Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-09 13:28:28

xfce4-mixer says I am using "Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer)" and the speakers and mic work, but the speakers are VERY quiet. I can't hear well enough to make a phone call with Skype. So I tried this:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfc … ew_Xfce4.6

and it's not any better (I rebooted after I did that just to be sure). I have the volume on the physical speakers on 100% and xfce4-mixer also set to 100%.

I know that these speakers are actually pretty loud because other distros were LOUD.

Any suggestions how to debug this?

Thanks.

dusanx · 2009-06-09 17:28:57

Start ossxmix and try setting volume there. Master volume levels etc.

Edit: there are two skype versions, one of them is for oss4.

Last edited by dusanx (2009-06-09 17:41:38)

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-09 17:44:48

[kirk@localhost ~]$ ossxmix 
No mixers are available
[kirk@localhost ~]$ ossmix
Mixer device 0 has no functionality
[kirk@localhost ~]$ sudo ossxmix
Password: 
No mixers are available
[kirk@localhost ~]$ sudo ossmix
Mixer device 0 has no functionality
[kirk@localhost ~]$

dusanx · 2009-06-09 18:24:24

Can you paste ossmix (without middle x) results?

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-09 18:28:20

I did. Please reread my above post. I put both as regular user and as su.

lucke · 2009-06-09 18:57:06

Is there any specific reason you want to use OSS4 and not ALSA?

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-09 19:01:52

None whatsoever!

So long as it works with Xfce I'm happy. And I don't require xfce4-mixer either. I don't care about that--I just want to have normal sound, that's all.

Should I try to remove oss and install alsa as per http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA#Installation ?

lucke · 2009-06-09 19:09:18

ALSA is the Linux' default and thus generally less troublesome/more integrated. Unless you have a reason to use OSS, it's safer to stay with ALSA.

FallenWizard · 2009-06-09 21:05:35

@lucke
http://insanecoding.blogspot.com/2007/0 … linux.html

@CaptainKirk
What's the output of soundoff && soundon?

lucke · 2009-06-09 21:19:48

It's typical, OSS guys bash ALSA, ALSA guys bash OSS. That doesn't change the fact that ALSA is the default sound system in Linux and all default apps work with it out of box.

The description of the problem points to some strange OSS issue - sound works, mixers don't. Trying ALSA instead sounds like a ... sound idea.

FallenWizard · 2009-06-09 21:36:56

lucke wrote:

It's typical, OSS guys bash ALSA, ALSA guys bash OSS. That doesn't change the fact that ALSA is the default sound system in Linux and all default apps work with it out of box.
The description of the problem points to some strange OSS issue - sound works, mixers don't. Trying ALSA instead sounds like a ... sound idea.

calm down, he wants to get OSS running and not ALSA. The only app which is not running with OSS is the pSX Emulator, everything else runs with OSS just fine.

R00KIE · 2009-06-10 01:34:52

lucke wrote:

It's typical, OSS guys bash ALSA, ALSA guys bash OSS. That doesn't change the fact that ALSA is the default sound system in Linux and all default apps work with it out of box.
The description of the problem points to some strange OSS issue - sound works, mixers don't. Trying ALSA instead sounds like a ... sound idea.

Bashing aside, if you look at the forum posts you will see more people with problems with alsa than people with problems with oss (maybe because everyone tries alsa first).

Alsa may be easier to get to work at first but then you stumble into the mute speakers when using headphones problem, not that oss is better here I guess but at least I have a checkbox to mute the speakers and/or headphones at my discretion.

Then joy of joys you find that sometimes your soundcard gets hijacked by some program (which can be _almost_ solved with dmix), that doesn't happen with oss (oss even provides per app volume control), then mic capture problems, usually the problem is setting the source correctly but with a bit of luck you can get poor quality with mic capture (yay), then poor resampling quality (I seriously did try to use a better resampler but it just wouldn't work, at least no difference in sound quality).

It seems that each kernel update can bring you a new headache, looking at recent posts here on the forum gives that idea. Then there is the problem of documentation, as far as I know and have experienced, alsa can do many cool things the problem is finding out how to make it do what we want, I guess oss isn't much better there too.

I'm not talking like a parrot, I've experienced all of this with alsa, except alsa breaking with a kernel update. With oss it just took me a while to figure out how to set up capture but eventually I did figure it out, the quality of playback and recording is flawless although there are a few programs that refuse to play well with oss and suspend/hibernate needs some extra steps.

@CaptainKirk
What does ossinfo say?

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-10 07:30:52

To clarify, I don't actually care if I use oss or alsa or a
kerosene-powered dust buster. I just want to be able to hear youtube and
Skype normally. And the problem isn't just Skype--also youtube is very
quiet.

