"H.K. Kingston-Smith" (HKK-S@yahoo.com) writes:
> I have a SB Live 5.1 sound board in my Linux box, under a
> 2.6.22.9 kernel. This board is identified in alsamixer as
>
> Card: SB Live 5.1 Dell OEM [SB0220]
> Chip: SigmaTel STAC9708,11
>
> It can reproduce sound without any problems, but I seem to be unable to
> get it to record. Could somebody please post correct alsamixer settings
> to get this board to record? The problem might be elsewhere, but some
> tried and tested settings would allow me to reduce the problem a bit.
>
Have you used a mixer to select what you will actually record from?
There should be a button on each input that lets you select that
source as the "record". There's also a gain control connected to
that "record" input.

You can feed all kinds of things into the soundcard, but unless
it's selected for 'record" all you are experiencing is that input going
through the soundcard to the speakers, it's not really going into the
computer.

Michael

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:16:22 +0000, Michael Black wrote:

> "H.K. Kingston-Smith" (HKK-S@yahoo.com) writes:
>> I have a SB Live 5.1 sound board in my Linux box, under a
>> 2.6.22.9 kernel. This board is identified in alsamixer as
>>
>> Card: SB Live 5.1 Dell OEM [SB0220]
>> Chip: SigmaTel STAC9708,11
>>
>> It can reproduce sound without any problems, but I seem to be unable to
>> get it to record. Could somebody please post correct alsamixer settings
>> to get this board to record? The problem might be elsewhere, but some
>> tried and tested settings would allow me to reduce the problem a bit.
>>
> Have you used a mixer to select what you will actually record from?
> There should be a button on each input that lets you select that source
> as the "record". There's also a gain control connected to that "record"
> input.
>
> You can feed all kinds of things into the soundcard, but unless it's
> selected for 'record" all you are experiencing is that input going
> through the soundcard to the speakers, it's not really going into the
> computer.

Well, that's pretty much what I am asking for. I have played with
the board's settings using alsamixer, but it is refuses to record
anything. I was hoping that somebody who has got this card working
correctly could share their setting.

"H.K. Kingston-Smith" (HKK-S@yahoo.com) writes:
> On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:16:22 +0000, Michael Black wrote:
>
>> "H.K. Kingston-Smith" (HKK-S@yahoo.com) writes:
>>> I have a SB Live 5.1 sound board in my Linux box, under a
>>> 2.6.22.9 kernel. This board is identified in alsamixer as
>>>
>>> Card: SB Live 5.1 Dell OEM [SB0220]
>>> Chip: SigmaTel STAC9708,11
>>>
>>> It can reproduce sound without any problems, but I seem to be unable to
>>> get it to record. Could somebody please post correct alsamixer settings
>>> to get this board to record? The problem might be elsewhere, but some
>>> tried and tested settings would allow me to reduce the problem a bit.
>>>
>> Have you used a mixer to select what you will actually record from?
>> There should be a button on each input that lets you select that source
>> as the "record". There's also a gain control connected to that "record"
>> input.
>>
>> You can feed all kinds of things into the soundcard, but unless it's
>> selected for 'record" all you are experiencing is that input going
>> through the soundcard to the speakers, it's not really going into the
>> computer.
>
> Well, that's pretty much what I am asking for. I have played with
> the board's settings using alsamixer, but it is refuses to record
> anything. I was hoping that somebody who has got this card working
> correctly could share their setting.
>
>
Well no, you asked a question that's common here, where people don't know
what's involved.

Why should I have to fire up a mixer I don't use to figure out your
problem? I gave you a hint, you should be able to find it after
that.

Did you "man alsamixer"? It's right there on how to do it.
Undoubtedly the documentation that came with the package also says
soemthing about this.

It's also seems to be that many of the mixers work the same, so if
you move over to the input you want to record from and press the space
bar, it will be set to record from that input.

Now, since you dont' seem to be good at asking questions, that
won't actually record the input. It merely selects which input
gets turnd into digital information. You will have to run some program
that does the actual recording.

Michael

> It can reproduce sound without any problems, but I seem to be unable to
> get it to record.

Recording is more a function of the app doing the recording. Audacity
lets you select the device. But defaults to card 0. You might try
disabling the onboard sound in the CMOS/BIOS to trick your PCI/other card
to becoming Card 0. Or explicitly set it in your alsa configuration.
The index parm below does that for my configuration.

#--- START
#
#--- /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-custom
#--- might be /etc/modules.conf or /etc/conf.modules
#--- on older distros. Maybe /etc/modutils/alsa on
#--- newer ones for 2.4.x kernels.
#--- And you may have to move or comment out existing
#--- alsa configurations to have yours be king.
#
alias char-major-116 snd
alias char-major-14 soundcore

options snd major=116 cards_limit=2
options snd-?????? index=0
options snd-usb-audio index=1

alias snd-card-0 snd-??????
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seqr-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-1-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-1-8 snd-seqr-oss
alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss
#
#--- END

Or do it in jackd. Depending on the app, like ardour or audacity.
# jackd -d alsa -d hw:1 -r 48000

HTH