Can neither record nor playback: Audacity 1.3.5 beta

[Rincewind]

I notice that there are many posts on this subject or closely related - but please read on.

I have been referred here by Gale on the Audacity Team, who first asked me to read and examine this link:

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... und_Device

I have followed this advice and have many deeper questions as a result. I would really like some help as I am making no progess in understanding the cause of my probelm and am therefore not better equipping myself to handle such problems for myself in future.

1. The problem: I can neither record nor playback (obviously!) with Audacity. The level meters imply that Audacity is not seeing any data.

2. The configuration:
Hardware: Sound Blaster Audigy LS (CA 0106) card - known to be working
OpenSuSE 11.0, with Gnome and KDE 4 desktops (same problem in both environments)
ALSA sound management. PulseAudio deleted from system. I don't think I'm using ESD or OSS (but do not know how to confirm this)
Audacity 1.3.5 Beta, using PortAudio v19 (nineteen)

Recording device set at 'ALSA default'
Playback devices set at 'ALSA default'

Audio CDs play without problem in Real Audio and Banshee under both Gnome and KDE4
System sounds worked as expected under Gnome and KDE4

No error messages when Audacity starts.


3. Questions from 'Linux Issues' wiki page (in reference given above)

1. Do I have to recompile Audacity for my environment? If so, I'm in deep trouble! I cannot do this; could I get some detailed, step by step advice please?
2. Am I using an 'OSS build of Audacity'? How would I know?
3. How do I know if I am using ESD or some other sound management?
4. My check of what devices are using the sound card shows this:

[email protected]:~> lsof | grep '/dev/snd/'
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /var/lib/gdm/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
pulseaudi 7501 tony 21u CHR 116,12 0t0 3051 /dev/snd/controlC0
mixer_app 7560 tony 19r CHR 116,12 0t0 3051 /dev/snd/controlC0


Why is pulseaudi here? I thought I had deleted pulseaudio from my system. How do I remove it?
What is 'mixer_app' ? Do I need it?
What is controlC0?
Why is there no reference to my sound card?

When I examine the Audio Device Info in Help, I see:

Default capture device number: 0
Default playback device number: 0
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: OSS: /dev/dsp
Input channels: 16
Output channels: 16
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: ALSA: CA0106: CA0106 (hw:0,0)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: ALSA: CA0106: CA0106 (hw:0,1)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: ALSA: CA0106: CA0106 (hw:0,2)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: ALSA: CA0106: CA0106 (hw:0,3)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: ALSA: front
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: ALSA: rear
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: ALSA: center_lfe
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 8
Device name: ALSA: side
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 9
Device name: ALSA: surround41
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 10
Device name: ALSA: surround50
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 11
Device name: ALSA: iec958
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 12
Device name: ALSA: spdif
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.010667
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 13
Device name: ALSA: default
Input channels: 128
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: 0.042653
Low Output Latency: 0.042653
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
16000
22050
32000
44100
48000
88200
==============================
Device ID: 14
Device name: ALSA: dmix
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.042667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
48000
==============================
Selected capture device: 13 - ALSA: default
Selected playback device: 13 - ALSA: default
Supported Rates: 8000
9600
32000
44100
48000
88200
Unable to open Portmixer


Where are all these devices being found? It is significant that Device 0 seems to be an OSS device/ Is that a problem with my system?


The Build Information says that MP2 export is enabled - but it doesn't say anything about being able to export to MP3. The guidance information in the referenced URL says to either recompile Audacity with LAME included or to find a different package with LAME already built it. How can you tell? Where does one look?


Thanks for your help

[steve]

Hi test1 (come on now, I can't call you that )

Unfortunately we have a marked lack of Linux expertise on this forum - I seem to be the only regular poster that uses Linux, and I'm pretty new to it myself (Xubuntu).

When I examine the Audio Device Info in Help, I see:
........
........

That's good - it means that Audacity can see some audio drivers for your sound card.
the "(hw:0,0), (hw:0,1), etc." are the ALSA device numbers - the first number (hw:0) is the device (the CA0106 Sound Blaster card), and the second number (hw:0,x) is the sub device (for example, line input socket, front speaker output, etc.)

Usually Audacity will work with "Alsa default" selected (Device ID: 13 in your list) - and this is the one that you have selected:
"Selected capture device: 13 - ALSA: default
Selected playback device: 13 - ALSA: default
Supported Rates: 8000
9600
32000
44100
48000
88200"

Unfortunately I notice at the bottom of the list:
"Unable to open Portmixer"

So it looks like this is the problem, but unfortunately I do not know what this error means, or what to do about it.

Looking at the various device ID options:
Do you have an option of "ALSA: CA0106" (or similar) in the Recording option of "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O"
If you do, try that, and select 48000 as the default sample rate in "Edit > Preferences > Quality"
You will need to close and restart Audacity for these changes to take effect.

[Rincewind]

I have tried every available combination of playback and recording device. It makes no difference.

[steve]

Do you still get the "Unable to open Portmixer" error with "Alsa default"?

[Rincewind]

Yes, sadly, that error condition still applies. I can find no (software) device called 'portmixer' on my system.

Surely somebody, somewhere in the world must have tried this hardware and software configuration? Surely the development team must have tested this and so know what/where 'portmixer' is? Or is Audacity not popular with Linux?

