Trying to get Sound Blaster Extigy to work under Kbuntu 20.10 kernel 5.8.0-38

[Łukasz Czuja]

Hi,

I don't know if its best place to ask for a little help in what I think 
are errors in linux audio driver, however I thought I ask for some 
assistance.

I found a very old Creative Sound Blaster Extigy device and connected it 
to my Acer Aspire e5-571g laptop. I was hopeful it would give me a 5.1 
surround sound from an USB 1.1 (full speed) connection which: pacmd 
list-cards command shows :

    index: 2
        name: 
<alsa_card.usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy-00>
        driver: <*module-alsa-card.c*>
        owner module: 32
        properties:
                alsa.card = "2"
                alsa.card_name = "Sound Blaster Extigy"
                alsa.long_card_name = "Creative Technology Ltd. Sound 
Blaster Extigy at usb-0000:00:14.0-3, *full speed*"
                alsa.driver_name = "*snd_usb_audio*"
                device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:3:1.0"
                sysfs.path = 
"/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-3/2-3:1.0/sound/card2"
                udev.id = 
"usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy-00"
                device.bus = "usb"
                device.vendor.id = "041e"
                device.vendor.name = "Creative Technology, Ltd"
                device.product.id = "3000"
                device.product.name = "SoundBlaster Extigy"
                device.serial = 
"Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy"
                device.string = "2"
                device.description = "SoundBlaster Extigy"
                module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
                device.icon_name = "audio-card-usb"
        profiles:
                input:stereo-fallback: Wejście Stereo (priority 51, 
available: unknown)
                input:multichannel-input: Wejście Wielokanałowe 
(priority 1, available: unknown)
*output:analog-stereo*: Wyjście Analogowe stereo (priority 6500, 
available: unknown)
                output:analog-stereo+input:stereo-fallback: Wyjście 
Analogowe stereo + Wejście Stereo (priority 6551, available: unknown)
                output:analog-stereo+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście 
Analogowe stereo + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 6501, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-21: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 2.1 (priority 1300, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-21+input:stereo-fallback: 
Wyjście Analogowe przestrzenne 2.1 + Wejście Stereo (priority 1351, 
available: unknown)
output:analog-surround-21+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 2.1 + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 1301, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-41: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 4.1 (priority 1300, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-41+input:stereo-fallback: 
Wyjście Analogowe przestrzenne 4.1 + Wejście Stereo (priority 1351, 
available: unknown)
output:analog-surround-41+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 4.1 + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 1301, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-50: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 5.0 (priority 1200, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-50+input:stereo-fallback: 
Wyjście Analogowe przestrzenne 5.0 + Wejście Stereo (priority 1251, 
available: unknown)
output:analog-surround-50+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 5.0 + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 1201, available: unknown)
*output:analog-surround-51*: Wyjście Analogowe przestrzenne 5.1 
(priority 1300, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-51+input:stereo-fallback: 
Wyjście Analogowe przestrzenne 5.1 + Wejście Stereo (priority 1351, 
available: unknown)
output:analog-surround-51+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście Analogowe 
przestrzenne 5.1 + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 1301, available: unknown)
*output:iec958-stereo*: Wyjście Cyfrowe stereo (IEC958) (priority 5500, 
available: unknown)
                output:iec958-stereo+input:stereo-fallback: Wyjście 
Cyfrowe stereo (IEC958) + Wejście Stereo (priority 5551, available: unknown)
                output:iec958-stereo+input:multichannel-input: Wyjście 
Cyfrowe stereo (IEC958) + Wejście Wielokanałowe (priority 5501, 
available: unknown)
                off: Wyłączone (priority 0, available: unknown)
        active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:stereo-fallback>
        sinks:
alsa_output.usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy-00.analog-stereo/#2: 
SoundBlaster Extigy Analogowe stereo
        sources:
alsa_output.usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy-00.analog-stereo.monitor/#6: 
Monitor of SoundBlaster Extigy Analogowe stereo
alsa_input.usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd._Sound_Blaster_Extigy-00.stereo-fallback/#7: 
SoundBlaster Extigy Stereo
        ports:
                analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency 
offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency 
offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:

                multichannel-input: Multichannel Input (priority 0, 
latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:

*analog-output-speaker*: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 
usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
*iec958-stereo-output*: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency 
offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:


What seems to work is output:iec958-stereo, a 2.0 digital stereo and 
output:analog-stereo, 2.0 analog stereo.

When I switch to any multichannel output the sound that comes out of 
most speakers seems to be delayed and is interrupted by "mettalic" noise.

lsusb: Bus 002 Device 006: ID 041e:3000 Creative Technology, Ltd 
SoundBlaster Extigy

lsmod | grep snd
*snd_usb_audio*         286720  4
snd_usbmidi_lib        36864  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_seq_dummy          16384  0
snd_hrtimer            16384  1
snd_hda_codec_realtek   131072  1
snd_hda_codec_generic    81920  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
ledtrig_audio          16384  1 snd_hda_codec_generic
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     61440  1
snd_hda_intel          53248  4
snd_intel_dspcfg       24576  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec         143360  4 
snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_core           94208  5 
snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hwdep              20480  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               118784  6 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core
snd_seq_midi           20480  0
snd_seq_midi_event     16384  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            36864  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_seq                73728  9 
snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_dummy
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer              40960  3 snd_seq,snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm
mc                     57344  5 
videodev,snd_usb_audio,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
snd                    94208  31 
snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi
soundcore              16384  1 snd

It may be the case that USB 1.1 here is a limitation. Also maybe some 
inkernel changes over the years made some impact on Extigy's driver. Can 
any one help out what should I look for to get it to work?

Thanks,

Łukasz Czuja