Matrix:Module-asihpi
Driver for cards from Matrix:Vendor-AudioScience
|
Card Specific Information
Additional Installation notes
The asihpi driver is not yet in the official kernel part of ALSA, so must be built from source.
In addition to the alsa-driver source package, the matching alsa-firmware package must be downloaded, and run "make install" in the asihpi subdirectory.
If you have installed the hpklinux driver available from website, you will end up with two different drivers that can claim the cards. To avoid unexpected behaviour, either remove one of the drivers or blacklist one or both E.g add "blacklist asihpi" to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist. If both drivers are blacklisted, it is still possible to load either of them manually using modprobe.
Also you need to take care that incompatible firmware is not installed. In this case, it is recommended to rebuild the alsa driver using source from the hpklinux package (see that package for instructions).
Card indices
AudioScience cards have a hardware jumper to specify the card index. This ensures that cards keep the same index even if they are moved between slots, or other cards are added.
The driver will try to make ALSA card indices match the card jumper settings. This may fail if another card (onboard sound) is present and has already claimed a desired index. The cards will still work, but have unexpected indices.
By default the card name shown by ALSA will be the card model eg "ASI6644"
PCM streams
AudioScience cards support multiple streams (PCMs). These are exposed as ALSA substreams of device 0. I.e. hw:0,0,0 hw:0,0,1 etc.
The reason the driver doesn't map streams to ALSA devices is that there is a limit of four devices per card, and some cards have up to 16 streams.
Streams do not correspond to physical inputs and outputs, see Mixer section for more on this.
Mixer
control names
By default the controls have names that follow AudioScience naming conventions. These reflect ASI documentation and will be familiar to users of the card via HPI or windows drivers.
Main differences: OutStream == PCM Playback, InStream == PCM Capture, AesIn == Digital in
It is possible to build the driver with more ALSA-style names by editing asihpi.c and removing the definition ASI_STYLE_NAMES
rationale for indexing
Controls with the same name have indices starting at '1'. This is because alsamixer displays controls with index=0 differently. Eg "OutStream" not "OutStream 0". In addition, the cables/breakout boxes supplied with the cards are numbered starting from 1.
However, this can lead to confusion where control 1 corresponds to alsa stream 0. :(
setting card master samplerate
Most cards will have a Sample Rate control. This sets the master samplerate for the card. The default rate will be 44100 or 48000. Setting this to the same rate as your source material means that the card will not have to do sample rate conversion.
Read the control amixer -c1 cget iface=MIXER,name='Clock Rate',index=1
Set a new rate amixer -c1 cset iface=MIXER,name='Clock Rate',index=1 48000
Level controls
Note that input level controls do not set input gain directly. The setting of an input level control is the full scale input signal level in dBu. So increasing input level control DECREASES the input gain.
Likewise, the setting of output level controls is the fullscale output level in dBu
Linked streams
Most AudioScience cards support multiple independent stereo play and record streams with different formats and samplerates (not ASI5xxx)
ALSA allows streams to be grouped together into a virtual stream with more channels using the multi plugin, maybe also requiring ttable plugin to allow memory mapped operation of the virtual stream.
To support stream grouping with the multi plugin, the card must support mmap. This will be reported in "dmesg" when the driver loads as Supports mmap:1
Cards which support hardware linking of streams for sample-accurate start and stop report grouping:1
Example definitions for .asoundrc
# create a virtual four-channel device with two sound devices:
# This is in fact two interleaved stereo streams in
# This creates a 4 channel interleaved pcm stream based on
# the multi device. JACK will work with this one.
# Usage: aplay -Dttable4:1 fourchannel.wav
# jackd -d alsa -dttable4 -n4 -p2048
pcm.ttable4 {
@args [ CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
@args.CARD {
type string
default {
@func getenv
vars [
ALSA_PCM_CARD
ALSA_CARD
]
default {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.card
}
}
}
@args.DEV {
type integer
default {
@func igetenv
vars [
ALSA_PCM_DEVICE
]
default {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.device
}
}
}
@args.SUBDEV {
type integer
default 0
}
type route;
hint {
show {
@func refer
name defaults.namehint.basic
}
description "4 channel multi route"
}
slave.pcm {
type multi;
slaves.a.pcm {
type hw
card $CARD
device $DEV
subdevice 0 # $SUBDEV
#mmap_emulation true
}
slaves.a.channels 2;
slaves.b.pcm {
type hw
card $CARD
device $DEV
subdevice 1 # { @func iadd integers [ $SUBDEV 1 ] }
#mmap_emulation true
}
slaves.b.channels 2;
bindings.0.slave a;
bindings.0.channel 0;
bindings.1.slave a;
bindings.1.channel 1;
bindings.2.slave b;
bindings.2.channel 0;
bindings.3.slave b;
bindings.3.channel 1;
}
ttable.0.0 1;
ttable.1.1 1;
ttable.2.2 1;
ttable.3.3 1;
