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Diffstat (limited to 'kernel/drv/oss_sblive/oss_sblive.man')
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diff --git a/kernel/drv/oss_sblive/oss_sblive.man b/kernel/drv/oss_sblive/oss_sblive.man new file mode 100644 index 0000000..067a341 --- /dev/null +++ b/kernel/drv/oss_sblive/oss_sblive.man @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ +NAME + oss_sblive - Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live/Audigy family driver. + +DESCRIPTION + Open Sound System driver for Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live!, Audigy, + Audigy2, Audigy2-Value and sound cards. + + The sblive driver supports: + + o 8-48Khz Playback/Recording + o 8 or 16 bits + o SPDIF digital output and Input + o Multi channel 5.1 (Live!) and 7.1 (Audigy) output. + + AC3 passthrough is only supported on Audigy series of the soundcards. + +OTHER SIMILAR CARDS +There are several Sound Blaster cards that are also called as Live or +Audigy. However these cards are based on entirely different hardware design +and they are not compatible with this driver. + +o Sound Blaster Live 5.1 card is used in some Dell machines but it's + driven by the emu10k1x driver. +o Sound Blaster AudigyLS and Live 7.1 models are driven by the audigyls + driver of OSS. + + SBLIVE COMBO SPDIF AND AUDIO JACKS +Most models of Live! and Audigy cards have an orange combo jack that is +used both for the analog center/LFE output and for digital DIN (S/PDIF) +output. The output mode is selected by a driver configuration option +(seel below) which should be set to proper value depending on the actual +speaker configuration. + +o Noisy analog center/LFE output. The orange combo jack at the rear plate + of the Live/Audigy card is shared between the digital DIN and the analog + center/LFE outputs. In digital DIN mode (default) you will hear very noisy + output from the speakers connected to this output jack. If you have analog + center/LFE (subwoofer) speakers connected then you need to turn off the + sblive_digital_din (or audigy_digital_din) option. + +o There is a new configuration option to enable/disable the "digital DIN" + output. By default the digital DIN interface is enabled which disables the + center/LFE analog output (uses the same combo jack). By setting the + sblive_digital_din (or audigy_digital_din) option to 0 you can enable the + analog C/LFE output feature. When digital DIN is disabled you can still get + S/PDIF (or AC3) output from the digital (optical/coax) outputs of the + optional livedrive unit. + + SBLIVE MIXER +SB Live cards have actually two mixer chips. In OSS both of them are +controlled together. However only limited set of features can be controlled +using ordinary mixer programs (such as the mixer applet included in OSS). +Majority of features can only be accessed using the ossmix and ossxmix +programs included in OSS. + +The AC97 mixer is used to control volumes of the back bracket inputs (mic and +line in) and the _analog_ CD input connector on the soundcard. The 'mic' +volume controls the level of the rear bracket microphone input sent directly +to the front (only front) speakers. The 'line' and 'cd' controls do the same +for the back bracket line in connector and the on board analog CD input +connector. It's usually recommended to set these volumes to 0. + +Another function of the AC97 mixer is selecting the signal that is passed to +the master mixer (for example for recording). One of the 'mic', 'line' or +'cd' signals can be routed to the master mixer by selecting that device as +the recording source in the AC97 mixer. The 'rec' volume control slider can +be used to adjust the signal strength. The 'igain' control doesn't usually +have any effect but some hardware revisions may use it for controlling the +microphone recording level. + + + SBLIVE MASTER MIXER +Other mixer functions are handled by the DSP engine of the EMU 10k1 chip. +Most input signals (including all digital signals and LiveDrive inputs). + +There are only two master mixer settings that can be controlled using all +mixer programs. The 'vol' setting is the master output volume that affects +both the front and rear speakers and the headphone output (digital output +volumes are not affected). The 'pcm' setting controls volumes of all PCM +playback channels (/dev/dsp#). + +In addition to volume sliders most inputs have a stereo VU meter pair +(only in ossxmix) that can be used to monitor the input and to adjust the +input levels properly. + +The master mixer consists of several sections that are: + +o Primary section: This section has two settings. The "spkmode" setting + selects how front/rear speakers are used for PCM playback (outputs from + programs using /dev/dsp#). The possible settings are FRONT, REAR and + FRONT+REAR. The default is FRONT+REAR. Change this setting if you like to + get PCM playback only from front or rear speakers. The "autoreset" flag is + used to control the "/dev" section. + +o "/dev" section: This section controls the volumes of each /dev/dsp# device + file supported by the device (there are 8 of them at this moment). These + volumes will return back to maximum every time the device is opened. However + this can be disabled by setting the 'autoreset' option to OFF. The ossxmix + program has special ability to show the application using the particular + /dev/dsp device (for layout reasons only the first 4 characters of the + program name are shown). + +o The equalizer section: This section controls the graphic equalizer for + front speakers only. + +o The front rear, and record sections: These three identical sections control + the levels of external inputs and PCM