Linux-audio-user October 2009

linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org

141 participants
173 discussions

by Julien Claassen

Hello drummers! I have two questions, one dependent on the other, so if the first is negative, no need to read on. :-) If I get the hydrogen 0.9.4 source there's a subdir extra, in which I find hydrogenPlayer and hydrogenSynth. Does one of these at least have a text based interface, which I can start, without any Xserver running somewhere? If yes: How can I build it? It doesn't build automatically. I tried by hand using: C++ with some guessed -l-options, with qmake and gmake. Qmake built all the Makefile's, but still some problem there, which in my eyes shouldn't be. thanks for anything at all in advance Julien -------- Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles) ======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ======== http://ltsb.sourceforge.net the Linux TextBased Studio guide ======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: ======= http://www.juliencoder.de

13 years, 11 months

DVDs and Ubuntu 9.10

by Bob van der Poel

Hi guys. I know this is a bit off topic, but I'm getting frustrated beyond belief trying to get reasonable results from my DVD drives with a newly installed ubuntu 9.10 The drives are both connected to a PATA interface (the only one on the MB). My hard drives are all SATA. All worked just fine on previous MBs and linux versions. Lastly had Ubuntu 8.04 running. My problem is that I know have very jerky video playback and slow seeks and crashes. I've tried mplayer, totem and vlc. Vcl seems to work best, but it's no star on this system. I've tried uninstalling pulseaudio, but that makes no difference. I've done a lot of reading of similar problems, but nothing seems to vector in on this. The ubuntu forms haven't been much help either ... just a lot of suggestions on trying different players, and installing libcss2, etc. That doesn't seem to be the problem. My guess is that it's a IRQ or DMA problem. I have no idea how to diagnose this or fix. So ... any ideas here???? -- **** Listen to my CD at http://www.mellowood.ca/music/cedars **** Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA ** EMAIL: bob(a)mellowood.ca WWW: http://www.mellowood.ca

13 years, 11 months

Re: [LAU] Aeolus startup problem (was Prog rock instrumental)

by Q

drew Roberts wrote: > On Thursday 29 October 2009 19:21:22 Q wrote: > I had a 74 TR6 as my first car. Bought used in about 78 iirc. I loved that > car. I did put in a better sound system and recaro seats though. Oh and a > roll bar. > > drew > My 73 Spitfire was my first proper car (I don't count my sister's cast-off Fiat I owned for 9 months before that). It now has a 2.5 litre straight six in it, basically a TR6 engine without the petrol injection. Original seats but a Cowon iAudio A3 playing prog-rock FLACs through a modern CD player. Can't hear the music for the damn loud sports exhaust, but who cares! I must sample it and use it in a track some day, but Green Spitfire doesn't have quite the same ring to it as Red Barchetta... Q

13 years, 11 months

Re: [LAU] Prog rock instrumental, sort-of WIP

by Q

6c62 wrote: > Hi Q, > > (can't post to the list, currently, that's why just to you). Thanks a > lot for posting the first "proggy" tune to the list, since Im subscribed > (~ 1 year)! > > Q schrieb: >> This is a symphonic progressive rock instrumental, influenced in style >> to a large degree by some of the moody Scandinavian bands of the past >> couple of decades. >> >> But it's a work-in-progress in the sense that I don't know where parts 5 >> and beyond are going (I have a few ideas). >> > Please continue! I'm really interested in where this is going. > Personally, I'd expect this to go on as "real rock": Pull up the > distortion, create a cool riff, and rush on. That's what my ear expected > to hear, wenn the song ended. > >> Comments welcome (preferably in 13/8 time!). Enjoy. >> > I prefer 15/8, actually. ;) > > Best regards, > Lutz > Hi Lutz Thanks for listening and commenting, hope you don't mind me pinging my reply via the list as well. I'm glad you like it. I plan on diving back in, but be warned I'm a very slow worker -- being a frustrated perfectionist is no help in getting things done quickly either :D I've posted this over on the KVR Audio forum as well and someone there suggested going into a heavier, more rocking section. Sadly, the two loud sections are probably about as heavy as I get -- there will be further loud/heavyish segments but none more loud (my 11 is too quiet!). I also have a bit of an aversion to straightahead/"real" rock. You have made me think, though, that a loud section might be a wise move, going loud/loud rather than always alternating loud/quiet. I was really pleased at how smoothly and natural-feeling the 13/8 section turned out. Ever since I learnt what a buchimish was (it's a Bulgarian dance), I've wanted to do something in that rhythm. It's actually 15/16 time rather than 15/8: 2+2+2+2+3+2+2, or as I count things taka taka taka taka takita taka taka Thanks again. Best wishes Q