}
# see above.
ctl.ttable4 {
@args [ CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
@args.CARD {
type string
default {
@func getenv
vars [
ALSA_PCM_CARD
ALSA_CARD
]
default {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.card
}
}
}
@args.DEV {
type integer
default {
@func igetenv
vars [
ALSA_PCM_DEVICE
]
default {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.device
}
}
}
@args.SUBDEV {
type integer
default 0
}
type hw;
card $CARD;
}
Capabilities and limitations
- HPI ioctl provided in addition to ALSA interface
- No support for compressed formats, though card supports them
- Limited use of large on card buffers
The module options for snd-asihpi
| description: | AudioScience sound or tuner card | |
| author: | AudioScience <support@audioscience.com> | |
| license: | GPL | |
| parm: | index:Index value for AudioScience soundcard. (int) | |
| parm: | id:ID string for AudioScience soundcard. (charp) | |
| parm: | enable:Enable card(bool) | |
| parm: | hpiDebugLevel:Debug level for Audioscience HPI 0:none..5:verbose (int) | |
| parm: | major:Device major number for HPI device(int) | |
| parm: | bufsize:Buffer size to allocate for data transfer from HPI ioctl (int) |
Introduction for AudioScience ASIxxxx soundcard
There are two ways of getting Linux drivers to work, you can either compile them into the kernel or build them separately as modules. Read the Kernel-HOWTO for details of how to compile a kernel.
You must turn on the sound support soundcore module. This is in the kernel. Look in the sound drivers directory and it should be the first option. Most people enable the module setting. That way you can load and unload the module manually if you have multiple soundcards/devices or if you intend to debug or use cutting edge software which may cause your drivers to halt sometimes. Of course it also means you have more control of your system.
Most modern distros come with soundcore compiled as a module. You can check this in numerous ways. The easiest way is to type:
modinfo soundcore
If this command returns that you have this module, then you don't need to recompile your kernel.
Quick installation
This explains how to build from source tarballs. See GIT_Server for instructions on getting and using the latest source from git repositories.
Type the following commands in the shell of your choice.
Make a directory to store the alsa source code in:
cd /usr/src
mkdir alsa
cd alsa
cp /downloads/alsa-* .
Now unzip and install the alsa-driver package:
bunzip2 alsa-driver-xxx
tar -xf alsa-driver-xxx
cd alsa-driver-xxx
./configure --with-cards=asihpi --with-sequencer=yes ; make ; make install
Now unzip and install the alsa-lib package:
cd ..
bunzip2 alsa-lib-xxx
tar -xf alsa-lib-xxx
cd alsa-lib-xxx
./configure ; make ; make install
Now unzip and install the alsa-firmware package:
cd ..
bunzip2 alsa-firmware-xxx
tar -xf alsa-firmware-xxx
cd alsa-firmware-xxx
./configure ; make ; make install
Now unzip and install the alsa-utils package:
cd ..
bunzip2 alsa-utils-xxx
tar -xf alsa-utils-xxx
cd alsa-utils-xxx
./configure ; make ; make install
Now insert the modules into the kernel:
modprobe snd-asihpi ; modprobe snd-pcm-oss ; modprobe snd-mixer-oss ; modprobe snd-seq-oss
Now adjust your soundcard's volume levels. All mixer channels are muted by default. You must use a native mixer program to unmute appropriate channels, for example alsamixer from the alsa-utils package. Note that some usb-audio devices do not have internal mixer controls. Run:
alsamixer
You can also look at the utils/alsasound file. This script is designed for the RedHat Linux distribution, but it can also be used with other distributions which use System V style rc init scripts. This will allow you to load your modules at boot time. If you don't want to do this you can of course compile them into the kernel instead and save yourself the hassle of coming to terms with the rc init scripts.
