> I've been suggested that arecord may be able to record direct from
> PCM if I change the environment variables. Like:
>
> SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa ./myprog
>
>  I'm quite scared of doing this, lest I lose audio altogether,
>  having seen how moody Ubuntu is regarding sound. I mean,

Don't be afraid, it will only change the environment for this single
instance. Next time you run it, everything will be back to "normal".
Nothing evil will happen ...