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bbfa235
(Get the code!)
The issue can be visualized like this
sound hardware
|
Alsa (only one client allowed)
| | | L---Mixxx
| | L-----Skype
| L-------dmix
|
pulse audio server
| | L---- Firefox
| L------ Clementine
L-------- pulse alsa bridge
The issue is that Alsa only allows one device at a time. Pulseaudio solves this, unfortunately not all applications have native pulsaudio output. Some are just two old, using the cross platform portaudio wrapper or just need direct hardware access for low latency.
There are two workarounds:
Installing dmix, which pretends exclusive alsa access but actually mixes the samples from mutable applications. https:/
Using the "pulse" alsa fake device, which pretends to be an alsa soundcard but actual passes the samples to the pulse audio server.