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#1 2014-06-13 17:08:10

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

I recently bought a new Plantronics Gamecom 780 headset and, with some configuration, set it up with Arch. However, I cannot actually change the volume. It is constantly at a fairly quiet volume. I can hear well enough,  but it's not as loud as I'd like. In alsamixer, after pressing F5, there are four columns for the headset.

1. "PCM Capture source". I can switch between "Mic", "Line", and "IEC958 In"
2. "Line". It has a volume bar for me to change, but it doesn't actually do anything.
3. "Mic". Also has bar, not sure if it does anything.
4. "S/PDIF In". Doesn't have a bar or any options. I can't do anything with it.

I haven't had to do many sound-config related things before, and any help with this problem would be much appreciated.

Last edited by whitewizard (2014-06-22 02:55:14)


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#2 2014-06-13 18:15:53

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Just for good measure, here's my ~/.asoundrc.

defaults.ctl.card 2
defaults.pcm.card 2

Yep, that's it.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#3 2014-06-13 18:55:19

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Also, here's a picture of my alsamixer.

http://imgur.com/CLT7jtt


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#4 2014-06-13 20:09:53

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Well, I've have kind of a lame solution. I followed some advice from the wiki page and now I use a pre-amp in alsa to turn the volume up. However, of course, this causes some unwanted sound distortion. I would still appreciate any advice you guys have about how to fix the problem in a less cheap, sound-distortiony way.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#5 2014-06-13 21:25:32

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Instead of posting pictures and describing alsamixer just post amixers output:

amixer -c 2

Show a little more information about the headset:

lsusb; systool -v -m snd_usb_audio; aplay -lL

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#6 2014-06-13 21:49:31

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

amixer output:

Simple mixer control 'PCM Capture Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Line' 'IEC958 In'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 27
  Front Left: Capture 27 [100%] [11.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 27 [100%] [11.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 27
  Front Left: Capture 27 [100%] [11.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 27 [100%] [11.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 In',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Pre-Amp',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 5
  Front Left: 1 [20%]
  Front Right: 1 [20%]

lsusb:

Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 013 Device 002: ID 047f:c010 Plantronics, Inc. 
Bus 013 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 012 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 011 Device 003: ID 413c:3012 Dell Computer Corp. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 011 Device 002: ID 413c:2107 Dell Computer Corp. 
Bus 011 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 010 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

systool:

Module = "snd_usb_audio"

  Attributes:
    coresize            = "121885"
    initsize            = "0"
    initstate           = "live"
    refcnt              = "4"
    taint               = ""
    uevent              = <store method only>

  Parameters:
    autoclock           = "Y"
    device_setup        = "0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"
    enable              = "Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y,Y"
    id                  = "(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null),(null)"
    ignore_ctl_error    = "N"
    index               = "-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1"
    pid                 = "-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1"
    vid                 = "-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1"

  Sections:
    .bss                = "0xffffffffa16ba980"
    .data               = "0xffffffffa16b60c0"
    .exit.text          = "0xffffffffa16adbe1"
    .gnu.linkonce.this_module= "0xffffffffa16ba700"
    .init.text          = "0xffffffffa16be000"
    .note.gnu.build-id  = "0xffffffffa16adbf4"
    .rodata             = "0xffffffffa16adc40"
    .rodata.str1.1      = "0xffffffffa16b35a0"
    .rodata.str1.8      = "0xffffffffa16b4968"
    .smp_locks          = "0xffffffffa16b6058"
    .strtab             = "0xffffffffa16c4530"
    .symtab             = "0xffffffffa16be020"
    .text               = "0xffffffffa169f000"
    __mcount_loc        = "0xffffffffa16b5b18"
    __param             = "0xffffffffa16b5a18"

aplay:

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
default:CARD=SB
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=SB
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=Generic,DEV=1
    HD-Audio Generic, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=Generic,DEV=2
    HD-Audio Generic, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=Generic,DEV=3
    HD-Audio Generic, HDMI 3
    HDMI Audio Output
default:CARD=P780
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=P780
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=P780,DEV=0
    Plantronics GameCom 780, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC892 Digital [ALC892 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: P780 [Plantronics GameCom 780], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#7 2014-06-13 22:03:28

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

What is the output of dmesg? This might be relevant, check it out before posting dmesg, to narrow it down to the interesting part. Here are parameters for usb sound module, should they be needed.

