Can't record from sound card: No Stereo Mix option in Ubuntu 9.10 (Linux)

any ANONYMOUS forum user · #1 11-12-2009, 04:12 AM

I used to record "stereo mix" of soundcard output on Windows.

Read a few tutorials about using the "arecord" command to do the same thing on Linux.

However, using the following command only gives me the microphone input:

Code:

arecord -d 10 -f cd -t wav -D hw out.wav

which means, if I unplug the mic, I will hear nothing.

Is there a way to record the digital output or even back-end audio samples of the "stereo mix"?

Ubuntu 9.10, Realtek 92xx sound card

Thanks!

#2 01-15-2010, 08:09 AM

Try to record with Audacity as described below:
How to solve the Audacity recording problem in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala (No "Wave Out" or "Stereo Mix")

#3 01-15-2010, 11:07 AM

First of all try to select the Sound Preferences. In Ubuntu 9.10 right click on the speaker icon in your panel, select the "Sound Preferences", then select the "Hardware" tab. Choose a device to configure and change its settings.

If your soundcard does not offer a "Stereo mix" / "Wave Out Mix" option, you can use the Alsa loopback driver instead. It adds a virtual sound card to your system which can be used to route audio from one application into another.

To load the loopback driver enter

Code:

sudo modprobe snd-aloop

You can find out more how to use the loopback driver. It doesn't work for me in Ubuntu 9.10.
But I managed to record audio with arecord after installing PulseAudio Volume Control.

Stereo Mix audio capture using PulseAudio routing
Start playing your audio source, for example an audio stream coming from a website.

In the PulseAudio Volume Control, check the "Configuration", "Input" and "Ouput" tabs.

Check the VU meter on the "Playback" tab to make sure the audio is playing.

Then start recording with arecord:

Code:

#record audio with "CD" quality (44.1 kHz, stereo)
arecord -f cd -vv test.wav

#record audio with "CD" quality and pipe the recording of arecord into lame making a real-time MP3 with the -V2 vbr quality
arecord -f cd -t wav | lame -h -V2 -high_quality_output.mp3

Then open the PulseAudio Volume Control and select the "Recording" tab.

Change the "Alsa Capture from" to the monitor source of the device you would like to record from. Make sure the recording VU meter of the monitor source is moving.