Ever since I switched over to Linux over 2 years ago, I've been having an awful time with my Sound Blaster Audigy sound card. Depending on which version of which driver I use, I always get some form of abnormal operation:

* Front channel only
* Front channel only, on rear speakers
* Channels get reversed
* No volume control
* Malfunctioning volume control
* Inputs don't work

I'm sick of messing around with this card and it's worthless drivers, so I'm looking for a replacement. My only requirements are:

1. It must be either a universal PCI or PCI-X card (my only 5v PCI slot is occupied by a digital TV tuner)
2. It must have at least 2 analog outputs (front and rear)

One sound card that meets these requirements is the Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo III 7.1. It uses the Cirrus Logic CS4624, which appears to be well supported by ALSA. Another option is the M-Audio Revolution 7.1, but it's $100 and it looks like it won't work much better than the Audigy. Does anyone have this card and want to say something about it? Any other suggestions?

Please enlighten us as to what driver versions you have tried........
I have SB live 5.1 and have had no probs whatsoever using the emu10k1 driver and emu-tools. there is a script to edit in /usr/local/etc

I'm looking at this directory now and there also an .....audigy and audigy-script...........I have tried ALSA drivers, they are generic at best and don't render sound properly on this box........

I have a SoundBlaster Audigy ES and it meets your two requirements, plus it works with the ALSA drivers. Have you tried the ALSA drivers using their instructions? Get the latest drivers from the ALSA home page (driver, library, utilites) and download them to your /home/<username> directory. Then su to root and follow the instructions here ->
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...module=emu10k1
All the SoundBlaster cards use the same emu10k1 module. After you finish installing the drivers, making sure you follow their instructions and insert the modules into your kernel, then exit to a normal user and run alsamixer, unmutting all the channels and cranking the volumes to your taste. Then su to root and run alsaconf and then run alsactl store so that next reboot, your settings will still be there. Exit the X server using Alt + Ctl + Backspace, then re-enter with startx and you should be all set.

If not, what went wrong?

Drivers I've tried:

OSS-compatible driver from sf.net/projects/emu10k1 (quite a few different CVS pulls)
ALSA 0.5.something through 1.0.0rc2