Table of Contents
This control module is used to configure the settings for the aRts sound server (the KDE sound server).
The top option, labeled Enable the sound system, enables (or disables) the aRts sound server entirely.
You can find out more about aRts in general by typing
help:/artsbuilder into the Konqueror location
bar, or by finding the aRts-builder documentation in KHelpCenter.
The rest of the panel consists of options for the aRts sound server.
If this option is enabled, then sound requests from the network will be honored by the sound server. If this option is disabled, the sound server will only honor requests from the local computer.
Enabling this option will give the sound server priority over other applications, which will help alleviate any problems delivering uninterrupted sound.
This option may require permissions you do not have as a regular user.
This option also relies on certain real time support from your system which may not be available.
If you do not have the necessary permissions, or your system does not have the real time support necessary, enabling this option will not cause problems.
This slider determines how quickly the sound server can use your computer's resources. The faster the response time, the higher the CPU load will be.
I would recommend that you start with the sound server set at 250 ms, and use KDE for a while. If you notice that the sound does not work correctly, increase the responsiveness one step at a time until the problems disappear.
Normally aRts locks the sound card device, so that other applications cannot use it. If you enable this option, then if aRts has been idle for the amount of time you set, it will suspend itself, allowing any application access to the sound hardware. If aRts receives another request, it will unsuspend, and continue as normal. Enabling this option may cause a small delay when you start an aRts application.
At the bottom of this page are two buttons to allow you to test your settings, labelled and Test MIDI respectively.
The first option you can configure in the Hardware panel is Select the audio device:. It tells aRts which sound system to use for input and output of sound. Current choices are ALSA (Advanced Linux® Sound Architecture), OSS (Open Sound System), ESD (Enlightenment Sound Daemon), no audio at all and autodetect. In most cases “Autodetect” will be perfect for you.
Other options are:
This option allows the sound server to play and record sound at the same time. This option should be enabled if you use applications (such as Internet telephones) which require simultaneous record and playback.
Normally, the sound server defaults to using a sampling rate of 44100 Hz (CD quality), which is supported on almost all hardware. If you are using certain Yamaha soundcards, you might need to configure this to 48000 Hz here; if you are using old SoundBlaster cards, like SoundBlaster Pro, you might need to change this to 22050 Hz. All other values are possible too and may make sense in certain contexts (i.e. professional studio equipment).
These settings allow you to configure the quality of the sounds that will be played.
Note that a higher sound quality causes a higher CPU usage.
If you find sound is slow, or using too much CPU, try reducing this setting.
Normally, the sound server defaults to using the device called
/dev/dsp for sound output. This
should work in most cases. An exception is, for instance, if you are using
devfs, then you should use /dev/sound/dsp instead. Other alternatives
are things like /dev/dsp0 or
/dev/dsp1 if you have a
soundcard that supports multiple outputs or you have multiple
soundcards.
If you often use non-aRts aware applications, and you have a
soundcard that supports it, try setting aRts to use a different
device than /dev/dsp. This
way, other applications will be able to use the default device, while
aRts is still running, without giving any error messages.
There are some options offered by
aRts which may not be available in this control module, so you can add
command line options here which will be passed directly to
artsd. The options will be appended, so they
will override the choices made in the
GUI. To see the possible choices, open a Konsole
window, and type artsd
.-h
This section is used to determine which MIDI device KDE should use. You can also install a MIDI wrapper around the device if you want.
The use of this module is simple. Click once on the MIDI device that you would like to use from the list.
If you want to use a MIDI mapper, simply mark the checkbox below the list labeled Use MIDI Mapper. This will allow you to select the map in the text box below. You can click on the folder icon to browse your filesystem to find the map if you need it.
