[linux-audio-user] Hardware recommendations for recording under kernel 2.6/Alsa

[Jason White]

Frank Barknecht writes:
 > 
 > Not necessarily. Cassette tape is not exactly high end material. I
 > don't think, your recordings will suffer much by recording them with
 > the onboard card. But I don't know that special board and chip
 > combination, so I would recommend you just try it out.

I'm not familiar with the capabilities of the chip either. Neither is
it obvious how to interpret the following:

arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 0: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 2: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

If I run amixer I get the following. Without knowing the capabilities
of the chip it isn't clear what all the settings do. Is there a good HOWTO
guide or tutorial available? Some are obvious, e.g., master volume,
but others are not. I checked amixer(1) but it doesn't describe the
options or define the terminology used.

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 28 [90%]
  Front Right: Playback 28 [90%]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Switch',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 24 [77%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 24 [77%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Synth',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 24 [77%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 24 [77%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line-In As Bass',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line-In As Rear',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined cvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Capture 0 - 7
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic As Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 5V',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Copyright',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 In Monitor',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 In Phase Inverse',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 In Select',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 In Valid',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Loop',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Output',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 3
  Mono: Playback 2 [67%]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Four Channel Mode',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]