Hi great to be here. Really struggling to create an .asoundrc that will allow: Having a conversation via skype/SIP with both parties listening to an mplayer/aplay generated music track merged into the outgoing microphone (headset) channel. I've been reading alsa docs for weeks and have tried dozens of various .asoundrc and edits of. Tried pulse audio with alsa, jack with alsa, etc. etc. etc. Currently dedicated to finding a way to do this with ALSA only (not jack/pulse at this time) I have done a fresh 'alsa only' install which has helped. AND: I have managed to get a working aloop driver installed as my aplay -l below shows. I'm at the point of not know at all what to try next. It appears that by using alsa aloop/dsnoop/asym/multi plugins (which I've tried and tried with) I should be able to dsnoop/aloop/multi a command line mplayer or aplay stream INTO the voip chat. Many of the .asoundrc I've tried would allow the music track to be played (mplayer/aplayer cli) and also allow a voip conversation as well. Just can't get the music into the stream of the conversation. The most immediate way, I've thought should be to have the music track playing into card0 (the internal hda-intel chip), then loopback that into the input of the cmedia usb headset. Thereby allowing the conversation to occur while the music is played clearly as the mplayer/aplay stream is not fighting for the soundcard. help?! I have tried dmix and so much else. I need to have the music looped back into the mic input channels, don't I? Can anyone tell me what I've missed. I won't post the many many many things I've tried though happily could post some of the .asoundrc segments as a response should anyone have any ideas. I've probably read/tried most of the code found on all the alsa lists. Absolutely stumped at this point as i don't yet have the understanding of what needs to happen. thanks!!!!! aplay -l with working aloop driver installed: aplay -l **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 1: Loopback [Loopback], device 0: Loopback PCM [Loopback PCM] Subdevices: 8/8 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 Subdevice #1: subdevice #1 Subdevice #2: subdevice #2 Subdevice #3: subdevice #3 Subdevice #4: subdevice #4 Subdevice #5: subdevice #5 Subdevice #6: subdevice #6 Subdevice #7: subdevice #7 card 1: Loopback [Loopback], device 1: Loopback PCM [Loopback PCM] Subdevices: 8/8 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 Subdevice #1: subdevice #1 Subdevice #2: subdevice #2 Subdevice #3: subdevice #3 Subdevice #4: subdevice #4 Subdevice #5: subdevice #5 Subdevice #6: subdevice #6 Subdevice #7: subdevice #7 card 2: default [C-Media USB Headphone Set ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0