# Programs restricting sound card

## fartgeyser

Hello everybody,

I have a NeoMagic NM2200 MagicMedia 256AV audio card on my cheap-o whatever Latitude and I noticed that only one program could access the card at a time using ALSA. I had read on the Gentoo Wiki about using dmix, so I copied the .asoundrc that was posted but it just made my sound full of hisses and pops. One thing I did differently on my own than from the Gentoo ALSA Installation Guide is that I compiled everything into the kernel instead of using modules. Is this my problem? I have installed Gentoo on 3 computers and this is the only one with this issue.

Thanks.

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## PaulBredbury

Well, your /etc/modules.d/alsa contents would be ignored. That will certainly confuse people who need to specify sound module options, to get their soundcard working with ALSA.

Use Google. Find someone who has your soundcard working, and use their ~/.asoundrc. Be prepared to experiment with the values. Every soundcard is different, and apps are different also - these are reasons why Dmix is a PITA.

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