INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues  (Read 13987 times)

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« on: July 04, 2014, 02:49:48 pm »

24/96 FLAC is played downsampled to 64 bit / 48...

Is this normal?

Sound card is E-MU 0404 PCI and it supports 24/96

I am using ALSA...

Thanks
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2014, 02:19:40 pm »

24/96 FLAC is played downsampled to 64 bit / 48...

Is this normal?

Sound card is E-MU 0404 PCI and it supports 24/96

I am using ALSA...

Thanks

44.1 doesn't play, as well...

Currently outputting everythin at 48 kHz
Logged

aoqw76

  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 257
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2014, 07:01:54 pm »

Check your dsp studio sample rate settings - click on the icon that looks like 3 sliders (next to repeat and shuffle icons), then dsp studio.
Logged
xubuntu lts 14.04 32 bit, running mc22.0.36 as anything later doesn't work properly over vnc. using linux mc22 as media server to windows mc22 last version / jremote on ipad.
I am the owner / sole admin for www.cyrusunofficial.co.uk ("fan" site for Cyrus Audio hifi)

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2014, 01:21:34 pm »

This is where i had to set output format for 44.1kHz to 48kHz before I could get anything 44.1kHz to play...

I also noticed that every other sample rate is set to 48kHz I tried a few times to change the settings especially for 96kHz to pass through without downsampling but my changes keep getting reverted...

I notice as well that the bit rate is set to 64bits for all tracks...

I see something like - source 24bit / 96Khz and internal 64bit / 48kHz...

Is this normal?

I'm guessing every source that is lesser than 64bit will be padded with zeroes, but wouldn't that make the card think it has to downsample to 48kHz to meet up...

Is it possible to maintain and allow the source audio information to pass through... assuming my guess is right...

Not really much of a problem for me, but it looks as well like the JRemote app actually has a hand in the audio playback quality as well, I can tell the difference in quality when controlling from the iPad versus controlling directly on the JRiver machine, most notable is when you use the volume control slider in the JRemote app, once the slider gets below the 80% mark, the entire system becomes almost mute and from 0 to 40% it has no effect
I will like to know if there is a forum I can post this feedback

Thanks,
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2014, 11:48:40 pm »

And while waiting for a response, I thought I should mention that when I tested with version 146 most of all DSP studio settings were left at the default and most files played excellently fine...

After upgrading to version 148 I noticed that the low frequency sort of disappears or becomes distorted when playing 24/48 ALAC files, but sounded a bit better with 320k m4a files...
The output volume seemed to be somewhat inconsistent as well...

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I got better sound quality as soon as I disabled the anti clipping thing in the DSP studio, but the overall distortion still seems to be there although not as evident as when the anti clipping is enabled...

I will be rolling back to the 146 version this weekend by way of formatting and doing a complete re-install... I would like to know if I will have a problem with licensing / registration or not,

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2014, 10:27:19 am »

And while waiting for a response, I thought I should mention that when I tested with version 146 most of all DSP studio settings were left at the default and most files played excellently fine...

After upgrading to version 148 I noticed that the low frequency sort of disappears or becomes distorted when playing 24/48 ALAC files, but sounded a bit better with 320k m4a files...
The output volume seemed to be somewhat inconsistent as well...

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I got better sound quality as soon as I disabled the anti clipping thing in the DSP studio, but the overall distortion still seems to be there although not as evident as when the anti clipping is enabled...

I will be rolling back to the 146 version this weekend by way of formatting and doing a complete re-install... I would like to know if I will have a problem with licensing / registration or not,

Thanks,
Check your ALSA device.
It sounds like the setting in MC changed from the previous version.
None of the hardware devices (like front: or hdmi: or surround:) set the sample rate to a fixed value. The default, sysdefault and pulse devices do because they are sharing the audio device amongst the system apps and therefor need a fixed sample rate.

The only change in the audio section of this build from the previous is addition of support for S24_LE
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2014, 07:21:31 am »

Thanks,

I will check again later today and provide feedback...

If I remember correctly, I tried all of the other available ALSA devices and only the default seemed to work...

I'm using this setup for 2-channel analog audio only, no surround no extras, there should be a way to set this up so that the system does not use a fixed sample rate

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2014, 10:14:06 am »

You can run
/usr/lib/jriver/Media\ Center\ 19/alsacap
from the command line to see what your device supports.

