Creative Recon3D + Sound Blaster Z (CA0132) Support

[caymus]

Ubuntu 13.10 64bits 3.11.0-14-generic

Sound Blaster Z

Wat i do is:

sudo kill `ps uax |grep pulseaudio | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'` ; sudo rmmod snd-hda-intel; sleep 3; sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel

& i have sound on my headphone on front panel port only, after this.

Now i have a question relating 24 bits / 96 khrz

This is realy a mess to manage sound :s

1rst i use Audacious beceause it is easier to swap between pulseaudio & alsa

cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params
or
cat /proc/asound/Creative/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params

if i use pulse audio:

access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED
format: S16_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 44100 (44100/1)
period_size: 8192
buffer_size: 16384

if i use alsa output

into audacious plugin preference:

PCM device: plughw:CARD=Creative,DEV=0
Mixer device: hw:0 (HDA Creative)
Mixer element: Master

Bit depth: Floating point

access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 44100 (44100/1)
period_size: 2048
buffer_size: 8192

i have edited & reboot OS

/etc/pulse/daemon.conf

; default-sample-format = s24le
; default-sample-rate = 96000
; alternate-sample-rate = 96000

but if i use pulseaudio i see 16 bits in use instead of 24bit

& for 96khrz.... i m stuck at 44khrz

Some 1 know how to at least use 48 or 96 khrz?

no matter if it is alsa or pulse or direct hw.

Managing sound is already tricky when everything work fine, but with CA0132 soundblaster z, this is really like hell :s

[caymus]

Ok, now seem to work fine at moment, i have reinstalled my 64bit OS

SB Z

sudo kill `ps uax |grep pulseaudio | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'` ; sudo rmmod snd-hda-intel

some time i need to use this command twice, to be sure i need to see

Error: Module snd_hda_intel is not currently loaded

And only after this:

sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel

cat /proc/asound/Creative/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params 
access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 96000 (96000/1)
period_size: 4096
buffer_size: 8192

I probably have broken something in pulseaudio before.

[sherLOCK999KHz]

Hi, caymus. I've done all the actions that you specified, but the sound did not hear, only clicks when switched to alsamixer <HP/Speak>, I have installed Ubuntu 13.10 x64, kernel 3.11.0-14-generic. can you describe your actions in more detail, if possible step by step.

[stephan4]

Same here, I only get noisy scratchy sound over my catalyst hdmi output. The Analog lines are quit.

What can advise?

[caymus]

What can advise?

Only front analog audio, & mic jack on card are working, opticals, all others jacks & 600ohms jack are not working for me.
Sometime i need to shutdown computer, wait 5 sec & restart if rmmod is busy, rmmod/modprobe is the first thing to do on desktop, else if you open something using audio before, you need to shutdown, restart computer, login, rmmod & modprobe, & only after you need to check if pulse audio is muted or not, if alsa is ok etc...

YOU CANNOT BE IN PEACE with this ****** sound card.


ONE ADVISE?

Dont hope to much from creative labs, they dont care about gnu/linux, sell your ca0132 card & buy one Asus xonar.

The positive thing, now i have tested Asus sound card, a little more expensive, sound is great with my Sennheiser headphones, a better quality than sound blaster Z for audiophiles, & work fine under gnu/linux.
My first creative labs sound card was on early 1990, & now this is definitivly my last from this company.


analog stereo work here only for me with HD-audio connector from the case


Mic work here only for me (1rst jack from left side)

Dont forget to look into alsamixer if one or both HP/Speaker & AMic1/DMic are enable, & next if pulseaudio is not muted also in pavucontrol, if you use pulseaudio.

[jak_amneziak]

Good evening.

Sounds like I am not the only one having issues with sound blaster cards. I have bought a computer with a sound blaster ZX (SB1506) model. I am trying to find the drivers as I regularly deal with vinyl restoration and need the best quality I can afford (so no onboard sound).

any suggestions will be welcome please as the creative website (proverbially) laughed in my face when I asked about Linux.

[mmstick]

You will not be able to use your Creative sound card on Linux. There is no support at all. You will have to buy an ASUS sound card or resort to using an external DAC/AMP.

[Adrian_Hugo]

I really like the SB zx card myself - I think the sound quality is brilliant and it solved some problems I was having with the onboard sound. Having said that, like so many other people I do dual boot between Linux and Windows - the only reason I even have Windows is that it is still the best platform for gaming ( while so many games use Direct X, love it or hate it the reality is that Windows will always have the monopoly in the world of PC Gaming).

Of course, the z series of Sound Blaster cards are not full supported so rather than continuing trying to tinker with the sounds settings and scripts ( which potentially could only make the problem worse ), I simply use this work around : - I got myself a Sound Blaster Live USB Sound Card and when using Linux, I simply plug in this USB Card and it works like a charm. I am able to have quality sound and even have the ability to use a microphone if I want to. This is even easier than having to turn on and off the on-board sound, to switch between Linux and Windows.

I paid about $ 35 dollars for this USB Card, however on Ebay I have seen other no-name brand cards that claim to work with Linux for under $ 10. I can't say how good they are, but if you are budget minded it might be an option for you.

[imrazor]

I wanted to report that I *finally* got this card working with 64-bit Linux. However, like 32-bit Linux only the front panel header works. There is a missing firmware file, ctefx.bin, that I downloaded from alsa-project.org. I made sure I downloaded the firmware tarball for my version of ALSA (v1.0.28) then extracted the firmware file from alsa-firmware-1.0.28.tar.bz2. For good measure I also grabbed the other ctspeq.bin file from ca0132 directory. I then put both files into /lib/firmware. So far the audio has come up consistently at every boot, though sometimes the MATE mixer shows the audio muted after a reboot. I also haven't yet figured out how to enable the back panel audio outs. I should note that I'm using Debian 8.3 64-bit. I'm hopeful that this trick will work with Ubuntu as well.

UPDATE: Well it seems putting these firmware files in /lib/firmware ONLY work if you boot into Windows first. They work great as long as you use Windows to "initialize" the card. Back to the drawing board...

[paulogdemitri]

Im having problems with the HP jack. Any tips? It wont work at all.
I tried:
-alsamixer
-hdajackretask

It only work if i connect to the light green one.
Z87 Stinger here with 4.0 kernel under ubuntu...