Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 21:07:30
From: Martin McCormick <martin.m@suddenlink.net>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: What Mid-range USB Sound Cards Work with Linux?
Resent-Date: Wed, 25 May 2016 01:07:45 +0000 (UTC)
Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org
deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> writes:
I suggest you check here
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
and try the alsa mailing list.
I did try that link and I see that, as I suspected, there
are tons of USB sound cards. My thanks also to Jude DaShiell and kon Alstadheimkfor
replies. I have also joined the alsa-user discussion list since I
realize I should probably move any more questions there and stop
bothering the debian-user list as it is primarily for helping
folks install, adjust and operate good old Debian and ubuntu
Linux. Sometimes, it is hard to tell when there is just one
problem that one or two answers can fix or a knowledge gap that
needs one to stop and learn a lot more details before moving
ahead.
The suggestion was made to not get the cheapest card but
a card with few frills in the mid ranges which is exactly what I
had in mind, not because I can't afford a better one but what is
there is more likely to just work.
I do have an older USB card, for instance, that is a
SoundBlaster Extigy. I bought it second-hand at a swap meet and
in Debian, it records and plays just fine but had I gotten it
new, I would have been aggravated. There is a nice slick remote
control that came with the card and the only button on it that
does anything is the Power switch that you do not ever want to
accidentally press as it turns off and your OS is very unhappy at
the sudden vaporization of the device one was writing to or
reading from. There's a nice detented knob that probably does
something in Windows such as adjust gain or balance but in
Linux, it does absolutely nothing. For Ten US Dollars, it was
okay for me but I bet it cost ten or twenty times more when brand
new. The amixer settings for Line,0 and Line,1 both turn down the
input gain on the only Line input that works. I bet that is not
what was supposed to happen, but one can certainly use it that
way.
Anyway, thanks for all the help. It is much appreciated.
Martin