I almost always use the front: device.

Make sure the user you are running MC under is in the "audio" group or you won't be able to open the hardware devices.

Turn off the "Auto Configure..." option in MC under Audio->Advanced to prevent resampling.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2014, 01:34:53 pm »

You can run
/usr/lib/jriver/Media\ Center\ 19/alsacap
from the command line to see what your device supports.

I almost always use the front: device.

Make sure the user you are running MC under is in the "audio" group or you won't be able to open the hardware devices.

Turn off the "Auto Configure..." option in MC under Audio->Advanced to prevent resampling.


Hi,

Here is the output of  /usr/lib/jriver/Media\ Center\ 19/alsacap

*** Scanning for playback devices ***
Card 0, ID `NVidia', name `HDA NVidia'
  Device 3, ID `HDMI 0', name `HDMI 0', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2..8 channels, sampling rate 32000..192000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
  Device 7, ID `HDMI 1', name `HDMI 1', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2..8 channels, sampling rate 32000..192000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
Card 1, ID `EMU0404', name `E-mu 0404b PCI [MAEM8852]'
  Device 0, ID `emu10k1', name `ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback', 32 subdevices (32 available)
    1..2 channels, sampling rate 4000..96000 Hz
    Sample formats: U8, S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
      Subdevice 1, name `subdevice #1'
      Subdevice 2, name `subdevice #2'
      Subdevice 3, name `subdevice #3'
      Subdevice 4, name `subdevice #4'
      Subdevice 5, name `subdevice #5'
      Subdevice 6, name `subdevice #6'
      Subdevice 7, name `subdevice #7'
      Subdevice 8, name `subdevice #8'
      Subdevice 9, name `subdevice #9'
      Subdevice 10, name `subdevice #10'
      Subdevice 11, name `subdevice #11'
      Subdevice 12, name `subdevice #12'
      Subdevice 13, name `subdevice #13'
      Subdevice 14, name `subdevice #14'
      Subdevice 15, name `subdevice #15'
      Subdevice 16, name `subdevice #16'
      Subdevice 17, name `subdevice #17'
      Subdevice 18, name `subdevice #18'
      Subdevice 19, name `subdevice #19'
      Subdevice 20, name `subdevice #20'
      Subdevice 21, name `subdevice #21'
      Subdevice 22, name `subdevice #22'
      Subdevice 23, name `subdevice #23'
      Subdevice 24, name `subdevice #24'
      Subdevice 25, name `subdevice #25'
      Subdevice 26, name `subdevice #26'
      Subdevice 27, name `subdevice #27'
      Subdevice 28, name `subdevice #28'
      Subdevice 29, name `subdevice #29'
      Subdevice 30, name `subdevice #30'
      Subdevice 31, name `subdevice #31'
  Device 2, ID `emu10k1 efx', name `Multichannel Capture/PT Playback', 8 subdevices (8 available)
Error opening sound device for card 1, device 2: Hotplug device has been removed.  Skipping.
  Device 3, ID `emu10k1', name `Multichannel Playback', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    16 channels, sampling rate 48000..48000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'

What I find really strange is that the system has set the HDMI audio card as the default card, but mediacenter thinks the E-MU card is the default card, and as well I think it is using the Device 3 on the E-MU card which is the one according to the output does only 48kHz...
How can I modify this in mediacenter?

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2014, 09:43:49 am »

