[pulseaudio-discuss] Combining multiple usb microphones

[Brad Smith]

I'd like to put together a setup for simple voice-only recording
(audio dramas and maybe some singing). In the past I've worked with
groups that plugged the mics into a mixing board that was then
connected to the PC with something like my group's M-Audio Delta 44.
But, for a simple setup, I've been wondering whether it would be
possible to just invest in some decent USB mics and use pulseaudio or
similar to make them look like they're all channels of the same
hardware device to software?

I found this thread, which implies that it is not currently possible,
but that it is at least a solvable problem:

https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2009-April/003550.html

Assuming I have my facts right, my question is whether the mics in
question being USB devices makes the solution any easier (one of the
thread authors suggests that the difficulty lies in inconsistencies in
the behavior of soundcards), and whether I am correct in thinking
that at this point the solution is "wait until someone gets around to
writing module-combine-sources" or, of course, "write
module-combine-sources". =;)

If there are any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Seems this
would be a real boon to home-recording setups.

Thanks!
--Brad