13 years, 11 months

ALSA alphanumeric with subdevices?

by Jonathan E. Brickman

I have my primary box nice and solid now, and it is working very well setting all ALSA output to hw:HD2, HD2 being the alphanumeric name of my sound card. Today I installed Sabayon 5 on an old Toshiba laptop I keep around. It is using today's conventional desktop everything-->ALSA/Pulse-->ALSA-->hardware setup, and it said audio was working AOK -- but no sound came out. I checked the highest level, Pulse, and noticed that Pulse said there were two possible stereo audio outs, the default and one more. I set it to the one more, and all is well for now. There is no /etc/asound.conf, and there is no ~/.asoundrc. The catch is, numeric ALSA device names appear to be in use, which means when I get the USB audio input for it, things will probably get juggled. So, I want to convert this laptop to the nice and stable alphanumeric ALSA device names. Both of the stereo audio outs of this laptop have the same alphanumeric name, one of them is listed as device 1, the other as device 4. They don't look like subdevices, but the only really solid reference data I have found is aplay -l and -L, and /proc/asound/cards, none of which are giving me data I can solidly depend on. So: Where is the best place to find this data, besides the qjackctl setup dialog (Jack won't be running on this laptop)? How does one tell ALSA to choose between multiple alphanumeric devices of the same name? And also, can one use alphanumeric device names with subdevice designations, a la hw:XYZ.1 ? J.E.B.