Hi,

Here is the output of  /usr/lib/jriver/Media\ Center\ 19/alsacap

*** Scanning for playback devices ***
Card 0, ID `NVidia', name `HDA NVidia'
  Device 3, ID `HDMI 0', name `HDMI 0', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2..8 channels, sampling rate 32000..192000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
  Device 7, ID `HDMI 1', name `HDMI 1', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2..8 channels, sampling rate 32000..192000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
Card 1, ID `EMU0404', name `E-mu 0404b PCI [MAEM8852]'
  Device 0, ID `emu10k1', name `ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback', 32 subdevices (32 available)
    1..2 channels, sampling rate 4000..96000 Hz
    Sample formats: U8, S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
      Subdevice 1, name `subdevice #1'
      Subdevice 2, name `subdevice #2'
      Subdevice 3, name `subdevice #3'
      Subdevice 4, name `subdevice #4'
      Subdevice 5, name `subdevice #5'
      Subdevice 6, name `subdevice #6'
      Subdevice 7, name `subdevice #7'
      Subdevice 8, name `subdevice #8'
      Subdevice 9, name `subdevice #9'
      Subdevice 10, name `subdevice #10'
      Subdevice 11, name `subdevice #11'
      Subdevice 12, name `subdevice #12'
      Subdevice 13, name `subdevice #13'
      Subdevice 14, name `subdevice #14'
      Subdevice 15, name `subdevice #15'
      Subdevice 16, name `subdevice #16'
      Subdevice 17, name `subdevice #17'
      Subdevice 18, name `subdevice #18'
      Subdevice 19, name `subdevice #19'
      Subdevice 20, name `subdevice #20'
      Subdevice 21, name `subdevice #21'
      Subdevice 22, name `subdevice #22'
      Subdevice 23, name `subdevice #23'
      Subdevice 24, name `subdevice #24'
      Subdevice 25, name `subdevice #25'
      Subdevice 26, name `subdevice #26'
      Subdevice 27, name `subdevice #27'
      Subdevice 28, name `subdevice #28'
      Subdevice 29, name `subdevice #29'
      Subdevice 30, name `subdevice #30'
      Subdevice 31, name `subdevice #31'
  Device 2, ID `emu10k1 efx', name `Multichannel Capture/PT Playback', 8 subdevices (8 available)
Error opening sound device for card 1, device 2: Hotplug device has been removed.  Skipping.
  Device 3, ID `emu10k1', name `Multichannel Playback', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    16 channels, sampling rate 48000..48000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'

What I find really strange is that the system has set the HDMI audio card as the default card, but mediacenter thinks the E-MU card is the default card, and as well I think it is using the Device 3 on the E-MU card which is the one according to the output does only 48kHz...
How can I modify this in mediacenter?

Thanks,

Your selected device looks correct in MC.
The ,DEV=0 indicates it's not using device 3.
Would you turning on logging, duplicate the issue and email the log to bob (at) jriver (dot) com ?
Thanks.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2014, 12:27:56 pm »

Logging is enabled in the system, is there anything specific I need to do to capture logs from mediacenter?

I have poked around a bit and can't see where I need to enable logging for the app...

I swapped out the E-MU 0404 PCI card for another E-MU 1212m PCI-e, formatted and did a complete re-install, the issue remains and is identical,

*** Scanning for playback devices ***
Card 0, ID `NVidia', name `HDA NVidia'
  Device 3, ID `HDMI 0', name `HDMI 0', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2..8 channels, sampling rate 32000..192000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
  Device 7, ID `HDMI 1', name `HDMI 1', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    2 channels, sampling rate 32000..48000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE, S32_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
Card 1, ID `EMU1010', name `E-mu 1010 PCIe [MAEM8986]'
  Device 0, ID `emu10k1', name `ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback', 32 subdevices (32 available)
    1..2 channels, sampling rate 4000..96000 Hz
    Sample formats: U8, S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'
      Subdevice 1, name `subdevice #1'
      Subdevice 2, name `subdevice #2'
      Subdevice 3, name `subdevice #3'
      Subdevice 4, name `subdevice #4'
      Subdevice 5, name `subdevice #5'
      Subdevice 6, name `subdevice #6'
      Subdevice 7, name `subdevice #7'
      Subdevice 8, name `subdevice #8'
      Subdevice 9, name `subdevice #9'
      Subdevice 10, name `subdevice #10'
      Subdevice 11, name `subdevice #11'
      Subdevice 12, name `subdevice #12'
      Subdevice 13, name `subdevice #13'
      Subdevice 14, name `subdevice #14'
      Subdevice 15, name `subdevice #15'
      Subdevice 16, name `subdevice #16'
      Subdevice 17, name `subdevice #17'
      Subdevice 18, name `subdevice #18'
      Subdevice 19, name `subdevice #19'
      Subdevice 20, name `subdevice #20'
      Subdevice 21, name `subdevice #21'
      Subdevice 22, name `subdevice #22'
      Subdevice 23, name `subdevice #23'
      Subdevice 24, name `subdevice #24'
      Subdevice 25, name `subdevice #25'
      Subdevice 26, name `subdevice #26'
      Subdevice 27, name `subdevice #27'
      Subdevice 28, name `subdevice #28'
      Subdevice 29, name `subdevice #29'
      Subdevice 30, name `subdevice #30'
      Subdevice 31, name `subdevice #31'
  Device 2, ID `emu10k1 efx', name `Multichannel Capture/PT Playback', 8 subdevices (8 available)
Error opening sound device for card 1, device 2: Hotplug device has been removed.  Skipping.
  Device 3, ID `emu10k1', name `Multichannel Playback', 1 subdevices (1 available)
    16 channels, sampling rate 48000..48000 Hz
    Sample formats: S16_LE
      Subdevice 0, name `subdevice #0'

