I bought a Layla24 and Cardbus adaptor. Works beatifully with ALSA/JACK/ARDOUR up to 8 channels. However, the soundcard presents the 8 analog channels as device 0 and 8 digital channels as device 1. JACK will only open one device at a time. So in order to record and play back 16 channels with Ardour, I apparently need to create a virtual ALSA device combining the two LAYLA subdevices.
Which brings me back to a place I always find myself when working with new sound gear - ALSA LIMBO, a dark claustrophobic space occupied only by unidentified .asoundrc fragments, paved with device anomolies, mined with disinformation bomblets, seen through the funhouse mirrors of fruitless google sessions. Cascades of similar plugin types of indeterminate direction, each encased in the next like a 12-step turducken, translated through an inconsistent mix of multiple (equivalent?) syntaxes, with the smallest deviation producing a cryptic failure. A breadcrumb trail of trials and errors spirals back further than I can see, and the only sounds I can hear over the queasy rumblings building in my stomach, is me repeating to myself that OF COURSE it is possible, I can't be the ONLY person to try to use all channels with JACK, and if I just dig through another 10 pages of search results i'll surely find a .asoundrc which solves the whole thing for me. And then I wake, throat hoarse, sticky with fever sweat, to apply ice to my forehead and plaster to the fresh hole in my wall. And I beg of you, someone, please, for the love of all that is holy, just give me the damn answer so i can get on with my life. And not a "use the multi plugin" answer, because THAT IS NO ANSWER, THAT IS ONLY A TAUNT. An actual, complete .asoundrc which has actually worked in practice, with .ctl, mmap, exclusivity, #channels, etc accounted for. The kind which saves me literal hours of very literal frustration. Thanks in advance, -geoff
