/dev/dsp and maestro-2e

[epilogue at attcanada.ca]

hello all,

i have been running FBSD on my Compal N30W laptop for almost a year now.
i would very much like to set it up for music recording and editing.  i have already
installed several audio programs like audacity, spiralsynthmodular, etc.  they all try
to access /dev/dsp (for input and output), however, when they do, they all return
error messages like 'device busy' or 'invalid playback device'.

i have hunted all over (handbook, LINT, google, and relevant mailing lists) trying to
find a solution for this, but to no avail.   i have already tried many different tweaks like:

+ kernel options				 PCI_ENABLE_IO_MODES
+ /boot/loader.conf				snd_maestro_load="YES"
+ setting various sysctl options per handbook

none of these have brought the desired result or produced any noticeable
change.  All have since been removed.

uname -a
<snip> 4.8-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE-p3 #9: <snip> i386

relevant lines from kernel config:
device          pcm
device          sbc		<--- i added this line per 'man pcm'.  

relevant lines from dmesg:
pcm0: <ESS Technology Maestro-2E> port 0x1400-0x14ff irq 5 at device 8.0 on pci0
pcm0: <SigmaTel STAC9721/9723 ac97 codec>

cat /dev/sndstat 
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <ESS Technology Maestro-2E> at I/O port 0x1400 irq 5 (4p/0r/0v channels duplex)

cat /dev/dsp ---> cat: /dev/dsp: Device busy
fstat | grep dsp ---> provides no info

neither esd, arts, nor any other sound daemon of which i am aware is running.
xmms works fine, but it seems to access OSS drivers, not /dev/dsp directly.

has anyone else come across a similar issue?  i have been struggling with this problem for
several weeks now and am willing to try out any suggestions.  finally fixing this would really
make my week.


thank you so much,
epilogue

p.s. i came across the following Problem Report --> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=48338
i am not sure if it is the same problem as mine, but it seems close.  should i try to follow-up on this?

p.p.s. i already submitted this to freebsd-questions, but didn't make much headway there.  tks again.