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2014, 12:51:08 pm »

In MC
Help->Logging
Turn it on, reproduce the problem, go back to Help->Logging, report the problem (puts a file in the doc dir) turn off logging.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2014, 01:21:16 pm »

In MC
Help->Logging
Turn it on, reproduce the problem, go back to Help->Logging, report the problem (puts a file in the doc dir) turn off logging.


You should have it now...

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2014, 06:59:44 pm »

Can you check your ALSA setting in MC again?
The Log indicates you are using the default:Card=emu1010 device (which uses the system mixer and therefore only works at the system sample rate of 48000).
Your device should be front: like in your screenshot.
The device should be plugged in before MC is started so that the alsa library can see all of it's hints.

Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2014, 12:22:21 am »

Can you check your ALSA setting in MC again?
The Log indicates you are using the default:Card=emu1010 device (which uses the system mixer and therefore only works at the system sample rate of 48000).
Your device should be front: like in your screenshot.
The device should be plugged in before MC is started so that the alsa library can see all of it's hints.



There issue remains the same, regardless of which ALSA device I choose, I have just sent in the logs when using the front device,

Thanks,
Logged

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #15 on: July 11, 2014, 03:23:46 am »

If you have pulse installed it may pick up the audiostream even if you don't pick the default or pulse device. It does this for me too.

You can try and fix it by manually creating a new hardware device. I posted details here.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #16 on: July 11, 2014, 03:55:59 am »

If you have pulse installed it may pick up the audiostream even if you don't pick the default or pulse device. It does this for me too.

You can try and fix it by manually creating a new hardware device. I posted details here.

Pulse is not installed...

No pulse libs... nothing pulse...

I built the system from the barest scratch and included only SSH server, lightdm, xfce, ALSA and mediacenter...
I use SCP on my main desktop to modify and upload files... the setup is so barest minimum there is no text editor in it...

I installed nvidia proprietary drivers today and made sure that the nvidia sound card is the system default, but somehow, mediacenter still keeps using the system mixer for ALSA output with the E-MU card...

There has to be a way to stop this... it's starting to become a bit boring...
Logged

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #17 on: July 11, 2014, 04:00:29 am »

You can still try my suggestion.

If pulse is not installed then talking to a hw device should not resample.

Have you tried speaker-test from the terminal? You can specify device and sampling rate.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #18 on: July 11, 2014, 05:45:22 am »

You can still try my suggestion.

If pulse is not installed then talking to a hw device should not resample.

Have you tried speaker-test from the terminal? You can specify device and sampling rate.

Thanks,

I tried your suggestion and still have the same issue...

As there is no other application that will require the sound card, I have been searching endlessly and without results on how to completely disable software mixing in ALSA...
I believe if there is no software mixing enabled, the system will not have to enforce the 48kHz sampling rate
All I keep finding is the opposite...  ?

All help really appreciated here...
Logged

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #19 on: July 11, 2014, 06:10:51 am »

If you created the hw device as I explained in the other thread, then there is no mixing.

I don't know what else can be wrong.



Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #20 on: July 11, 2014, 07:39:35 am »

If you created the hw device as I explained in the other thread, then there is no mixing.

I don't know what else can be wrong.





The more I search the more I see that dmix is seriously tied into the lightdm/xfce combination and looks like it is very difficult to bypass dmix...

When I created the hardware device, it showed up in the list of available audio devices in mediacenter, but the issue did not go away, the device I created was still referencing the dmix config somehow...

I went in usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf played around the whole day without success...

I'm considering re-installing all over again and going the gnome / pulseaudio route...
Does this make sense?

