Unable to set requested sample format on soundcard

Question

Hello friends.
I'm having a nightmarish relationship with my usb soundcard on various linux distributions from the day i started to use linux. After getting pops, clicks, soundcard not starting until i unplug it and plug it in again, system starting internal soundcards instead of the usb one (even when i set it as the main one) etc. I am now faced with a new challange it seems.
When i try to play csound file, it gives me an error saying that:
unable to set requested sample format on soundcard
When i try to play the speaker-test -c 2, it says:
sample format not avaivable for playback
This all happend after i created a .asoundrc file, which (it seems) fixes the issue of the system randomly picking which card it likes to boot, but now i'm unable to play anything.
Does anyone have any hints?
Last edited by NotaName (2014-09-16 17:50:57)

Answer 1

emeres wrote:
NotaName wrote:
[...] my .asoundrc is the same as the one in arch linux wiki on alsa, i just replaced the word audio with USB, since that is what cat gave me. I'm also using the alsa-base settings, but it doesn't seem to work everytime.
As for the applications, it doesn't matter if I use 44100, 48000, or any other sample rate, it gives the same output.
 That does not make any sense: ~/.asoundrc holds alsa configuration, /etc/modprobe.d/50-alsa.conf or similar holds modprobe configuration. There is no need for ~/.asoundrc, as of this point. Is the usb sound cardconstantly plugged in? The sample rate matters for quality.
Edit: Please post your ~/.asoundrc and modprobe configuration files, maybe I misunderstood it.
First my settings.
1) .asoundrc file:
pcm.!default{
type hw
card USB
ctl.!default{
type hw
card USB
2) alsa-base.conf file:
options snd-usb-audio index=-1
3) output of :
$ cat /proc/asound/card*/id
NVidia
USB
4) output of:
aplay -l
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevices #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevices #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevices #0: subdevice #0
card 1: USB [Scarlett 2i2 USB], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevices #0: subdevice #0
5) out put of:
lspci -nn | grep -i audio
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller [10de:0e1b] (rev a1)
I have a Scarllet 2i2 usb audio card and have disabled the motherboard audio card in the bios, however i have no idea what this NIVIDIA GK107 is.
My usb card doesn't start when i boot the computer, so i have to manually unplug the usb connection and plug it back in again. This has been the case on almost all linux distributions i tried, i think only in fedora it booted with the computer once or twice. However after initial boot if i only restart the computer, i don't have to unplug and plug the sound card again, it's only when i turn off the computer and turn it on again.
My usb card loaded up fine with the alsa-base conf for dozen of times, but all of a sudden it refuses to load as the default card and in alsamixer i get that NVIDIA thing as my default card, which i can't change. Because of that, i created a  .asoundrc file, which makes the system load my usb card as the primary device, however, then i cannot play or do anything with audio, as the system is unable to control it. When i was talking about output, i meant the error outputs, not the sound, as there is no sound output (i understand what sample rate does, it just doesn't matter if i set it to 44100, 48000, or 96000, the errors still say, that the programs cannot set the sample rate).
As for /etc/modprobe.d/50-alsa.conf - i have no such file in my system. And i cannot set it as you proposed, since "lspci -nn | grep -i audio" only shows the output of that NVidia thing.
P.S. sorry for the late response rate, as i just got back from a 24 hour shift and thank you for your answers.
Last edited by NotaName (2014-09-18 10:11:43)