13 years, 11 months

Audigy soundcard silent after upgrade to Ubuntu Studio

by David Morrell

Hi all, my name is David, I'm new to the list. Sound works in Windows XP and worked in Ubuntu 8.04. It stopped after a clean installation of Ubuntu Studio 9.04. It is not known if recording worked or if it is now broken. Hopefully sorting out playback will lead to a quick solution for recording, if one is needed. Summary of Test Results -------------------------------- Testing followed this understanding of the way sound playback is handled in Linux. Sound; - is generated by apps or test utilities such as Hydrogen or aplay - may pass through a sound server such as PulseAudio or Jack - goes to ALSA, which translates it for communication to sound cards - is converted from digital to analogue, amplified and fed to speakers by the sound card. The system has a Creative Labs Audigy2 sound card. It shares an IRQ with a video card and an onboard USB controller. Video and USB work properly in Linux. Video, USB and sound work in Windows. However, while BIOS reports these items on IRQ10, Linux (using cat /proc/interrupts) thinks they are on IRQ18. Is there any significance in this? It seems unlikely as video and USB work properly. ALSA appears to talk to the card – it is possible to set mixer controls using one mixer interface and read their state using an unrelated interface. Apps and test utilities appear able to send data to the card. To back this up, the kernel modules required to form the driver all appear to be loaded. When ALSA is forced to reload them, a pop and brief low level white noise comes from the speaker. This is similar to what can be heard during system boot. Possibly ALSA is passing control data to the card but not PCM audio data. I don't know if this is so or how to check. Re-installing ALSA had no effect. A full uninstall – reinstall was not done as many other packages would have been affected because of dependencies. Detailed information about the driver was reviewed, but it is beyond my technical competence to understand if or how it applies to my card and then to act on it (“Matrix:Module-emu10k1” at http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Module-emu10k1). Now for the test results in detail. Thanks to Dave Phillips for his excellent series "Troubleshooting Linux Audio" at http://www.linuxjournal.com and to many other sources. Application & Test Utility Output -------------------------------- the Hyrdogen drum machine can be seen producing output on its VU meters. From the command line: aplay -vv ak4744.wav shows an apparently successful result; Playing WAVE 'ak4744.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo Plug PCM: Hardware PCM card 0 'Audigy 2 Value [SB0400]' device 0 subdevice 0 Its setup is: stream : PLAYBACK access : RW_INTERLEAVED format : S16_LE subformat : STD channels : 2 rate : 44100 exact rate : 44100 (44100/1) msbits : 16 buffer_size : 16384 period_size : 4096 period_time : 92879 tstamp_mode : NONE period_step : 1 avail_min : 4096 period_event : 0 start_threshold : 16384 stop_threshold : 16384 silence_threshold: 0 silence_size : 0 Test tone from Sound → Preferences → Test output appears to be successful to most sound pipelines; - Audigy 2 Multichannel Playback (ALSA) OK - Audigy 2 Multichannel Capture / PT Playback (ALSA) Fails with error message “gconfaudiosink: cound not open audio device for playback” (also describes the audio sources as a 512 Hz tone and the pipeline as “audioconvert ! Audioresample ! Gconfaudiosink”). - Audigy 2 ADC Capture / Standard PCM Playback (ALSA) OK - Audigy 2 ADC Capture / Standard PCM Playback (OSS) 2 are OK, the third apparently identical one fails - ALSA OK - OSS OK Sound Server -------------------------------- PulseAudio and JACK were both on the sytesm. To simplify the problem; JACK was not started; PulseAudio was completely uninstalled, the system was restarted and it was verified that no persistent processes still existed for PulseAudio (ps -e | grep “pulse”) Drivers (ALSA) -------------------------------- All volume controls were set to 100% and all mute controls were set to un-mute in Alsamixer. These settings were verified by having another mixer read and display them (Alsamixergui). As can be seen from the preceding output of aplay, sound was routed directly from its source to ALSA and ALSA recognised the Audigy 2 card on this computer. Output from the Sound → Preferences test also suggests that ALSA is interrogating the card and recognising what it can and cannot do. However, there is a strange indication from ALSCTL; alsactl init which shows; Unknown hardware: "Audigy2" "SigmaTel STAC9750,51" "AC97a:83847650" "" "" What is this saying? The ALSA soundcard matrix says an Audigy2 card should be using emu10k1 modules.. http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs though I can't find an exact match there for my Audigy 2 SB0400 card. I tried forcing ALSA to reload its kernel modules using; sudo alsa reload The speaker emitted a soft pop and about half a second of very low level white noise, similar to what can be heard during system boot. Commmand output was; lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/dmorrell/.gvfs Output information may be incomplete. /sbin/alsa: Warning: Processes using sound devices: 3215(timidity). Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-emu10k1-synth snd-emux-synth snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-midi-emul snd-emu10k1 snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-page-alloc snd-util-mem snd-hwdep snd-seq-dummy snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-rawmidi snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device (failed: modules still loaded: snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device). Loading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-emu10k1-synth snd-emux-synth snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-midi-emul snd-emu10k1 snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-page-alloc snd-util-mem snd-hwdep snd-seq-dummy snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-rawmidi snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device. Kernel module(s) the card is using were checked using cat /proc/asound/modules which shows; 0 snd_emu10k1 i.e. there is only card 0 and it is using module snd_emu10k1. This was further confirmed using command lspci -v | grep “Audigy”, which showed; 05:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value Kernel driver in use: EMU10K1_Audigy A test was done to confirm that the modules are actually loaded into the kernel; lsmod | grep "emu" which showed a host of modules that seem as if they should be there, though of course could not show any modules that aren't there and should be; snd_emu10k1_synth 