HOWTO: PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support

[pingpongboss]

The equalizer part of your guide was awesome! Thanks

ah crap, well it broke sound in GTA San Andreas under wine. So i had to revert the changes. One day i'll look into why it stopped working

[psyke83]

ah crap, well it broke sound in GTA San Andreas under wine. So i had to revert the changes. One day i'll look into why it stopped working

You didn't have to revert changes so soon...

You have two options (I already mentioned these in the guide, by the way):
1. Select the "OSS" audio driver via "winecfg". When you launch Wine applications, use "padsp" (see Appendix 1).
2. Select the "ESD" audio driver via "winecfg".

The ALSA driver is not currently compatible (the problem is partly WINE, partly PulseAudio), but it's being worked on and should be resolved in the next few versions.

In the meantime, both options above should work.

[Janik]

hi,
this howto hasn't really helped me out for skype.
I get sound thru 'pulse' and the stuttering of others' voices is less when I put the values from the optional step in part C of the howto.
However it doesn't really work better now than it did before the howto. Before the howto I was also able to hear others' voices. So, my issue is that I hear the voice quite good of others but my voice is completely stuttering.
CPU is 100% while calling. I tried a lot of different values for 'default-fragments' and
'default-fragment-size-msec' but none really made it better.
Can it be because of the microphone I use is thru a voip-phone?
I get this message when I killed pulse and restart it:

ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:1
W: alsa-util.c: Cannot find fallback mixer control "PCM".
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:1
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0

I am going to try with the static-oss version and padsp.

It's really anoing for me cause skype is the main program I use on this computer (the rest is just office).

Thanks for any input,
Janik

[psyke83]

hi,
this howto hasn't really helped me out for skype.
I get sound thru 'pulse' and the stuttering of others' voices is less when I put the values from the optional step in part C of the howto.
However it doesn't really work better now than it did before the howto. Before the howto I was also able to hear others' voices. So, my issue is that I hear the voice quite good of others but my voice is completely stuttering.
CPU is 100% while calling. I tried a lot of different values for 'default-fragments' and
'default-fragment-size-msec' but none really made it better.
Can it be because of the microphone I use is thru a voip-phone?
I get this message when I killed pulse and restart it:

ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:1
W: alsa-util.c: Cannot find fallback mixer control "PCM".
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:1
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0

I am going to try with the static-oss version and padsp.

It's really anoing for me cause skype is the main program I use on this computer (the rest is just office).

Thanks for any input,
Janik

I'm in a bit of a hurry, sorry I can't give a more detailed answer. In Skype, keep the "Sound Out" as the "pulse" device, but set "Sound In" directly to your hardware device that is connected to your microphone. Please see previous posts in this thread, it was already discussed.

[psyke83]

Hi everyone,

I've made a small update (v2.2) to the guide, replacing Debian unstable packages with Intrepid's versions instead. If you've already followed this guide, there's no need to "upgrade" packages as they are pretty much identical.

The real news is that Part B (Flash) has been fixed in Intrepid, and will probably be backported to Hardy soon. Part A seems on the way towards getting fixed officially as well. See the linked bug reports for more details.

When I have news, I'll update the HOWTO (especially if any steps need to be taken to downgrade packages).

[banjobacon]

After following parts A and B, I didn't get any audio when running a few games through Wine/Steam: Half Life 2, Pulse, and Stubbs. Actually, I heard audio when the Valve splash screen appeared, but there was no audio after that.

I undid part A and I was able to get audio in these games without a problem. Wine was set up to use ALSA the whole time.

[psyke83]

After following parts A and B, I didn't get any audio when running a few games through Wine/Steam: Half Life 2, Pulse, and Stubbs. Actually, I heard audio when the Valve splash screen appeared, but there was no audio after that.

I undid part A and I was able to get audio in these games without a problem. Wine was set up to use ALSA the whole time.

Please read Appendix 1, or my reply to pingpongboss on this page.

[klap-in]

I'm afraid I don't see any problems from that output, and I'm not sure what your problem is.

I would recommend you undo all the changes from this guide (Appendix 2), then check if your PulseAudio is running normally.

Then, apply Part A, log out and in, and see if things work. Then follow the other steps as long as things still work ok.

Pulseaudio works, without reinstall anything, probably the second time reboot helps...
Now I have install part D and the problems are back.

