You are not logged in.

#1 2010-01-09 04:50:06

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Hey!

I am running Arch64 and have PulseAudio installed. I noticed that whenever I start any application that makes use of the system sound the volume goes to 100% for as long as that application is running, once the application is closed the volume returns to normal. How can I solve this? I have no idea where to start.

So far, I have been able to replicate this behavior with the following applications:
1- Rhythmbox.
2- Smplayer.
3- Totem.
4- VirtualBox.

How can I tackle this? Is this a known bug? Is there a configuration file somewhere that I can edit to stop this from happening?

Thanks!

D

Last edited by DavidR (2010-01-09 21:53:36)

Offline

#2 2010-01-09 05:31:27

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

I have a workaround that will probably work for you, delete the contents of ~/.pulse/*volumes* which contains details on your saved volumes.

The issue is that there's two different volumes, app (stream) volumes and device volumes. When you change volumes in the playback tab you're only affecting the volume of that single app, not anything else. The volume in Output Devices tab is sort of a limiter indicating what your 'global' volumes should be between apps.

You could also try playing around with the "System Sounds" stream under the playback tab.


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#3 2010-01-09 06:21:01

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Thanks ngoonee for your help. Unfortunately, I still have the same issue. The volume is still turned on too high whenever an application is opened.

Is this the default behavior?

Offline

#4 2010-01-09 06:39:45

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

It seems that this is the default behavior. My main problem was SMPlayer, but now with global volume turned on it's fine.

I had to manually lower the volume of all applications without paying any attention to the volume control which doesn't remember my settings. I will sure have troubles with new applications and any applications that can't remember volumes. In my opinion, this is a major bug. There should be a global volume level that all applications should always follow.

Offline

#5 2010-01-09 06:39:46

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

You're saying that after deleting those files and adjusting the volume of your device when you open the app the volume changes? No that's not default behaviour.


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#6 2010-01-09 06:42:22

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Yes, the volume of the device returns to 100% whenever an application is started. sad

Offline

#7 2010-01-09 09:44:11

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Its a bug then. Could you:-
(a) submit a bug on pulseaudio's website
(b) send an email to the PA mailing list
so that those who actually know the software get to see it?


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#8 2010-01-09 10:20:04

lucke
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2004-11-30
Posts: 4,018

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Disable flat volumes in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf.

Offline

#9 2010-01-09 21:53:16

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

That solved it. Thanks! I was about to switch to OSS.

Offline

#10 2010-01-10 03:29:47

alexanderQ\
Member
Registered: 2009-10-30
Posts: 11

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

so does it mean pulseaudio has a bug?

Offline

#11 2010-01-10 07:10:50

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

I use it daily and have not experienced that behaviour, hence why I asked the OP to consider submitting a bug. Its probably some type of slightly different configuration or rarely-encountered bug, since something like this would be very noticeable to all pulseaudio users if its a 100%-hit bug.


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#12 2010-01-10 12:27:49

lucke
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2004-11-30
Posts: 4,018

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

It might be a pulseaudio bug, it might be a bug in apps, it might be a feature.

There's a thread on pulseaudio's ML with one guy saying that flat volumes don't work like they should, with apps boosting global volume, and the main developer of pulseaudio arguing that's the intended behaviour.

Last edited by lucke (2010-01-10 12:29:08)

Offline

#13 2010-01-11 01:51:16

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

I've been following that thread, and I know that for me, apps boost global volume BUT currently playing apps have their volumes reduced at the same time. Main usage is for system event sounds. There used to be problems that the current apps would be amplified as well, but that doesn't happen anymore. I believe OP was talking about current apps having their volumes changed as well?


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#14 2010-01-12 23:00:22

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

I am sorry for abandoning the thread like that.

Yes, what I meant was that every application had a global volume. The flat volume feature was not working. I basically had no flat volume, it always went to 100% whenever an application was started and only went back whenever that application was stopped. It actually gave me some earache.

Starting a new application meant that I had to hear a deafening level of sound. Even when the volumes were adjusted in applications, I always had to endure two second of a very loud sound volume before the application's volume took over.

I am using the onboard audio of an MSI 790GX motherboard.

Anyway, I switched to OSS, and now the whole thing is resolved. The fix that was posted here worked as well, but it still was annoying given that the line that lucke referred to actually was commented out! I decided that pulseaudio was still as buggy as ever and that's why I decided to go back to the safety of the new OSS.

Offline

#15 2010-01-13 00:48:56

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Of course, this is linux and you can choose what works for you. Also cos this is linux, however, it'd be the responsible thing to do to report this as a bug to pulseaudio's bug tracker.

Unfortunately I guess its to be expected that most won't do this. Hence corner cases will always remain unfixed. Much easier to chalk it up to the app's bugginess (which is probably true to some extent) then let the dev know and help to solve the issue.


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#16 2010-01-13 14:50:39

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Actually, I have never filed a bug report in my life. Whenever I discover a bug and think that it's time to make a report I always find that someone else have done the exact same thing.

As for this matter, I reckoned that it must be my fault in a way. This is a new computer, and I initially installed OSS, but then it didn't work due to an error in my own installation, so instead of reinstalling it I decided to use the more cpu-hungry pulseaudio (It was, at least back when I used Ubuntu on a 1GHz Celeron computer) now that I have the extra power. I also heard that Realtek is always bad news no matter what you do, so I figured out that it must be something that has to do with the fact that I didn't install pulse from the beginning or that there's something wrong with the support for my new onboard audio.

Offline

#17 2010-01-13 16:08:24

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

Well, I'd encourage you to at least drop a mail on the pulse ML (if you tend to subscribe to MLs) or at least drop by the pulseaudio IRC chat for a quick check to see whether it IS a bug. If its a misconfiguration, it shouldn't take too long for them to set you right, and you gain a working system smile


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Offline

#18 2010-01-13 16:18:35

DavidR
Member
Registered: 2009-09-17
Posts: 34

Re: Pulseaudio volume [solved]

I promise I will if I ever install pulse again. It would be a real pain removing oss, install pulse, and mplayer-pulse all over again. smile Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

I am having some issues with VirtualBox, and I promise that I will report any errors this time. smile

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB