# Trying to get USB mic to work with Audacity



## walterbyrd (Jan 24, 2015)

I am new to FreeBSD. Using version FreeBSD 10.1 with XFCE4.

I installed Audacity, and plugged in my Snowball microphone. It is not working, but I don't know why.

I unplugged the microphone, plugged it back in, and got this:

```
# dmesg | tail
uhid0: at uhub1, port 5, addr 3 (disconnected)
ugen0.3: <BLUE MICROPHONE> at usbus0
uaudio0: <BLUE MICROPHONE Blue Snowball, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 3> on usbus0
uaudio0: No playback.
uaudio0: Record: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: No MIDI sequencer.
pcm4: <USB audio> on uaudio0
uaudio0: No HID volume keys found.
uhid0: <BLUE MICROPHONE Blue Snowball, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 3> on usbus0
```
In Audacity, I have tried setting the project rate to 44100, and 48000, neither work. By the microphone icon, I have it set at /dev/dsp. I am not sure how this works. I have tried /dev/dsp1 and /dev/dsp4, but those do not work either.

Audacity acts like it's working, but does not pick up any sound.

Audacity, and the mic, worked fine on my old CentOS 6.5 system.

Any ideas?


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## mrkrd (Jan 31, 2015)

Perhaps, the volume is set to 0.

You could check it with umix for example (audio/umix port).  In the program, you will need to press `n' a few times to get the proper mixer device.


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## walterbyrd (Jan 31, 2015)

Umix was worth a try.

The volume was set to 90%, but IGain was was zero. I stepped up the IGain, but it still does not work. 

Thanks anyway.


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## rabfulton (Jun 13, 2015)

I am considering buying one of these mics, did you get it to work in FreeBSD?


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## walterbyrd (Jun 24, 2015)

I never got the mic to work in FreeBSD. But, it may just be me, or my hardware.


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## protocelt (Jun 24, 2015)

walterbyrd, are you sure you had audio/audacity set up to output sound to the right audio device for playback? By looking at your dmesg(8) output above the driver is attaching correctly so it _should_ work.


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## rabfulton (Aug 2, 2015)

I recently got the Blue Snowball ICE and can confirm that it works in FreeBSD. By default the volume is set to zero so make sure to increase it on the correct device and ensure audacity is configured to use the correct device as well. We could really use a nice GUI mixer app....


```
ugen4.2: <BLUE MICROPHONE> at usbus4
uaudio0: <BLUE MICROPHONE Blue Snowball, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on usbus4
uaudio0: No playback.
uaudio0: Record: 48000 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 44100 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 32000 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 22050 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 16000 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 11025 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: Record: 8000 Hz, 1 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format, 2x8ms buffer.
uaudio0: No MIDI sequencer.
pcm4: <USB audio> on uaudio0
uaudio0: No HID volume keys found.
uhid0: <BLUE MICROPHONE Blue Snowball, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on usbus4
```

Shows up as /dev/dsp4.


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