Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

bluesnowball · 2015-07-27 20:28:44

Hello guys.

I have been struggling with my Blue Snowball USB mic for hours now. The volume of the mic is extremely low (and not working).

I can verify that the mic works properly since I have just tested it on my Windows 7 machine. I have tried looking for answers myself at the ALSA and PulseAudio ArchWiki and on the internet. My mic is not muted in alsamixer, it is also not muted in PulseAudio Volume Control and it is detected in both. I have enabled the channels with "space" at the capture tab (F4) in alsamixer and everything is turned up to max volume. The problem is that even though the volume is maxed out, in Pulse Audio Volume Control you can see that the bar sticks around the "Silence" part when you talk at a "normal" volume. It does go up if I move the microphone from side to side on the table or talk extremely loud but the strange thing is, if I test it in a skype testing service, even if I talk very loud (and you see the bars moving in Pulse Audio Volume Control) you will hear nothing at playback time.
Same thing happens if I raise the dB in Pulse Audio Volume Control, it just does not seem to work. My internal mic in my laptop does work perfectly with skype, however the quality is way and way lower compared to my USB mic. I am starting to believe that perhaps this mic is not compatible. If you have any ideas what might be wrong or you have any suggestions, that would be very appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

kahrkunne · 2015-08-29 17:29:20

I have a Blue Snowball myself, and it's definitely compatible and doesn't require anything special to be installed outside of pulseaudio. Volume works just fine here.
I don't think I can fix your issue but I can confirm that the issue is on your end.

uberscientist · 2015-09-16 02:36:10

I also have the low volume issue, have used pulse audio in the past without any success. I've just learned to normalize everything after recording, the quality is still pretty great,... I just wish it was louder when using telephony apps too.

Rumor · 2015-09-16 21:31:01

I have a Blue Yeti that works quite well, so I would think the Snowball would work just fine as well. I had an issue at one point where it was not recording at all. Alsamixer showed the capture volume at max, but nothing was registering in Audacity. It wasn't until I selected the microphone via Alsamixer's F6 menu that I noticed the capture there was at 0. So I wonder if perhaps you're experiencing the same issue.

│ Card: Yeti Stereo Microphone                         F1:  Help               │
│ Chip: USB Mixer                                      F2:  System information │
│ View: F3: Playback  F4:[Capture] F5: All             F6:  Select sound card  │
│ Item: Mic [dB gain: 25.00, 25.00]                    Esc: Exit               │
│                                                                              │
│                            ┌──┐     ┌──┐     ┌──┐                            │
│                            │  │     │  │     │  │                            │
│                            │  │     │  │     │  │                            │
│                            │  │     │  │     │  │                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │  │                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                            │
│                            └──┘     └──┘    L└──┘R                           │
│                                            CAPTURE                           │
│                             74       76     60<>60                           │
│                            Bass    Treble <  Mic   >                         │

Once I set the capture slider on this screen, it worked fine with a nice full rich volume.

raggerv8 · 2015-10-27 22:06:44

My problem with this mic has been the low volume. I posted about it on reddit a while ago, and also asked on IRC, I've also googled to no end, and NOTHING have worked. Literally nothing.

This is my alsamixer: https://i.imgur.com/g6Skh64.png

Notice how the dB gain on the mic is 14. That's the highest, and that's really low. It's so low that it's a problem, and I don't understand how I can make it go higher. I use ALSA and Jack. With Pulseaudio, I can boost it above 100% in pavucontrol, but that only works if I record mic with pulseaudio. When I record screen+mic, I use JACK, so I can't do that.

What do? I've been struggling for months, ever since I got the mic.

raggerv8 · 2015-11-13 16:16:52

I found a workaround that works rather well https://github.com/MaartenBaert/ssr/iss … -156467383
Does what I want even if you have to take a little effort, it's worth it.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-07-27 20:28:44

Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

#2 2015-08-29 17:29:20

Re: Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

#3 2015-09-16 02:36:10

Re: Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

#4 2015-09-16 21:31:01

Re: Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

#5 2015-10-27 22:06:44

Re: Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

#6 2015-11-13 16:16:52

Re: Blue Snowball USB Mic with ALSA and PulseAudio volume problem

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