[SOLVED] Alsa configuration on Raspberry Pi (usb soundcard can't play sound)

pabloparis · 03-11-2017, 01:01 PM

Hello all,

On a new Jessie install on a Raspberry Pi, the system can see my soundcard but is unable to play any sound through it (a Presonus Audiobox USB).
It works fine on my laptop with Debian Jessie though, so I'm guessing there would be a way to make it work on Raspbian, wouldn't it ?

This my configuration and the content of .asoundrc
I tried many thing from documentations of alsa and looking at sample rate and hwparams but couldn't get it to work.

Thank you
Pablo

Code:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ dmesg | grep Audio
[    3.955481] usb 1-1.5: Product: AudioBox USB
[    3.955494] usb 1-1.5: Manufacturer: PreSonus Audio

Code:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 194f:0302 PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Code:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 0: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA]
  Subdevices: 8/8
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 1: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: USB [AudioBox USB], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Code:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /home/pi/.asoundrc
pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

Code:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ speaker-test

speaker-test 1.0.28

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Sample format not available for playback: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument

DavidMcCann · 03-13-2017, 12:29 PM

I'm a bit lost with your .asoundrc syntax. When I created one for usb on Debian, mine read
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1

Check that the usb module is installed, using
$ cat /proc/asound/modules

Check that the usb sound isn't blacklisted, as Debian has been known to do. Look in /etc/modprobe.d/ for something like alsa-base.conf and edit it, deleting the line
options snd-usb-audio index=-2
if it's there: it may even occur twice.

pabloparis · 03-17-2017, 06:57 AM

Hello David, thank you for your answer.

I had found the .asoundrc syntax here : https://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc
However, your syntax solves the problem ! Do you know what was the issue with mine ?

$ cat /proc/asound/modules reports :
0 snd_bcm2835
1 snd_usb_audio

This is the content of modprobe.d/ :
blacklist-rtl8192cu.conf fbdev-blacklist.conf libpisock9.conf
blacklist-rtl8xxxu.conf ipv6.conf raspi-blacklist.conf

nothing there seems related to alsa.

Thanks a lot though, as this .asoundrc config solves my problem !