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Groups > linux.debian.user > #185143 > unrolled thread

why audio recording is so hard in Linux

Started byLong Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com>
First post2017-08-14 06:20 +0200
Last post2017-08-14 13:40 +0200
Articles 8 — 7 participants

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  why audio recording is so hard in Linux Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> - 2017-08-14 06:20 +0200
    Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux Zenaan Harkness <zenaan@freedbms.net> - 2017-08-14 06:50 +0200
      Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2017-08-14 11:30 +0200
    Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-08-14 07:20 +0200
    Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2017-08-14 09:30 +0200
    Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux Michael Lange <klappnase@freenet.de> - 2017-08-14 09:30 +0200
      Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux Ric Moore <wayward4now@gmail.com> - 2017-08-14 11:10 +0200
      Re: why audio recording is so hard in Linux Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> - 2017-08-14 13:40 +0200

#185143 — why audio recording is so hard in Linux

FromLong Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com>
Date2017-08-14 06:20 +0200
Subjectwhy audio recording is so hard in Linux
Message-ID<uef17-7Pc-3@gated-at.bofh.it>

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try very hard
mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless

maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
i had used openbsd, it's easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall switch to bsd

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#185145

FromZenaan Harkness <zenaan@freedbms.net>
Date2017-08-14 06:50 +0200
Message-ID<uefua-81s-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185143
On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 04:11:31AM +0000, Long Wind wrote:
> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try very hard
> mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless
> 
> maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
> i had used openbsd, it's easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall switch to bsd

This is probably a side effect of (lack of) familiarity, combined
with your penchant for command line Ultimate Control (TM)(C)(R) (I
too share this penchant :)

You know years ago I tried using Red Hat (pre-Fedora) for a couple
days, but my frustration with the differences in /etc and the various
adminning commands, left me squarely back on Debian (this was also
before my CoC fight with Debian CoC too :)


I have found that as long as I installed the right packages with an
XFCE desktop, sound (e.g. with Audacity and VLC) works just fine,
including "basic recording" using the line in.

A few years back I was also running a full jackd/ jack-audio stack,
Ardour (yum!) and a shirt tonne of sfx plugins - damn I love
GNU/Linux! :)  Yum yum!

But yes, the joy of such an incredibly yummy, fully libre man, fully
libre high end audio stack running on a simple line in and headphone
out, required a little tinkering.  Just made the result more
enjoyable though :)

Whatever you end up with, the libre journey is indeed a journey -
it's not a final answer or "silver bullet on a gold plate handed to
you with no thought needed on your part". Compared to 20 years ago,
we have truly awesome libre software abarndance, for which I am very
greateful to the 1000s of hackers who've made it happen.

Cheers,

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#185160

From<tomas@tuxteam.de>
Date2017-08-14 11:30 +0200
Message-ID<uejR8-2n2-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185145
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On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 02:44:10PM +1000, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 04:11:31AM +0000, Long Wind wrote:
> > even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try very hard
> > mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless
> > 
> > maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
> > i had used openbsd, it's easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall switch to bsd
> 
> This is probably a side effect of (lack of) familiarity, combined
> with your penchant for command line Ultimate Control (TM)(C)(R) (I
> too share this penchant :)

Exactly. Much and varied choice

 - plain ALSA + command line (that's how I swing)
 - Pulse Audio on top of ALSA + command line
 - some GUI program on top of that
 - full desktop goodness (e.g. gstreamer and GUIs
   on top of *that*
   ...

Choice is good, but not always easy :)

Add to that that the above "variants" (which are just a lame attempt
from me at categorizing the vast field) come from different epochs
and cater to different folks. From time to time someone thinks again
his/her Way is the True Way and tries to eliminate everything else
(I call that the Highlander Syndrome). Luckily, that doesn't seem
to suceed 100% most of the times.

As to mencoder (part of the mplayer suite): good choice. Very powerful.
But difficult to learn and use.

Cheers
- -- tomás
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#185147

FromDavid Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>
Date2017-08-14 07:20 +0200
Message-ID<uefXb-8sK-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185143
On 08/13/17 21:11, Long Wind wrote:
> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i
> try very hard mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless

I prefer Audacity, but it has a graphical user interface.


> maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?

