Configuring Raspberry Pi 2 to use USB Microphone and Headset as default device on Jessie

Question

I am attempting to setup a Plantronics .Audio 400 DSP with a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B as the default device with Jessie installed. Headset Link: http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/audio-400-dsp

So far in all attempts I have been unsuccessful in setting this up as the default device. The USB is recognized by the Pi, and manually selecting this via aplay or arecord work:

aplay test.wav –Dsysdefault:CARD=DSP
arecord test.wav –Dsysdefault:CARD=DSP

Below I will include some research I have done and what I attempted:

• Unable to set default input and output audio device on Raspberry jessie

  • On reboot of the device, it appears asoundrc is getting rewritten so that card 1 is now card 0.

• https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=129514

  • This removes the default sound/microphone from the devices. However, when trying to test this with aplay or arecord, I am getting a ‘Channels count not available’.
  • This does however allow me to listen to sound via a browser

• How to reorder the index for mic on new Raspbian Jessie for PocketSphinx?

  • Did not adjust anything

• How do I configure my sound for Jasper on Raspbian Jessie?

  • The indexing did not work for me, but I would love to see if Housni creates a bash script

In short, does anyone have detailed instructions on how to connect a USB Headset (microphone + headphones) to a Raspberry Pi 2 with Jessie installed as the default device?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Have you been trying to create and use an ~/.asoundrc file? I have not been using USB-speakers or microphones yet but set my Bluetooth speakers and microphones as system-defaults via this file.

Create the file ~/.asoundrc with the following content:

pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

Explanation: USB sound cards are registered as card 1 on Raspbian Jessie. (see: Best way to setup USB mic as system default on Raspbian Jessie)

If this does not help I provide you my working bluetooth-config, maybe you are able to translate it according to your USB-device-properties:

pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave {
                pcm {
                        type bluealsa
                        device <MAC>
                        profile "a2dp"
                }
        }
        hint {
                show on
                description "Calisto"
        }
}
ctl.!default {
        type bluealsa
}

EDIT: It seems that you also have to edit your alsa-base.conf file. Have look at: Unable to set default input and output audio device on Raspberry jessie

Answer 2

From your first link, change your default cards to 1, and also delete the hashtag on the line that says, load card-specific configuration files (on request). Then go into and edit /lib/modprobe.d/aliases.conf and change the line, options snd-usb-audio index=-2, to, options snd-usb-audio index=0, then run, cat /proc/asound/cards, and check to see that your device is at 0.

References: - https://superuser.com/questions/989385/alsa-base-conf-missing-in-new-raspberry-pi-raspbian-jesse - http://cmusphinx.sourceforge.net/wiki/raspberrypi