Maudio 2496 - ADC-sliders missing and playback flaws

[Lomaxx]

Since a long time i am missing the ADC-sliders (analog digital converter) in any mixer-software i am using. First i was not sure if i maybe was simply wrong about remembering that they ever existed since i rarely use them. But as i now wanted to record something i started to investigate a little and for example found an output where they where clearly mentioned. Also there is some strange flaw when playing audio while doing something else meanwhile. I am not sure if it's related to CPU-usage, harddisc-access or ethernet-traffic, but for example while browsing the net i notice annoying crackles and sometimes clearly noticeable detunes of the music. Might this somehow be related to a soundcard-internal clock-instability?

I set priority to finding out why the sliders are missing, but solving the playback-flaws of course would also be of interest no matter if they are related or not. Maybe i should also mention that my system has two cards configured. The first one is the onboard sound-chip of my PCs motherboard Asus-A7N8Xe deluxe. And with that one i do not notice the playback-flaws.

Any help would appreciated.

[cjubon]

Hi, in order to get a mixer gui for those maudiocards, just install media-sound/alsa-tools with the gtk and ice1712 use flags enabled. this will give you a programm called envy24control which does everything you need.

As to the playback flaws, my first thought would be too long external cable connections (card --> amplifier). I've never had a similar problem with my audiophile, though.
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Mandrake Dec 2001 · Debian "Woody" Aug 2002 · Gentoo Jan 2004 · Funtoo Oct 2009

[Lomaxx]

Thanks for your reply. I am using envy24control, but there the ADC-sliders are missing too.
Either there is something wrong with the card or with my kernel-/alsa-configuration.

I doubt that the playback-flaws are related to the cable as they do not appear when i leave my computer untouched while playback. Just when i multitask, like continue browsing, they do appear. I wondered if IRQs can cause this. So i tried to play with these settings. After disabling some features in my bios which i do not need like serial/parallel-ports and moved midi-irq from 10 to 5, disabled some automatic IRQ-configuration-feature, now my IRQs are shared like this

[Lomaxx]

I just tried to run "find / -iname "asdasdlk" while playblack. Almost no problems there although i noticed one or two crackles after a while.

But when i did "cat /dev/zero > /tmp/test.dat".....hell...TONS of crackles and the tune completely detunes, like an old defective tape-deck that is about to kill the tape. So maybe this IS related to IRQs? I mean: As above output shows, the SATA-controller and the audiophile2496 share the same IRQ.

I just don't know how i can assign the card to some other IRQ. I will investigate.

[aCOSwt]

[Lomaxx]

"ADC" stands for "analog-digital-converter" so yes. It's the one for recording analog signals
"DAC" in opposite stands for "digital-analog-converter". It's the output from the soundcard to your amplifier.

I THINK - and i might be confused/wrong there - the "H/W in" sliders are just for internal digital regulation of the digital-mixer/router. At least I just tried the following: Is still get an input-signal in audacious when a signal i want to record is send in over analog-in-plugs of the M2496 and the "H/W in"-sliders are all down.
I compare it to the output signal: There is a "PCM Out1/2" slider which you can use to reduce volume for the music you play, but that doesn't take effect if you go to the "Patchbay / Router" and directly route "PCM out" to "H/W out". It only takes effect, if you route the mixer to "H/W out". However you can in both setups level volume with the DAC1/2-sliders.

So for my understanding the "H/W in" slider for recording behaves like the "PCM out"-slider for playback.
And what the "DAC"-slider for playback is, there IMHO should be (and was some time ago) a "ADC"-slider for recording.

In theory i could (and already did before) level the recording input over "H/W in" too (although at the moment i can't remember how i did this), but i fear that the signal get's distorted in the ADC-section of the card and all i am leveling is the distorted signal in a digital way.

And if your brain aches now - that's normal. Mine does always too, when i try to get back into M2496-volume- mixing. And that's also why i am never sure if my thoughts about all this are right.

[Lomaxx]

I took a glance into the official, paper-printed M2496-manual. And i can't say that i am less confused. There is a picture of the official Windows-mixer and they only list a slider for "MasterVolume" and a section for "Mixer Inputs" with 4 sliders: "WaveOut 1/2", "WaveOut S/PDIF", "H/W In S/PDIF" and "H/W in 1/2". Comparing this to the envy24control, the "MasterVolume" might be "ADC 1/2", "WaveOut 1/2" might be "PCM Out 1/2" and "H/W in 1/2" might be "H/W in 1/2". So far things are clear and it seems like I was wrong in searching for an additional slider.

But then again, why does the above amixer-output of the M2496 i found on the net show a ADC-Slider and why do i recall that i saw them in my envy24control too? Well maybe there was a change in the alsa-driver. But then i still don't get, why i get an recording-input in audacious when the "H/W in 1/2"-sliders are completely faded out.

[Lomaxx]

No, i am quite sure that it's like a described in the first reply. I did a another test and the "HW In 1/2"-sliders only take effect when i routed "Digital Mix L/R" to "H/W Out 1/2". When i route "H/W in 1/2" directly to "H/W Out 1/2" they have no effect. So it regulates how much input comes to the cards internal digital-mixer/router - not the input directly. Right now I have no way to level audio-input in Audacious. And I'm quite sure that the ADC-sliders did that job.
Maybe i could configure an .asound where i am recording the digital-mixer instead of the direct input, but to be honest I would prefer to get these cursed ADC-sliders back.

[cjubon]

[Lomaxx]

That's exactly the problem: It's not for me.

Tab "Analog Volume": DAC0, DAC1

but no ADC0 and no ADC1

EDIT: Ah sorry! I made a typo in the section you quoted! =( I corrected it and hopefully have no more of them. Sorry again.

[Lomaxx]

I solved the playback flaws. They really were related to some problem based on IRQ-sharing with the sata_sil-kernelmodule. I moved the Maudio-card to a different PCI-slot and now it got a different IRQ-channel:

[Lupusceleri]