Sound config very confusing

[saltire]

Does anyone else reading this turn pale at the thought of having to configure the linux sound system?

I am having some problems with some kind of conflict between (I think) aRts and alsa, possibly oss. I have spent hours scratching my head, going round in circles trying to read the alsa-docs and HOWTOs, but the terminology used in these documents is mind-boggling. I'm at my wits end: I just want to listen to my music! Preferrably without having to start services manually/ load modules manually/ suspend the aRts server/ whatever.

The big problem is that I have two soundcards - an onboard VIA8237 and an M-Audio Audiophile2496. The reason that I need both enabled is that the Audiophile2496 has no headphone output capability, only the analogue RCA sockets on the card. Sometimes I need to use my headphones so as not to disturb my partner, since the computer is in a shared space, and at the moment, I don't have an amplifier to plug the Audiophile's output into, so I need to use the headphones, which are supposed to be running off the VIA8237 onboard sound chip.

I can get CD playback through KsCD ok, although the sound is very thin (I work in a HiFi shop, and my headphones are Sennheiser HD200s, so I know the 'phones are not the issue), but nothing at all from Amarok or Juk, despite trying everything I can think of.

Please can someone out there give me a hint as to what all the "pcmC1D0p" / dmix / jack / alsa / aRts / actually does, whether I need any of it, and how it all fits together? I am tearing my (thinning) hair out in frustration. [sobs]

[podunk]

Re: Sound config very confusing

2 really stupid questions.

Did you install the w32 codecs?

Did you see this page for a Linux driver for your card?
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...bfb8&o=1&f=422

And a third really stupid question - were you ever able to get the onboard sound to work alongside a PCI card? I always sort of assumed that you used either one or the other, and if I installed a card I turned off the onboard sound in the BIOS.

[saltire]

Re: Sound config very confusing

Yes, I have the w32 codecs installed and they work fine, and I know the Audiophile2496 uses the ice1712 driver under alsa (ie it is supported) and also works fine.

In reply to your third question, normally I'd just use the Audiophile, but I can't at the moment as I don't have an amplifier to plug it into. I need to revert to onboard sound to use headphones.

[UPDATE]

I thought I'd try creating a .asoundrc file to see if I could kludge something together and hey presto, I got it working. I set the second card (the VIA8237 onboard) to the default card with the following entries:

pcm.!default {
	type hw
	card 1
	}

ctl.!default {
	type hw      
	card 1
    }

I'd still like to know how aRts / alsa / dmix / ladspa / jack fit together (if at all), as I'm thinking about doing some audio production work under linux. Otherwise I have to resort to Windows! Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks