Hello:

I have an Steinberg u44 audio mixing equipment that worked on my old XP,
which is long gone. My Ubuntu 18.0.1 recognizes the device (multiport
Steinberg USB device or something like that), but when the card is
toggled in alsamixer, it reads "DEVICE HAS NO CONTROLS." Well, that's
because the proprietary software packaged with it (Cubase mixing
software and some other stuff, along with Windows drivers, are not
present on my Linux machine (they all died with the XP), and Steinberg
won't directly support Linux -- what a downer!)

I found some info that involves adjusting the kernel
(https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=62290), which would be
fine and I actually started into that...

...But, then I found something that said if the command "modinfo
soundcore" reveals the presence of that module (screenshot attached),
then there's no need to toy with the kernel. So I stopped, and discarded
the changes (I think)....

...Then I was ensnared (at wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/UpgradingAlsa/DKMS)
trying to get the correct alsa package (oem-audio-hda-daily-dkms), but
it's not a deb file (although the wiki instructions say it is -- but it
ain't) and I got all bogged down in the configure / make / build stuff
that I've forgotten since I haven't used that in a long time. Then my
head started to hurt and I realized I have spent too much time on this
issue, so I decided to ask for advice.....

Another option is the alsa github repository
(https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/GIT_Server), which is probably the
best solution, but I don't know which one to clone, and I want to make
sure I do it right.

Otto, clugwrench

p.s. happy birthday REX... you're 49, right?