HOWTO: PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support

[starnerd67]

HI im following the instructions to get flash to play sounds.

But still i get no sound from pulse audio.

After going through troubleshoot i realize that its because PulseAudio is outputting sound on the wrong device.

My Juli@ sound card can output on Analog and Digital (i only have Digital working)

right now in the PulseAudio Volume Control -> Output Devices it says this:

ALSA PCM on front:0 (ICE1724) via DMA

Sound for my card only works on s/pdif output on IEC1724 IEC958 (so its IEC not ICE) Also audio only works after downloading gnome-alsamixer

do you guys know how i can change output to make it output on the correct deivce ????

[psyke83]

HI im following the instructions to get flash to play sounds.

But still i get no sound from pulse audio.

After going through troubleshoot i realize that its because PulseAudio is outputting sound on the wrong device.

My Juli@ sound card can output on Analog and Digital (i only have Digital working)

right now in the PulseAudio Volume Control -> Output Devices it says this:

ALSA PCM on front:0 (ICE1724) via DMA

Sound for my card only works on s/pdif output on IEC1724 IEC958 (so its IEC not ICE) Also audio only works after downloading gnome-alsamixer

do you guys know how i can change output to make it output on the correct deivce ????

Hi, thanks for answering.

1. When you first installed Hardy, was PulseAudio playing sound on the right device?

2. Did you follow Part D of this guide (to enable the equalizer)?

If you followed Part D, disable the equalizer (I mentioned how to do that a few posts back).

If you didn't follow part D and PulseAudio never used the correct device (even before this guide), use the PulseAudio Device Chooser to change the default sink.

[starnerd67]

I didn't follow Part D.
I don't think pulse audio ever played sound on the correct device

hmmmm
in the Device Chooser it says either Default or Other (when i click other... it says enter sink name)... there is also a grey'd out portion that says no network devices found

[psyke83]

I didn't follow Part D.
I don't think pulse audio ever played sound on the correct device

hmmmm
in the Device Chooser it says either Default or Other (when i click other... it says enter sink name)... there is also a grey'd out portion that says no network devices found

Go to the PulseAudio Manager, and look at the Server Information tab. The default sink will tell you what sound card PulseAudio is currently using as default. Now, go to the Sample Cache tab. Click the dropdown box beside "Playback on", and try to find the correct device. Select the proper device, click on "pulse-hotplug" and click the Play button.

If that works for you, I'm not entirely sure of what the "easiest" way is to fix the problem. For example, you may be able to go to PulseAudio Device Chooser, click Default Sink -> Other, and enter the exact name of the correct device, as listed in the "Playback on" dropdown box.

Or, you can edit /etc/pulse/default.pa and define the default device there. So, change this:

#load-module module-alsa-sink

To this (where xyz is the proper name for your sound card):

load-module module-alsa-sink device=xyz

Try changing it via the Device Chooser first, though.

[starnerd67]

default sink is currently:
alsa_output.pci_1412_1724_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0

i tried manually typing device in to the "other" sink but............. the exact name of the device is something i don't know...........
i just know its not: Monitor Source of ALSA PCM on front:0 (ICE1724) via DMA
should be somehtign like: Monitor Source of ALSA PCM on s/pdifout:1 (IEC1724 IEC958) via DMA

but the exact name... im not sure where to find that.....

in Sample Cache dropdown it only gives me:
alsa_output.pci_1412_1724_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0
combined
both of which don't work........

hmmmmmmmmmmm
i think the problem maybe in ALSA itself outputting on the wrong device.... cause under my System -> Preferences -> Sound PReferences sound playback is on IEC1724 IEC958 not ALSA (if i change it to ALSA i can't here any sounds ... normnally mp3's work)

is there any way to find out what audio devices there are to work with ?????

[psyke83]

is there any way to find out what audio devices there are to work with ?????

EDIT: PulseAudio Volume Control, Output Devices. You can right-click on a device to make it the default. Also on the Playback tab, you can right-click and move streams to other devices. That may be a better solution than the below advice.

Ok, here's what you can do.

Take a look at the playback devices with this command:

aplay -l

To illustrate, here's my output:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - IEC958]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: pcsp [pcsp], device 0: pcspeaker [pcsp]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

In my case, the sound card is card 0, and there are two devices for playback - device 0 and device 4. As you can see, device 4 is the IEC958 output.

PulseAudio most likely selects the default playback device - in my case, device 0 of card 0. If I want to change it to the IEC958 output, here's what I would do:

Edit /etc/pulse/default.pa

Change this line:

#load-module module-alsa-sink

To this:

load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,4

You just need to find the correct hardware definition for your desired output. Logging out and back in (to restart PulseAudio) will make this setting take effect.

NOTE: There may be an easier way to change the device, perhaps via the PulseAudio Device Chooser. And if this doesn't help, make sure to have a backup of your /etc/pulse/default.pa file.

[starnerd67]

Aww man you rock

that did the trick...... music videos and flash work great now ^__^

thanks so much

there is one more minor thing though.........
System -> preferences -> sound preferences -> sounds
the Log Out / Log in test play's make no sound....

so when i login or logout, no sound comes out (more asethetical preference really) but would u have any idea why those don't work ????

[psyke83]

there is one more minor thing though.........
System -> preferences -> sound preferences -> sounds
the Log Out / Log in test play's make no sound....

so when i login or logout, no sound comes out (more asethetical preference really) but would u have any idea why those don't work ????

That's to be expected. You see, PulseAudio is configured to launch per-user, not system-wide. That means the GDM greeter does not use PulseAudio, but plays directly through ALSA (and it's playing on the wrong device again).

You can try creating /etc/asound.conf and pasting the following:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
device 4
}

Of course, you may need to change the card/device number to match the same you used for PulseAudio. That should hopefully direct GDM's output to the right device.

Let me warn you that this *may* cause problems with some applications in PulseAudio (I tested and it seems ok, but I thought I'd warn you). If you have problems after trying this, just delete the /etc/asound.conf file.

[starnerd67]

hmmmmm that didn't work...........

is there anything i can check ??

[psyke83]

hmmmmm that didn't work...........

is there anything i can check ??

I'm not sure, sorry. It may not take effect until you restart the computer.