this might be more of a topic for an alsa list, but there’re somany intelligent people here too, i thought i would try it here first, since im registered here.
I have: M-Audio Delta 66
Creative Labs Soundblaster audigy (1) platinum with beakoutbox.
I would really like to use both cards at the same time for a drum recording planned in near future (need more inputs). Both cards have spdif in/out, so it should be possible to sync them i think.
The big questions is, is there a way to use the delta inputs in 24/96000 quality and the soundblaster in its highest 16/48000 at the same time?
I dont think this will be possible using asoundrc method (el-cheapocard method), because then jack could only set quality settings for “the one card”.
What i have tried, this might sound unprofessional, but i only need it for the drums once:
run jack with the delta in 24/96.
run ecasound like follows:
ecasound -r:5 -i alsahw,1 -B:rtlowlatency -o jack
so basically generating jack inputs from the audigy card.
This works except for lots of xruns.
In the terminal running ecasound i get the following message all the time:
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.02 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.01 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.01 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.01 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.01 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.02 ms long.
warning! playback overrun - samples lost! Break was at least 0.01 ms long.
and so on…
that far this might be acceptable, i think i would rather have 4 more inputs, as in 4 more mics on the drums with minimal sample loss (0,02ms!) than just 4 mics.
Would say so too??
my problem is though, as soon as i start the ecasound in a terminal jack says its using 100% cpu, just running jack with the delta card gives me about 1%
Does somebody have any ideas for my situation, and why running ecasound on a further card gives the cpu a jump to 100%??
On completely unrelated matter, i noticed you mention audigy 1 with breakout box.
Just recently i got one from a friend of a mine for a free with supposably working breakoutbox. Got the input/outputs running just fine in the linux (running on fedora8) but i’m having troubles with the breakout box. None of the inputs/outputs seem to work. Havent found any info on how to set it up except some odd note in alsa utils about a tool which initializes emu chips - and that tool seems to be even deprecated in alsa now …
So the question is, does the breakout box need any extra configuration or should it work fine with extra tweaking or should i assume that the breakout box just isnt working…
I can manage with the backplane inputs but my new mic setup is arriving today and fiddle with XLR -> Plug -> Miniplug in the small space is not really something im looking forward so it would be nice to get the box working…
EDIT:
Feel free to call me idiot. So, i got this off a friend and he didnt have no documents. Obviously i missed the Key Feature -> connect extra power to breakout box’s connector. D’Oh!
Yes, i got it working. When i installed the card ,i went thru all the connectors and didnt really think that it needs power cable as the pins had marker “FM2” beside them. Next step: check the manuals from creative website and it said its the power connector for breakout box. Boy i felt stupid.
Sorry it took a while to test but I may have a solution for you:
Setup the Delta to sync to S/PDIF with either envy24control or alsamixer and setup the Audigy to capture on either the mic or preferably the line input. Connect the S/PDIF output from the Audigy to the Delta’s input and voila, you have in the Audigy a cheap ADC for the last 2 channels of the Delta and all is synced. I tried it with a good old SB Live so it syncs to 48KHz but the Audigy might be able to do 96KHz PCM out of the S/PDIF instead, as it’s much newer. I figure even if the Audigy captures at only 16 bit, the Delta will be able to take it and still output 24 bit on the tracks-- it’ll probably just be zero-padded but I can’t promise anything else beyond that the setup works for me at 48KHz. Hope this helps
Yes this does work.
My ideal setup would go one step further to be able to use the 96khz of the delta card though.
i have seen that the audigy can send 96khz over spdif (it says so in the windows manual).
Does somebody know how to set the spdif output of the audigy (or any card if its somewhere to be done in alsa) to 96khz??
At the moment my card default sends 48khz.
If i could make it send 96khz i could use 6 instead of 4 inputs in the delta at 96khz (of course only 4 would really be that quality…)
