Sound Recording Issues

[KyleSeigler]

I am trying to record through the line-in (or mic-in) jack on my laptop, but cannot get a signal no matter what I try. For the past week or two, I have searched google, this forum, the ubuntu forums, as well as any other I can think of (linuxquestions.org, etc.) and cannot figure out my problem.

When I open alsamixer, the LineIn column has no bars. I cannot unmute it, and even though it says "capture" above "LineIn" all of the text in this column is red, as if the line jack is not supported. Is there some way that I need to activate or link this jack to the mixer? I am at a loss for what to do, as I need this jack to record my old vinyl into audacity (to make oggs). Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this is the only thing left on my laptop that needs to be worked out!

OS: Feisty 7.04
Sound card: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio
Laptop Model: Compaq V6000 series

If there is any other information that anyone needs, just let me know! Thank you so much for your time.

-Kyle

[KyleSeigler]

Re: Sound Recording Issues

Oh, and I forgot to add that I cannot hear anything from the line through the headphones or speakers. My audio does work, though, as I am able to play audio, have system sounds, watch movies, etc. What I need is a way to link this jack to the alsamixer. Thanks!

-Kyle

[Fintan]

Re: Sound Recording Issues

can you open kmix and see what your linein is set to? Check as well if the card kmix is using is your card.
In alsamixergui all I have to do id click in the rider for the volume control in Line and move it up then the column fills itself. I can then lock its position.

You get alsamixergui from the repos (adept/synaptic).

I hope that helps

[KyleSeigler]

Re: Sound Recording Issues

Thank you for the response! I checked KMix to make sure it's seeing my card, and it said HDA nVidia, so that part's right. I had also downloaded alsamixer-gui and tried to move the LineIn volume up, but it does not move. The perplexing part about this is that LineIn is not muted, nor is it locked, it just shows the volume set to zero. I cannot raise the volume (I even tried running it as root and it would move).

In KMix the red light is on above line in, and the internal mic is off. I also read elsewhere online that the IEC958 should be turned off as this relates to fibre-optic cables from high-end dvd players, so that is also off.

So far, I have tried using KMix, alsamixer, alsamixergui, aconnectgui, and QAmix, all without luck. Any more ideas, some configuration setting somewhere perhaps? I've also tried each and every one of the sound architectures in system settings (even the defaults and autodetect choices) and I have it currently set to ALSA (naturally) with everything working but the Line In.

I'm not sure what it is. I also read that sometimes alsa will read the mapping of a soundcard different, but as this is a laptop, it only has a line in and a headphone out, and the headphone jack works (so i don't think it's incorrectly mapped).

Thank you again!

-Kyle

[martinquested]

Re: Sound Recording Issues

Hi,
any progress on this issue? I have exactly the same problem (also on a Compaq V6000 series, specifically the V6030us). If I have some sound feeding into the microphone jack, I can faintly hear it in the background of the recording, but what I mainly hear is the internal microphones. It seems to be impossible to switch these off even if I am trying to record from the external mic. And I too cannot get the LineIn level to move above zero. Most odd.
Martin