Frustration with recording pc sounds and mic recording

[BUffalo_guy]

I made the switch over to Linux several months ago after 20 years with MS. Essentially I have been very pleased with everything, especially the help available. One area however has been a source of constant frustration. Namely …..sound. I can play music, files and cds just fine. At one point afte installed Mnt I could record the streaming audio. Can't now. Don't know why. I once recorded from the mic as well Can't now. Again, I do not know why. I have read hundreds of posts, have fiddled with alsamixer, pulseaudio, mixer settings and the like with no luck. This I do know. Sound plays though the system, yet when I go to the pulse volume control the volume control meters for playback or output devices are silent. It appears that pulseaudio is not hearing the playback. Same with input. When I plug in the mic I can hear my voice coming through the speakers but no luck recording. This should not be this difficult.

Can somebody suggest why the pulse volume meters are not picking up any of the sound going through the system? That would be helpful in tracking that problem down. Secondly, any sage advice for getting the mic to record sound? I have some small projects to complete and I would hate to go back to Windows.

I have run all sorts of sound tests and they all pass. I just cannot record any sounds playing through the system or use the mic to record. I am willing to try anything if someone can point me in the right direction.

Just to add to the mystery - using Mint as a host I installed a virtual copy of Ubuntu Studio. The sound was flowing through Pulseaudio and I was able to record. Still no luck on the mic. I could see no difference in the setup between Mint and Studio in terms of alsmixer, and pavucontrol settings I have been working with computers for years and have worked through some complex issues with success. This has me baffled. I need more education on how sounds work through ALSA and pulseaudio. Any and all advice is accepted. I would be happy to write a how to once I figure out what to do.


One quick update: The Test sound option from sound preferences does NOT work. I cannot hear a thing although music flows sweetly through the system. Many thanks,

[BUffalo_guy]

UPDATE - SOLVED - CAN NOW RECORD PC AUDIO AGAIN..

After spending hours studying the intricacies of Pulseadudio and trying to make adjustments via PA's command line interpreter, I came across a thread that offered a solution to another problem but solved mine. Deleting or renaming the user's hidden pulse directory (/home/username/.pulse) followed by restarting pulseaudio or the computer restored my ability to record audio from my computer.

[GDog1666]

I might try the pulse audio again, I want to record the USB Mic and system sounds (ie sound from MineCraft) together for a screencast. So far not had much luck. Still Linux Mint 11 has been the best distro so far. I would like to try the LXDE but are waiting for the new ISO files. I would love a self updating Linux Mint with power and looks.

Keep up the great the work guys