Getting the Microphone to work

[soulanger]

I already came across these threads.








http://pandorawiki.org/Audio_system#Recording


http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54075-so-is-there-an-internal-mic-or-not/page__st__30__p__874186&#entry874186


I can only hear a noise from the recorder.


I think I have a similar problem to MDave's


http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54075-so-is-there-an-internal-mic-or-not/page__view__findpost__p__874256


Does anybody know how to fix this?

 

[soulanger]

Is it possible to know if my mic is broken?

 

[TrashyMG]

Well from the wiki.. this will output what's coming from the mic to the speakers with some delay. If you hear garbage then it's possible it's broken.

Recording


How to enable audio recording by MWeston:


* In the mixer control utility, select SELECT CONTROLS and enable 'Left Input Source' and 'Right Input Source'


* under the OPTIONS tab, set Left Input Source to MAIN MIC (for internal mic) or LINE IN when A/V cables are available


* Set Right Input Source to SUB MIC for use with four conductor headset or to LINE IN when A/V cables are available


* Under CAPTURE tab, increase the level to whatever is necessary (start at midpoint)


* Under the PLAYBACK tab, increase the INPUT BOOST to whatever is necessary (start low!)


* open a terminal window and type:

arecord -f cd -D hw:0,1 | aplay

This will play the input through the speakers. It has a good half second delay but you can still get into some interesting feedback loops if you're not careful.

 

[soulanger]

Tried that at least a 20+ times already

 

[Super Roach]

as a new user, I had to run the test from TrashyMG above to check that I was getting input. However, I had to check "Analog", and also checked the "main mic" and "sub mic" for good luck. But the first one was the one which was needed before it would show up in the capture tab.


With that on, Drag both of the sliders up, and check the grey circle under one of the sliders to activate it (it should turn red like a recording icon). With this, the arecord command should give you feedback, and a echoey voice.


With this in mind, I'll try to get audacity working again

 

[approachingzen]

I've been trying this too (with no luck,) when I try 'arecord -f cd -d hw:0,1 | aplay,' in the terminal, it says 'ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:947snd_pcm_dmix_open) the dmix supports only playback stream arecord: main:608: audio open error: invalid argument aplay: playback:2297: read error'

 

[levi]

That should be a capital -D there, not a lower case one. I get the same errors as you if I use a lower case 'd', but it works fine for me if I use an upper case one

 

[Farox]

If you like GUI apps...you can try my port of MHWaveEdit http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=mhwaveedit

If properly setup this nice prog can record from internal mic of Pandora.

 

[approachingzen]

Thank you! I will try out MHWaveEdit, but Audacity still won't work. in terminal with a capital 'D,' I get no error now, but I still can't tell if it's doing anything...

 

[approachingzen]

ok, MHWaveEdit works great! now... any suggestions for compatible external microphones?

 

[levi]

Edit: Oh, you've got it working? Good news.


As I understand it to either plug an analogue microphone in via an EXT-connector adaptor, or use a Linux compatible USB microphone, probably via a USB2 hub. Either way you'll probably need to select extra controls and adjust those new capture sliders and switch toggles.


I'll just leave this here in case it's useful in the future:


---


If you rub the microphone hole, or blow it, do you hear anything coming from the speakers? You'll need to turn the boost up quite a lot more to actually hear sounds.


It worth noting that on my 1GHz pandora, underclocked to 850MHz, the sounds come out after less than a quarter of a second. Also, the instructions for configuring the mixer didn't seem quite correct for the mixer in SuperZaxxon, but I found the following to work:


1. Open the mixer, from the Multimedia menu


2. Hit 'Select controls'


3. Enable 'Analog' and 'Analog Left Main Mic'


4. Under the 'Switches' tab, enable 'Analog Left Main Mic'


5. Under the 'Capture' tab, use the 'Analog' slider to adjust the levels. Also the circle button, which goes when you click it appears to boost the levels further.


6. Don't forget to turn the console's volume wheel up


You can do all that while the arecord|aplay thing's running, so you can hear the changes you're making.

 

[Neelix]

5. Under the 'Capture' tab, use the 'Analog' slider to adjust the levels. Also the circle button, which goes when you click it appears to boost the levels further.

One thing worth noting here is that you need to adjust the sliders after clicking the circle button. (if it isn't already red) If you adjust the sliders first and then click the (grey) circle button the level you set the sliders to is ignored.
- Neelix