[alsa-devel] Configuration help please?

[Alan Horstmann]

On Tuesday 16 March 2010 14:32, Dan Armbrust wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 9:11 AM, Dan Armbrust
>
> <daniel.armbrust.list at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm trying to configure a mythtv box to send sound to my spdif port
> > AND my analog stereo speakers.
> >
> > In order to make the spdif port work, I found I needed this in
> > /etc/asound.conf:
> >
> >
> > #----
> > pcm.!default {
> >    type plug
> >    slave.pcm "spdif"
> >  }
> >
> > #----
> >
> > I thought maybe this would work to send the sound to both....
> >
> > #----
> > pcm.!default {
> >    type plug
> >    slave.pcm "front"
> >    slave.pcm "spdif"
> >  }
> > #----
> >
> > But that was a little naive... apparently.  The sound just goes to
> > whichever item I put last.
> >
> > I know right next to nothing about writing alsa config files... and
> > every example I find is very large, very complicated looking, and
> > doesn't do what I want.
> >
> > Can someone tell me how to configure alsa for this?
> >
> > What I want - exactly - Sound to always go to both the "front" (my 2
> > channel stereo speakers), and my spdif output, with anywhere between 1
> > and 5.1 channels... depending on what my source audio has.  I also
> > want mythtv to pass the full 5.1 channels from HD to the spdif port,
> > while sending the stereo sound to the analog.
> >
> > Some info:
> >
> > # aplay -l
> > **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
> > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
> >  Subdevices: 1/1
> >  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
> > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
> >  Subdevices: 0/1
> >  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
> >
> >
> > #aplay -L
> > front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   Front speakers
> > surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
> > surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
> > surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
> > surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
> > surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
> >   7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
> > iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
> >   HDA Intel, ALC888 Digital
> >   IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
> > null
> >   Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
> >
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Dan
>
> Hello?
>
> Is this really a hard thing that I'm asking to do?  No one can help me
> configure alsa?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan

In case you haven't found these docs, they may help:

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm_plugins.html

Alan