ALSA: Subdevice

According to "aplay -l" I have 2 Subdevices: #0 and #1. If I play
Sound with "aplay -v test.wav" the Output is:
1. The Software uses Subdevice #0
2. No Sound to my Soundcard.
But if I play Sound with "aplay -v test > /dev/audio" the Output is:
1. The Software uses Subdevice #1
2. Sound is perfect

Can anybody explain this? And how can I play Sound without the "> /dev/
audio" Pipe?

Manuel Rodriguez wrote:
> According to "aplay -l" I have 2 Subdevices: #0 and #1. If I play
> Sound with "aplay -v test.wav" the Output is:
> 1. The Software uses Subdevice #0
> 2. No Sound to my Soundcard.
> But if I play Sound with "aplay -v test > /dev/audio" the Output is:
> 1. The Software uses Subdevice #1
> 2. Sound is perfect
>
> Can anybody explain this? And how can I play Sound without the "> /dev/
> audio" Pipe?

You are not supposed to use such a pipe with aplay. ">" redirects the
output of a program, but in the case of aplay, the output is the
"playing file ..." message. For the redirection, the shell opens
/dev/audio before aplay is run, so aplay takes the next free device.

To specify the device for aplay, use the -D option with a device name
like "default:x" or "plughw:x,y" to use card x and device y.

I don't why one subdevice works and one doesn't. What sound card are
you using? What are the mixer settings (see the output of
"amixer contents")?


Best regards,
Clemens