[linux-audio-user] Do I have a synth? :-/

[Clemens Ladisch]

Alejandro Lopez wrote:
> I'm trying to figure out if my soundcard has a synth
>
> My apologies in advance for not knowing what my f*cking hardware is

lspci knows.

> -In the description for the motherboard provided by HP (second
> link), the information regarding sound is limited to mentioning
> the chip Crystal CS4299, which is an AC'97 compliant circuit. This
> seems to address digital audio only (D/A, A/D and that), nothing
> to do with synth:

The codec is connected to an AC'97 controller.  In your case, the
controller is part of the VT82C686B southbridge and doesn't do any
synthesizing.  (AC'97 was designed so it can be implemented in a cheap
way.)

> 4. ALSA creates a MIDI channel for the card, but I've discovered the
> computer has an external MIDI connector, so it looks like this channel
> routes to the connector.

Yes.  Synthesizer ports would be listed in addition to the external
MIDI port.


Just BTW: the only synthesizer chips currently supported by ALSA are
OPL3, OPL4, and Emu10k1.


HTH
Clemens