer" and move through all the items. You will find more items there than you will find in gmix.

One of my complaints about Gnome it is that it sometimes in its efforts to make stuff simple, it makes them simpleton.

I was about to make the same suggestion about alsamixer.

@ rmcellig
Below is an attachment of my soundcard with line-in enable

Use the TAB key or the F-keys to move to the Capture Channel. Then use the arrow keys to move under the line-in channel. Now press the spacebar to toggle it as the capture source.

Now hit the ESC key to exit and run the command below.

Next, this part must be done as root. Type

The next part is to test.

Attached Thumbnails

 

@ rmcellig

BTW, what application are you using to record the audio?

If you're using a terminal, tell us what command you are using -- ffmpeg, sox, arecord, etc.

The reason I asked is because some recording software use OSS. ALSA or pulse and sometimes supports all three.

Audacity for example uses OSS and ALSA. You need to use the correct mixer (i.e alsamixer for ALSA or gnome-volume-control for OSS).

In audacity, you go to Edit>Preferences and then devices. Choose OSS or ALSA from the Host drop down box and then hit Ok.

Hope this helps.

- Cheers

Hi DV502,

I have been away from my Ubuntu 10.10 partition for a while because I had some stuff I needed to do in the Mac partition. I haven't had a chance to try out what you suggested in your last couple of posts. I will tomorrow. I am using arecord to record but the fact that I don't even see any activity in Sound Preferences has me wondering what is going on. On my PC, in Sound preferences, I can see that there is audio activity going on but in Ubuntu on my Mac, nothing at all. I am in my Mac partition now because I have to record a radio show which I cannot do in my Ubuntu partition, that's why I will try your suggestions tomorrow when I am back in my Ubuntu partition.

Do you have Ubuntu installed on an iMac like I do? If so does it work OK? Sory for the confusion. I just noticed that my post was about my Dell PC. That works fine now. I am getting mixed up with the posts I have out there regarding my iMac Ubuntu problems.

I know this might sound strange from a Mac user but I really like Ubuntu alot!!

No, I do not have ubuntu nor do I have an iMac.

I have a PC dual booting pclinuxos and arch.

The method I mentioned above works for me. The important part is selecting the correct source (i.e line) and which mixer device to use i.e ALSA or OSS.

My soundcard is a Soundblaster 16 and it uses the ens1371 module.

I have used both ALSA and OSS to record audio from the line in port with no problems at all. I personally prefer the command line and I use ffmpeg and arecord to record the audio.

Below are a few examples to record with ffmpeg and arecord either using ALSA or OSS.

ALSA Recording CD Quality

Or

OSS recording CD Quality

Note: if you have more than one audio device, use the correct device ( i.e hw:1,hw:2,etc or /dev/dsp1,/dev/dsp2,etc ) to where the line-in is connected to.

The out.wav could be any file name.

I use WAV recording to get the best sound, this puts less strain on the CPU as it doesn't have to record and encode the stream at the same time.

After recording, I then convert them to ogg or mp3.

Anyway, I hope these suggestions helps as it works for me.

- Cheers

First off I want to make sure that the General forum is the right forum for my question.

I am running Ubuntu 10.10 in dual boot mode on my 24" iMac. Everything is working fine except I am unable to record my radio shows from my Radio that is plugged into my iMac. When I am in the OS X partition, I have no problems recording. In Ubuntu, there is no sound activity in the Sound Preference window. Can you please let me know what I should do, step by step so that I am able to record from my radio?

Let me know if you require more information that I can post back.

From a command line, try running alsamixer.

It may give you more options to configure.

Aside: I have become convinced that Pulseaudio is not ready for prime time. On my Slackware boxes, I have never encountered the audio problems that I regularly encounter in Ubuntu. Slack does not use Pulseaudio.

I've merged the two threads discussing the same issue to keep all discussion in the same place.