[LAU] Sound-Card Priorities?

Well, some time ago we were discussing an easier mp3 editor, still looking. Meanwhile, wondering if there are ways of having audio search for the next completely available sound card? Now I have 4 of them, not that I want to, but I can play multiple files at a time. You see, in the future, if I am listening to speech in a graphical setting, I still wanna rip audio in xvfb with Iceweasel. As of now, if speech-dispatcher is running, I can only play other audio, not record, so I would want that setup to pick the next empty card. Can some1 please inform how easy this would be to setup in Debian? Thanks so much in advance Hart