[steve]

Portmixer is as far as I know part of Portaudio.
The version of Portaudio should be at least v.19. Beyond that, I've no idea.

Yes, Audacity is very popular on Linux, but unfortunately Linux is not the main development platform. The Audacity team do not even release binary builds of Audacity, just the source code. The Linux distribution teams then build packages for their particular distro.

Did you say what distro you are using? Audacity 1.3.5 seems to work pretty well on the 'buntu's.

If you know any Linux audio gurus, send them this way - there's lots to keep them busy

[Gale Andrews]

Portmixer is as far as I know part of Portaudio.
The version of Portaudio should be at least v.19. Beyond that, I've no idea.

Enabling Portmixer when Audacity is built supplies the Mixer Toolbar. I honestly don't know the significance of the "unable to open" error but you should be able to record and play even without a portmixer-enabled build; just make your level and input settings in ALSAMIXER.

Test1, as regards LAME, if OpenSuSE have disabled it in the build, you should do as they say and build Audacity from our CVS or 1.3.5 tarball, or consider another Linux distro. Any of the 'buntus or PCLinuxOS (for example) are likely to be easier than OpenSuSE. If you want to try building Audacity, please see:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... g_On_Linux

I have been trying to help Test1 on Audacity-users where he has also been posting:
http://n2.nabble.com/No-sound-when-play ... 33581.html

Test1, you say there in your first message that you can record, so I am a bit confused, but yes to record you need to set the input level to above zero in ALSAMIXER if you have no Mixer Toolbar. To see if you have this, do View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars. Mixer Toolbar would be two sliders with speaker and microphone symbols then a selection box to right.

A fair number of our developers are on Linux (I'm not), but none are on OpenSuSE as far as I know.

If you have not already I would use the OpenSuSE Forum:
http://forums.opensuse.org/

and try and find someone who knows about Pulse Audio and who uses Audacity. You could also raise a direct bug with OpenSuSE:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/index.cgi

After all if is their product you are using (unless you build from our sources). If after those two steps you are still getting nowhere I will see if I can get a Linux developer to help, but your best bet is to try those avenues first.


Gale

[Rincewind]

Apologies for causing confusion about the login id (a typing error on my part has lead to a 'deadly embrace' situation, which I have no power or procedure to resolve, hence the user of this (hopefull temporary) user-id).

About confusion over whether I can record or not: there's some history. I was able to record in my first install of OpenSuSE - but only after repeated calls to the OpenSuSE forum over a 3 week period. OpenSuSE then 'broke' comprehensively on my computer, beyond my ability to recover. I had to re-install. This second install will not record - so playback is academic.

I have used the OpenSuSE forum, as well as the ALSA mailing list, extensively. The result is best described by the law of diminishing returns. Everything seems to be set up correctly, including level settings in ALSA mixer. I can playback audio through other applications. Audacity users in OpenSuSE tell me that PulseAudio is not required (indeed it does prevent my sound card being properly recognised by ALSA). I have deleted PulseAudio from my system.

It seems that I have to raise a bug with Open SuSE as you say, because I do not have the skills or knowledge to compile the application, with LAME. Indeed that's not my objective: I am a USER, not a developer or maintainer.

Audacity is an unrivaled product. I want to be able to use it. I don't believe that it is technically defective, but the process for installing and setting it up is - else it would be able to tell me explicitly what pre-requisite is not being satisfied in my configuration.

[steve]

I've been tempted to try SUSE, because it is a big name, has a massive repository, has been around a long time....
However -
From hearing reports from various SUSE users, it seems like a good distro, provided that the software you want to use works out of the box. Synaptic does seem to me to be a better, more reliable, package management system than YAST, and with Ubuntu I have so far managed to get just about everything working with relatively little pain, even though I am relatively new to Linux.

Audacity has worked pretty reliably in Ubuntu, although there have been a couple of bugs in recent builds. I even managed to build Audacity 1.3.4 from source, and it was a lot less difficult than expected. (I'm also a user, not a programmer).

For the time being I think I will stick with (X)ubuntu, and Audacity 1.3.5, although I will probably have a go at building Audacity when the next beta version comes out.

[Rincewind]

I now know where the defect is: it's in the Foundations Section of the on-line (down loadable) guide, "Audacity Setup & Configuration" and in the FAQ "How do I record from vinyl records, cassette tapes, or minidiscs?"

In neither place is the user reminded to check that there is indeed a valid signal at the line-in jack of the computer on which Audacity is running!

For the past 7 weeks this has, unknown to me, been my problem. I have 2 computers running Audacity - one under windows, which I have been using for some years, one under OpenSuSE which I have been trying to use since June 1. There are separate cables from my audio system to each computer.. Unknown to me the 'record' selector on my pre-amp has become defective such that when I select to record under OpenSuSE there is no signal, but when I record to Windows there is. And this has been the cause of some hundreds of hours of frustration and resentment against Audacity over the past 7 weeks, without any valid reason. As soon as I plug my 'windows' cable into the OpenSuSE computer, Audacity is able to produce a good recording, and play it back, at the quality I have come to expect.

So, thanks for your help and please close this thread. Also consider making a small modification to the documentation, encouraging users to be sure any external hardware is working first before trying to trouble shoot within the computer!