[PlanetCCRMA] fc4 and getting control of microphone questions

[Fernando Lopez-Lezcano]

On Fri, 2006-02-17 at 03:04 -0600, Tom Poe wrote:
> I have fc4 installed, ccrma loaded, and a cheap computer microphone in 
> the microphone jack.
> 
> I have the system sounds disabled.  The microphone is active at the 
> moment.  I can hear it through the speakers.  I cannot figure out where 
> to go to control the microphone for use with Audacity.  Each time I set 
> microphone on, whether through the applications sound mixer, or the 
> volume control on the desktop, or run the command, /usr/bin/alsamixer, 
> Audacity does not record, but it does play .ogg files.  When I set the 
> microphone active either in the applications sound, or desktop sound, 
> close, then open, the microphone may or may not be off.  Mostly, it is 
> off. 
> 
> Somehow, I need to set the microphone/capture feature to ON, and then 
> save the settings.  I think there's a file that keeps resetting it to 
> OFF.  Any help as to where to find the key file at play, here, would be 
> greatly appreciated. 

There is an alsa utility to store the current settings of the alsa mixer
called /usr/sbin/alsactl, so running "/usr/sbin/alsactl store" will
store the setting and "/usr/sbin/alsactl restore" will restore them. The
settings themselves are stored in /etc/asound.state. 

I usually use "gamix" to control the soundcard mixer (which is different
in all cards - hard to give directions on how to set it correctly for
your needs). 

-- Fernando