Arch Linux

nbqr

Member

Registered: 2013-06-27

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

Hi,

I have a strange issue where audio doesn't work properly during voice calls until pavucontrol is opened.
I use pulseaudio, and usually all sound works fine (listening to music, watching videos, etc). However, my microphone doesn't work during voice calls (e.g. with Discord, Zoom) until i open pavucontrol, after which all works fine again. I don't need to keep pavucontrol open.
I'm using an XLR microphone connected to an Audient iD4 USB interface.

The symtoms are slightly different in Zoom and Discord. In the former case, audio output works normally while input from my microphone does not. In the latter case, audio output is also badly distorted and choppy.

I've had this issue for quite a long time, at least a year. It entirely disappeared for some months, but has now reappeared. I've searched the Arch wiki and the wider internet for a similar situation, but haven't found anything.

Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: The issue is somehow related to the USB interface. I don't notice any problems (in particular the Discord output distortion/choppiness) with the interface physically disconnected.

Last edited by nbqr (2024-01-21 02:56:12)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,774

Re: [SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

Pavucontrol creates monitoring streams on all your devices -- i.e. wakes them up from suspend.

Try disabling power saving for your faulty USB interface: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Power_ … utosuspend and/or if that didn't help, you can also configure pulseaudio to not suspend your devices when not in use, remove

load-module module-suspend-on-idle

from your /etc/pulse/default.pa

nbqr

Member

Registered: 2013-06-27

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

Blacklisting power saving for the USB interface using udev rules did not work*, but removing

 load-module module-suspend-on-idle 

from the pulseaudio configuration file did the trick.

I'm very grateful for your help, you have spared me a lot of headache. Thank you!

* (In fact, it disabled my keyboard and I had to boot into my Arch installation medium to undo it. I took care to input the correct idVendor and idProduct as given by lsusb. I don't know if the wiki is faulty/outdated or I'm just being stupid.)

Last edited by nbqr (2024-01-21 03:02:06)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,774

Re: [SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

Disabling autosuspend (i.e. tell a device to not care about power usage and stay active all the time) should generally not lead to a regression in functionality, So I'm guessing you picked the wrong rule/instruction.

If you care about investigating this further maybe post the rule/output of lsusb

nbqr

Member

Registered: 2013-06-27

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

The output of lsusb is as follows:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2708:0003 Audient iD4
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05f3:0081 PI Engineering, Inc. Kinesis Integrated Hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0f0d:00c1 Hori Co., Ltd HORIPAD for Nintendo Switch
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05ac:0204 Apple, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0b05:190e ASUSTek Computer, Inc. ASUS USB-BT500
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 046d:c53f Logitech, Inc. USB Receiver
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Galaxy series, misc. (MTP mode)
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

For the udev rule, I used (in /etc/udev/rules.d/50-usb_power_save.rules):

# blacklist for usb autosuspend
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2708", ATTR{idProduct}=="0003", GOTO="power_usb_rules_end"

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="auto"
LABEL="power_usb_rules_end"

I also tried the same thing without the ATTR{idProduct}=="0003" since that is shared with a couple of the "root hubs".

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,774

Re: [SOLVED] Voice calling - audio problems until pavucontrol is opened

That "looks" correct. Try the disabling autosuspend one i.e.

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2708", ATTR{idProduct}=="0003", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1"