Perhaps if you cut and pasted your mencoder commands and their output
into a reply, somebody familiar with mencoder could help you.


> i had used openbsd, it's
> easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall
> switch to bsd

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it".


David

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#185153

Fromdeloptes <deloptes@gmail.com>
Date2017-08-14 09:30 +0200
Message-ID<uehYZ-1bj-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185143
Long Wind wrote:

> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try
> very hard mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless
> 
> maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
> i had used openbsd, it's
> easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall switch
> to bsd


don't know about you, I have never had a problem with it, so your problem
must be operator and not device problem.
It takes time to find your way, do not give up.

regards

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#185155

FromMichael Lange <klappnase@freenet.de>
Date2017-08-14 09:30 +0200
Message-ID<uehZ1-1bj-27@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185143
Hi,

On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:11:31 +0000 (UTC)
Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> wrote:

> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try
> very hard mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless

have you checked if your sound card's IGain is muted or set to a very low
level? Here I can set "Line" as capture device but the recording level is
determined only by the setting of "IGain". These things may differ from
card to card though, so I'd recommend to use alsamixer or the gui-mixer of
your choice to check the settings of the other mixer lines.

Regards

Michael

> 
> maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
> i had used openbsd, it's
> easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall
> switch to bsd
> 
> 



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Respect is a rational process
		-- McCoy, "The Galileo Seven", stardate 2822.3

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#185158

FromRic Moore <wayward4now@gmail.com>
Date2017-08-14 11:10 +0200
Message-ID<uejxM-2gt-27@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185155
On 08/14/2017 03:27 AM, Michael Lange wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:11:31 +0000 (UTC)
> Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try
>> very hard mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless
> 
> have you checked if your sound card's IGain is muted or set to a very low
> level? Here I can set "Line" as capture device but the recording level is
> determined only by the setting of "IGain". These things may differ from
> card to card though, so I'd recommend to use alsamixer or the gui-mixer of
> your choice to check the settings of the other mixer lines.

Pulse audio sits on top of alsa. Use alsamixer to select the sound 
source (f6) and check that the input is not muted. If you see 'mm' it is 
muted so hit the 'm' key to unmute it ( you should see '00') then raise 
it's volume level to max using the up-arrow key. Hit 'esc' to exit. Then 
use pavucontrol open the 'configuration' tab then select the sound 
device. If it has stereo speakers then select stereo plus analog mono 
input. Check the input devices tab to select your desired input device. 
Leave this open and started your graphical recording app. Start 
recording and check the recoding tab on pavucontrol. You should see the 
audio level flickering.

Keep in mind that this is how stock audio is installed to Debian. If you 
are following ten year old alsa setups of config files from the net, you 
will be stuck and virtually punching alsa repeatedly in the face. Using 
pulse you can have many sound input devices and you can select between 
them on the fly.

I have five sound devices and I use pavucontrol to disable three of them 
leaving my USB 7.1 sound system to be output only and my USB headphones 
to be stereo and analog mono input. Click click, dead simple. Again, if 
alsamixer isn't set correctly, pulse doesn't stand a chance. Ric

-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
http://linuxcounter.net/user/44256.html

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#185169

FromLong Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com>
Date2017-08-14 13:40 +0200
Message-ID<uelSW-3Ag-29@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#185155

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Thank Michael!
after setting IGain with mixeri can record sound with arecord
 

    On Monday, August 14, 2017 3:29 PM, Michael Lange <klappnase@freenet.de> wrote:
 

 Hi,

On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:11:31 +0000 (UTC)
Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> wrote:

> even simple task like recording from line in can't be donethough i try
> very hard mencoder has many advanced featuresall seem useless

have you checked if your sound card's IGain is muted or set to a very low
level? Here I can set "Line" as capture device but the recording level is
determined only by the setting of "IGain". These things may differ from
card to card though, so I'd recommend to use alsamixer or the gui-mixer of
your choice to check the settings of the other mixer lines.

Regards

Michael

> 
> maybe alsa is at fault??or because of poor documentation?
> i had used openbsd, it's
> easyhttps://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq13.html#confaudiomaybe i shall
> switch to bsd
> 
> 



.-.. .. ...- .  .-.. --- -. --.  .- -. -..  .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Respect is a rational process
        -- McCoy, "The Galileo Seven", stardate 2822.3

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