Re: SoundBlaster Live! with kernel 2.5.x

[Alistair Strachan <alistair@devzero.co.uk>]

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On Wednesday 16 April 2003 05:29, you wrote:
>
> OK, I was using ALSA, but I tried OSS instead.  I don't get the popping
> sounds anymore, but I don't get any sound at all.
>

Add an entry to the kernel bugzilla detailing the ALSA trouble. See Robert's 
post about checking logs and dmesg for errors.

> udo:~$ dmesg | grep EMU10K
> Creative EMU10K1 PCI Audio Driver, version 0.20, 20:58:14 Apr 15 2003
> emu10k1: EMU10K1 rev 7 model 0x8061 found, IO at 0xdf80-0xdf9f, IRQ 10
>
> Maybe this is not a kernel problem now, although 2.4.20 worked without any
> other configuration.  I'm running KDE, and I don't have emu-tools, but
> maybe I can poke around and see if I can find the problem.

I'm surprised by this, because Rui recently updated the 2.5 emu10k1 sources to 
match the 2.4.20 sources. There are very few difference (2.4.20 used in 
both). Make sure you don't have anything "alsa" compiled in anyway (is that 
even possible?).

I, myself, would like to use ALSA with my emu10k1, but presently the software 
tone controls have the most awful artifacts you can imagine (and are 
substantially inferior to the tone control dsp from the emu-tools package..) 
and the rear-speaker routings in ALSA do not scale with the master PCM slider 
(which only changes the front speakers). I used to have this problem in OSS, 
too, and it was due to routing problems, but I cannot see any emu10k1 
specific routing utilities in alsa-utils or alsa-tools (?) that do this. Nor 
should I have to, optimal settings should be the default, as is with the OSS 
driver.

Are these problems being worked on, or are these bugs I should report? At the 
present time, the ALSA driver is not a technically suitable for the ageing 
OSS driver. And it hasn't been since the original emu10k1 driver back in the 
pre-0.9.x days, so I find it difficult to believe there's a quick fix.

The emu-tools may be required to enable some of the routing in the new driver, 
I'm not sure. What I've done is install the emu tools, (edit the Makefile to 
install to /usr not /usr/local) move "emu-script" to /usr/bin (/etc is silly) 
and used the attached emu10k1.conf.

For managing the volume, I use umix from sourceforge.net (but anything similar 
e.g. aumix should suffice) and I've included a working volume profile from 
umix (I also had to hack the emu-script to use umix and not aumix; it's not 
very well designed).

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Alistair.

[-- Attachment #2: umixrc --]
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# Umix config file
[global]
device=/dev/sound/mixer
config=/etc/umixrc
plugindir=/usr/lib/umix
ui=ncurses
driver=OSS

[mixers]
# Creative SBLive - Emu10k1, OSS
mixer=/dev/sound/mixer
{
	vol 86:86  
	bass 100:100  
	treble 91:91  
	pcm 64:64  
	speaker 0:0  
	line 32:32 R
	mic 0:0 P
	cd 0:0 P
	igain 1:1 P
	ogain 68:68  
	line1 0:0 P
	phin 0:0 P
	phout 0:0  
	video 0:0 P
}

[-- Attachment #3: emu10k1.conf --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 2057 bytes --]

##
## This file is used to configure emu10k1's emu-script
##

CARD_IS_5_1=no
USE_DIGITAL_OUTPUT=no
ENABLE_TONE_CONTROL=yes

# Note, it's safe to say yes to the next option even if you're not going
# to use it. When this option is enabled, the driver can autodetects AC3
# data and behaves normally with normal audio.
# (Saying yes causes some of the soundcard's resourses to be used up)
AC3PASSTHROUGH=yes

# Change this to yes to enable the Livedrive midi port and IR remote 
# control.
ENABLE_LIVEDRIVE_IR=no

# Most Lives have their analog front signals inverted. If you have
# problems with your setup (low bass), try changing this to 'yes'. (This
# option has no effect with digital setups)
INVERT_REAR=no

#Multichannel playback (for 4 - 6 channel setups)
MULTICHANNEL=yes

# On 5.1 cards in multichannel mode, should the multichannel data be fed
# to the sub as well?  You probably don't want this if you have a
# speaker set like the DTT2200 which already feeds all channels to the
# sub in hardware.
ROUTE_ALL_TO_SUB=no

# By default, the front analog channels have a +12dB boost applied to
# them by the AC'97 mixer. If you encounter clipping, or find that the
# volume of the front speakers is too high in a multichannel setup, try
# changing this to 'no'.
ANALOG_FRONT_BOOST=no



# Surround
##################

# Some wavs, or mp3 are surround sound encoded the next two
# options can be used to decode these in hardware.
# (select on or the other, not both)

# passive matrix surround decoder 
SURROUND=no

# Active matrix surround decoder
PROLOGIC=no


# Extra Inputs 
#################

## This connector is mounted on the card itself
ENABLE_CD_Spdif=no  # Volume control is 'Digital1' in aumix/gmix/kmix

# The next four inputs are found on Livedrives, some of these may also
# be inputs on the older add-on daughter cards.

ENABLE_OPTICAL_SPDIF=no # Volume control is 'Digital2'
ENABLE_LINE2_MIC2=no    # Volume control is 'Line2'
ENABLE_RCA_SPDIF=no     # Volume control is 'Digital3'
ENABLE_RCA_AUX=no       # Volume control is 'line3'


[-- Attachment #4: emu-script --]
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