I have tried to change the output to the sofware mixer: comment slave.pcm "plughw" and uncomment #slave.pcm "plug:dmix"
This didn't help.

When I try to start the pulseaudio volume control I got the dialog: 'Connection failed: Connection refused'

Do you have a good advice what to do?
Thanks

This is using dmix:
--:~$ pkill pulseaudio
--:~$ pulseaudio
W: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.
ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL equalized
ALSA lib conf.c:3952:(snd_config_expand) Segmentatiefout

and using with verbose option on:
--:~$ pkill pulseaudio
--:~$ pulseaudio -vv
I: main.c: We're in the group 'pulse-rt', allowing real-time and high-priority scheduling.
I: core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
W: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.
I: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Bewerking niet toegestaan
I: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Bewerking niet toegestaan
I: main.c: This is PulseAudio 0.9.10
I: main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
I: main.c: Dude, your kernel stinks! The chef's recommendation today is Linux with high-resolution timers enabled!
I: module.c: Loaded "module-suspend-on-idle" (index: #0; argument: "").
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully opened device equalized.
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully enabled mmap() mode.
ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL equalized
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer equalized: Bestand of map bestaat niet
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer hw:(null): Onjuist apparaat
I: sink.c: Created sink 0 "alsa_output.equalized" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: source.c: Created source 0 "alsa_output.equalized.monitor" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Using 5 fragments of size 3760 bytes.
D: module-alsa-sink.c: Thread starting up
D: rtpoll.c: Acquired POSIX realtime signal SIGRTMIN+29
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Starting playback.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_output.equalized.monitor becomes idle.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.equalized becomes idle.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-alsa-sink" (index: #1; argument: "device=equalized").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-hal-detect.so': success
I: module-hal-detect.c: Trying capability alsa
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_timer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_sequencer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_2
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_capture_1
D: module-hal-detect.c: Loading module-alsa-sink with arguments 'device_id=0 sink_name=alsa_output.pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_0'
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0...
Segmentatiefout

And when I did use "plughw" verbose gives a similar output, so i guess that option doesn't matter..:

--:~$ pkill pulseaudio
--n:~$ pulseaudio -vv
I: main.c: We're in the group 'pulse-rt', allowing real-time and high-priority scheduling.
I: core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
I: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Bewerking niet toegestaan
I: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Bewerking niet toegestaan
I: main.c: This is PulseAudio 0.9.10
I: main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
I: main.c: Dude, your kernel stinks! The chef's recommendation today is Linux with high-resolution timers enabled!
I: module.c: Loaded "module-suspend-on-idle" (index: #0; argument: "").
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully opened device equalized.
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully enabled mmap() mode.
ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL equalized
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer equalized: Bestand of map bestaat niet
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer hw:(null): Onjuist apparaat
I: sink.c: Created sink 0 "alsa_output.equalized" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: source.c: Created source 0 "alsa_output.equalized.monitor" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Using 4 fragments of size 4408 bytes.
D: module-alsa-sink.c: Thread starting up
D: rtpoll.c: Acquired POSIX realtime signal SIGRTMIN+29
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Starting playback.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_output.equalized.monitor becomes idle.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.equalized becomes idle.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-alsa-sink" (index: #1; argument: "device=equalized").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-hal-detect.so': success
I: module-hal-detect.c: Trying capability alsa
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_timer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_sequencer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_2
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_capture_1
D: module-hal-detect.c: Loading module-alsa-sink with arguments 'device_id=0 sink_name=alsa_output.pci_10de_59_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_0'
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0...
Segmentatiefout

[crimsun]

Thanks for the notes. Here are additional points:

Part A step 2 should use `asoundconf set-pulseaudio'.

The fixes for hardy's alsa-plugins are in bzr (https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-c...-plugins/hardy). It's not as straightforward as just pulling in those fixes, since you must have alsa-lib 1.0.16, too.

So - for 8.04.1 timeframe, the plan is to attempt to backport (to hardy-backports) alsa-lib, alsa-plugins, libflashsupport, and flashplugin-nonfree from intrepid. (There is a known issue with focus grabbing in the Flash 10 beta.)

For 8.10, nspluginwrapper will be enabled on i386, too.

Further questions should be copied to the ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list, too.

[klap-in]

In addition to my previous post, I can't play for example flashmovies with sound together with Rhythmbox. So pulseaudio seems to do not its work. (but I guess that is logical, because pulseaudio do not start)