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#8 2014-06-13 23:47:12

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Okay, the potentially relevant parts of dmesg (the sound stuff):

[    3.176987] input: Plantronics Plantronics GameCom 780 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:16.0/usb13/13-2/13-2:1.3/0003:047F:C010.0003/input/input4
[    3.177039] hid-generic 0003:047F:C010.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.00 Device [Plantronics Plantronics GameCom 780] on usb-0000:00:16.0-2/input3
[    6.072924] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=11 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input14
[    6.072972] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=10 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input13
[    6.073004] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input12
[    6.073034] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input11
[    6.073063] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input10
[    6.073092] input: HD-Audio Generic HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input9
[    6.156081] input: HDA ATI SB Front Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input22
[    6.156114] input: HDA ATI SB Line Out Side as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input21
[    6.156145] input: HDA ATI SB Line Out CLFE as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input20
[    6.156175] input: HDA ATI SB Line Out Surround as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input19
[    6.156204] input: HDA ATI SB Line Out Front as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input18
[    6.156234] input: HDA ATI SB Line as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input17
[    6.156269] input: HDA ATI SB Rear Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input16
[    6.156298] input: HDA ATI SB Front Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input15

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#9 2014-06-14 12:11:17

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Alsa mailing list wrote:

Mika Fischer wrote:
> I have the problem with my Plantronics GameCom 780 USB headset, that
> the volume under Linux is much too loud.
> [...]
> Interestingly I had basically the same problem under Windows 8 until I
> installed the Windows 7 driver for the headset provided by
> Plantronics. Windows 8 had probably used a generic USB audio driver
> for the headset before and that exhibited exactly the same issue that
> I have now under Linux. After installing the driver, the volume was
> behaving normally again, [...]
> Does anyone have an idea what's going wrong here?

Apparently, the headset's firmware handles the volume settings in
some incorrect way.

> And maybe also how it could be fixed, as apparently it *can* be
> fixed in software?

Plantronics knows.

> I'd also be happy with a config file hack, that somehow scales the
> volume down and adjusts the reported gain levels so that the volume
> controls in pulseaudio make sense again.

This is possible, but only if we know what values to use.


What are the smallest steps you can change with amixer?


Regards,
Clemens

Either contact Platronics or the alsa-user mailing list, try to speak (communicate with the device sending it some data) to the headset directly or try different module parameters (although that probably will do nothing). There are some quirks for this headset mentioned in ''linux-source/linux-3.12/sound/usb/stream.c'' (search for 047f).

Last edited by emeres (2014-06-14 15:10:01)

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#10 2014-06-15 03:03:44

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

I should probably already know this, but how would I actually use a quirk? Would I just run it normally with sh? I tried that with a quirk I found and rebooted, but it didn't actually do anything.

Thanks for the help.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#11 2014-06-15 08:38:18

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Quirks usually refer to a module parameter, so it mostly comes down to reload a module with a specific parameter and value. I have not searched extensively within the code, maybe I interpreted it wrong. The ''case'' seems to be related to another product id, but the vendor id is correct.

You could also look at /proc/asound:

tree /proc/asound/card2

Seek some useful data, a codec that the headset uses would be informative for example. I doubt that changing values there would be interpreted.

Out of curiosity, what exactly did you run using shell?

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#12 2014-06-16 03:21:37

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

I just ran:

sh filename

That was rather silly. I see now what you're talking about. I'll start looking through the files.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#13 2014-06-18 22:18:08

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Any progress? If no, your best bet would be the alsa mailing list.

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#14 2014-06-19 03:48:17

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Erm, well, I've been gone for several days so I haven't really gotten to mess with it. I did get to look at the hwparams file. It just had "Closed" as the only line in the file. I'll try to do some tonight, now that I'm back.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#15 2014-06-19 17:19:39

whitewizard
Member
Registered: 2013-12-08
Posts: 24

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

I've messed with it some, but I've decided to return it for a more Linux friendly model. Even if I do get the volume working properly, it'll never have the Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound support for Linux. Anyway, I guess I'll close the thread since I'm returning it. However, since the issue was never really solved, I'm going to just mark it as closed.


“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
- Douglas Adams

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#16 2014-06-19 17:27:37

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: Plantronics Gamecom 780 volume doesn't change with ALSA

Please don't use [Closed], that denotes a locked thread.


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