Talk:ALSA

checking things

You can assume that udev will autodetect your sound properly. You can check this with the command:

lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t

If the output looks similar, your sound drivers have been successfully autodetected.

You might also want to check the directory /dev/snd/ for the right device files:

ls -l /dev/snd

If you have at least the devices controlC0 and pcmC0D0p or similar, then your sound modules have been detected and loaded properly.

display sound cards and capture devices

As an example:

$ aplay -l && arecord -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 1: ES1371/2 [ES1371 DAC1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

microphone boost

check

amixer -c0 controls | grep -i mic
numid=15,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Boost (+20dB)'
numid=32,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Select'
numid=13,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Playback Switch'
numid=14,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Playback Volume'