[PlanetCCRMA] setting up new system with Delta 1010LT + Intel HDA

[Fernando Lopez-Lezcano]

On Wed, 2009-11-18 at 08:10 -0800, Bruce Elliott wrote:
> I'm setting up a new PC and  hope to use the CCRMA packages for some
> simple home recording projects.  The PC has a 64-bit processor, so
> I've installed the x86_64 version of Fedora 10.  I've done the basic
> steps of adding the Planet CCRMA repositories and installed the real
> time kernel, so I'm think I'm ready to try and get started.
> 
> First, I need to get my cards set up right.  I have an M-Audio Delta
> 1010LT card, which I'd like to use for working with music and the
> Intel HDA card built in to the motherboard, which I'd be happy to use
> for things like system notifications and other incidental sounds.
> Here is what the system tells me about the cards:
> 
> # cat /proc/asound/cards
>  0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
>                       HDA Intel at 0xf9200000 irq 22
>  1 [M1010LT        ]: ICE1712 - M Audio Delta 1010LT
>                       M Audio Delta 1010LT at 0xb000, irq 20
>  
> Here is my modprobe.conf: 
> 
> # cat /etc/modprobe.conf
> alias snd-card-0 snd_hda_intel
> options snd-card-0 index=0
> options snd_hda_intel index=0
> alias snd-card-1 snd_ice1712
> options snd-card-1 index=1
> options snd_ice1712 index=1
> 
> I put the Intel card first, since the CCRMA installation instructions
> say that the first one is "usually the default device used by all
> programs", and I figured that if some application decides to make an
> unexpected noise, then I don't want it going through my music system;
> in other words, I'd like to choose what I send through the Delta 1010
> card.  Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. 

> Here's what is happening so far:  I get no sounds out of my speakers
> except when I go to the KDE System Settings|Multimedia and test some
> of the output devices.  The list of devices, which I can order
> differently for Notifications, Music, Video, etc, shows these:
> 
> PulseAudio
> HDA Intel (ALC883 Analog)
> M Audio Delta 1010LT (ICE1712 multi)
> HDA Intel (ALC883 Digital)
> Default
> PulseAudio Sound Server
> 
> The only ones that produce any sounds when I test them are the HDA
> Analog device and the Delta 1010 device, but the weird thing is that
> output seems to be coming out of the built-in output jack (on the
> motherboard) in either case. 

That is definitely strange. There should not be any hardware connection
between the two cards. 

> Does the OS route output from the Delta 1010 through the built-in card
> to its output jack? 

No, AFAIK. 

> Also, I've connected only the first two RCA analog outputs from the
> Delta 1010 to my desktop speaker system - should I use a different
> pair of outputs for testing?

It would appear you are fine. The first two output channels of the
1010lt are located in the breakout cable #2, I presume those are the
ones you used (the first two output rca connectors). 

> Playing a CD directly from the CD drive works, but playing music files
> from Amarok does not.
> 
> I'll leave it at that for now.  Any suggestions for what I should do
> next?

I would first test jack and jack alone. For best results I would install
the 1.9.3 version that I just moved from the testing repository to the
normal one (it deals better with pulse audio). 

Then start jack. You can start it through qjackctl. Go into the Setup
dialog and configure the Interface to be "hw:1" in your case (second
card, the 1010lt). Make sure "Realtime" is checked and select the
sampling rate you prefer. 

Close the Setup dialog and press "Start", after a bit you should see a
yellow "Started" message. Jack should be running at this point. Click on
the Messages button, you should see the jack startup messages there (and
hunt for errors there if things go wrong). Click on the Connect button,
you should see the "system" ports for input and output (those are the
connections in your soundcard). 

Start, for example, Hydrogen. I think the first time it will autoselect
jack as it is already running and will autoconnect its outputs to the
system ports (once it is running you can check that it connected by
looking at the "Connect" window of qjackctl - there should be lines from
Hydrogen to the system ports (first two channels). Go to the
Projects/Demo menu and load a demo pattern. Press the Play button. You
should hear the pattern playing. 

No sound but it appears to be playing?

Check the mixer. I think the 1010lt is supported by the "envy24control"
program. Start it and check the state of the "Analog Outputs" tab, make
sure volume is up. Otherwise you could also use "alsamixer -c 1" to
point to the 1010lt. 

If everything went well you should be able to use jack applications...

Let us know how it goes...

-- Fernando