> > does the command alsa-info give a clue? > > I didn't know about that one. It gives pages of stuff that look like > what I used to find in /proc/asound, it certainly knows all about the > USB device. No error messages, no suggestion as to what might be > missing. Since it's USB, the obvious next step is "lsusb". Or, really, *any* information you can provide about this USB sound device would be useful at this point.