Re: Simultaneous sounds, again (solved, probably)
I am pleased to say that I now managed to get simultaneous sound
working in Debian, almost perfectly.
My "sound compatibility matrix" is now:
mp/s xmmsyoutube skype
mp/s OKOK OKOK
xmms OKXOKOK
youtubeOKOK OKOK
skype OKOK OKN/A
mp/s means mplayer with sdl audio output, as before. I had to set
this *both* by a line in ~/.mplayer/config:
ao=sdl
and through the GUI (gmplayer, preferences, audio). It appears
both are necessary.
The X in the combination xmms-xmms should probably be N/A, because
xmms just does not allow running 2 instances of itself
simultaneously.
Several reactions (on-list and off-list) suggested using a sound
daemon, but according to the 31 August 2007 entry on the
"buglandia" blog (http://buglandia.blogspot.com), sound daemons
(like esd and arts) are now *outdated*, and even somewhat *evil*
("fundamentally wrong").
The solution is software sound mixing. Apparently, sounds can be
mixed by the hardware (the sound card) or by software. Windows
always uses software sound mixing by default. So sound mixing
always works on Windows, no matter what hardware you have. Linux,
developed by and for tech types, tries to use hardware mixing if
the sound card can support it (but by no means all of them do),
because this is more efficient.
Software mixing became something of a stepchild. But it appears
that in the more modern versions (of Linux and alsa; certainly in
Sid) software mixing works now. The flightgear wiki
(http://tinyurl.com/38smlf) explains this better than I can.
To make it work, I followed a recipe on the alsa wiki
(http://tinyurl.com/2vhoqt), because the recipe on buglandia did
not work for me. What did was:
-- make sure there is NO /etc/asound.conf or ~/.asoundrc files
present on the system.
-- export two environment variables:
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa
export AUDIODEV=plug:dmix
(you can put both commands in ~/.bash_profile).
-- make sure that mplayer uses sdl for audio output.
-- make sure there are no sound daemons running (jack, esd, arts,
whatever).
It will now work after you log out/log in, and perhaps after
restarting alsa (/etc/init.d/alsasound restart). Well, I hope it
does. It now does for me.
Regards, Jan
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Re: Simultaneous sounds, again
Jan Willem Stumpel wrote: Trying to get multiple simultaneous sound streams working on my Sid system, I got as far as the following: mp/s mp/a xmmsyoutube skype mp/s OK N/A XXXX mp/a N/A X XXXX xmms X X XOKOK youtubeX X OK OKOK skype X X OK OKN/A Notes: - each row in the table begins with the sound using program which is started FIRST. - mp/s means: using mplayer to watch a local .avi file, with sdl audio output. - mp/a means: using mplayer to watch a local .avi file, with alsa audio output. - youtube means: watching a youtube (i.e. Flash) movie with iceape. - X means: the program which is started second produces no sound - XX means: the program which is started second produces no sound, and there are other problems (iceape freezing). - OK means OK. - N/A means: test cannot be done, or is meaningless. So it seems that there is one group (xmms/Skype/youtube) the members of which tolerate each other (all three can even make noise together). There is another "group" (mplayer) which allows multiple instances with simultaneous sound, but only if sdl sound is selected. However, the two "groups" do not tolerate each other. I cannot hear Skype ringing while playing a local .avi file, for instance. Does anyone get different/better results? Any tips? I also think (but cannot prove this now) that a few months ago I could hear skype while playing .avi movies, but that it became impossible since (doubtless through some upgrade). Sound hardware is AC 97 on motherboard. You don't say what your AC97 /digital controller/ or codec chip are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC97 This isn't very helpful I know but I got bored messing around with the various virtual sound card daemons, can't even remember which one I tried now, default etch gnome one, to overcome the limitations of the almost useless OnBoard sound on my MotherBoard and picked up a second hand SoundBlaster Live Value for $10. Life is easy and sweet, particularly now I figured out to add options snd-usb-audio index=-2 to the bottom of my /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base to stop the mic on my webcam from occasionally becoming card0. Honestly for little of no cash you can just get a better sound chipset, though if I was doing it again I'd probably get one of the Turtle Beach cards, the Riviera I think. Good luck. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Simultaneous sounds, again
Trying to get multiple simultaneous sound streams working on my Sid system, I got as far as the following: mp/s mp/a xmmsyoutube skype mp/s OK N/A XXXX mp/a N/A X XXXX xmms X X XOKOK youtubeX X OK OKOK skype X X OK OKN/A Notes: - each row in the table begins with the sound using program which is started FIRST. - mp/s means: using mplayer to watch a local .avi file, with sdl audio output. - mp/a means: using mplayer to watch a local .avi file, with alsa audio output. - youtube means: watching a youtube (i.e. Flash) movie with iceape. - X means: the program which is started second produces no sound - XX means: the program which is started second produces no sound, and there are other problems (iceape freezing). - OK means OK. - N/A means: test cannot be done, or is meaningless. So it seems that there is one group (xmms/Skype/youtube) the members of which tolerate each other (all three can even make noise together). There is another "group" (mplayer) which allows multiple instances with simultaneous sound, but only if sdl sound is selected. However, the two "groups" do not tolerate each other. I cannot hear Skype ringing while playing a local .avi file, for instance. Does anyone get different/better results? Any tips? I also think (but cannot prove this now) that a few months ago I could hear skype while playing .avi movies, but that it became impossible since (doubtless through some upgrade). Sound hardware is AC 97 on motherboard. Regards, Jan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
