[PLUG] Why do my audio recordings come out mono?

[Chris Marget <chris@logsoft.com>]

Greetings.

I'm having a problem with audio recordings on an FC3 box.

Every audio recoring application I've tried does the same thing:  it
takes the audio from the left microphone channel and duplicates it onto
both channels of the recording.

All left channel audio is duplicated, and all right channel audio is
ignored.

I'm using the onboard audio, and the system is a fairly recent Dell
Optiplex GX260.  ...This thing should have stereo mic in, shouldn't it?

Perhaps I've accidentally flipped a switch in the mixer somewhere?

Many thanks for any insight.

/chris

[root@localhost /]# arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - MIC ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 2: Intel ICH - MIC2 ADC [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - MIC2 ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 3: Intel ICH - ADC2 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - ADC2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[root@localhost /]# amixer 
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Jack Sense',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line Jack Sense',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
  Front Left: Capture [on]
  Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 15 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 15 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]

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