HOWTO: PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support

[SnowPunk98]

My sounds stutters when I get an IM in pidgin where it feels like my system resources are really low and it can't process fast enough, I assume this is fix B you are referring to.

When I am plahing a MP3 in totem I do not get any sound in Pidgin, I assume this is because Pidgin is ALAS aware?

I am using a Dell Inspiron E1705/9400, should I use your fixes to resolve my problems or will they be fixed by Ubuntu in Hardy or will I have to wait until the next release?

[reidi]

2. Enable the "hardy-proposed" repository via Synaptic and perform a dist-upgrade to get kernel 2.6.24-17-generic. Hopefully it is not necessary to describe this in detail; most people should be able to figure it out.

Repository enabled. But when I do a "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" I am prompted to install many, many packages.

Can I upgrade just the kernel and headers?

If so, how would I do that? (syntax please).

[NTolerance]

nm

[richardh9936]

This information about libasound2-1.0.16+ is also essential for people trying Enlightenment e17. apt-get install emodules-all may fail with HARDY installations because the e modules expect libasound2 to be >> 1.0.16, but HARDY only provides 1.0.15.

[hihihi]

hello there,
first of all: many thanks, your how-to made the sound-skips-hips-snips disappear, finally...
I am running xubuntu hardy 8.04 64bit, i just followed part C.
the /etc.alsa.conf interfeared with anything in my sys and i had no ALSA sound anymore so i deleted it again.
sound is back and really great, THX

[flacvest]

Hi, I just wanted to say THANK-YOU!!!

'Been wanting an EQ for MPD/Sonata ever since I started using it around January 08. I tried to use JACK, failed miserably and destroyed 2 installations in the process. Your guide worked the first time around for me, on Xubuntu Hardy amd64 on a Shuttle XPC SN27P2 with a dualcore and 8GB RAM.

I wanted to say thanks because I have NEVER heard such clean, well articulated music IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! Talk about a great how-to...

-flacvest

[cacus]

Hi there, I'm under AMD64, Creative Audigy2 lS (CA0106), Hardy 8.04 and followed your guide for the EQ...
I try to change the EQ settings for frequencies... But nothing happens...
How do I know the plugin "equalized" is working or not?
I just did everything in the guide (the EQ part only) and play with the values in /etc/asound.conf at the end of file.
I've tried something pretty awful like:

[...]
controls [ -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 -20 20 20 20 ]
[...]

This was to see if the EQ was working or not, but i didn't note any change...
Anyone could give me a hand?
Greetings.

cacus

[cacus]

Ok now, i've found the problem...
There was a file called "default.pa" in my "/home/user/.pulse" dir that i've created...
Just renamed it.
But, that file was the one that managed mi 4.0 surround system. Without that file i'm now listening to equalized output but only in the two front speakers.... How to make EQ works with surround40??? (or combine the two sinks)
Sorry about my english, i'm from Argentina.
Greetings

PS:I pasted the content of the "default.pa" file i was using to make the surround40.

#!/usr/bin/pulseaudio -nF
#
# This file is part of PulseAudio.
#
# PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
# along with PulseAudio; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.

.nofail

### Load something into the sample cache
#load-sample-lazy x11-bell /usr/share/sounds/gtk-events/activate.wav
load-sample-lazy pulse-hotplug /usr/share/sounds/startup3.wav
#load-sample-lazy pulse-coldplug /usr/share/sounds/startup3.wav
#load-sample-lazy pulse-access /usr/share/sounds/generic.wav

.fail

### Load audio drivers statically (it's probably better to not load
### these drivers manually, but instead use module-hal-detect --
### see below -- for doing this automatically)
#load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0
#load-module module-oss device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-oss-mmap device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-null-sink
#load-module module-pipe-sink
load-module module-alsa-sink device=surround40:CA0106 sink_name=CA0106
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:CA0106

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
.ifexists module-hal-detect.so
#load-module module-hal-detect
.else
### Alternatively use the static hardware detection module (for systems that
### lack HAL support)
load-module module-detect
.endif

