Skype, qjackctl and pulse notes

Tested on Dell Latitute and Asus Eee.

Also should work fine with any recording device (including on-board / webcam mikes), mixer is used to provide better mikes and multiple people recording).

Plug the UCA-202 into the laptop.

Setup

Add the following to .asoundrc:



hakan@hakan-laptop:23:28:55:~$ cat .asoundrc 
pcm.pulse {
    type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
    type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
    type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
    type pulse
}

Start qjackctl and add the following to the execute script after startup bit:

pactl load-module module-jack-sink channels=2; pactl load-module module-jack-source channels=2;pacmd set-default-sink jack_out

Verify /proc/asound/cards and set the hardware to the correct one.

Then start up the jack daemon, open the connections, disconnect all.

Start up a 4-track Timemachine: timemachine -c 4

Connections

• Connect the PulseAudio Jack Sink left & right to Timemachine channels 1 & 2.
• Connect System-capture 1 & 2 to Timemachine channels 3&4.
• Connect System-capture 1 & 2 to Pulseaudio Jack Source channels left and right (so that Skype people can hear you talking via the mike).
• To monitor yourself, connect System-capture 1&2 to System playback 1 &2 (Folio Notebook master mix/tape button must be depressed to achieve this - which causes a lot of 50Hz hum), other mixer to be tested.

Power up the mixer, send the mike 1 to left channel, mike 2 to right channel. Test both channels to see if you are recording into Timemachine. 

Start Pavucontrol and mute all devices apart from the USB one. 

Set Pavucontrol Recording: Skype : Input from: Jack Source (PulseAudio Jack Source).

Set up a Skype test call and check if you can hear it via the mixer headphones and the mixer mike is played back to you. If you are using a second PC to test in the same room, Skype's echo cancellation makes it very tricky. Also make sure that the pavucontrol input volume is set to 100% at least to start with.