From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 1 11:28:57 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 33DDC16A4CE for ; Tue, 1 Feb 2005 11:28:57 +0000 (GMT) Received: from dastardly.newsbastards.org.72.27.172.IN-addr.ARPA.NOSPAM.dyndns.dk (84-72-24-62.dclient.hispeed.ch [84.72.24.62]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D706B43D31 for ; Tue, 1 Feb 2005 11:28:54 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bounce@NOSPAM.dyndns.dk) Received: from Mail.NOSPAM.DynDNS.dK (ipv6.NOSPAM.dyndns.dk [IPv6:2002:5448:183e:0:206:28ff:fed8:8dcf]) (8.13.2/8.11.6-SPAMMERS-DeLiGHt) with ESMTP id j11BSl4W003233NO); Tue, 1 Feb 2005 12:28:51 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from bounce@NOSPAM.dyndns.dk) Received: (from beer@localhost) by Mail.NOSPAM.DynDNS.dK (8.13.2/FNORD) id j11BSkln003232; Tue, 1 Feb 2005 12:28:46 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from bounce@NOSPAM.dyndns.dk) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 12:28:46 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200502011128.j11BSkln003232@Mail.NOSPAM.DynDNS.dK> X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.newsbastards.org.72.27.172.IN-addr.A: beer set sender to bounce@NOSPAM.dyndns.dk using -f X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.newsbastards.org.72.27.172.IN-addr.A: Processed from queue /tmp X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.newsbastards.org.72.27.172.IN-addr.A: Processed by beer with -C /etc/mail/sendmail.cf-LOCAL From: Barry Bouwsma To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org References: Subject: Re: Which USB-Soundcards work? X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Barry Bouwsma List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:28:57 -0000 On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:56:25 +0100, Paul Kaletta wrote: > can anybody tell me which USB-Soundcard are known to work with FreeBSD? I have success with the Hercules Pocket Muse 5.1 Big Knob, with some caveats. (It's also the only one I've tried so far.) > (For example I'm pretty interested in the Creative SoundBlaster Live! > 24BIT USB. It's pretty cheap (50 EUR), and my past experience with PCI Give me a day or three and I can probably tell you something about a different Creative USB card, probably less than twice the price... > I want a USB-Card since my notebook lacks a line-in jack. It has a > microphone plug only. Does recording work with USB-cards? I don't need > anything fancy, but when I'm recording noise should be reasonably low. With the above-mentioned Hercules card (probably EOL'ed), I was able to record, with 4.x and patches (probably incorporated into -current, submitted as 4 PRs). I didn't record any serious sources, but just recorded the sound of me connecting and disconnecting a cable to the mic and line in jacks (clicks and buzz) to verify it worked. Noise, hmmm, well, I looked at the recorded data from this card and it is not that quiet, compared to some other cards. About this particular card -- the only supported sample rate is the professional rate of 48000 samples/sec. So I had to hack the other utilities I use, to convert other rates to 48000 -- for my own use, I make 48000kHz sample recordings so playback of my own material has been no problem. As a rule of thumb, I'd suggest searching for reviews on-line, and seeing what the reviewer has to say. Often I'll read reviews and they'll say that the device works on 'doze as-is, but in order to enable the special features the card offers, you need to load the (usually) 'doze-only drivers supplied. In that case, I read it to mean that the card will work as-is for 2 channel playback/recording with any compatible USB audio OS (like the BSDen and such) with no need for special drivers. There's another card I've read about for which this is said to be true, that I want to acquire and try it out, also with optical outputs, to try my luck. I'll try to remember to post an update. It's theoretically possible that the cards which require drivers in order to work, need a firmware load, after which they appear as well-behaved USB audio devices, at least for the common 16-bit 2- channel case. No promises though. barry bouwsma (addresses in headers are not munged, honest)