A good, small distro for simple recording

I run Ubuntu 8.10, and I cannot get audio recording to work in any program. I have searched the web over for solutions, only to find that many others have the exact problem and can't find a solution. I have also tried recording in Fedora 10, but it has the same problem. I know it's not a hardware problem, because I could record in windoze (before I uninstalled it :p). So, I need a recommendation for a small, live cd/usb distro that I can simply record things in, and do the mixing in Audacity in Ubuntu. I would imagine I need a disto that doesn't contain similair code to Ubuntu/Fedora to keep from having the same problem. Thanks in advance for your help.

This would indeed be considered a hardware problem. But more specifically a hardware driver problem.

I would assume that it is not correctly recognizing your sound card, and then not loading a driver module for it. You can research this at the ALSA web site.

Matrix:Main - AlsaProject

I would also install the latest version of alsa, as it couldn't hurt any.;)

To find the information on your sound card, look for it in the output of this command.

Code:

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lspci

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Post the output here, if you want us to take a look. If it is a USB card, then use this command.

Code:

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lsusb

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As for a distribution dedicated for sound recording, I would recommend one of the "Studio" distributions. They may even contain the necessary drivers to make your sound card work "automagically". Most of these use the JACK audio system. It can also be added to an existing Linux system. Here are two Studio distributions, that I know of.

Home | Ubuntu Studio

Screenshots | 64 Studio

Here's the lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:11.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 82)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 IDE Controller (rev 80)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200]
02:03.0 Communication controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. HSF 56k Data/Fax Modem
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller (rev c0)

I also briefly tried Ubuntu Studio...no joy there, either. Thanks again for offering support. :cool:

It looks like this is the audio chip:

Code:

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00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)

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It appears to be supported by the snd-atiixp driver module:

Matrix:Module-atiixp - AlsaProject

You can check to see if it is already loading, with this command:

Code:

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lsmod

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Even if it is loading, it would appear that it is not working. Follow the instructions on the alsa page that I linked to.

Edit: I see that there is a different driver for the 450 chip. It is named snd-hda-intel, so look for this module too.

Matrix:Module-hda-intel - AlsaProject

I install them both?

No, but check to see if either of them are loading.

You can try and manually load them, one at a time. Then see if the sound works. Make sure you remove one before loading the other (modprobe)

I found a Ubuntu help thread dealing with this problem, and maybe a solution.

[ubuntu] Sound Problems - Ubuntu Forums

Okay, thank you.

I'd like to see the list of modules that your system is loading. Enter this command, and post the output.

Code:

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lsmod

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You can pipe the output of lsmod directly to a text file, if that would be easier for you.

Code:

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lsmod > lsmod.txt

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The file should then be found in your home directory.

lsmod
Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 13568 0
nls_cp437 15232 0
vfat 21120 0
fat 64824 1 vfat
joydev 20736 0
usbhid 39776 0
hid 59072 1 usbhid
ipv6 314312 14
xt_limit 11268 6
xt_tcpudp 11776 15
ipt_LOG 14468 8
ipt_MASQUERADE 11520 0
xt_DSCP 12032 0
ipt_REJECT 11776 1
nf_conntrack_irc 14776 0
nf_conntrack_ftp 17720 0
xt_state 10752 6
af_packet 29568 2
binfmt_misc 18700 1
radeon 159136 2
drm 110304 3 radeon
rfcomm 51104 0
sco 20612 2
bridge 64544 0
stp 11268 1 bridge
bnep 23168 2
l2cap 33280 6 rfcomm,bnep
bluetooth 70820 6 rfcomm,sco,bnep,l2cap
ppdev 16904 0
acpi_cpufreq 16400 0
cpufreq_stats 14468 0
cpufreq_userspace 12420 0
cpufreq_powersave 10368 0
cpufreq_conservative 16392 0
cpufreq_ondemand 16400 2
freq_table 13568 3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
pci_slot 13704 0
wmi 15808 0
video 29204 0
output 11776 1 video
container 12288 0
sbs 22288 0
sbshc 14592 1 sbs
battery 21128 0
ac 13448 0
sbp2 32652 0
lp 19588 0
snd_hda_intel 492336 4
snd_pcm_oss 52608 0
snd_mixer_oss 25088 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 99208 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 11524 0
snd_seq_oss 42368 0
snd_seq_midi 15872 0
snd_rawmidi 34176 1 snd_seq_midi
psmouse 51612 0
snd_seq_midi_event 16768 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
serio_raw 14596 0
snd_seq 67168 7 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
evdev 20512 6
pcspkr 11136 0
snd_timer 34320 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 16404 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
snd 79432 17 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,sn d_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_de vice
soundcore 16800 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 17680 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
i2c_piix4 17936 0
i2c_core 36128 1 i2c_piix4
parport_pc 44200 1
parport 50096 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
button 15904 0
shpchp 42140 0
pci_hotplug 39216 1 shpchp
iptable_nat 14480 0
nf_nat 29080 2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
nf_conntrack_ipv4 24856 9 iptable_nat,nf_nat
nf_conntrack 84512 7 ipt_MASQUERADE,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_conntrack_ftp,x t_state,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4
iptable_mangle 11520 0
iptable_filter 11520 1
ip_tables 28176 3 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter
x_tables 31752 9 xt_limit,xt_tcpudp,ipt_LOG,ipt_MASQUERADE,xt_DSCP, ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables
ext3 150544 1
jbd 66856 1 ext3
mbcache 17924 1 ext3
usb_storage 94784 0
libusual 35752 1 usb_storage
sd_mod 45864 3
crc_t10dif 10240 1 sd_mod
sr_mod 24644 0
cdrom 47784 1 sr_mod
sg 45408 0
ata_generic 14212 0
8139cp 31232 0
pata_acpi 13568 0
ohci1394 41524 0
ieee1394 110592 2 sbp2,ohci1394
8139too 35968 0
mii 14592 2 8139cp,8139too
pata_atiixp 14208 0
ehci_hcd 49548 0
ohci_hcd 35100 0
usbcore 175888 6 usbhid,usb_storage,libusual,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
sata_sil 17928 2
libata 201312 4 ata_generic,pata_acpi,pata_atiixp,sata_sil
scsi_mod 183160 6 sbp2,usb_storage,sd_mod,sr_mod,sg,libata
dock 18464 1 libata
thermal 27424 0
processor 47800 2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan 13576 0
fbcon 51200 0
tileblit 11264 1 fbcon
font 17152 1 fbcon
bitblit 14592 1 fbcon
softcursor 10496 1 bitblit
fuse 68288 3

I tried some of the instrucions from the site above, but I don't think I did it correctly. This is a bit over my head. :confused:

Yes, I see that it is loading the snd_hda_intel module, and I bet you need the snd-atiixp. I don't know if this will work, but you can try unloading the snd_hda_intel module, and then loading the snd-atiixp module.

Code:

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sudo modprobe -r snd_hda_intel

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Code:

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sudo modprobe snd-atiixp

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Code:

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sudo depmod

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I don't know if the sound will work now. There are a lot of snd related modules loaded, so following the Ubuntu Forums link is probably the best way.