ALSA works, but only with one application at a time.

Question

Hello,
Before I continue my post, I would like to say that I have read this section on the wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AL … ack_Issues
It asks the user to edit /etc/asound.conf (which does not exist) in order to comment out a few lines that will fix the problem. It's quite frustrating to need to close all audio using programs every time I want to play audio. I do not have pulseaudio installed. I tried installing OSS4 in order to fix the problem, but for some reason my kernel headers were not detected and I couldn't start the daemon. I would appreciate it if someone could reply to me and tell me what the problem could be.
Thanks,
Dragos

Answer 1

I'm using a part of your config right now. It doesn't appear to be working correctly, or perhaps I'm not looking at the right section?:
pcm.dmixed {
type asym
playback.pcm {
# See plugin:dmix at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm_plugins.html
type dmix
ipc_key 5678293
ipc_perm 0660
ipc_gid audio
# Don't put the rate here! Otherwise it resets the rate & channels set below, as shown by: cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params
slave {
# 2 for stereo, 6 for surround51
channels 6
pcm {
# mplayer chooses S32_LE, but others usually S16_LE
#format S32_LE
format S16_LE
# 44100 or 48000
#rate 44100
rate 48000
type hw
card 0
device 0
subdevice 0
# mplayer2 chooses 1024
# period_size 512 with buffer_size 16384 stops crackling in xmame
# 320 breaks flash - https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=129458
#period_size 512
period_size 1024
# 2730 is chosen by "speaker-test"
#period_size 512
#period_time 20000
#periods 8
# 4096 makes Thief 1 in wine crackle.
# mplayer2 chooses 8192
#buffer_size 5460
# 5460 (2730*2) is too small for mplayer2
# If too large, use CONFIG_SND_HDA_PREALLOC_SIZE=2048
buffer_size 8192
#buffer_size 4096
#buffer_time 682667 # 32768 samples at 48 kHz, in µs
# 16384 seems best to stop crackling in Skype
#buffer_size 16384
# Seems good
#period_size 256
#periods 16
#buffer_size 16384
# Old config
#buffer_size 10240
#period_size 2048
# Other options to maybe play with:
#period_time 2
#periods 2
bindings {
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
capture.pcm "hw:0"
pcm.!surround51 {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixed"
This is my asound.conf file. I'm sorry if I'm not finding the section you were talking about.
Thanks,
Dragos