How to get ALSA sequencer working in ubuntu?

[Hat Fanatic]

have a SB Live and would like to be able to use Rosegarden 4. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the RG sequencer to start properly. Even though JACK is started, I keep on getting this error:

ALSA lib seq_hw.c:446snd_seq_hw_open) open /dev/snd/seq failed: No such file or directory

In the KDE Sound Info Center it says: Synth Devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG.

How do I enable those? I don't have any problems with sound output, though.

I only got the Live card yesterday, by the way, it replaced my crappy onboard sound card, which I disabled. Does this mean I may have to reinstall Ubuntu? Lots of thanks in advance.

[Shadrack]

First of all, what's your motherboard's chipset? SB Live cards have problems w/ some of the chipsets out there. I had problems with the KT333 chipset, anyway.

Trouble-shooting sound can be one of the most difficult things to trouble shoot in linux IMO. I doubt that you would need to re-install Ubuntu, as hardware detection is pretty good in Linux distros these days...better then Windows in some ways. You can usually move a Linux hard drive into a completely new computer and have little problems w/ it detecting your system. But still, you may want to try a re-install.

Now for some trouble-shooting pointers:

1. Turn off any boot-up splash screens so you can see what is going on when your computer boots up. Is your sound card failing at startup?

2. You can get a more detailed overview of what went on at startup by using "dmesg" in a root shell.

3. Have you disabled your motherboard's onboard sound in your BIOS? Linux shouldn't have problems handling 2 sound cards at once, although it will take a little more setting up... Still, if you aren't using them, make sure they are disabled.

If all those points check, try installing the latest ALSA drivers from alsa's web page. They have instructions for each type of sound card.

Good Luck

-nic

[rdolby]

Try this command-- it worked for me-- I have the same soundcard as you do:

/usr/share/alsa-base/snddevices

Let me know if it works...