I have the following problem. As trying to record with an analog microphone through arecord, audacity, gnome-sound-recorder i can get no sound captured. Then i’ve tried skype where the volume is too low and the sound is distorted.
Until i was using an usb webcam with mic integrated i had no problem using skype but with a simple usb mic i can’t get sound recorded. I’ve tested 3 different mic in a windows os and in opensuse 11.3 on the same pc with a double partition. All of them are working fine with win but not with opensuse.
Bellow i’ m providing some info as requested in a similar post from oldcpu
i’ve tried to upload to the alsa site but it gave me only a .txt output therefore, i’ve put it on pastebin.
Sound output works without problems. The only problem is the mic input.
When the volume of the mic is at 100% i can here sound from the speakers, what should mean that the mic is working, but it’s not capturing anything. I’ve checked the mixers from yast>harware>sound and seem to be all up as in alsamixer in terminal and kmix.
I’d like to add that i’m using opensuse 11.3 with kde 4.5.5 updated today through the stable repositories and to have even updated alsa, as proposed always from oldcpu in the same post mentioned in the beginning of this post, from the following site and for my specific kernel.
I took a look at the installed rpms and other information and that looks ok to me. I note you have not updated your kernel, but since you have the alsa-driver-kmp file I am assuming that should make up for the kernel not being updated.
I confess now, I do not like providing support to updated KDE versions. I mostly never update my KDE because I don’t want to spin my wheels over problems where the KDE update either caused or obscured the problem. So when users update their KDE and ask for help, I feel I am being asked to do something that I don’t like don’t myself. … ergo … I’ll provide some suggestions, but then I’ll back out of this thread. That KDE version just turns me away. … Sorry .
Anyway, your mixer setting is totally confusing to me. I can NOT tell what you are trying to do. First, look at the arecord output. … That suggests you have 4 possible input devices for recording:
I assume you know of those 4 input possibilities ? Can you provide more information on what your PC hardware has here ? .
No matter, lets look at the mixer next …
**!!Amixer output
**!!-------------
**!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]**
**Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe7f8000 irq 30'**
** Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1989B'**
...
**Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0**
Front Left: Playback 0 **[0%]** -34.50dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 0 **[0%]** -34.50dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control **'Front Mic Boost'**,0**
Front Left: 0 **[0%]** [0.00dB]
Front Right: 0 **[0%]** [0.00dB]
ok lets stop here initially. Your front mic is at 0% playback and it is as 0% boost. I think the 0% boost could be a problem if you are trying to use that mic.
Lets continue …
**Simple mixer control 'Mic',0**
Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0**
Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
**Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0**
Capture channels: Mono
Mono: Capture **[off]**
Front Left: Playback 4 [10%] -52.50dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 4 [10%] -52.50dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0**
Mono: Playback [on]
Ok, stop here for a second. Your IEC958 PCM capture is OFF. That typically applies to a digital capture/mic.
Lets carry on …
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0**
Front Left: Capture 53 [98%] [21.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 53 [98%] [21.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',1**
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture 39 [72%] [0.00dB] **[off]**
Front Right: Capture 39 [72%] [0.00dB] **[off]**
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',2**
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture 39 [72%] [0.00dB] **[off]**
Front Right: Capture 39 [72%] [0.00dB] **[off]**
**Simple mixer control 'Digital',0**
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -30.00dB]
Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%] **-30.00dB]
Lets stop here for a second. Capture 0 is active but Capture-1, Capture-2 and Digital capture is OFF. So that means of your 4 possible methods to capture, ONLY one of them is set to capture
You have input source-1 and source-2 set to Front Mic. But we already know that is set to zero boost with likely NO CHANCE to capture. Plus Capture-1 and Capture-2 are OFF so there is no chance to capture there as well with source-1/2.
So the only chance is source-0. Which is NOT your front mic on your PC (assuming it is labeled correctly) but possibly the back mic on your PC ?
My guess is you have plugged in to the wrong mic relative to your mixer, or the KDE update broke things, or the alsa config for front/rear mics is reversed.
Also , if you are going to test your mic, do so with a simple arecord command. ie:
arecord -f cd test.wav
and press to stop the recording and then play back with something like :
mplayer test.wav
to see if it recorded.
… anyway, at this point I’ll back out of this thread (ie no more posts), and pass the support over to those who like working with an updated KDE (which I refuse to do so). If I had my ‘druthers’, we would have a separate KDE update section in the pre-release/beta area of our forum, but not everyone see’s eye to eye with me on this.
Initialy i would like to thank you cause reading your reply helped me put the things in an order because i got so confused after three days searching.
I have red a lot of your posts for many other issues i have had in the past and this opinion is more than respectable to me
I was not trying to use the front mic cause i’ve got 2 input mics. One is the front mic, which is not the one i was trying to use, and the other it’s on the back and simply called mic source. Anyway, i don’t know why, but even the options of the mic i’ m using are at 0% (mic volume and mic boost) it works fine by having only the capture volume at 100%. So that was a reason of front mic volume at 0% (maybe the two inputs work in a different way).
Finally, the solution to my problem was that. I don’t have much knowledge about sound systems, but i could never think that the simple jack in the back was been considerated as a digital one. That was why i’ve never tried to modify it. Maybe you’re right on the fact that the kde update has messed up the settings but anyhow, now i got my mic working again.
So i would like to thank you again for your time dedicated on a kde updated post and i’ll try to be more careful next time.
