The "ALSA" wiki is the definitive resource on how to get your soundcard up and running with linux. After that you just pick your favourite audio program and listen to your music (Try Amarok for a really worldclass audio player).
It's worth just getting an up to date version of your favourite distro because they should have sorted out most of the problems for you and hopefully your card will just work out of the box then...
Try booting from a very recent Knoppix CD/DVD just to get a feel for whether the card might work without too much trouble
Ed
Edit: People often beat their head against a blunt object trying to get some (slightly unusual) bit of hardware to work under linux. This is bad press really and the situation is really no worse than it was under windows a few years back before MS (very successfully) managed to get all the manufacturers to produce fairly decent drivers for their products under windows. I remember shopping around quite carefully to get stuff which was known to be supported well under windows, and these days I do the same thing and only buy stuff that works well under *both* Windows and Linux.
To be fair a growing weight of standard type hardware is totally supported under linux these days. Just remember that the drivers are distributed with the OS (kind of), so upgrade to the latest version possible before you pull out too much hair.
It's worth just getting an up to date version of your favourite distro because they should have sorted out most of the problems for you and hopefully your card will just work out of the box then...
Try booting from a very recent Knoppix CD/DVD just to get a feel for whether the card might work without too much trouble
Ed
Edit: People often beat their head against a blunt object trying to get some (slightly unusual) bit of hardware to work under linux. This is bad press really and the situation is really no worse than it was under windows a few years back before MS (very successfully) managed to get all the manufacturers to produce fairly decent drivers for their products under windows. I remember shopping around quite carefully to get stuff which was known to be supported well under windows, and these days I do the same thing and only buy stuff that works well under *both* Windows and Linux.
To be fair a growing weight of standard type hardware is totally supported under linux these days. Just remember that the drivers are distributed with the OS (kind of), so upgrade to the latest version possible before you pull out too much hair.
I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Essentially with linux the drivers are distributed with the "Kernel". This means roughly speaking that later versions of the kernel support more hardware and there is little backporting that goes on. A small number of drivers are distributed seperately, eg Nvidia video, and the whole of the Alsa and other major sections can actually be updated from an independent CVS source (if you really wanted to run an old kernel with new Alsa for example)
You might assume that the main "linux devs" would be champing at the bit to reverse engineer as many hardware drivers as possible, but in fact in general the reverse is true. Many linux developers appear to feel that if the manufacturer won't offer at least some technical info and support for their hardware then they don't deserve to be included with linux. Likewise until a driver reaches high enough quality it won't be included in the kernel either...
It seems like an unusual way to work, but you have got to admire the philosophy. Basically it's an uncompromising quality standard which says "you are not in the club unless we have all the info we need to build AND support a really high quality driver for your product". Hardware is supposed to be either in or out...
There is a fair amount of junk support under linux in reality, but I have to admire the philosophy of the underdog which says "I don't need to support your hardware in my product. Help us out or get lost.."
Back to your question. Getting audio to work under linux the "diy way" means simply figuring out the correct driver name for your hardware, making sure it's compiled into the kernel and ensuring that it gets loaded at boot time if it's a "module". That's basically it... Oh, most drivers start with all the audio ins and outs muted, so a 90% common FAQ problem is to have not unmuted the relevant audio outs and be wondering why you can't hear anything (see alsaconf or similar)
Good luck
You might assume that the main "linux devs" would be champing at the bit to reverse engineer as many hardware drivers as possible, but in fact in general the reverse is true. Many linux developers appear to feel that if the manufacturer won't offer at least some technical info and support for their hardware then they don't deserve to be included with linux. Likewise until a driver reaches high enough quality it won't be included in the kernel either...
It seems like an unusual way to work, but you have got to admire the philosophy. Basically it's an uncompromising quality standard which says "you are not in the club unless we have all the info we need to build AND support a really high quality driver for your product". Hardware is supposed to be either in or out...
There is a fair amount of junk support under linux in reality, but I have to admire the philosophy of the underdog which says "I don't need to support your hardware in my product. Help us out or get lost.."