14336 0 snd_emux_synth 40832 1 snd_emu10k1_synth snd_seq_virmidi 13440 1 snd_emux_synth snd_seq_midi_emul 14592 1 snd_emux_synth snd_emu10k1 144288 1 snd_emu10k1_synth snd_ac97_codec 112292 1 snd_emu10k1 snd_pcm 83076 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss snd_page_alloc 16904 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm snd_util_mem 12288 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1 snd_hwdep 15108 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1 snd_rawmidi 29696 3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1, snd_seq_midi snd_seq 56880 10 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy, snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event snd_timer 29704 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm,snd_seq snd_seq_device 14988 8 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss, snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq snd 62756 14 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss, snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_ timer,snd_seq_device Just for the hell of it, I had a look at information about the emu10k1 module using; modinfo snd-emu10k1 which showed; filename: /lib/modules/2.6.28-15-generic/kernel/sound/pci/emu10k1/snd-emu10k1.ko license: GPL description: EMU10K1 author: Jaroslav Kysela <perex(a)perex.cz> firmware: emu/emu1010_notebook.fw firmware: emu/emu0404.fw firmware: emu/micro_dock.fw firmware: emu/emu1010b.fw firmware: emu/audio_dock.fw firmware: emu/hana.fw srcversion: F52CF37385CBD708CAB4A2C alias: pci:v00001102d00000008sv*sd*bc*sc*i* alias: pci:v00001102d00000004sv*sd*bc*sc*i* alias: pci:v00001102d00000002sv*sd*bc*sc*i* depends: snd-pcm,snd-util-mem,snd-page-alloc,snd,snd-rawmidi,snd-timer, snd-hwdep,snd-ac97-codec,snd-seq-device vermagic: 2.6.28-15-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586 parm: index:Index value for the EMU10K1 soundcard. (array of int) parm: id:ID string for the EMU10K1 soundcard. (array of charp) parm: enable:Enable the EMU10K1 soundcard. (array of bool) parm: extin:Available external inputs for FX8010. Zero=default. (array of int) parm: extout:Available external outputs for FX8010. Zero=default. (array of int) parm: seq_ports:Allocated sequencer ports for internal synthesizer. (array of int) parm: max_synth_voices:Maximum number of voices for WaveTable. (array of int) parm: max_buffer_size:Maximum sample buffer size in MB. (array of int) parm: enable_ir:Enable IR. (array of bool) parm: subsystem:Force card subsystem model. (array of uint) Noticing the parameter 'enable' (ton enable a sound card) and feeling desparate, I tried reloading the module with that parameter specified; sudo modprobe -i snd_emu10k1 enable=true Unsurprisingly, it made no difference as the card already appears to be talking to its driver anyway. The ALSA soundcard matrix mentions that some cards may need the alsa-firmware package. That package is not on my system or in the Ubuntu repositories. However, its headers are installed. I don't know if this is significant. Next, I tried reinstalling ALSA. The following packages were affected; libsox-fmt-alsa alsa-base libasound2 libasound2-plugins mcp-plugins libesd-alsa0 This had no effect, so I considered completely uninstalling & reinstalling. However, many other packages that depend on ALSA would also have been removed. This looked like a short cut to a long reconstruction. Sound Card -------------------------------- The card works under Windows XP and had worked under Ubuntu 8.04. I have a Creative Labs Audigy 2 PCI card as card 0 on IRQ18 according to cat /proc/asound/cards 0 [Audigy2 ]: Audigy2 - Audigy 2 Value [SB0400] Audigy 2 Value [SB0400] (rev.0, serial:0x10011102) at 0x1040, irq 18 More information is given by cat /proc/interrupts which shows 18: 185146 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb4, EMU10K1, radeon@pci:0000:01:00.0 There is a USB controller, the soundcard (EMU10K1) and the video card (radeon) all using the same interrupt. The sound card does not appear on any other interrupts. BIOS reports all of these devices on IRQ10, not IRQ18. And yes, I have checked carefully to be sure I am not confusing 8 with 0. How could this discrepancy happen? A hint may lie in the online book “The Linux Kernel” at http://tldp.org/LDP/tlk/dd/pci.html. “For Intel based systems the system BIOS, which ran at boot time, has already fully configured the PCI system. This leaves Linux with little to do other than map that configuration. For non-Intel based systems further configuration needs to happen to: - Allocate PCI I/O and PCI Memory space to each device, - Configure the PCI I/O and PCI Memory address windows for each PCI-PCI bridge in the system, - Generate Interrupt Line values for the devices; these control interrupt handling for the device. “ Possibly Linux has read the information set up by the BIOS, then the PCI Fixup routine has remapped the Interrupt Line values even though.it may not have needed to do so? For a boots and all look at the PCI information about the sound card, lspci -vvxxx shows 05:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value Subsystem: Creative Labs Device 1001 Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort - <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 64 (500ns min, 5000ns max) Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18 Region 0: I/O ports at 1040 [size=64] Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2 Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-, D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- Kernel driver in use: EMU10K1_Audigy Kernel modules: snd-emu10k1 The card has the following devices shown by; aplay -L This shows abridged); front:CARD=Audigy2,DEV=0 Audigy 2 Value [SB0400], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback Front speakers rear:CARD=Audigy2,DEV=0 Audigy 2 Value [SB0400], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback Rear speakers … Audigy 2 Value [SB0400], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output null Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture) To see all input devices; arecord -l which shows; arecord -l **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices **** card 0: Audigy2 [Audigy 2 Value [SB0400]], device 0: emu10k1 [ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback] Subdevices: 1/1 card 0: Audigy2 [Audigy 2 Value [SB0400]], device 1: emu10k1 mic [Mic Capture] card 0: Audigy2 [Audigy 2 Value [SB0400]], device 2: emu10k1 efx [Multichannel Capture/PT Playback] Subdevices: 1/1 -- David Morrell Web site: www.davidmorrell.ozeweb.net (when I get it on air again :) <http://www.davidmorrell.ozeweb.net> Email: dsmorrell56(a)dodo.com.au <mailto:dsmorrell56@dodo.com.au> Ph: 0408 842 955 / 03 6343 5131