Setting up modprobe and kmod support
Before you send a mail complaining that "I don't have /etc/modules.conf, where do I find it ……" ‒ the /etc/conf.modules has been deprecated with a few distro's, but in your case it may still be /etc/conf.modules. Basically they are both the same, but recent version of modutils use /etc/modules.conf instead. Nothing to worry about as such, optionally please update to the latest version of modutils. This should solve your problem.
Here's the example for this card. Copy and paste this to the bottom of your /etc/modules.conf file.
| Note: |
Debian GNU/Linux users need to save this information into a file in the /etc/modutils/ directory (eg. /etc/modutils/alsa) and run update-modules. Note also that the kernel module soundcore has been renamed in Debian kernels >2.6.23 into snd. A workaround is to put a symlink at /lib/modules/x.x.xx/kernel/sound/soundcore.ko pointing to snd.ko |
|---|
| Note: |
Systemd users need to save this information into a file in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory terminating with .conf (eg. /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf). In case of modules auto-loading instead, the module name must be inserted in a file in the/etc/modules-load.d/ directory terminating with .conf (eg. /etc/modules-load.d/alsa.conf). |
|---|
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-asihpi
# module options should go here
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
# card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
To copy and paste the above to your /etc/modules.conf file follow these instructions.
modules.conf
This is a short explanation of what happens in the /etc/modules.conf file.
Native devices
After the main multiplexer is loaded, its code automatically requests the top level sound card module. String snd-card-%i is requested for native devices where %i is the sound card number, counted from zero (the first sound card) to seven (the eighth sound card). String sound-slot-%i is requested for native devices where %i is slot number for the corresponding ALSA owner (which is basically the sound card number). The options line allows you to set various configuration options before the module is loaded. String id (or snd_id) lets you set the name of the card which is then returned in the /proc/asound/cards file, i.e. to user space applications. Other options may be available depending on the specific card. Options for these cards are found in the INSTALL file or above.
username@hostname# pico /etc/modules.conf
# ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias snd-card-1 snd-cmipci
options snd-cmipci id="first" mpu_port=0x330
# OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
| NB: |
For drivers older than 0.9.0rc5 use: options snd-cmipci snd_id="first" snd_mpu_port=0x330 |
|---|
| NB: |
The "snd_" prefix has been removed from the module options to fit with the kernel standard. |
|---|
Autoloading OSS/free emulation
At this point we are finished with the configuration for ALSA native devices, but you may also need autoloading for the OSS/Free emulation modules, an ALSA add-on. At this time only one module does not depend on any others, thus must be loaded separately: snd-pcm1-oss. String sound-service-%i-%i is required for OSS/Free service where the first %i is the slot number/sound card number and the second %i is the service number.
username@hostname# pico /etc/modules.conf
# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
# OSS/Free portion - card #2 (cmipci)
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss
The alias for snd-seq-oss is not necessary on the second device, because there is only one /dev/sequencer regardless how many devices you have.
The .asoundrc file
This file allows you to have more advanced control over your card/device. For most setups the default, system-wide configuration is sufficient. You may change this file only for special setup. The .asoundrc file consists of definitions for the various sound devices available in your system. It also provides access to the pcm plugins in alsa-lib. These allow you to do tricky things like combine your cards into one or access multiple I/O streams on your multi-channel card.
Below is the most basic definition (only example - not required to define at all).
Make a file called .asoundrc in your home and/or root directory:
vi ~/.asoundrc
Copy and paste the following into the file, then save it:
pcm.asihpi {
type hw
card 0
}
ctl.asihpi {
type hw
card 0
}
Software volume control
If your card doesn't have hardware volume control (e. g. Asus Xonar XD/XDG), you might want to create software Master control. Edit .asoundrc as follows.
pcm.softvol {
type softvol
slave {
pcm "dmix"
}
control {
name "Master"
card 0
}
}
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "softvol"
}
Restart alsa, then open a music player, play a file and close the player. Then check alsamixer, as you should have a Master volume control. Note that this control doesn't have a mute option.
Links
Generic
- Keep up to date with the news at M-Station
- The most current book about Linux audio is Linux Music and Sound (September 2000)
- Find more applications at Sound & MIDI Software For Linux SourceForge
- For professional quality, low latency audio routing use JACK ‒ the “Jack Audio Connection Kit”.
Specific
- Users of this module
- Old User contributed notes at www-old.alsa-project.org (old page)
