Arch Linux

tandycorp

Member

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 65

[SOLVED] Pulseaudio + gnome 3

Hello, for a few months I have arch installed with gnome 3 and always had the following problem.
I only use a simple external DAC for audio. It is connected to PC via the onboard audio spdif output (optical cable).
Sounds works, but as soon as I change the main system volume, either by pavucontrol or by the gnome applet, sound stops.
All apps are affected, I get no sound at all, in gogglesm using xine or any gstreamer app.

I tried different things
-all other outputs (audio hdmi output, analog output) are off,
-tried enabling virtual device in papref
-looked for config files, packages installed

Reading pulseaudio archwiki package requirements are correct

sudo pacman -Ss alsa |grep installed
extra/alsa-lib 1.0.27.2-1 [installed]
extra/alsa-plugins 1.0.27-2 [installed]
extra/alsa-utils 1.0.27.2-1 [installed]
extra/pulseaudio-alsa 2-2 [installed]
multilib/lib32-alsa-lib 1.0.27.2-1 [installed]
multilib/lib32-alsa-plugins 1.0.27-1 [installed]

[fco@archost ~]$ sudo pacman -Ss pulse |grep installed
extra/libao 1.1.0-3 [installed]
extra/libcanberra-pulse 0.30-4 [installed]
extra/libpulse 4.0-2 [installed]
extra/paprefs 0.9.10-2 [installed]
extra/pavucontrol 2.0-1 [installed]
extra/pulseaudio 4.0-2 [installed]
extra/pulseaudio-alsa 2-2 [installed]
multilib/lib32-libpulse 4.0-2 [installed]
[fco@archost ~]$ 

and oss is not installed or loaded
and anyway I get sound after rebooting..

any idea?

volume into apps works

Last edited by tandycorp (2013-10-29 23:09:16)

tandycorp

Member

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 65

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio + gnome 3

Don't understand why but "sysdefault" seems to be analog now (sound has stopped before typing this)

[fco@archost etc]$ aplay -Ll
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC898 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia_1,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia_1,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia_1,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia_1,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC898 Analog [ALC898 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC898 Digital [ALC898 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia_1 [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia_1 [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia_1 [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia_1 [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
[fco@archost etc]$ 

tandycorp

Member

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 65

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio + gnome 3

Nobody has problems with pulseaudio and digital spdif output ?
On a fresh install it never worked correctly...

tandycorp

Member

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 65

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio + gnome 3

Finally found it. Gui gnome settings was getting me nowhere, since this only affected alsa. /etc/asound.conf settings were not in cause. I needed to add the following line in /etc/pulse/default.pa

load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,1 rate=48000

0 is the card number, 1 is called the "device", in fact it is the output (analog is 0, digital is 1)
aplay -l will give you these numbers if your sound card is different than mine

There's a pretty good thread on ubuntu forum that describe how to configure pulseaudio with a digital setup, highly recommended

The conclusion : pavucontrol is worth nothing for the selection of the output

Last edited by tandycorp (2013-10-29 23:15:24)

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio + gnome 3

have you tried setting the digital output as default in ~/.asoundrc

pcm.!default {
  type hw
  card 0
  device 1
}

EDIT: ah.. you found another method already :)

Last edited by ooo (2013-10-29 23:19:53)