Does anyone know how to change the sound card boot priority?
All tutorials are telling me to edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf, but the file is missing in Raspbian Jesse.
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Upvote for coming right up in Google - June 2018– SDsolarCommented Jun 5, 2018 at 19:39
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8 Answers
The file you're looking for is located in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.
It's not called alsa-base.conf, just alsa.conf.
All the relevant text is in that file. Just run sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf, change the default sound card to 1 or whatever you prefer (obviously, 0 is default so not that one). I also deleted the # from the line that says... load card-specific configuration files (on request) and now I have the sound coming from my cirrus audio card running Debian 8 Jessie on ras pi2.
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1I've done a few quick formatting fixes. Perhaps a copy of the relevant part of the alsa config file would make your answer even better.– Journeyman Geek ♦Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 1:10
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2Isn't "load card-specific configuration files (on request)" a comment?– SILENTCommented Dec 2, 2015 at 1:45
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It is indeed just a comment to explain the code block below it– timonskuCommented Dec 14, 2015 at 17:14
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Yep. Partial answer. Not enough authoritative info here for me to decide on upvoting. ...and that line is a comment that is not executable. And the block itself is not commented out.– SDsolarCommented Jun 5, 2018 at 19:43
If you don't need the onboard audio chip (i.e. analog output or HDMI audio), disable it and then the USB audio device will become the primary audio device. These steps worked on Raspbian Jessie.
- Disable onboard audio.
- Open
/etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.confand addblacklist snd_bcm2835.
- Allow the USB audio device to be the default device.
- Open
/lib/modprobe.d/aliases.confand comment out the lineoptions snd-usb-audio index=-2
- Reboot
sudo reboot
- Test it out.
$ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
answered Feb 26, 2016 at 17:33
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I updated the answer to use a different strategy for disabling onboard audio. This way is better because it doesn't break the desktop audio applet. Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 15:10
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1The first step is crucial but I hadn't found it anywhere else. Upvote. The rest is outdated. June 2018: Already knew to go into
/usr/share/alsa/alsa.confand change it to say bothdefault.ctl.card 1anddefault.pcm.card 1- then after all this, reboot and tryalsa -lto see only the USB showing and that it is card #1. I installedmplayerfor the test and it is great. They have locked this question to answers so here it is.– SDsolarCommented Jun 5, 2018 at 19:56 -
@SDsolar Glad to help. Though I don't think Step 2 is outdated? You have an alternate way to set the device as default. Good to know. Commented Jun 6, 2018 at 4:03
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It could be a version issue. For instance, my 16.04 LTS systems were both immediately upgraded from the 14.04 install CD. So there are vestiges of both ways of doing things, particularly things involved with the boot process that changed under v15. In my case, the modprobe.d files exist but they are all blank. So in the end it is good that this answer shows both ways if you include my comment. --> You definitely solved my biggest issue with
alsamixerby blacklisting bcm2835. I searched high and low and only your answer had that last piece of the puzzle. TNX MCH– SDsolarCommented Jun 6, 2018 at 16:35 -
This solved my strandtest.py problem on my WS2812B LED Strip. This site led me to your working solution: tutorials-raspberrypi.com/… Commented Jan 4, 2021 at 1:39
I had problems with this on recent versions of Raspbian (Jessie).
There is a file called aliases.conf in /lib/modprobe.d which contains the line options snd-usb-audio index=-2. That line overrides the /etc/modprobe.d/ files, so you need to change that one. Comment out with a # the line options snd-usb-audio index=-2
In /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf I un-commented “load card-specific configuration files (on request)” and I also replaced the content of .asoundrc which is a hidden file in your home folder with:
pcm.!default plughw:Device
ctl.!default plughw:Device
The downside of this solution is the desktop sound applet won't appear. So to control volume use the alsamixer application or physical sound level buttons on the USB sound dongle.
References for this:
I wasn't satisfied with the previous answers giving a bit ambiguous instructions, so I figured I would document a more clear solution.
A good post here shows how to test which device and card you are seeking to use.
Find your hardware device number and card number using aplay -l before and after pluggin your usb device in.
For my system, the usb device is listed as card 1: CODEC [USB Audio CODEC], device 0 ...
You can confirm the device is working with
aplay -D hw:1,0 InsertYourWavFileHere.wav
Make sure to copy a valid wav audio file into your current directory and rename appropriately. If this works, then you can hardcode these values such that they will become defaults for aplay among all other audio handled by alsa (most cases)
To edit your default values you alsa config file as others have stated:
sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf
The specific lines you will want to change are a few pages down. You can search with Cntl+W or just scroll down.
Change:
defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
To:
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
Save the config file by pressing control+x, then nano will ask you to confirm your edits and you press Y and Enter.
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Can you explain what you’re talking about when you say, “copy a valid wav audio file into your current directory and rename appropriately”? Is this referring to the
aplaycommand to “confirm the device is working”? Isn’t it good enough to specify a valid wav audio file by its current name and full path? Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 17:59 -
@G-man Yes, specifying any wav audio file by its full or valid path should be fine. In my particular example I had used
InsertYourWavFileHere.wavbut this could just as easily be replaced with./audio/test.wavif you had a wav file in the audio subdirectory named test.wav for example. If that were the case, thenaplay -D hw:1,0 ./audio/test.wavshould work just as well. Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 21:59
The method described here at the Raspberry Pi StackExchange worked for me. I am running Raspian Jessie.
The new piece of information was that I had to create a new .conf file and not edit /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf:
To reorder my cards, I first create a file named
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa base.conf.It can be named anything you want as long as it ends with .conf. I then added the following:
# This sets the index value of the cards but doesn't reorder.
options snd_usb_audio index=0
options snd_bcm2835 index=1
# Does the reordering.
options snd slots=snd_usb_audio,snd_bcm2835
I've given a full writeup here that covers all of the above and much more. Including clearing up some misconceptions and pitfalls in the ALSA config files.
The relevant essential is to disable the Broadcom audio module called snd_bcm2835 and make sure that snd_usb_audio is loaded fist and only.
This can be done in either of 2 ways.
- In the
/boot/config.txtfile - In the module blacklist file.
Then set you ALSA config to point to the snd_usb_audio index.
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Thanks for all this great info. This writeup brings all the other solutions together. Commented Sep 23, 2022 at 22:30
After change alsa.conf (defaults.ctl.card 1
defaults.pcm.card 1) and (load card-specific configuration files (on request)) you have to modify your asoundrc file and put in:
pcm.!default { type hw card 0 }
pcm.default.card 1.
It will be ok
I have tried lots of people's suggestions for config changes. Kodi continued to put audio out to hdmi. I finally found that Kodi has a setting in System | Audio which allows you to choose which audio card to output to! So obvious once you see it.
