Update to alsa situation

Update to alsa situation

[Zachary Kline]

Hiya,
I was able to, as it turns out, solve the ALSA situation myself.  The weird thing which I still don't understand is that my headphones were registered in Alsa as PCM, and there was an aditional headphone setting in the mixer which didn't seem to have any visible effect.  I lowered the volume on PCM, and somehow the volume on the headphones lowered.  Very weird behavior if I do say so myself.
Now, the next problem I need to get out of the way is OSS emulation, as it seems that Eflite doesn't enjoy being used at the same time Speakup is controlling the card--I have Emacspeak, and like Flite for it when I can get it.
Anyhow, I'm just deeply puzzled as to why that PCM trick worked, and thankful for Greg's suggestion, even though it didn't fix things.
Thanks all,
Zack.

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Re: Update to alsa situation

[Doug Sutherland]

Zach,

PCM means pulse code modulation (how audio is reproduced), 
but on the mixer it means sound output level. There is usually 
both a master volume and also separate PCM level, so it's not 
surprising at all that PCM will change your sound volume. To 
get any sound both have to be turned up. But you can set the 
PCM and leave it and use volume to adjust. The ALSA mixer 
is a bit complicated for sure. Way too many options in there.
I like simpler ones at least for regular non recording use.

  -- Doug

Re: Update to alsa situation

[Janina Sajka]

PCM means your digital data is being convertred into analog--stands for
"pulse code modulation." You can't hear digital, only analog. Humans are
analog sensate.

Zachary Kline writes:
> 
> Hiya,
> I was able to, as it turns out, solve the ALSA situation myself.  The weird thing which I still don't understand is that my headphones were registered in Alsa as PCM, and there was an aditional headphone setting in the mixer which didn't seem to have any visible effect.  I lowered the volume on PCM, and somehow the volume on the headphones lowered.  Very weird behavior if I do say so myself.
> Now, the next problem I need to get out of the way is OSS emulation, as it seems that Eflite doesn't enjoy being used at the same time Speakup is controlling the card--I have Emacspeak, and like Flite for it when I can get it.
> Anyhow, I'm just deeply puzzled as to why that PCM trick worked, and thankful for Greg's suggestion, even though it didn't fix things.
> Thanks all,
> Zack.
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Climb to the top of the charts!  Play Star Shuffle:  the word scramble challenge with star power.
> http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
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