Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) devices

Updated: April 19, 2023

PCM devices are responsible for converting digital sound sequences to analog waveforms, or analog waveforms to digital sound sequences.

PCM devices are commonly created in playback and capture pairs creating two entries of the same device index under the same card with a direction identifier suffix (“p” for playback and “c” for capture). Each device operates only in one mode or the other. If it converts digital to analog, it's a playback channel device; if it converts analog to digital, it's a capture channel device.

The attributes of PCM devices include: