[linux-audio-user] JACK of Two Cards

[Jos Laake]

I'm gonna restart this thread, because I'm pretty sure there's a real
answer lurking out there. :-)

To reiterate:

I realize that the idea of using two soundcards for multitrack
recording is fraught with sync problems.  To be really clear,
I just don't care.  I'm capturing snippets of this and that,
samples, room moises, etc.  If there's a bit of drift, so what?
What I'm really after is track separation of different audio sources.
I understand the problems.  I don't think they will seriously apply
to the somewhat non-standard usage I have in mind here.

Russell Hanaghan wrote:
> 
>>I have asked, just as you too are asking for a "dream come true!" Cheapo
>>cards for multiple IO's...
>>
>>But alas...this is not to be!  You can get both cards working in tandem
>>(of sorts) with the right ".asoundrc" file

Okay, this is what I need!  Can somebody (Russell?) please post the
.asoundrc that makes this actually work?  I've tried various bits for
".asoundrc" that I've found here and there online and I can't get
'qjackctl' to see the device, nor can I get 'jackd' to start manually
with the composite device.


>> but they will not stay in
>>sync. I had 2 identical SBlive 5.1's and prayed constantly and fervently
>>to the great God of ALSA whom betrothed to us the .asoundrc miracle. For
>>40 days and 40 nights I fasted...but the "fuzzy wuzzies" in one or the
>>other card were NOT to be cast out. I was angry...then repentent. 

Again, I'm not concerned with sync.  I'm interested in *routing*.

Frank Barknecht wrote:
> 
> Well, that's because you cannot beat physics with software. If those
> cards don't know the notion of "time" the other has then how should
> they stay in sync? This is neither a problem of ALSA nor Jack, it's
> simply a hardware issue. It's a bit like two people trying to play the
> same saxophone at the same time: it won't fly.

I'd say it's more like to sax players playing with seemingly synced
(but not) metronomes in their headphones.  Yeah, they'll drift from
each other over time.  But did I get the "phat horn stab"?  Oh, yeah!

> You should get a real multichannel card or two cards that provide a
> way to be synced to each other like the M-Audio Delta cards should do
> (never tried) or the RME cards. Multichannel cards based on the IC1721
> chips are really inexpensive nowadays.

This is in the works.  I've narrowed it down to the M-Audio Delta 1010
or 1010LT.  But that doesn't change *this* need.  I'd still like to be
able to route my final mix (or my alsaplayer) either back through my
main (external) setup or just out throught the built-in soundcard to
the cheapo PC speakers.  For that I'd still need JACK to see both cards.

Hope to hear some good ideas...

Peace,
~Jos~