13 years, 11 months

Controllers and stuff for live performance

by Carlos Sanchiavedraz

Hi dear folks. I would like to do some kind of a survey to know about configs, setups, controllers, etc that you have come to over the years and based on your own experience. (Well, I already know some of yours for your mails on the list) It's usual to see piano keyboards and controller boards, i.e. Behringer BCF/BCR2000 or FCB1010. But more than this kind of consumer products, which I know many of them, I'm rather interested in something like (inexpensive and) strange MIDI controllers, pedal boards, Arduinos, DIY HW... that allow controlling and have interaction with applications, whether it's Ardour, Rosegarden, Freewheeling, Sooperlooper, Pd, Supercolider, Mixxx ... Why this? I've been willing for a long time now to buy an audio interface with MIDI and maybe some controller, but at the moment I'm still stuck with just my keyboard and mouse; it's ok with DAWs but an inconvenient when using live loopers (most of all when playing guitar, and without a MIDI interface). Thanks in advance. -- Carlos "sanchiavedraz" * Musix GNU+Linux http://www.musix.es

13 years, 11 months

Tags, please!

by Ken Restivo

Just a reminder to all those who have been publishing all kinds of fantastic music on LAU: please put Ogg or MP3 ID3 tags in your files, stating who you are, the name of the peice, your copyright or copyleft, etc! The lastest LAU music posts have gone straight into my Sansa Fuze for continued shuffle-mode listening. But I can't tell by looking at the screen when these things come on, whose peice it is. -ken

13 years, 11 months

Prog rock instrumental, sort-of WIP

by Q

Welcome back my friends... Can I play too? Everyone else seems to be releasing music, so I may as well join in seeing as I'm just about at a stage where I'm happy with what I have to be happy with. This is a symphonic progressive rock instrumental, influenced in style to a large degree by some of the moody Scandinavian bands of the past couple of decades. What's presented here is essentially finished: I feel the writing and recording for these sections is complete. I'm now content with the mix, for the time being at least. I daresay I might feel the urge for a few tweaks here and there if I take a break from it for a few weeks and come back with fresh ears, or if anybody points out any glaring howlers that I've become deaf to (quite likely, I'm sure). (Probably why it takes me ages to get anything finished, ceaseless tweaking!) But it's a work-in-progress in the sense that I don't know where parts 5 and beyond are going (I have a few ideas). Plus, I've done no post-processing/mastering beyond using the TAP Scaling Limiter to boost the level by 6 dB. I'll probably get around to running it through JAMin at some point to polish it up a bit, unless it turns out to be a turd ;-) The working title is Lovatnet and so far there are parts 1--4 (in true prog fashion they will probably end up each with their own titles). I probably ought to warn that it starts off very quietly but does get a fair bit louder in places: FLAC (22.7 MB): www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09.flac OGG-7 (6.6 MB): www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09_ogg7.ogg Some details: recorded in Ardour (three sessions, composited in a fourth), drums in Hydrogen, a couple of bits of sequencing in Rosegarden (which for me feels like cheating -- need to face the fact I can't play as well as I'd like), Sampletekk Black Grand in Qsampler and the pipe organ is the wonderful Aeolus, lashings and lashings of LADSPA plugins. I get the feeling it's not a popular sentiment in some corners, but I'm also incredibly grateful for the likes of Wine and Wine-ASIO, without which I wouldn't have been able to make this, due to all the commercial, closed-source, Windows VST instruments plastered everywhere: GForce M-Tron/M-Tron Pro, NI B4 II, GForce Virtual String Machine, GForce Oddity, NI Elektrik Piano. Even a freeware pitch correction VST (GSnap) was used, but not on any vocals! :P Comments welcome (preferably in 13/8 time!). Enjoy. Q

13 years, 11 months

Adding music to a avi video clip (Blender)

by lanas

All, Our youngest son is experimenting with Blender and producing short video clips. To which I'd like to add some music. I would not have the time to get into Blender and explore the options of adding music natively in Blender, so I'd like to work with end-product avi clips. What are then the ways to add music to a video clip ? How could I sync a few Ardour tracks to a playing video clip and have the result recorded as a new video clip ? Thanks for any ideas/suggestions/hints. Cheers.

13 years, 11 months

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Linux-audio-user October 2009