[arch-general] Audio quirks

[Ralf Madorf]

On Mon, 2012-01-16 at 08:52 +0000, Peter Nikolic wrote:
> [snip]
> 2: I have an Nvidia graphics card  GT220 that has HDMI output on it (i dont 
> use it dont have anything to take HDMI in) but it keeps  getting setup as the 
> primary audio system  there is an on board sound card as well that is disabled 
> (really bad quality) i use an external USB sound card works well  for the GBP 
> 19.00 that it cost
> 
> Certain games refuse point blank to use the external sound and insist on the 
> HDMI job how can i stop this the HDMI is turned off every where i can find it 
> what else do i need to do to remove it from being detected

Hi Pete,

if you want multiple audio interfaces given consistent device numbers by
ALSA you might need to do this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#Random_Lack_of_Sound_on_Startup

In the past I did it that way for the Debian based 64Studio:
http://www.64studio.com/faq_user
Take a look at 13., there might be no dmixer being involved.

I had to edit nothing for Arch, the order always is the same:
$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Default [RME AIO_579bcc], device 0: RME AIO [RME AIO]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: EWX2496 [TerraTec EWX24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712
multi]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: EWX2496_1 [TerraTec EWX24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712
multi]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Perhaps they are sorted by IRQs, dunno.

OT but you might get a similar issue, if two devices should use the same
driver:
I use the TerraTecs for MIDI only. I didn't make music with Arch until
now, but with Ubuntu I always needed to connect the TerraTecs ALSA MIDI
ports manually, since both have the same name. IIRC for JACK clients
there are alias names, IIRC for ALSA there's a way too.

Hth,

Ralf