what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

graysky · 2010-02-10 21:30:06

I've been using ALSA for ages but it has this annoying hissssssssss sound that comes from my speakers as soon as ALSA starts. I can only quiet it by turning the vol on the speakers all the way. Anyway, OSS doesn't have this sound and I'm wondering what else is out there sound that people use and like. So, what sound system are you using?

completist · 2010-02-10 21:48:23

I have always used OSS, it works without problems so I've never tried any other.

drcouzelis · 2010-02-10 22:05:44

completist wrote:

I have always used OSS, it works without problems so I've never tried any other.

That's the same reason I use ALSA.

I do believe OSS4 (GPL) is the better technology, and would love to see it used as the "official" sound system for Linux someday. ...again...

Last edited by drcouzelis (2010-02-10 22:06:07)

cool · 2010-02-10 22:46:35

ALSA seems like from stone ages and pluse too unstable. Hence,I am using OSSv4.

milomouse · 2010-02-10 23:16:58

Since I first setup Arch I've been using OSS. I tried pulseaudio for a little while (just to test it out as an alternative) but realized it wasn't what I really wanted, although the sound was fine. I still stand by OSS and don't see a reason to change except maybe the lack of an equalizer (not mixer), though it's not that important.

Arm-the-Homeless · 2010-02-10 23:37:33

I use OSSv4. Switched from ALSA.

ngoonee · 2010-02-11 01:46:59

Alsa and pulseaudio. And JACK when I'm doing recordings.

What's the point of this thread again? If its really just asking about what sound system we're using, it should be in Off-Topic at least.

toxygen · 2010-02-11 02:16:24

OSS 4 here as well (package oss-hg)

Version info: OSS 4.2 (b 2002/200912110018) (0x00040100) OSS_HG

i dont think there's been any updates lately though. I used alsa when i was using kubuntu, but always had problems with optical/digital audio out. i started using OSS when i switched to arch, and i havent had any issues that i can remember.

Last edited by toxygen (2010-02-11 02:16:42)

skottish · 2010-02-11 03:04:25

ALSA --> OSSv4 --> ALSA

OSS sounded somewhat better when it wasn't generating little popping noises. Every time it upgraded, the popping got worse. This wasn't from the output overdriving either; I could drop the levels way low and still with the pops.

I also couldn't get half of the hardware that I wanted to work with OSS to work, as well the mixer was a tragedy. I've heard that naming the channels after colors was what the hardware vendor did. If that's the case, ALSA does a good job of making sense of it all.

In the end I went back to ALSA. Surprisingly during the time I spent with OSS, ALSA's sound quality improved dramatically.

lordmetroid · 2010-02-11 03:21:01

I use alsa, for some reason OSS had crackling sound and was awfully low volume.

Berticus · 2010-02-11 05:14:05

ALSA's sound quality wasn't as good for me. So I'm using OSSv4.

Stythys · 2010-02-11 06:06:03

pulse ftw

kalpik · 2010-02-11 10:29:47

graysky wrote:

I've been using ALSA for ages but it has this annoying hissssssssss sound that comes from my speakers as soon as ALSA starts. I can only quiet it by turning the vol on the speakers all the way. Anyway, OSS doesn't have this sound and I'm wondering what else is out there sound that people use and like. So, what sound system are you using?

Mute all your MICs and Line Ins.. And the hissing should go..

KimTjik · 2010-02-11 11:51:33

OSS doesn't work in the system that I would like to use it. It can't handle the quite simple USB/DAC which results in endless I/O errors. I test it once in while to see if it's solved, but nothing so far.

The system is used for pure music listening and hence I skip the mixer in ALSA and let MPD connect directly to the device without any re-sampling. It sounds very well and until I can compare I've to settle and be satisfied with ALSA.

flamelab · 2010-02-11 11:52:41

Stythys wrote:

pulse ftw

Pulse is ALSA's frontend.

---------

ALSA. Gonna try OSSv4 now that KDE 4.4 Kmix is supposed to support it.

Can I find somewhere reliable information on the differences on audio usage and quality compared to ALSA ?

Last edited by flamelab (2010-02-11 11:53:12)

ngoonee · 2010-02-11 12:03:12

flamelab wrote:

Stythys wrote:
pulse ftw
Pulse is ALSA's frontend.

No it's not. ALSA is ALSA's frontend. Pulse is a sound server which uses kernel-space ALSA. Using ALSA without pulse is possible, though I don't do that personally.

flamelab wrote:

ALSA. Gonna try OSSv4 now that KDE 4.4 Kmix is supposed to support it.
Can I find somewhere reliable information on the differences on audio usage and quality compared to ALSA ?

