christian wrote:
> so even if there are separate 'line in' and 'mic' jacks, latter isn't
> necessarily connected?

well, if there *is* a mic jack, then i assume it is also connected. but the
computer i did my recording on only had a line-in jack, but the mixer
reported that the sound card did have a mic input.

> i'll have to try the 'line in' then, too.

that may be worth a shot anyway. (check if the resistance matches,
though. i don't know if line-in and microphone input have different input
resistance.)

--
Joost Kremers joostkremers@yahoo.com
Selbst in die Unterwelt dringt durch Spalten Licht
EN:SiS(9)

christian wrote:

> sorry, this is going to be a longish post; english isn't my
> native language, and i may lack in technical professionalism, as
> well.
>
> using slackware 11.0 / kde 3.5 / alsa i never had any problems
> regarding sound, i.e. *listening*; i can hear cds, mp3, wav,
> etc. hw: kmix tells me i've got a 'HDA ULI M5461'.
>
> but: i never ever succeed capturing some microphone input, try
> as i might; as i think i'm the only one with this problem, i'm
> pretty sure i'm doing something wrong (i unmuted mic input,
> though).
>
> this is beginning to bother me as i'm tempted to try to use
> skype.
>
> is there any good reading on 'sound' on linux? mixers? HowTos
> regarding *recording*, not playback?
> i'm at wit's end, not that this would mean too much, in my case
> - but my friends keep telling me to buy an xp redmond machine
> (argh!).
>
> rtfm pointers most welcome!
>
> thank you for reading so far,
> christian

Have a look at the jacks of your soundcard and where you plug the
mic in. Either in alsamixer or kmix (the "Inputs" tab) switch
on "Capture" and the device to be captured, either "Line"
or "Mic" depending on where you're plugged in and set the volume.

Unfortunately the mic input of some of the onboard sound devices
is so weak that you won't get any usable results w/o external
amplification. I use two soundcards, a SiS onboard sound device
for playback and a ForteMedia for VoIP and recording.

HTH
Joerg
--
For email use g m x d o t n e t

> Hmmm. I use my microphone all the time. It works great, although
> there was a bit of learning. How to use the rec command, for example.
> And how to set levels (I use rexima).

Yes, rexima is an excellent tool for checking that you can control
the mic and speaker and is totally independent of X or KDE. This
should work directly from the command line, and you should hear yourself
on the speakers when talking into the mic. I suspect there is a color
coding system in which green and pink are speaker and mic, respectively.
Again, I do not know what the record problem is with the recorder
function in KDE 3.5. You might want to look for some other software.
I do not think rexima does anything more than mixer functions, so I
do not think it can record or pay anything.

Dominic

When you speak into the microphone, do you hear yourself in the
speaker? This would indicate that sound card and drivers are
working fine.

Next, I know there is another problem with the recorder program
in KDE 3.5 with a working sound card with working mic and speakers.
I have this myself and am also trying to solve this.

Dominic

> Unfortunately the mic input of some of the onboard sound devices
> is so weak that you won't get any usable results w/o external
> amplification. I use two soundcards, a SiS onboard sound device
> for playback and a ForteMedia for VoIP and recording.


Joerg, others,

what I have seen is not related to mic volume. The recorder function
in KDE 3.5 is recording something, but apparently not the mic input.
It looks more like it is not fetching data from the correct device. I
have noticed that with Slackware 11.0 devices have in fact moved to
subdirectories not present in older Slackware distros AND also changed
names. However, much of the audio software is very old. I suspect the
old software does not know about the new device names and locations. I
know of one case where this seems very convincing, albeit not related
to mic function.

Dominic

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Joost Kremers wrote:

> that may be worth a shot anyway. (check if the resistance matches,
> though. i don't know if line-in and microphone input have different input
> resistance.)

Yup, they have different parameters, AFAIK. Usually, the mike input is
monophonic (albeit it has a stereo jack) and sometimes there's a mixer
control to turn on or off the pre-amplifier (if the card does have one -
mine has).

My €0.000714.

Yeti
- --
This message is best viewed with open eyes.
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Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:
> When you speak into the microphone, do you hear yourself in the
> speaker?

no, i don't. :-(

> This would indicate that sound card and drivers are
> working fine.

true.
so either
- all my mics are broken
- the sound jack isn't wired through
- my integrated sound chip (no 'mic boost' available!) is not up to my mic
- or, most likely, i'm doing something plain stupid wrong and can't come
to a working understanding of a complex but otherwise perfectly workable
combination of hw/sw... :-(

thank you for your input!
christian

Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:

> what I have seen is not related to mic volume. The recorder function
> in KDE 3.5 is recording something, but apparently not the mic input.
> It looks more like it is not fetching data from the correct device. I
> have noticed that with Slackware 11.0 devices have in fact moved to
> subdirectories not present in older Slackware distros AND also changed
> names. However, much of the audio software is very old. I suspect the
> old software does not know about the new device names and locations. I
> know of one case where this seems very convincing, albeit not related
> to mic function.

You have no idea what you're babbling about. When you suspect this is the
case, you really should resist the urge to post.

--
Old Man

"I could be wrong again
I remember once in August 1993
I was wrong, and I could be wrong again" - Paul Simon

Leonard The Committed wrote:

> On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:17:21 +0100, christian wrote:
>
>> english isn't my native language, and i may lack in technical
>> professionalism, as well.
>
> Near as I can tell, you are doing better than MANY of the functionally
> illiterate casualties of the American public school system I see on
> usenet.

His English is very good. Why does that prompt you to be an ass?

--
Old Man

"I could be wrong again
I remember once in August 1993
I was wrong, and I could be wrong again" - Paul Simon

OK, then starting from the very beginning, do you know you have
the right driver for your card and have required support in
kernel? Are you pretty sure? If your mic is plugged into a line in,
I could speculate that you need to add MIDI support or some such.

Many mics are turned off or muted. Rexima allows you to increase
the volume for both speaker and mic. By default, the volume on mine
is very low. Mics rarely go so bad that they give no signal
whatsoever. Tapping on it should at least give a popping sound. If
you have a sensitive voltmeter, you can try testing for a small
voltage generated from the mic.

Did you try rexima?


Dominic

On Wed, 20 Dec 2006, christian wrote:

> Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:
> > When you speak into the microphone, do you hear yourself in the
> > speaker?
>
> no, i don't. :-(
>
> > This would indicate that sound card and drivers are
> > working fine.
>
> true.
> so either
> - all my mics are broken
> - the sound jack isn't wired through
> - my integrated sound chip (no 'mic boost' available!) is not up to my mic
> - or, most likely, i'm doing something plain stupid wrong and can't come
> to a working understanding of a complex but otherwise perfectly workable
> combination of hw/sw... :-(
>
> thank you for your input!
> christian
>