### Load several protocols
.ifexists module-esound-protocol-unix.so
load-module module-esound-protocol-unix
.endif
load-module module-native-protocol-unix

### Network access (may be configured with paprefs, so leave this commented
### here if you plan to use paprefs)
#load-module module-esound-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-native-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-zeroconf-publish

### Load the RTP reciever module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-rtp-recv

### Load the RTP sender module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-null-sink sink_name=rtp format=s16be channels=2 rate=44100 description="RTP Multicast Sink"
#load-module module-rtp-send source=rtp.monitor

### Automatically restore the volume of playback streams
load-module module-volume-restore

### Automatically restore the default sink/source when changed by the user during runtime
load-module module-default-device-restore

### Automatically move streams to the default sink if the sink they are
### connected to dies, similar for sources
load-module module-rescue-streams

### Automatically suspend sinks/sources that become idle for too long
load-module module-suspend-on-idle

### Load X11 bell module
#load-module module-x11-bell sample=x11-bell

### Register ourselves in the X11 session manager
# Deactivated by default, to avoid deadlock when PA is started as esd from gnome-session
# Instead we load this via /etc/xdg/autostart/ and "pactl load-module" now
# load-module module-x11-xsmp

### Load additional modules from GConf settings. This can be configured with the paprefs tool.
### Please keep in mind that the modules configured by paprefs might conflict with manually
### loaded modules.
.ifexists module-gconf.so
.nofail
load-module module-gconf
.fail
.endif

### Publish connection data in the X11 root window
.ifexists module-x11-publish.so
.nofail
load-module module-x11-publish
.fail
.endif

### Make some devices default
#set-default-source input
load-module module-combine sink_name=combined master= slaves=CA0106,

[psyke83]

Ok now, i've found the problem...
There was a file called "default.pa" in my "/home/user/.pulse" dir that i've created...
Just renamed it.
But, that file was the one that managed mi 4.0 surround system. Without that file i'm now listening to equalized output but only in the two front speakers.... How to make EQ works with surround40??? (or combine the two sinks)
Sorry about my english, i'm from Argentina.
Greetings

Well, let's see if we can get it working. Firstly, the way I arrange EQ support is by pointing PulseAudio to a virtual ALSA device, not directly to the hardware. Therefore, you need to focus on the asound.conf file.

Providing you have followed the guide (Part A & D), you will see this line in /etc/asound.conf:

  slave.pcm "plughw"

This is the line that tells ALSA what sound card to use. On my system, it should define the default playback device, so in fact it really points to "plughw:0,0". Perhaps it is not picking the default device for you, so check your hardware:

 cat /etc/asound/devices

Here's my output:

conn@inspiron:~$ cat /proc/asound/devices 
  0: [ 0]   : control
  1:        : sequencer
 16: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
 20: [ 0- 4]: digital audio playback
 24: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
 25: [ 0- 1]: digital audio capture
 26: [ 0- 2]: digital audio capture
 27: [ 0- 3]: digital audio capture
 33:        : timer

In my case, "plughw:0,0" is appropriate, so see if it's different for you and edit /etc/asound.conf to reflect that.

Alternatively, your /etc/asound.conf may be configured correctly, but PulseAudio is not detecting the correct speaker layout. Try editing /etc/pulse/daemon.conf and make sure this line is present:

default-sample-channels = 4

Let me know if you get it working.

[psyke83]

My sounds stutters when I get an IM in pidgin where it feels like my system resources are really low and it can't process fast enough, I assume this is fix B you are referring to.

When I am plahing a MP3 in totem I do not get any sound in Pidgin, I assume this is because Pidgin is ALAS aware?

I am using a Dell Inspiron E1705/9400, should I use your fixes to resolve my problems or will they be fixed by Ubuntu in Hardy or will I have to wait until the next release?

Your problem with Totem and Pidgin depends on how you have configured your system. If you did not follow my guide and "Sound Playback" is set to "ALSA" in System/Preferences/Sound, then programs will conflict, so it's best to set everything to "Autodetect".

If you follow my guide, then you won't have this problem anymore, even if you have everything set to "ALSA" in Sound Preferences.