[PlanetCCRMA] alsamixer step complete, but . . . .

[tom poe]

Woo!Hoo!  We're up and running.

So, I'm looking at alsamixer, and I'm thinking, wonder what this stuff
does?  I go and install gamix, bring it up, and instantly, I realize,
Oh, this is what I do with stereo equipment, adjust the sucker to play
pleasing sounds. . . . . Well, some of us are best at learning from the
whole, and others are best at learning from the parts.

Me, I feel better when I associate experiences.  So, this alsa to me, is
like a starter on a car.  If you don't hook up the right starter, the
car has to be cranked, or just not started.  Of course, you have to fine
tune it like a stereo, so you need alsamixer.  With that clumsy
awareness, I then set the stuff I recognized, like speaker and CD and
tone, then ran config and exited.  I then saved with /usr/sbin/alsactl
store.  Ran the canary1.wav file, was a happy camper, followed the other
thing about adding settings to chkconfig for startup, shut down the
computer, waited, then started the computer, and VOILA! We're there!

I will now move on, but at some point, if I come across what those other
thingys mean and what they do, I'll alert you.

I'll work with this rh8.0 for awhile, and when there are CD's for Fedora
to order, I'll try installing with Fedora.  I'm on a 56k modem, and it
was just pure luck I was able to get the kernel downloaded.  I didn't
see any choice for ordering it on a CD.  Is that right?

I ask, because as I go through this process with CCRMA, I want to think
in terms of what can happen in third world countries.  Later this year,
Open Studios hopes to have a Ms. Maria Begumisa from Kampala, Uganda,
arrive to orient and coordinate a strategy for placing a community-based
recording studio in every community in Uganda.  That's a pretty picture,
eh?  She'll act as the director for the project.  Our goal is to obtain,
ship, and distribute, and install and be operational across the country
within a one year timeframe.  We think we can do it.  What do you think?

So, many, many thanks for your kind assistance, all of you.  I'll be
back with more questions, I'm sure, especially, since I have been known
to indiscriminately click without paying attention.  And, when you have
no idea what you're doing, that can be dangerous.
Tom

On Thu, 2004-01-08 at 13:31, Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano wrote:
> > Anyway, I unloaded the asound.state file, then ran alsaconf, then
> > alsamixer, then saved to asound.state, then, and this is the best part,
> > I loaded the canary1.wav file (my system doesn't have a soundfile.wav
> > file), and both cats (I have a mother and one of her kittens) came to
> > attention!!!  :)
> 
> Wow.. :-) Glad to hear you got the canaries going :-) Now you'll have to
> cat-proof your speakers...
> 
> > Now, when I ran alsamixer, since I have no idea what any of those
> > thingys mean, I decided to run 100 on everything I could.  I ran into a
> > glitch with the cheap microphone when I loaded up the capture r l
> > thingy, so that's set really low.  The background noise is quite a lot,
> > as Fernando indicates in the instructions, so I will have to adjust the
> > settings.  Where do I go to find out more about settings with
> > alsamixer?  I have been to the alsamixer site, but what I need to find
> > out about, is what the different items are, what they do, and why I want
> > to set them at whatever setting.  does that make sense?  In other words,
> > without a starting point other than 0, it's a lot of trial and error.
> 
> Hmmm, I don't think those things are described anywhere. I may be wrong.
> Each soundcard is different, even different versions of the same
> soundcard may have slightly different controls. The SBLive is (I think)
> more confusing than most because of the number of options it has. 
> 
> It _may_ (just may) be better to use a GUI mixer, I find it less
> confusing than the alsamixer ncurses interface. Try starting "gamix".
> Anyway, that will not solve the basic problem of knowing what each
> control does, although in most cases the names are self-explanatory. 
> 
> -- Fernando
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> PlanetCCRMA mailing list
> PlanetCCRMA@ccrma.stanford.edu
> http://ccrma-mail.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/planetccrma