Desktop recording software don't record ALSA audio

[Zeikcied]

I can't seem to record ALSA audio using desktop recording software. I've used RecordMyDesktop, SimpleScreenRecorder, Kazam, and Vokoscreen. I set each of them to record ALSA, but none of them do. They can all record from PulseAudio just fine, but not ALSA.

I'm trying to record gameplay from an emulator that uses ALSA, and I would really like to have the audio. I know it's an issue with ALSA, as I tried recording other programs while they were set to output to ALSA, and the audio wasn't recorded from there, either.

I would really appreciate some help with this issue.

[vinnywright]

try this

 avconv -f pulse -i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor -f x11grab -s hd1080 -r 25 -i :0.0  out.mp4

use

pactl list sources

to find what you need to put where I have "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor" yours will be smiler

and change "-s hd1080" to the size of your display......as -s 1024x768 or whatever .

VINNY

[Zeikcied]

Thanks, I appreciate the help, but I think I'd rather have a fix that will work with the graphical programs rather than a command-line alternative. I prefer the available options in some of the desktop recording software. I guess this will work as a last resort, but I'd like to stick with the GUIs.

I looked on Google, and there was some talk about creating a loopback ALSA device, but I'm completely lost as to how to do it, and I don't want to mess up my system trying something.

[NoWorries]

I have just done a trial recording with simplescreenrecorder and I used pulseaudio for the sound recording and it worked fine. I cannot remember using ALSA in recent times as pulseaudio is now the best option for most applications. One of the packages that I usually install is pavucontrol which gives control of all your sound devices. I have not needed to use it so far with Vivid.

i hope you have success using pulseaudio.

[claydoh]

You have not specified if you have done this or not, but have you specified which alsa source to use? (at least in SimpleScreenRecorder there are settings for that to set)

[Zeikcied]

I have just done a trial recording with simplescreenrecorder and I used pulseaudio for the sound recording and it worked fine. I cannot remember using ALSA in recent times as pulseaudio is now the best option for most applications. One of the packages that I usually install is pavucontrol which gives control of all your sound devices. I have not needed to use it so far with Vivid.

i hope you have success using pulseaudio.

PulseAudio recording works just fine. It's the ALSA sound that's not working for me. The emulator I'm trying to record from is Mednafen, and it doesn't have an option for PulseAudio. Only ALSA, OSS, SDL, and JACK.

I also set VLC to output using ALSA to test if it was just Mednafen or ALSA recording in general, and none can record the audio from VLC using this setting, either. So I'm sure it's ALSA recording.

You have not specified if you have done this or not, but have you specified which alsa source to use? (at least in SimpleScreenRecorder there are settings for that to set)

I tried each ALSA source, and none of them worked.

[vinnywright]

if you can hear your game wile playing it ,,,,,,,,the sound is coming from ALSA through Pulse .

if you can not get the desktop recording software to get sound through ALSA .monitor try installing pavucontrol and with it open play the game ,,,,,,,,start a recording session and on pavucontrol's recording tab you should see the software you are using (most of these GUI's use avconv,mencoder or ffmpeg) there will be a drop down that shows what device it is listening to ,,,,,,change it and you should see the volume bar start jumping ,,,,,then your good .

just what "options" do you prefer ?
the command can be altered to suit .
the GUI's do just that ,,,,,,add change command line options to give the choice you select.

I could never get RecordMyDesktop or Vokoscreen (a year ago) to get sound rite at all ,,,,,,,,,,,,,I finally got the options rite in the avconv line I posted and it gives me a .Mp4 that looks wile playing like I was looking at the desktop and gets whatever sound is playing at the time ,,,,,,,,,,,I change to this "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" to record from the mic for dialogue .


VINNY

[Zeikcied]

if you can hear your game wile playing it ,,,,,,,,the sound is coming from ALSA through Pulse .

if you can not get the desktop recording software to get sound through ALSA .monitor try installing pavucontrol and with it open play the game ,,,,,,,,start a recording session and on pavucontrol's recording tab you should see the software you are using (most of these GUI's use avconv,mencoder or ffmpeg) there will be a drop down that shows what device it is listening to ,,,,,,change it and you should see the volume bar start jumping ,,,,,then your good .

just what "options" do you prefer ?
the command can be altered to suit .
the GUI's do just that ,,,,,,add change command line options to give the choice you select.

I could never get RecordMyDesktop or Vokoscreen (a year ago) to get sound rite at all ,,,,,,,,,,,,,I finally got the options rite in the avconv line I posted and it gives me a .Mp4 that looks wile playing like I was looking at the desktop and gets whatever sound is playing at the time ,,,,,,,,,,,I change to this "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" to record from the mic for dialogue .


VINNY

pavucontrol doesn't seem to help. With Kazam and SimpleScreenRecorder, changing the ALSA channel seems to cause recording to stop. With Vokoscreen, it doesn't seem to do anything. Didn't try RecordMyDesktop yet.

As for the GUI options, I mainly just like the convenience of a GUI. Like choosing the window to record with a single click and that sort of thing. It's just a convenience issue. I'm not a fan of doing things on the command line if I can use a GUI instead.

I mentioned reading about making a loopback device, and it involves editing a ~/.asoundrc file. Mine seems to have been generated by Vokoscreen (given the comments in the file itself) so I guess I didn't have one before this. But there seemed to be a couple different configurations to use to do this, and I'm not sure what exactly to do.

For this exact situation with Mednafen, I found a solution. Have it output sound using SDL, and capture the PulseAudio audio feed, and it works just fine. But I would still like to figure out the ALSA recording just in case I need it down the road. Something that will work with the GUIs.