Thanks
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #21 on: July 11, 2014, 09:45:35 am »

The more I search the more I see that dmix is seriously tied into the lightdm/xfce combination and looks like it is very difficult to bypass dmix...

When I created the hardware device, it showed up in the list of available audio devices in mediacenter, but the issue did not go away, the device I created was still referencing the dmix config somehow...

I went in usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf played around the whole day without success...

I'm considering re-installing all over again and going the gnome / pulseaudio route...
Does this make sense?

Thanks
Thanks for keeping this thread going InflatableMouse and Balky, I think I'm going to split it off since it seems really important. I didn't realize the mixer was so intrusive.
You've obviously nailed it since that's the only thing that can be forcing the single sample rate.
MC opens the device with resampling disabled since we handle all of that.
I wonder if perhaps there is another way to access the device to avoid this.
It seems to me that dmix is messing up the ALSA device hinting as well as aggressively hooking itself into the ALSA device chain.
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #22 on: July 11, 2014, 09:57:00 am »

Also, I wouldn't expect 146 to behave any differently since you aren't even reaching the new code in the ALSA plugin.
You might check to see whether your volume control is set to system or internal (right-click on the volume). In your case it should be internal.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2014, 10:57:51 am »

Also, I wouldn't expect 146 to behave any differently since you aren't even reaching the new code in the ALSA plugin.
You might check to see whether your volume control is set to system or internal (right-click on the volume). In your case it should be internal.


Yes, the volume is set to internal...

Would really appreciate any suggestion that will solve this issue...

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #24 on: July 11, 2014, 12:58:07 pm »

Yes, the volume is set to internal...

Would really appreciate any suggestion that will solve this issue...

Thanks,
It would be interesting if you could show that 146 acted any differently given your current config.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #25 on: July 11, 2014, 02:13:52 pm »

It would be interesting if you could show that 146 acted any differently given your current config.


I am not sure that 146 will act differently, although I could give it a run tomorrow...

When I was testing on 146, I tried only with 24/48 ALAC and FLAC files,

So long as dmix is in the path, I don't think anything will change...

I have been searching for the last 4 - 5hrs on how to bypass dmix without success...

The documentation is quite useless, and it is so strange not to have found one article that will explain about how to disable it... I have seen quite a few postings where people have expressed disgust at the idea of intentionally forcing dmix for software mixing when your hardware does not support it...

If I had the money now, I will go and get a mac...
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #26 on: July 11, 2014, 03:14:48 pm »

I am not sure that 146 will act differently, although I could give it a run tomorrow...

When I was testing on 146, I tried only with 24/48 ALAC and FLAC files,

So long as dmix is in the path, I don't think anything will change...

I have been searching for the last 4 - 5hrs on how to bypass dmix without success...

The documentation is quite useless, and it is so strange not to have found one article that will explain about how to disable it... I have seen quite a few postings where people have expressed disgust at the idea of intentionally forcing dmix for software mixing when your hardware does not support it...

If I had the money now, I will go and get a mac...
Since you only tried 24/48 ALAC and FLAC files it wouldn't prove anything.

I'm thinking of adding some standard hw: devices without the hinting and not trying to detect their presence as a total fallback.
It will take a bit since we'll need to prevent fallback to default in case the device doesn't exist.
This is just a guess but I don't think the odds are really good.

I'm running xfce desktop on debian with gdm and it seems to work well.

Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #27 on: July 11, 2014, 03:45:06 pm »

Since you only tried 24/48 ALAC and FLAC files it wouldn't prove anything.

I'm thinking of adding some standard hw: devices without the hinting and not trying to detect their presence as a total fallback.
It will take a bit since we'll need to prevent fallback to default in case the device doesn't exist.
This is just a guess but I don't think the odds are really good.

I'm running xfce desktop on debian with gdm and it seems to work well.



I am using lightdm to avoid having pulseaudio, but to be sure we're on the same page, I will format / re-install with gdm tomorrow...
My guess is even if pulseaudio is installed, I can still run ALSA alongside...

Will provide feedback tomorrow,

Thanks,
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13601
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #28 on: July 11, 2014, 05:05:28 pm »

I am using lightdm to avoid having pulseaudio, but to be sure we're on the same page, I will format / re-install with gdm tomorrow...
My guess is even if pulseaudio is installed, I can still run ALSA alongside...