Good luck finding non-biased information. From what I've seen, OSSv4 is basically supported by 'users' and its developer, while those who are more knowledgeable in Linux sound say ALSA. Of course, those are mainly alsa/pulse devs.

brebs · 2010-02-11 12:43:17

graysky wrote:

hissssssssss sound that comes from my speakers as soon as ALSA starts

So, debug it. See exactly which command causes the hiss, then throw some decent debugging info on the ALSA bugzilla.

You won't find ALSA devs here. Or on any other distro-specific forum, AFAIK.

Soumyadeep · 2010-02-11 13:07:34

pulse is shit, oss4 ftw!

KimTjik · 2010-02-11 13:37:31

Soumyadeep wrote:

pulse is shit, oss4 ftw!

That's not a fair comparison. Pulse is capable of doing stuff that OSS4 probably never will. Those who prefer OSS4 do if most likely for other reasons than why Pulse was developed. The problem with Pulse though is that its capabilities is beyond a straightforward desktop solution and that it became yet another project making the audio scene even more fragmented.

davidgurvich · 2010-02-11 14:49:07

Pulseaudio caused multiple problems and alsa had issues in other distributions but removing those and installing oss4 was quite difficult and the setup never worked well. On Arch oss4 is easy to install and well integrated with the only issue solved by a suspend script.

Soumyadeep · 2010-02-11 16:53:02

KimTjik wrote:

Soumyadeep wrote:
pulse is shit, oss4 ftw!
That's not a fair comparison. Pulse is capable of doing stuff that OSS4 probably never will. Those who prefer OSS4 do if most likely for other reasons than why Pulse was developed. The problem with Pulse though is that its capabilities is beyond a straightforward desktop solution and that it became yet another project making the audio scene even more fragmented.

that came out a from a personal experience, pulse uses much resources and puts a constant load to the cpu and it also has latency problems which drove me nuts...

johnpatcher · 2010-02-11 17:44:32

Some sort of stupid question: I've tried to change my sound system from alsa to oss, just in order to try it out. Sound seems to work fine, but the mixer applet indicates that the sound is deactivated.

When trying to open the volume control I get the following message:

No volume control GStreamer plugins and/or devices found.

As the wiki doesn't say anything different, I'm asking you whether oss is supported by gnome and its mixer? I know that there are various other mixers, but it would be great if Gnome would recognize my sound system . Do I have to install some other plugins/libraries?

Thanks in advance!

Meyithi · 2010-02-11 17:54:30

ALSA does everything I need it to, I set it and forgot about it @ installation.

Toffeeapple · 2010-02-11 19:30:38

Meyithi wrote:

ALSA does everything I need it to, I set it and forgot about it @ installation.

Same here, I've installed and used both pulse and OSS4 on occasion and used them for a few weeks but there is always some niggly little thing that drives me back to ALSA which as you mention, you set it and forget it.

rent0n · 2010-02-11 19:42:50

kalpik wrote:

graysky wrote:
I've been using ALSA for ages but it has this annoying hissssssssss sound that comes from my speakers as soon as ALSA starts. I can only quiet it by turning the vol on the speakers all the way. Anyway, OSS doesn't have this sound and I'm wondering what else is out there sound that people use and like. So, what sound system are you using?
Mute all your MICs and Line Ins.. And the hissing should go..

Awarded as the most useful post of the year (for me, at least)!

Btw, ALSA.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-10 21:30:06

what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#2 2010-02-10 21:48:23

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#3 2010-02-10 22:05:44

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#4 2010-02-10 22:46:35

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#5 2010-02-10 23:16:58

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#6 2010-02-10 23:37:33

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#7 2010-02-11 01:46:59

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#8 2010-02-11 02:16:24

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#9 2010-02-11 03:04:25

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#10 2010-02-11 03:21:01

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#11 2010-02-11 05:14:05

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#12 2010-02-11 06:06:03

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#13 2010-02-11 10:29:47

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#14 2010-02-11 11:51:33

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#15 2010-02-11 11:52:41

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#16 2010-02-11 12:03:12

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#17 2010-02-11 12:43:17

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#18 2010-02-11 13:07:34

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#19 2010-02-11 13:37:31

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#20 2010-02-11 14:49:07

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#21 2010-02-11 16:53:02

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#22 2010-02-11 17:44:32

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#23 2010-02-11 17:54:30

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#24 2010-02-11 19:30:38

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

#25 2010-02-11 19:42:50

Re: what sound system are you using: ALSA, OSS, or ...?

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