Back to your question. Getting audio to work under linux the "diy way" means simply figuring out the correct driver name for your hardware, making sure it's compiled into the kernel and ensuring that it gets loaded at boot time if it's a "module". That's basically it... Oh, most drivers start with all the audio ins and outs muted, so a 90% common FAQ problem is to have not unmuted the relevant audio outs and be wondering why you can't hear anything (see alsaconf or similar)
Good luck
I don't think this is what you meant, but to be clear, Brutefir "listens" via Alsa to the audio and spits out a filtered version via a similar route. It doesn't have any audio drivers as such.
See http://www.duffroomcorrection.com for some Brutefir config examples. Happy to help you with any tricky bits as well
Good luck.
Ed W
See http://www.duffroomcorrection.com for some Brutefir config examples. Happy to help you with any tricky bits as well
Good luck.
Ed W
Ok i just also read the whole thread 
there seems to be a lot of interest in this ..and i can understand why
Thanks to ShinOBIWAN ..for the idea
i have ordered a "prodigy 7.1lt" will get it all set up tri-amping when it arrives
If i find anything interesting ill post my findings here ..Cheers !
there seems to be a lot of interest in this ..and i can understand why
Thanks to ShinOBIWAN ..for the idea
i have ordered a "prodigy 7.1lt" will get it all set up tri-amping when it arrives
If i find anything interesting ill post my findings here ..Cheers !
Could some one, plese, recomend some other sound card which is less expensive of this RME HDSP 9632 ( 600-750Euro is to much for me - I gues thet if its 600-750$ in USA it must be around 750Euro here in Croatia ) and that will do the job...
Something like 200$ or 200Euro will be a budget ( more like 150 Euro )
Thanks
Something like 200$ or 200Euro will be a budget ( more like 150 Euro )
Thanks
Everything is a compromise. You didn't say what quality you wanted, or whether linux compatibility was important.
Very good quality but quite cheap are the EMU cards. I don't use windows so I can't say that they work with the process described here or not. The Create Labs Audigy and XFi are good quality, but have significant problems at anything other than 48Khz. The MAudio cards are generally well respected all rounders with excellent quality and decent drivers (and work under linux)
If in doubt search draw up a shortlist that you can afford and search the web for reviews
Very good quality but quite cheap are the EMU cards. I don't use windows so I can't say that they work with the process described here or not. The Create Labs Audigy and XFi are good quality, but have significant problems at anything other than 48Khz. The MAudio cards are generally well respected all rounders with excellent quality and decent drivers (and work under linux)
If in doubt search draw up a shortlist that you can afford and search the web for reviews
ewildgoose said:
Sure, everything is a compromise, but just few of less expensive cards support functions, that are required for PC XO.
That's why few of us aked if anyone tried to use, or have knowledge about, less expensive cards like Echo Gina 3G ($270-$350) in my point because I need balanced outputs as well.
For example, audiotrak sound cards supports all you need to build up a PC XO (at very good price), but don't have balanced ouputs, therefore useless for me.
whell I use windows ( not that I like them but, most of the things that I use and the programs that I can find, work only on windows so... )
about quality : I intend to use sound card in progress of desinging speakers and then replace it with active crossover...I will not use PC while lisening music. So, I think that, I don't nead top of the class PC sound card, but something good...
Whell, balanced operation will do for me to, but I can live without it...
So Audiotrek Prodigy 7.1 is the way to go ?
about quality : I intend to use sound card in progress of desinging speakers and then replace it with active crossover...I will not use PC while lisening music. So, I think that, I don't nead top of the class PC sound card, but something good...
Whell, balanced operation will do for me to, but I can live without it...
So Audiotrek Prodigy 7.1 is the way to go ?
I should think that the grotty thing built into most motherboards would be sufficient for your needs to be honest... Just bear in mind that most of them have internal really bad resampling to 48Khz, so use that explicitly to avoid the resampling.
Apart from that I would honestly doubt that the DAC in evan a grotty motherboard based soundcard is really the limiting factor for a lot of people...
Apart from that I would honestly doubt that the DAC in evan a grotty motherboard based soundcard is really the limiting factor for a lot of people...
Whell I have just bought new mother board ( Asrock939DualSataII ) and it have sound on board but it sound bad ( realy bad )...so I thinking of buying new sound card which I can use for everything...as I mention 200$ would be the limit so I belive that Audiotrek would do...I will have to check if it's avalibile in Croatia and the price for it...
Hi,
M-Audio revolution 7.1. I think it was something like 110 €, bought in www.thomann.de
There are better cards, of course, but quality is very good and the price is fine. Works at 44.1 and 48 (or 96 for the case) without resampling.
M-Audio 1010 LT is another candidate, 190 €. It has SPDIF input and word clock sync, nice features for the price.
Cheers,
Roberto
M-Audio revolution 7.1. I think it was something like 110 €, bought in www.thomann.de
There are better cards, of course, but quality is very good and the price is fine. Works at 44.1 and 48 (or 96 for the case) without resampling.
M-Audio 1010 LT is another candidate, 190 €. It has SPDIF input and word clock sync, nice features for the price.
Cheers,
Roberto
Oh, sorry, I should have read in detail the thread.
Anyhow, although they are unsuitable for the procedure proposed here, XO is possible if you limit yourself to play media in your hard disk (or playing cd's in the computer). I'm doing crossovers with "convolver" plugin for windows media player. http://convolver.sourceforge.net/
I'm also using it (revo 7.1) in Linux, with brutefir and jack. Since jack makes the routing it is possible to use the analog inputs as well.
Cheers,
Roberto
Anyhow, although they are unsuitable for the procedure proposed here, XO is possible if you limit yourself to play media in your hard disk (or playing cd's in the computer). I'm doing crossovers with "convolver" plugin for windows media player. http://convolver.sourceforge.net/
I'm also using it (revo 7.1) in Linux, with brutefir and jack. Since jack makes the routing it is possible to use the analog inputs as well.
Cheers,
Roberto
How about using multiple USB sound cards (two channels), assuming that they support ASIO (and assuming ASIO support is enough for this purpose)? One option would be to use analog outputs, and another, more expensive, to use S/PDIF outputs and outboard multichannel DAC, possibly DIY?
I'm contemplating idea of using 3 x DDDAC Mk2 with USB->I2S interface (no S/PDIF in path) for active crossover + DRC. Does anyone have any experience using multiple sound cards for such purpose (crossover), USB or PCI? Would it be possible to do the required routing if we have a bunch of two channel ASIO cards?
Cheers,
Dutch
I'm contemplating idea of using 3 x DDDAC Mk2 with USB->I2S interface (no S/PDIF in path) for active crossover + DRC. Does anyone have any experience using multiple sound cards for such purpose (crossover), USB or PCI? Would it be possible to do the required routing if we have a bunch of two channel ASIO cards?
Cheers,
Dutch
I recommend using kernel 2.6 for usb-audio!
Ciao Ed, all,
just to suggest to whom is willing to use linux and usb-audio device, to go straight to 2.6 kernel.
I just loaded the config file used for latest 2.4.x kernel (2.4.32) and build a 2.6.14.6 (I've read that there might be problems with 2.6.15.x). Now linux sings in the system.
Perhaps it was my fault to use alsa drivers compiled with (possible?) relationship with 2.6 kernel, anyway, please use a 2.6 kernel and save a lot of hacking time...
Stefano
ewildgoose said:
Ciao Ed, all,
just to suggest to whom is willing to use linux and usb-audio device, to go straight to 2.6 kernel.
I just loaded the config file used for latest 2.4.x kernel (2.4.32) and build a 2.6.14.6 (I've read that there might be problems with 2.6.15.x). Now linux sings in the system.
Perhaps it was my fault to use alsa drivers compiled with (possible?) relationship with 2.6 kernel, anyway, please use a 2.6 kernel and save a lot of hacking time...
Stefano
dambrus said:
...hmm, sounds interesting. AFAIK, only USB drawback is related to low latency (but e.g. for playback this would not be an issue, wouldn't it?).
In this case man would need a PC with enough usb ports, the X-over sw able to route the 3 way signals to 3 USB ports and DACs with USB input...
... interesting...
Which sw would be most feasible, running a linux box?
Stefano
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