I don't really understand what to do.

Anyway, I heard this is the fix though.

My problem: Only one sound can play at a time. It's very annoying, considering I use XMMS a lot, and if other sounds play in the background, I can't hear them. Once the MP3 stops, the other sounds start playing...sometimes over and over (like IM message sounds).

I would apreciate it if someone could help me set this up. Thanks.

I recently updated to Mandrake 10 and was suprised to discover that ARTS sound server had been eliminated in KDE 3.2 and only ALSA and OSS are left. I've chosen to give ALSA a try, but like you I cannot get more than one sound application to run. I've been reading websites that claim the DMIX plugin for ALSA is a possible solution for simultaneous sounds. Link here:

http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=DmixPlugin

However, the installation instructions for the DMIX plugin are way over my Linux-newbie head. I am not sure where to put the PCM code the website provides -- I'm guessing my alsa.config file? The site doesn't tell how to make the plugin or where to put the code. Would an experienced user care to help some newbies out?

Bump...could someone give us a bit of help?

I've gotten this working on a Debian installation. I wanted to be able to hear IM sounds while XMMS was playing. Just like you, I've experienced the sounds playing immediately after an mp3 stops. My guess is the sounds are being queued. The IM sounds playing over and over again are probably from multiple IM sounds being queued.

Following the hyperlink for the DMIXPlugin page worked for me. Unfortunately, I don't know the details of exactly what's going. What worked for me was installing the necessary packages followed by putting the configuration code in Step #6 into my ~/.asoundrc.

I have a small write-up of what I did at rayli.net.

By the way, what IM client do you use? In case you use Gaim, you might need to change the Sounds >> Sound Method preference to command. Then set the command to aplay -q %s. I'm not sure if this is the best way to do this, and it worked for me.