[LAU] Hideous dmix, alsa, jack, realtime and mixing mess

[Simon Williams]

Reuben Martin wrote:
> On 9/21/07, Simon Williams <simon at systemparadox.co.uk> wrote:
>> 4. How do I check that /etc/asound.conf and/or ~/.asoundrc are
>> actually being used?
> 
> Change something and see if ALSA responds to the change.

Sure that sounds simple enough, but I need something really really basic 
that is guaranteed to work, because at the moment I still don't know if 
alsa is ignoring those files or if the contents are wrong.

>> 5. How can I force applications to use jack (at the least I need
>> xmms, vlc, mplayer and preferably flash)?
> 
> Seriously, don't use jack for apps like this. Jack is for pro-audio 
> related purposes. Yeah you might be able to get it to work, but 
> there's really no point.

There is if you've only got one PCM (i.e. no hardware mixing) like most 
people- that is, unless you have another suggestion on how to do 
software mixing.

> Personal opinion: Audigy sucks. For that matter anything from
> Creative sucks. They are locked internally at 48k, which is a pain in
> the butt for pro-audio.
> Hardware synths are a sick joke, the sound banks they load have to be
> so small they sound awful.

That's worth knowing, thanks. There aren't many pcmcia sound cards on 
ebay though. Creative Audigy 2 or Echo Indigo are the only ones I can 
find. Is the echo indigo any good?

Thanks
Simon