I should have included the asound.conf file alsa created when I chose my sound card; it may be useful: Script started on Sat Apr 19 09:00:46 2014 [jude@athame ~]$ cat /etc/asound.o .conf pcm.!default { type plug slave.pcm { type hw card 1 } } ctl.!default { type hw card 1 } [jude@athame ~]$ exit exit Script done on Sat Apr 19 09:01:04 2014 jude <jdashiel@shellworld.net>