Using the Samson Q1U USB Microphone with GNU/Linux

Notes by Jim Cota

Last updated January 09 2007

Although I have not yet been successful at using my Samson Q1U with Audacity, the Samson Q1U is recognized by my Fedora 5 and Ubuntu installations. My Linux installations use the ALSA for sound card configuration.

Several commands will verify the Samson is recognized on your system and report the card that is handling the mic:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

Output from Asus Z63A:

	 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
        	              HDA Intel at 0xfbdb8000 irq 169
	 1 [default        ]: USB-Audio - Samson Q1U               
        	              Samson Technologies       Samson Q1U at usb-0000:00:1d.1-1, full

$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

Partial output from Asus Z63A, related to Samson Q1U: this output shows what driver is being used.

	T:  Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
	D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
	P:  Vendor=17a0 ProdID=0002 Rev= 0.01
	S:  Manufacturer=Samson Technologies      
	S:  Product=Samson Q1U               
	C:* #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr= 90mA
	I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=01(audio) Sub=01 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
	I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=01(audio) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
	I:  If#= 1 Alt= 1 #EPs= 1 Cls=01(audio) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
	E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=05(Isoc) MxPS= 100 Ivl=1ms
	I:  If#= 1 Alt= 2 #EPs= 1 Cls=01(audio) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
	E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=05(Isoc) MxPS= 200 Ivl=1ms

This command is probably the most important: it lists the capture hardware devices. The device number is needed to unmute in the alsamixer and to record sound with arecord.

$ arecord --list-devices

Again, this is the output on the Asus Z63A:

	**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
	card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC880 Analog [ALC880 Analog]
	  Subdevices: 2/2
	  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
	  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
	card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC880 Analog [ALC880 Analog]
	  Subdevices: 2/2
	  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
	  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
	card 1: default [Samson Q1U               ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
	  Subdevices: 1/1
	  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The above lists the Samson Q1U at card 1, subdevice 0. Now we can set the capture level on the alsa mixer:

$ alsamixer -c 1

Press <TAB> to switch to the capture screen:

Press the <SPACE> key to unmute the device. Then use the <UP> arrow key to raise the level.

Now we can record using the arecord command: the -f option specifies the sample format, -D is for the hardware device. To specify the duration, the -d option can be used followed by the number of seconds. Otherwise, use <CTRL+C> to stop.

$ arecord -f cd -D hw:1,0 test.wav

	Recording WAVE 'test3.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo

Now, to play back the test.wav use the aplay command:

$ aplay -f cd test.wav

This WAVE file can also be exported to Audacity for editing or played with a sound player.

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