Will provide feedback tomorrow,

Thanks,
It should work with pulse installed as long as you use the hardware devices (ie front:), it does for me.
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #29 on: July 12, 2014, 07:34:28 am »

It should work with pulse installed as long as you use the hardware devices (ie front:), it does for me.


Same issue after the (5th?) format / re-install in three days...

This time with gdm / XFCE...

Something pushed me to try the on-board sound card mobo is an Asus P5Q-e, and... OMG!... it worked... it worked!!!... just like that...

Ok, ok... as soon as I started to add eq I heard the on-board card kinda running out of steam... distorted bass, messed up high freq... etc...

I simply went to buy an Asus Xonar DX and called it a day...

I didn't have to do anything special... no asoundrc, no alsa.conf modification, nothing... nothing... I just selected the front card and it worked right away... I sat back and played R Kelly-12 play FLAC rip from beginning to end... ahh... at last...  ;D

I am still at loss with why the more powerful E-MU1212m card would only work at a fixed sample rate...
I would like to know if anyone finds out why, because when there is no re-sampling taking place, the E-MU definitely sounds better than the Asus... no kidding...

Thanks to Bob and the rest for "being with me" on this one
Logged

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #30 on: July 12, 2014, 11:57:01 am »

I think its a driver issue or some incompatibility with linux. Got several hits, this was the first one.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/dreaded-e-mu-1212m-673389/
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #31 on: July 12, 2014, 02:29:42 pm »

I think its a driver issue or some incompatibility with linux. Got several hits, this was the first one.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/dreaded-e-mu-1212m-673389/

Yes, I think you're correct to a good extent...

As the poster in the link above put it, you can only have one sample rate at a time, which implies that the driver works okay, although from what I found as well, the driver does not support 96kHz in Linux...

The issue as I see it is that the E-MU1212m (and also the 0404 PCI) does not support mixing on the hardware level, once Linux sees this it will enforce the use of the system software mixer in order to allow sharing the card between different applications...
The big downside is that the system mixer must maintain the same sampling rate in order to be able to share the hardware...
[rant] You MUST share, you cannot choose to dedicate the card to an application at a time... so disgusting...
I am sure if it is possible to completely disable / remove system mixer, the E-MU card will work...

The other shameful thing is that Linux is gradually becoming more and more a "jailed" system where some people decide what you can and cannot do with your system...

Pulseaudio is enforced, you cannot log into the graphical interface as root, system mixer is enforced, there is a libdrm that finds its way into the system... the list gets bigger everyday... gdm3 looks like windows 8.1...

Unless you build your system bottom up, most distros come with plenty of bloatware (for free)... /[rant]
Logged

Hendrik

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10789
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #32 on: July 12, 2014, 02:54:18 pm »

Just my 2 cents on the rant ;)
libdrm is not DRM as in "Digital Rights Management", but its part of the linux graphics stack, a driver middleware that sits between the desktop environment and the graphics driver, its hardly evil. ;)
Logged
~ nevcairiel
~ Author of LAV Filters

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #33 on: July 13, 2014, 12:17:27 am »

Just my 2 cents on the rant ;)
libdrm is not DRM as in "Digital Rights Management", but its part of the linux graphics stack, a driver middleware that sits between the desktop environment and the graphics driver, its hardly evil. ;)

Thanks for the money...  ;D

Paranoia tends to kick in when confusion is in the air...

Anyway, back to the good stuff, the mediacenter is really one bad a$$ of a tool...

JRiver wins again...
Logged

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #34 on: July 13, 2014, 02:42:13 am »

The other shameful thing is that Linux is gradually becoming more and more a "jailed" system where some people decide what you can and cannot do with your system...

Pulseaudio is enforced, you cannot log into the graphical interface as root, system mixer is enforced, there is a libdrm that finds its way into the system... the list gets bigger everyday... gdm3 looks like windows 8.1...

Unless you build your system bottom up, most distros come with plenty of bloatware (for free)... /[rant]

You sound like the perfect candidate for Arch Linux  ;D ;D
Logged

balky

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 87
Re: ALSA, sample rate and mixer issues
« Reply #35 on: July 13, 2014, 03:38:01 am »

You sound like the perfect candidate for Arch Linux  ;D ;D

Trust me... I am already trying to become acquainted with Arch...

Documentation seems to be one of the best available so far...  ;)
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up