I installed Pulseaudio, now what?

[terrapin231]

mikeb:

ah good ...all seems drastic action to get decent volume don't you think...

Yep, I agree. Given that alsa remains the default framework for sound in puppy and given that many people have low vol issues with alsa, it would appear that a pavucontrol clone for alsa would be the best option, short of a wholescale switch to pulse. As mentioned elsewhere, I haven't yet noticed any appreciable 'distortion' creeping into my sounds at 150% in pavucontrol but I've noticed I have to be careful when using individual player controls (e.g via EQ) in addition to this, or instead of, things go bad very quickly

mikeb:

I reckon this should be turned into a 'HOW TO'

Perhaps if a few people could use this thread to test things out for their setups and report back here it might be worth a 'HOW TO' but I'm not sure I'd feel confident to tidy it up enough to be watertight - for a 'HOW TO'. (Any volunteers ? Please)

I still think it would be best (and easier??) for someone to produce an pavucontrol clone for alsa. I guess there's a reason why something similar can't be incorporated into puppy with alsa (?)

[mikeb]

Not sure if you saw this...
http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/adding- ... nd-levels/
I get the feeling an alsa only method is possible...after all such as VLC can do this.

mike

[watchdog]

Read:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=139869

It did not work on my hardware. But with some changes I get it working. My /root/.asoundrc:

Code: Select all

pcm.louder {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "hw:0"
	ttable.0.0 4.0
	ttable.1.1 4.0
}
pcm.!default "louder"

You can change according to your hardware "4.0" to a value >=1.0 which fit for you. Begin for example with "2.0" to avoid damages. Tested with mhwavedit and deadbeaf.

[mikeb]

yes seems there is not one method that suits all.

Your config works great for deadbeef but vlc did not work... I changed to

Code: Select all

pcm.louder {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "plughw:0"
   ttable.0.0 4.0
   ttable.1.1 4.0
}
pcm.!default "louder"

and both were happy. 4 times is quite a boost ..easy to distort so as suggested perhaps try a conservative 2.
I had to use plughw for simple recorder on the same machine....I don't think it can handle 44100 without resampling which is probably a factor.

mike

[terrapin231]

Yes, had come across those two pages along the way but couldn't get either to work. The "softvol" plugin solution doesn't play ball for me, producing no preamp slider in alsamixer on my setup. Following some of the reply feedback at http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/adding- ... nd-levels/ I tried deleting asound.state and renewed with "alsaconf" and as I have Intel pantherpoint HDMI audio combined this with the alternative code suggested by feedback from "d" on that page. It doesn't work for me. There could be a multitude of reasons for this of course, not least that I don't really know what I'm doing : )) and may well have missed doing something obvious/important

@watchdog:
I tried your mod and for some odd reason it worked perfectly well for browser flash audio but I couldn't get DeadBeeF or Smplayer to produce sound. The alsa output plugin just wouldn't work - which is bizarre! Probably down to something I didn't do or change following creation of root/.asoundrc

At the moment, pulseaudio mod is still the only solution for me.

[mikeb]

I tried your mod and for some odd reason it worked perfectly well for browser flash audio but I couldn't get DeadBeeF or Smplayer to produce sound. The alsa output plugin just wouldn't work - which is bizarre! Probably down to something I didn't do or change following creation of root/.asoundrc

did you try my plughw variation that I had to do?

I never got a slider either...one of those linux myths ..indeed no sound at all testing that approach.

mike

[terrapin231]

@mikeb
Only just caught your post after sending mine, sorry. I'll give it a try and let you know but possibly not until tomorrow now. Thanks. All the best.
terrapin231

[terrapin231]

@mikeb

Sorry for delay. Yes, your "plughw" mod works for me I tested and now have it set to 4.0
At first, I couldn't get DeaDbeeF to play, no matter what output plugin I suggested but as soon as I closed Firefox which I had opened to test on flash (which worked just fine) DeaDbeeF played fine using Alsa output plugin/Default Audio Device.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with Smplayer as mplayer crashes when trying to use the default alsa plugin,even when all else is closed. It works selecting alsa (0.0 - HDA Intel PCH) output driver but unless I'm imagining it, this doesn't appear to come under influence of .asoundrc as volume is much lower and I have to adjust settings in Smplayer to push to a decent level. I will give things a workout over the next few days and see if imagination or reality wins the day. I guess I should also check for anything similar using the pulseaudio mod.

Edit: First indications are that this is down to Smplayer software audio config as I've found that unchecking some of the player-specific options, like "Enable EQ" allows default alsa to work = no mplayer crash.

[mikeb]

Yes the general picture is it takes some experimentation to get everything working ok. Deadbeef did not get on so well after making vlc happy for example.
mplayer has its own softvol too so might complicate the picture.

Very useful thread and info for anyone with this problem which is pretty common as far as i can see.

If I understand correctly such asound configs could make several entries/outputs which could be used independently on a per app basis...though again its a bit of a black art.

Additional note... hw as apposed to plug(hw) tends to monopolise the sound card which causes one app to lock out others....indeed anything that uses hw including and apps own alsa config.

mike

[Smithy]

There's a test tone generator here:
http://www.audiocheck.net/audiofrequenc ... netone.php

You can't get higher than 0 DBFS