On 13 Feb 2026 08:39:35 -0700, Peter wrote in message
<20260213163945.72E1622D229@???>:

> Hi,
>

> From:    Andreas Messer <andi@???>
> Date:    Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:14:09 +0100
> > well, Alsa is something different than Pulseaudio & Jack. Alsa
> > actually is the kernel driver/api plus some user space libraries.
> > Pulseaudio & Jack typically use Alsa to access your sound devices.

> >
> > The user space libraries of Alsa among others help with having
> > multiple applications run at the same time ...
> > ...
> > A lot of confusion also comes from that applications can
> > "register" "virtual" devices in alsa environment.
> > ...
> > application -> alsa pulseaudio pcm -> pulseaudio server -> alsa
> > hardware pcm -> card.
> >
> > So alsa is involved multiple time in that loop but in different
> > ways. ...
>
> In the 1990s a user was fortunate to have one Soundblaster card in a
> favourite computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster

..the Compatibility with Linux section is flawed, the sb driver
has supported all my Sound Blaster cards since Red Hat-5.2.
Now, as a newbie, I didn't know how to do modprobe -v sb in
S.u.S.E.-5.2 back in 1997. ;oD

> In that context, mixing two and possibly more audio streams into one
> output was reasonable.
>
> It was more than three decades back. USB was hardly more than a
> twinkle in eyes. Now a USB-audio adapter can be purchased for a few
> dollars. Old adapters are discarded beside old toothbrushes.
>
> So a simple solution for many and probably most needs is to avoid
> "mixing" and direct each stream to a specific output device. Each
> device can have a dedicated process controling volume & etc. For J.
> Doe who wants a browser and VoIP and Zoom to coexist without a song
> and dance, it should work well. Three USB devices can be purchased
> for two or three hours of minimum wages.
>
> I admire the heroic efforts invested in kernel, Alsa, Pulseaudio,
> Pipewire and etc. I'm sure the results allow musicians and
> multi-media developers do wonderful things. But good engineering is
> more than complexity. For many users the present difficulties are
> never solved. Make it "simple as possible".
>

> Regards,                       ... P.

>


--
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
Scenarios always come in sets of three:
best case, worst case, and just in case.