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und3rd06012
Asked: 2018-08-19 09:42:36 +0800 CST

SoundBlaster Z and Kernel 4.18

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I have a Creative Soundblaster Z SB1570 (yeah I know big mistake) and I read somewhere that the 4.18 kernel will have better support for this card. My question is how can I make it work earlier using this kernel before the kernel update will be released officially to all 18.04 users? I read also that there is a patch for this card. Is this needed as well?

I am sorry if my question is too broad, but basically I need the steps that I need to follow in order to make the sound card work properly.

P.S.: I tried myself to install this specific kernel and I succeeded, but I didn't get the sound card to work properly.

EDIT:

alsa-info output

sound kernel soundcard sound-blaster 18.04

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Install Updated Kernel

    Per this link, you can manually update to kernel 4.18. If your device is reported to work with this kernel, theoretically it should work out of the box:

    Download the kernel here:

    http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.18/

    Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

    linux-headers-4.18.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
linux-modules-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
linux-image-xxx-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

    Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

    Download required files into a folder, say ~/kernel, then:

    cd ~/kernel
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo reboot

    Once you have rebooted, verify your kernel with:

    uname -a

    If for some reason you want to get rid of this kernel

    Reboot, go to advanced boot options and select a different kernel and boot. To remove 4.18 run this command:

    sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.18.0-041800-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-041800-generic

    ( you will have to change the package name according to the kernel you installed )

    Confirm Sound Card Works

    Reboot and see that your audio card is recognized using alsamixer:

    `alsamixer -c1`

    You may need to change the number next to the flag -c depending on the sound card you want to choose and edit its settings.

    You can adjust levels here. According to answer found by OP, the HP/Speaker output needs to be muted for other outputs to work.

    OP Picture of Alsa

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  2. I am using an ubuntu kernel updater ukuu http://www.teejeetech.in/p/ukuu-kernel-upgrade-utility.html

    And I upgraded the kernel to 4.18.3 . My creative sound blaster Z is finally working. Hope it works for you also.

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