Arch Linux

Fread

Member

Registered: 2020-02-29

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

Hello everyone,

I'm new to Arch Linux (one week) and I really enjoy the level of control it gives me. I'm polishing my new setup on my laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad x240, and I was ready to follow the instructions in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … lt_in_ALSA

But before going further, I would like to know :
- Why would I want to change my default sound card to output sound via line-out ? Is it somehow better than the out-of-the-box setup ?
- How do I check if my default sound card already outputs via line-out ? My /etc/asound.conf already exists and contains :

#Use PulseAudio by default
pcm.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
  }
}

ctl.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
}

# vim:set ft=alsaconf:

Last edited by Fread (2020-03-01 22:14:36)

Wild Penguin

Member

Registered: 2015-03-19

Posts: 406

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

I've always found ALSA and Pulseaudio configuration as confusing as .... well Pulseaudio and ALSA configuration! XD

Well, if I understand the situation correctly, that laptop, perhaps, outputs via digital interface (Optical/HDMI/DP) by default? That might not cater to everyone's needs, as they might have some analog device (speakers/amp). The laptop might not know what is inserted into an analog jack, and/or not know how to chance the output intelligently (depending on what the user has inserted there).

You may want to take a look at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … stallation and some of the frontends there (I've tried out pulsemixer in text mode). Also, pactl list short or pactl list sinks short might be a useful listing.

IMO the default Pulseaudio setup is quite user friendly with some graphical frontend (I use stuff which comes with KDE/Plasma). In the Wiki, they have given an example which should work regardless of the chosen GUI, but the same thing should be achievable in your DE. Also, if sound just works for you, I wouldn't worry about it too much...

Last edited by Wild Penguin (2020-02-29 11:32:50)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,396

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

You should primarily follow the pulse article if you already are using pulse. So you shouldn't follow that section and instead configure your pulse default device properly, which from the sounds of it already works, so you shouldn't unnecessarily change things.

blitz

Banned

Registered: 2014-06-14

Posts: 32

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

Once upon a time, long time ago, made use of hardware bit-perfect audio streaming.
USB 24/96kbits + mpd + ncmppcc + .flac

Simple, as is,
of the ~/.config/mpd/mpd.conf

# Audio Output ################################################################
#
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple 
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings 
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
	type		"alsa"
	name		"USB-Audio - USB Advanced Audio Device"
##	device		"hw:1,0"	# optional
    auto_resample    "no"
    auto_format      "no"
    auto_channels    "no"
    replay_gain_handler "none"
    mixer_type      "none"
##	mixer_type      "hardware"	# optional
##	mixer_device	"default"	# optional
##	mixer_control	"PCM"		# optional
##	mixer_index	"0"		# optional
}

https://i.imgur.com/jLvm4cK.png

Last edited by V1del (2020-03-01 09:38:25)

blitz

Banned

Registered: 2014-06-14

Posts: 32

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

You should primarily follow the pulse article if you already are using pulse. So you shouldn't follow that section and instead configure your pulse default device properly, which from the sounds of it already works, so you shouldn't unnecessarily change things.

Did /me best effort to find that alsa-tuning.sh script on the .net, which shows all configurable audio devices on the laptop/PC.
Not found it now - the script of NL audio specialist.

The acoustics are all about the mechanical drivers - Technics and Yamaha and wooden cabinets.
And Klipsch KEF.

https://i.imgur.com/BWAGuiT.jpg

Just not to forget ))
Kittie Kiss likes to spring up on the loudspeakers and to pose as music lover!

Last edited by blitz (2020-03-01 09:44:42)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,396

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

Please don't embed huge images directly: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

I also fail to see how any of this is of any relevance to OPs question. It's also pretty trivial to configure pulse for "bit-perfect" playback if that's what you care about, but this doesn't really relate to the question regardless.

blitz

Banned

Registered: 2014-06-14

Posts: 32

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

Please don't embed huge images directly: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

I also fail to see how any of this is of any relevance to OPs question. It's also pretty trivial to configure pulse for "bit-perfect" playback if that's what you care about, but this doesn't really relate to the question regardless.

I know where about goes the discussion.

blitz@inode ~/Users/SETUP/Media/iZotope % ls .
total 28
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root     0 Aug 21  2013  ./
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20480 Nov  8 13:54  ../
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root     0 Feb  8  2018 'iZotope OzoneMP'/
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096 Jul  1  2015 'iZotope Ozone DX RX VST'/
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096 Aug 29  2018 'iZotope RX'/

Yet again, `iZotope Ozone` made by musicians for musicians.
Which converts any living room into airy music hall.

Your remark of pictures got ACKnowledget.

Last edited by blitz (2020-03-01 09:55:45)

digitalone

Member

Registered: 2011-08-19

Posts: 355

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

I found that configuring audio via Alsa is very tricky. If you want something more simple, install Pulseaudio. Don't know which DE you're using, but switching different inputs/outputs it's easy with plasma-pa.

Fread

Member

Registered: 2020-02-29

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

I have to admit that I'm a bit lost regarding the discussion (discussions ?) that followed my question. But following the first advices : the sound is ok and correctly redirected to the jack output when I plug something in, so I guess I have nothing to do.

I guess the wiki was addressing something that was an issue in the past but is not relevant with the current Arch Linux version.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,396

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA : Wiki and how to check the default sound card

The issue is relevant but it's only really a problem on ALSA only setups (and also in general, this is nothing that's specific to that particular laptop). There the index of the relevant card can potentially change on boot and lead to the "wrong" card getting index 0 and without any other configuration index 0 is "ALSAs" default sound card. If you use pulseaudio anyway it uses some more stable heuristics to select and mark the correct card as default rather than an index that might change from boot to boot.

As you are using pulseaudio, you should not touch ALSA configuration files, but properly configure it using it's own means. The "reference GUI" to do that is pavucontrol, but most desktop environments include some form of their own integration.

I hope this clears this up a bit, if you feel this is [SOLVED] please mark it as such by editing the topic title (you might have to shorten it a little)

Last edited by V1del (2020-03-01 22:10:20)