[pulseaudio-discuss] Need help resolving audio recording/playback issues

[Rich Shepard]

Something(s) changed here and I don't know enough about linux audio to fix
the problems.

Environment: Slackware64-14.2. Audio-Technica AT2005USB, Scarlett Solo Gen
3. The latter two are connected by an XLR cable.

All worked fine until a few days ago. Now pavucontrol Configuration tab sees
the Scarlett Solo USB connected to the desktop, and the Input Devices tab
shows three options: Front Microphone (unplugged, although that's where the
Scarlett Solo is connected), Rear Microphone (plugged in, and the only one
to show the vu bar responding to noise as well as flickering when there's no
microphone connected or turned on), and Line In (unplugged).

Earlier today, using audio-recorder (version 2.2.3) and connecting the
Audio-Technica AT2005USB with the USB cable I successfully made a test voice
recording that mplayer sent to the Creative Pebble speakers. I could not
repeat this later in the morning. While audio-recorder wrote a 327K file,
aplay, mplayer, and vlc don't produce what I recorded in the .mp3 file.

Using a new Cable Masters XLR cable I'm still not seeing the Scarlett Solo
input LED ring flicker when I speak. The AT2005 microphone does work ... at
least it did earlier today with the USB cable.

As an aside, audacity is no longer working for me. When I press the red
'record' button the status bar shows 'Recording Paused' and I have not found
how to unpause it on an audacity menu or my web searches. That's why I'm
using audio-recorder.

I need to produce podcasts and video tutorials to market my professional
services consultancy so I appreciate all the help I can get here to
understand what failed and learn how to fix everything so it Just Works ...
as it did in the past.

Thanks in advance,

Rich