M-Audio Transit on Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)

[Packgrog]

Originally Posted by error401

This could be the result of ALSA's default all-channels-muted mixer configuration. As far as I remember, Ubuntu sets the mixer to sane defaults when you log in, but if you're connecting the Transit after the fact, ALSA's defaults are probably in place - with all channels disabled. I know this used to be the case with most distros and ALSA in general; I haven't had any problems recently with Ubuntu, but I'm not using a removable sound device either.

Check alsamixer and make sure the outputs aren't muted, players will often modify the pcm output volume, but rarely touch the master, perhaps Exaile is an exception?

Perhaps it's related to the fact that when I run alsamixer from the commandline, it shows the card being the internal device, even though I selected it as the USB Transit via several other apps. *shrug*

[error401]

Originally Posted by Packgrog

Perhaps it's related to the fact that when I run alsamixer from the commandline, it shows the card being the internal device, even though I selected it as the USB Transit via several other apps. *shrug*

You can specify which card alsamixer should be addressing with the -c flag, with 0 being the default:

alsamixer -c 1

You also may want to look at creating a .asoundrc file which could specify the Transit as your default card for all ALSA applications. I believe the following will accomplish that, but I don't have a system with multiple sound devices available to test with right now (I can try tonight if you like) - replace the card 1 with another id if necessary:

pcm.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
}

ctl.!default {
  type hw           
  card 1
}

Failing all of that, the drastic solution is simply to prevent the module for your onboard card from loading at bootup, making the Transit the only soundcard the system is aware of. There are several ways to do this, the most elegant being to modify the /etc/hotplug/blacklist file and add the soundcard module to the list. The most drastic being moving the module .ko file out of the kernel tree.

[Packgrog]

There we go! Thanks, error401, the defaults in a .asoundrc file did the trick. Had that not worked, I was just going to turn off the on-board sound card via the BIOS. Awesome!

Thanks a ton! Exaile is nice, but it's just not as mature as Amarok. Perhaps I could find the time to learn Python and help add some of the missing functionality...

-Packgrog

[Packgrog]

Interesting. The sound is noticeably different when using Amarok vs. Exaile. Both seem do be doing some kind of pre-processing on the volume, as the volume controls on both apps actually effect the volume levels of the audio coming from the optical output of the Transit. This is a little dissapointing, actually, as it sounds sort of fake and distant in Amarok, while sounding harsh in Exaile. I'd be more inclined to believe that Exaile is closer to the original, but I'm not sure.

I may just end up having to use my H120 after all. Volume controls have no effect on the levels coming from the optical out with Rockbox. Perhaps it's the only output I have (at work anyway) that's actually bit-perfect. I'm kind of surprised. Perhaps I should try dropping an email to the writer of the madfu loader.

Sounds great through the H120, though. Man, I'm glad I hung onto this thing for so long.

[psyllium]

Originally Posted by Packgrog

Interesting. The sound is noticeably different when using Amarok vs. Exaile. Both seem do be doing some kind of pre-processing on the volume, as the volume controls on both apps actually effect the volume levels of the audio coming from the optical output of the Transit. This is a little dissapointing, actually, as it sounds sort of fake and distant in Amarok, while sounding harsh in Exaile. I'd be more inclined to believe that Exaile is closer to the original, but I'm not sure.

I may just end up having to use my H120 after all. Volume controls have no effect on the levels coming from the optical out with Rockbox. Perhaps it's the only output I have (at work anyway) that's actually bit-perfect. I'm kind of surprised. Perhaps I should try dropping an email to the writer of the madfu loader.

Sounds great through the H120, though. Man, I'm glad I hung onto this thing for so long.

The problem you are having is nothing to do with the firmware loader, and more to do with the sound devices in the operating system. I'd expect the KDE sound engine to be adding a layer on top of the ALSA output - I forget exactly what this layer is called... but if you can bypass it, you might do well.

Have you tried using xmms? I know it's a bit old, but I think it'll give you a bit more control over the output device you are using. If you use the ALSA output plugin and just chuck in hw:1,1 or hw:1,0 whichever it is, it should give you bitperfect output. (Don't quote me though ).