ULTRA++ - default soundcard - asound.conf

RASPIAUDIO
1

I would like to use my" wm890" soundcard as default (card 0)
After reboot the soundcard sometimes change to card 1.

How i can change the soundcard in “isound.conf” card 0?

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2

AI generated solution not checked :

On a Raspberry Pi (or most Linux distros running ALSA), forcing a particular soundcard to remain “card 0” involves two main steps:

  1. Pin the device index so the kernel always assigns it “card 0.”
  2. Set it as the default in your ALSA config (either in /etc/asound.conf or in a user‐level ~/.asoundrc).

Below is a general approach. Adapt it for your exact card name and system.

1. Find the soundcard’s name and current index

  1. Run:

bash

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aplay -l

This lists all detected ALSA playback devices and shows each device’s card number, device number, and card name.
2. Note the card name (e.g. wm8960-soundcard, USB Audio, bcm2835, etc.) and the index assigned.

2. Pin the soundcard at index 0

In many Raspberry Pi setups, you can specify card indexing in a file under /etc/modprobe.d/. Sometimes it’s called alsa-base.conf or you may need to create a new file like /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

  1. Open (or create) the file:

bash

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sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
  1. Add lines similar to:

conf

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# Force wm8960 (example name) to be card 0
options snd_soc_wm8960 index=0

# Force onboard audio (bcm2835) to be card 1 (or -2 if you want it to ignore indexing)
options snd_bcm2835 index=1
  • Replace snd_soc_wm8960 with whatever module name is appropriate for your card.
  • You can find the module name by checking lsmod | grep wm8960 or looking at dmesg logs after plugging the device in.
  • If you don’t know the module name, you can also match by vendor/product IDs, but that’s more involved.
  1. Reboot after saving those lines. Then check:

bash

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aplay -l

to verify that your “wm890” or “wm8960” card is now permanently card 0.

3. Set defaults in asound.conf or .asoundrc

Once the hardware is pinned at card 0, you can specify that card as the default for ALSA. You typically do this in /etc/asound.conf (system‐wide) or in your home directory’s ~/.asoundrc (per user). For example:

conf

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pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
    device 0
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
}

If your system wants the card name instead of the numeric index, you can do:

conf

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pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card "wm8960-soundcard"  # or the name you saw from aplay -l
    device 0
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card "wm8960-soundcard"
}

Key points:

  • card 0 means “whatever is pinned as index 0.”
  • The device number is usually 0 for playback, but check aplay -l in case your device is labeled differently.

4. Verify

  1. Reboot and then run:

bash

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aplay -l

to ensure the card is still at index 0.
2. Test playback:

bash

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speaker-test -t wav -c2

You should hear audio through the “wm890” (or whichever you pinned).

Once these steps are in place, ALSA should consistently treat that card as default, even after reboots.