I removed oss and alsa was still there. Or it claimed to be. I rebooted
but amixer and alsaconf were 'command not found'

I installed oss again and soundon gave a crazy output about conflicting
drivers. So I rebooted. When I now click on my Xfce mixer panel addon it says

GStreamer was unable to detect any sound devices. Some sound system 
specific GStreamer packages may be missing. It may also be a permissions 
problem.

So I added myself (once again) to the audio group and installed oss again. Now I see this:

[kirk@localhost ~]$ /etc/rc.d/oss restart
:: Stopping Open Sound System                                            [BUSY] /etc/rc.d/oss: line 18: /usr/sbin/soundoff: Permission denied
                                                                         [FAIL] 
:: Starting Open Sound System                                            [BUSY] /etc/rc.d/oss: line 8: /usr/sbin/soundon: Permission denied
                                                                         [FAIL] 
[kirk@localhost ~]$ sudo /etc/rc.d/oss restart
:: Stopping Open Sound System                                            [BUSY] OSS not loaded.
                                                                         [DONE] 
:: Starting Open Sound System                                            [DONE] 
[kirk@localhost ~]$ ossinfo
Version info: OSS 4.1 (b 1052b/200905252233) (0x00040100) GPL
Platform: Linux/i686 2.6.29-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 20 07:06:02 UTC 2009 (localhost)

Number of audio devices:    7
Number of audio engines:    11
Number of mixer devices:    1


Device objects
 0: osscore0 OSS core services
 1: oss_hdaudio0 Intel HD Audio interrupts=502 (507)
    HD Audio controller Intel HD Audio
    Vendor ID    0x808627d8
    Subvendor ID 0x103c2a59
     Codec  2: ALC888 (0x10ec0888/0x103c2a59)
 2: oss_usb0 USB audio core services


Mixer devices
 0: High Definition Audio ALC888 (Mixer 0 of device object 1)

Audio devices
HD Audio play front               /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0  (device index 0)
HD Audio play rear                /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm1  (device index 1)
HD Audio play center/LFE          /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm2  (device index 2)
HD Audio play side                /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm3  (device index 3)
HD Audio play pcm4                /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm4  (device index 4)
HD Audio rec mix                  /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcmin0  (device index 5)
HD Audio rec mix                  /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcmin1  (device index 6)

  /dev/dsp -> /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0
  /dev/dsp_in -> /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0
  /dev/dsp_out -> /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0
  /dev/dsp_mmap -> /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0
  /dev/dsp_multich -> /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcm0

I am a bit lost now.

EDIT But now when I click on the mixer it says "Sound card: High Definition Audio ALC888 (OSS v4 Audio Mixer)" and when I select controls there are approximately sixty options. Really, sixty.

Last edited by CaptainKirk (2009-06-10 07:32:33)

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-10 09:03:05

I was so distraught that I forgot to test my sound after I reinstalled OSS. Now it's LOUD like it should be.

I also needed of course to replace skype package with skype-oss. That was part of the fix I suppose. I do also note that now I have a different sound card driver than initially.

I guess now I will just have to figure out which of the 60 sound controls are actually relevant and then adjust those.

Thanks!

Last edited by CaptainKirk (2009-06-10 09:07:29)

R00KIE · 2009-06-10 10:33:32

I use xfce too and I use ossxmix, I dont even have the xfce mixer installed, you can start the oss mixer with "ossxmix -b" and it will stay as one icon on the notification area. Most probably ossxmix will be huge but maybe it will know the names of the inputs/outputs you have.

CaptainKirk · 2009-06-10 10:48:16

R00KIE wrote:

I use xfce too and I use ossxmix, I dont even have the xfce mixer installed, you can start the oss mixer with "ossxmix -b" and it will stay as one icon on the notification area. Most probably ossxmix will be huge but maybe it will know the names of the inputs/outputs you have.

ah, this is better. well maybe. at least it's different. Yes it has a LOT of options also (same ones I think) but it's easier to read.

xfcemixer is a better interface IMO, but i need to get the right controls activated.

Thanks!

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-09 13:28:28

Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#2 2009-06-09 17:28:57

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#3 2009-06-09 17:44:48

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#4 2009-06-09 18:24:24

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#5 2009-06-09 18:28:20

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#6 2009-06-09 18:57:06

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#7 2009-06-09 19:01:52

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#8 2009-06-09 19:09:18

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#9 2009-06-09 21:05:35

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#10 2009-06-09 21:19:48

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#11 2009-06-09 21:36:56

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#12 2009-06-10 01:34:52

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#13 2009-06-10 07:30:52

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#14 2009-06-10 09:03:05

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#15 2009-06-10 10:33:32

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

#16 2009-06-10 10:48:16

Re: Realtek ALC888 (OSS Mixer) Very Quiet

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