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ephemeralCuriosities

Member

From: Puerto Rico

Registered: 2014-11-23

Posts: 34

[SOLVED] Plasma - Unwanted audio fade-in, muted when switching output

Every time audio starts while using Plasma—be it from playing music, videos or simply system sound effects (like volume control or app notifications)—it always applies a fade-in. Not only is this unwanted, it also causes problem when switching from Line Out to Headphones: If switching from one to the other while the audio hasn't played for over 20 seconds (based on timing with phone) it will remain muted until I switch back. None of the Plasma settings relating to audio change this behavior.

Doubt it's a PulseAudio issue since the fade-in/audio mute never pops out if I have pavucontrol open. That said, I did try switching exit-idle-time in daemon.conf to a negative value to see if it was an issue with PA turning itself off when idle (since the 20 seconds matched the default time in that variable). That changed nothing, however, which is why I think it's a Plasma issue. Could not find anything relating to audio fade in the wiki, so if there's a setting I'm missing I don't know what it is.

Using the GStreamer backend with the base/good/bad plugins, if it helps. Have not tried the vlc backend since I've heard it has its own issues.

Last edited by ephemeralCuriosities (2018-05-19 22:21:14)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,756

Re: [SOLVED] Plasma - Unwanted audio fade-in, muted when switching output

Doubt this has anything to do with plasma. More likely cause: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p1766206

ephemeralCuriosities

Member

From: Puerto Rico

Registered: 2014-11-23

Posts: 34

Re: [SOLVED] Plasma - Unwanted audio fade-in, muted when switching output

That did it, thanks!

Semi-related: Was there an announcement regarding this change? I was offline six months due to a blackout but while I was looking for info before updating I didn't see anything about that change. Seems like something worth mentioning somewhere, especially for a new install.

Now that I know the variable I searched the wiki for it and the only mention is in the Power management page, where it says the option is off by default (which is no longer the case, based on the linked post).

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,756

Re: [SOLVED] Plasma - Unwanted audio fade-in, muted when switching output

No it was pretty silent, and I'm also not entirely sure on the rationale, you are definitely not the first and likely not the last being bitten by it. I might open up a report to have this reverted, as I'm incidentally affected by an issue where my laptop shuts off (as in power cycles like pulling the plug) if it is enabled and I insert something into my headphone jack. So it might even have some more far reaching effects than simple delay in audio output.