playback (/dev/dsp# devices) to be + sent to the front/rear speakers and to the recording device. + The CD Analog audio will only be heard from the FRONT speakers. + + SBLIVE RECORDING +Before recording anything you need to set the volumes in the recording +section properly. To enable recording from the AC97 connected inputs +(mic, line in and analog CD) use the AC97 mixer to select the desired input +and then tune the input level using the rec (and igain) setting. + +Finally set the 'ac97' slider in the record section of the master mixer so +that the recording level is suitable. + +The OSS drivers permit recording any application that's currently playing. + +To record audio that's playing on any of the SB Live channels: + +o Turn down the AC97 control in the "record" section. This prevents any audio + being fed to the soundcard from MIC/Line-in/CD-in from getting mixed with + the audio produced by the application that's currently playing. + +o Type ossrecord -s<sampling rate> -b<bits/sample> -c<channels> test.wav + +o To stop recording press <Ctrl-c> and then you can play back the test.wav + file using ossplay command. + + + RECORDING ISSUES: +In most cases noise is caused by the microphone input or some other +(unused) input. Use the ossxmix program to turn off all unused inputs and +finally save the current mixer settings (see below). + +Hint: Look at the VU meter panels of ossxmix. It's usually very easy to +locate the noise source by looking which input has some signal coming from +it. + +WARNING! If you turn off some of the signals in recording section or the +AC97 mixer section this affects all subsequent recordings. Remember +to raise the volume prior doing any recording. After that decrease +the volumes again if necessary. + + + SBLIVE HARDWARE MIXING +You can use /dev/oss/oss_sblive0/ pcm0-pcm7 to play multiple audio programs +using the hardware mixing. +Simply specify the device name with the application. A simple test is +to do the following: + ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss_sblive0/pcm0 <file1.wav> & + ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss_sblive0/pcm1 <file2.wav> & + ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss_sblive0/pcm2 <file3.wav> & + +You should hear all three wav files playing simultaneously. + +NOTE: Some apps may desire the old /dev/dspN names. e.g. /dev/dsp0 - /dev/dsp7. + +NOTE: You can increase the number of output devices from the standard 8 devices +to 32 device. For this, run soundconf, select Set configuration options and +look for the entry "sblive_device", now type any number between 1 and 32 +for the number of channels you wish. You can also do this manually by editing +oss_sblive.conf and inserting sblive_devices=XX entry, + e.g.: sblive_devices=27 + + CDROM CONNNECTIONS +There are two alternative ways to connect audio signal from a CD-ROM drive tor +the SB Live soundcard. You can use a (three wire) analog cable or a (2 wire) +digital cable. OSS now supports both of these choices. Note that there are +separate mixer settings for both of these connections. + +The analog CD-ROM wire is connected to the AC97 code chip and this method +works in most cases. To route the analog CD -input to the (front) speakers +you need to raise the volume of the 'cd' control in mixer. However if you +like to hear the analog CD input both from the front and rears speakers you +need to do this in slightly different way (please read the description of +the mixer above). + +The digital connection works only with CD-ROM drives that has support for it. +Note that some CD-ROM drives having this digital output connector use a +different signal level than the one required by SB Live. This means that the +digital connection doesn't work with all CD-ROM drives (no sound). If you +have problems with the digital connection you should use the analog one. +When using the the digital CD input you may need to adjust the 'digcd' +volumes using ossxmix (or ossmix). + +It should be noted that SB Live works internally at 48 kHz. This means that +all S/PDIF input signals are automatically sample rate converted to 48 kHz. +If you record from a 44.1 kHz (CD-ROM) and save the result to a 44.1 kHz +file the signal will be sample rate converted twice. First from the 44.1 kHz +input to internal 48 kHz and then back to 44.1 kHz. While the sample rate +converter of SB Live is very precise this will cause some change. This should +not be any problem when doing audio recordings but it may cause unwanted +results when transferring digital data (such as AC3/DTS) using the S/PDIF +the interface. + +CONFIGURATION OPTIONS +o sblive_digital_din=<0|1> - This option is to enable/disable the "digital DIN" + output of SB Live. By default the digital DIN interface is disabled which + enables the center/LFE analog output (uses the same combo jack). By + setting the sblive_digital_din option to 0 you can enable the analog + Center/LFE output feature. When digital DIN is disabled you can still + get S/PDIF (or AC3) output from the digital (optical/coax) outputs of the + optional livedrive unit. Default: 0=analog output. + +o audigy_digital_din=<0|1> - same as "sblive_digital_din" option except for + the Audigy soundcards. Default: 1=digital output. + +o sblive_devices=<1..32> - Number of audio devices to be configured. + + +LIMITATION +o SB Live! devices will not work in Sparc systems due to PCI addressing + limitations. Only Audigy/Audigy2 models work under Sparc. +o EMU Wavetable MIDI synthesizer is not supported +o AC3 passthrough only supported on Audigy/Audigy but not on SB Live! devices. + +FILES +CONFIGFILEPATH/oss_sblive.conf Device configuration file + +AUTHOR + 4Front Technologies + |