[Pkg-alsa-devel] Bug#421853: Unable to record microphone with SB Live! (emu10k1)

[Adam Porter]

Package: alsa-driver 1.0.13-1, alsa-driver 1.0.13-2
Severity: important

I have tried to use several instrument tuners in Debian, including fmit, 
lingot, gtkguitune, and k3guitune (the latter is not in Debian, but I 
compiled it).  I have two sound cards, a SoundBlaster Live! Value, and a 
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1.  Both work fine for playing audio, but I am not able 
to record microphone input.  Here's what I've tried and encountered:

*  I can use Audacity to record from hw:0,2 or hw:1,2, but those devices 
(the ,2 ones) are multichannel input/output devices.  For some reason, 
Audacity can handle them, but all the tuner apps I've tried cannot handle the 
multiple channels; they give errors like this:

Couldn't set number of channels for ALSA device hw:0,2: Invalid argument

*  I have tried to use hw:0,1 and hw:1,1, which are supposed to be the 
microphone input devices, but Audacity simply receives no input, and the 
tuners give errors like this:

ALSA audio initialized succesfully
Audio driver initialized
Error reading sound: Broken pipe
Error reading sound: Broken pipe
Error reading sound: Broken pipe
Error reading sound: Broken pipe
Error reading sound: Broken pipe
...

The "broken pipe" errors continue forever; some apps even crash.  No matter 
what I do with adjusting sliders and changing inputs, it doesn't help.

* If I try to use hw:0,0 or hw:1,0--which shouldn't have anything to do with 
the microphone, but it was something to try--I get errors like this:

Couldn't open ALSA audio device hw:0,0: Device or resource busy

*  If I try to use aoss with the apps, I get errors that /dev/dsp is busy.

*  If I raise the correct sliders and unmute the correct inputs, I can hear 
the microphone through the speakers, so I know the hardware is working.

*  I've tried removing my ~/.asoundrc file, purging and reinstalling the ALSA 
packages, and probably other things that I can't remember, but nothing works.

This is frustrating and bewildering.  I have spent much time googling 
for "alsa broken pipe" and come up with nothing helpful.  Please help.

Here are my config files:


~/.asoundrc:
# ALSA library configuration file

# Include settings that are under the control of asoundconf(1).
# (To disable these settings, comment out this line.)
</home/me/.asoundrc.asoundconf>


~/.asoundrc.asoundconf:
# ALSA library configuration file managed by asoundconf(1).
#
# MANUAL CHANGES TO THIS FILE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN!
#
# Manual changes to the ALSA library configuration should be implemented
# by editing the ~/.asoundrc file, not by editing this file.
!defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.ctl.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1


--- System information. ---
Architecture: i386
Kernel:       Linux 2.6.18-4-k7

Debian Release: testing/unstable
  900 testing         ftp.us.debian.org 
  900 testing         ftp.sunet.se 
  800 unstable        ftp.us.debian.org 
  800 unstable        ftp.sunet.se 
  500 stable          security.debian.org 
  500 edgy-cafuego    ubuntu.cafuego.net 
  500 edgy            wine.budgetdedicated.com 
    1 experimental    ftp.us.debian.org 

--- Package information. ---
Depends       (Version) | Installed
=======================-+-===========
                        | 

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