Arch Linux

low

Member

Registered: 2007-07-04

Posts: 109

pulse audio surround with intel-hda

I have a laptp with an integrated ich7 intel-hda card, and having just recently installing pulseaudio, i was wondering how to get proper 5.1 surround working. I'm assuming that the card supports up to 7.1 (hence iCH7), but I have a logitech z-5500 setup so I'm not too concerned about 7.1.

I've read http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~bondhugu/alsamch.shtml and http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-714712.html but I was wondering which way is correct, better or whatever, and if there is a way to use all channels in the mixer.

All I've done so far is http://www.pulseaudio.org/wiki/FAQ#Ihav … ntspeakers and sound currently plays out of only the right channel on my laptop, haven't tested it on the z-5500 though, but I'd like it to work on both regardless. Currently, the 'amixer' command outputs

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
  Front Left: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]

but in the gnome-volume-manager (and in alsamixer when I was using esd) there are controls for PCM, Front, Surround, Center, LFE and Side.

Any help?

Last edited by low (2008-04-28 19:51:43)

Dirhael

Member

From: /cold/north

Registered: 2008-03-12

Posts: 46

Re: pulse audio surround with intel-hda

I'm using the onboard ac97 on my system and what I do to setup PA is to first setup alsamixer to enable all the channels I need and test that it's working with speaker-test, then I just add the following to /etc/pulse/default.pa:

load-module module-alsa-sink device=surround51 channels=6

(I also comment out the hal/module detect lines because if those are enabled I'll just be left with regular stereo)

..and set it as default like done here on the Arch wiki. I don't know if this will help you, but I'd suspect you'd have to do something similar.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,066

Re: pulse audio surround with intel-hda

logitech z-5500

Me too. Get an Audigy 4 and you'll have much better audio quality - and won't need pulseaudio at all

I'm one of those rare people on the Internet who's actually done the research on this.

---

Improve your desktop responsiveness and font rendering and ALSA sound and BusyBox init

low

Member

Registered: 2007-07-04

Posts: 109

Re: pulse audio surround with intel-hda

logitech z-5500

Me too. Get an Audigy 4 and you'll have much better audio quality - and won't need pulseaudio at all

I'm one of those rare people on the Internet who's actually done the research on this.

Trust me I would, but I have a laptop...

I'm using the onboard ac97 on my system and what I do to setup PA is to first setup alsamixer to enable all the channels I need and test that it's working with speaker-test, then I just add the following to /etc/pulse/default.pa:
Code:

load-module module-alsa-sink device=surround51 channels=6

(I also comment out the hal/module detect lines because if those are enabled I'll just be left with regular stereo)

..and set it as default like done here on the Arch wiki. I don't know if this will help you, but I'd suspect you'd have to do something similar.

Doesn't seem to work. When I type 'pulseaudio -v', I get the error W: alsa-util.c: Device surround51 doesn't support 6 channels, changed to 2.
What did you do to setup alsamixer to enable all channels? I still only get one output channel 'Master' in alsamixer.

Also, do I need to load 'alsa' in my rc.conf if I have 'pulseaudio' in it?

Last edited by low (2008-04-28 23:17:09)

HyperBaton

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2008-01-18

Posts: 202

Re: pulse audio surround with intel-hda

Also, do I need to load 'alsa' in my rc.conf if I have 'pulseaudio' in it?

All that does is restore the audio levels as far as I know. You can do that yourself as well by doing "alsactl restore".

Dirhael

Member

From: /cold/north

Registered: 2008-03-12

Posts: 46

Re: pulse audio surround with intel-hda

logitech z-5500

Me too. Get an Audigy 4 and you'll have much better audio quality - and won't need pulseaudio at all

I'm one of those rare people on the Internet who's actually done the research on this.

Trust me I would, but I have a laptop...

I'm using the onboard ac97 on my system and what I do to setup PA is to first setup alsamixer to enable all the channels I need and test that it's working with speaker-test, then I just add the following to /etc/pulse/default.pa:
Code:

load-module module-alsa-sink device=surround51 channels=6

(I also comment out the hal/module detect lines because if those are enabled I'll just be left with regular stereo)

..and set it as default like done here on the Arch wiki. I don't know if this will help you, but I'd suspect you'd have to do something similar.

Doesn't seem to work. When I type 'pulseaudio -v', I get the error W: alsa-util.c: Device surround51 doesn't support 6 channels, changed to 2.
What did you do to setup alsamixer to enable all channels? I still only get one output channel 'Master' in alsamixer.

Also, do I need to load 'alsa' in my rc.conf if I have 'pulseaudio' in it?

Well, for my card I just need to run alsamixer -c CK804 (I've set PA as default so I need to specify the card to configure, else I'll just be left with a single Master to control), then set surround jack mode to independent, unmute Master/PCM/Surround/Center/LFE and set Channel Mode to 6ch.

As for loading alsa in rc.conf, you don't need it as you can do it manually, but seeing as it just restore/store the volume level then exits (so there's no additional process running) I see no reason why you wouldn't enable it.

Last edited by Dirhael (2008-04-29 21:21:10)