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Vamp898

Member

From: 東京

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 912

Website

[WORKAROUND] AUDIOBOX USB96 Input Volume capped at 50%

Hi there,

i bought the above mentioned device after reading its perfectly supported by the Linux kernel, but i seem to run into an issue i fail to debug due to lack of knowledge in Pipewire.

My issue is that the volume is always capped at 50%. I see the input device in KDEs GUI Tool and i can go to 100% volume, but no matter how "loud" i set the DI-Box, even when its clipping/distorting, it never goes beyond 50%.

This causes that everybody tells me, my mic volume is too low, they can't hear me/understand me. I do not have this issue with other Mics. When i try to run alsamixer to check the audiobox, i get an segmentation fault selecting the DI-Box...

So that is my issue, any help appreciated

//EDIT: I totally forgot to mention, the MIC works fine in Audacity and goes to 100% Volume but(!) it is detected as stereo but only has mono. Maybe that is the issue. In Audacity, one Channel goes to 100% while the other Channel stays quiet. That would explain the 50% "cap". I assume that Firefox and so on play both channels with 50% max to reach 100% total.

So the reason is 100% sure the Stereo issue. the MIC is an Mono MIC but the DI provides it as stereo. I found a workaround by using QJackCtl and just unplugging the right channel and plugging the left channel to both inputs in Firefox. Its not an nice solution but it works.

I would be very happy if anyone has a better solution^^ Thanks in advance

Last edited by Vamp898 (2024-04-16 07:16:20)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,826

Re: [WORKAROUND] AUDIOBOX USB96 Input Volume capped at 50%

Sadly this seems to be the case with many audio cards/drivers that they advertise support for stereo while actually only properly implementing mono. What I'd do is set up a remapping sink e.g.

pactl load-module module-remap-source source_name='Mono Mic' master=$mastersourcename$ channels=1 channel_map=mono master_channel_map=front-left remix=no

you'll get the source master name from

pactl list sources

if that worked create a snippet for /etc/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.d/50-configureMonoMic

pulse.cmd = [
    { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-remap-source source_name='Mono Mic' master=$mastersourcename$ channels=1 channel_map=mono master_channel_map=front-left remix=no" flags = [ "nofail" ] }
]

and then move applications to that source

Last edited by V1del (2024-04-08 15:03:18)

Vamp898

Member

From: 東京

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 912

Website

Re: [WORKAROUND] AUDIOBOX USB96 Input Volume capped at 50%

Sadly this seems to be the case with many audio cards/drivers that they advertise support for stereo while actually only properly implementing mono. What I'd do is set up a remapping sink e.g.

pactl load-module module-remap-source source_name='Mono Mic' master=$mastersourcename$ channels=1 channel_map=mono master_channel_map=front-left remix=no

you'll get the source master name from

pactl list sources

if that worked create a snippet for /etc/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.d/50-configureMonoMic

pulse.cmd = [
    { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-remap-source source_name='Mono Mic' master=$mastersourcename$ channels=1 channel_map=mono master_channel_map=front-left remix=no" flags = [ "nofail" ] }
]

and then move applications to that source

Thanks for that hint. Sadly in that case, there exists only Workarounds, but at least these do exist and work. So its okay for me but yeah...^^