You are not logged in.

#1 2010-12-11 18:45:55

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

[Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Hello. I am running Arch with Gnome and PulseAudio. I'm having a strange problem with audio. Whenever I have Skype open as well as a browser (Chromium) I can only hear one of the applications. (This happens in other applications as well.) For example, when I am talking to someone on Skype I would not be able to listen to Pandora Radio of a YouTube video. Can anyone here help? Thanks.

Last edited by smithr.michael1997 (2010-12-12 18:50:58)


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#2 2010-12-11 18:50:47

Awebb
Member
Registered: 2010-05-06
Posts: 6,272

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Is there a special reason to use pulseaudio? Did you try it without pulse?

Offline

#3 2010-12-11 18:53:00

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Awebb wrote:

Is there a special reason to use pulseaudio? Did you try it without pulse?

Not really. It's what I'm used to from my days in Ubuntu. I was looking for a fix without having to switch audio servers.


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#4 2010-12-11 18:56:10

thestinger
Package Maintainer (PM)
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: 2010-01-23
Posts: 478

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

smithr.michael1997 wrote:
Awebb wrote:

Is there a special reason to use pulseaudio? Did you try it without pulse?

Not really. It's what I'm used to from my days in Ubuntu. I was looking for a fix without having to switch audio servers.

Are you actually using networked audio? If not, why do you need an audio server?

ALSA has dmix, and it can play multiple streams at once without pulse on top of it.

As for the pulse problem, it's probably due to things using ALSA/OSS outputs rather than pulse, which can break mixing.

Last edited by thestinger (2010-12-11 18:58:00)

Offline

#5 2010-12-11 19:09:18

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

thestinger wrote:

As for the pulse problem, it's probably due to things using ALSA/OSS outputs rather than pulse, which can break mixing.

Do you know of a fix?


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#6 2010-12-11 19:11:39

thestinger
Package Maintainer (PM)
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: 2010-01-23
Posts: 478

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

You could try installing pulseaudio-alsa which will make ALSA programs do

ALSA ---> Pulse ---> ALSA ---> soundcard

instead of

ALSA ---> soundcard

Last edited by thestinger (2010-12-11 19:12:01)

Offline

#7 2010-12-11 19:14:03

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

thestinger wrote:

You could try installing pulseaudio-alsa which will make ALSA programs do

ALSA ---> Pulse ---> ALSA ---> soundcard

instead of

ALSA ---> soundcard

Already have it.


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#8 2010-12-11 19:17:39

Ultraman
Member
Registered: 2009-12-24
Posts: 242

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Probably one of these applications is using the OSS compatibility of ALSA. As it is the default of a lot of apps to try OSS first.

ALSA has dmix which is a software mixer, but -in my experience- it often fails when the OSS compatibility is used. Perhaps it can work if you do some configuring of it, but since this is Newbie Forums, I guessing it's stock (no problem with that! that's fine).

An easy fix is to blacklist the snd-pcm-oss module, to prevent applications of using the OSS compatibility layer. You hardly need it nowadays.
Edit /etc/rc.conf with your favorite editor (and don't forget you need root priviliges to save your work wink ) and blacklist the module in the MODULES clause:

MODULES=(!snd-pcm-oss)

Now you can reboot and the module will no longer be loaded.

And if you don't want to reboot immediatly:
Make sure you have closed all apps that might use sound and therefor use the OSS module.
Go to a terminal and:

# rmmod snd-pcm-oss

Note the "#", this is with root priviliges again. So either become root or sudo to issue this command.

Offline

#9 2010-12-11 19:49:50

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Ultraman wrote:

Probably one of these applications is using the OSS compatibility of ALSA...

...An easy fix is to blacklist the snd-pcm-oss module...

...Now you can reboot and the module will no longer be loaded...

That did not fix the problem. Still can only hear one or the other.


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#10 2010-12-12 02:28:53

Ultraman
Member
Registered: 2009-12-24
Posts: 242

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Than it's probably not an issue of OSS being used instead of ALSA.
Could be related to PulseAudio, which I have no experience with, so I can't provide you with tips on that.

"Does it work without pulseaudio?" would be my question now.
That way you would know whether the problem lies with Pulseaudio or the components beneath it such as ALSA or soundcard selection (e.g. pc speaker stealing index 0).

Offline

#11 2010-12-12 03:04:16

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

I recommend ridding your system of pulse...forever. Even if it doesn't fix your issue, it is still one less layer of abstraction to worry about.

Offline

#12 2010-12-12 03:05:27

thestinger
Package Maintainer (PM)
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: 2010-01-23
Posts: 478

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Misfit138 wrote:

I recommend ridding your system of pulse...forever. Even if it doesn't fix your issue, it is still one less layer of abstraction to worry about.

Unfortunately, that might not be an option anymore for GNOME 3...

Last edited by thestinger (2010-12-12 03:17:21)

Offline

#13 2010-12-12 08:13:09

doorknob60
Member
Registered: 2008-09-29
Posts: 403

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

If you use 64 bit and Skype from multilib, install lib32-libpulse.

Offline

#14 2010-12-12 18:13:17

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Misfit138 wrote:

I recommend ridding your system of pulse...forever. Even if it doesn't fix your issue, it is still one less layer of abstraction to worry about.

doorknob60 wrote:

If you use 64 bit and Skype from multilib, install lib32-libpulse.

I already have lib32-libpulse.

I think that I will take Misfit138's advice and get rid of pulse and see if it works with alsa. Any advice for that would be great.

I will report back here with the results.


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

#15 2010-12-12 18:50:12

smithr.michael1997
Member
Registered: 2010-11-27
Posts: 16

Re: [Solved] Can't hear Skype and Web Browser at the same time?

Alright. I've managed to get everything working:

1. I removed pulseaudio (including all dependencies e.g. pulseaudio-gnome etc.)
2. Configured alsa using the instructions at the wiki.

So I'm all set. Thanks to everyone. I'll be sure to mark this as solved.


Regards, Michael Smith

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB