Playing sound from multiple applications?

nerdster · 2011-07-25 17:01:22

Hi, I recently started using Arch and I'm loving it but I have one problem. My ALSA can only play sound from one application at a time, so I have to use pulseaudio for the others. But pulseaudio doesn't recognize my mic so I can't remove ALSA. ALSA just says "device busy" or something. And yes I tried to search before posting but didn't find an answer.

Thanks

Gooru · 2011-07-25 22:32:37

I had similar problem once, do you have gstreamer installed? Any logs?

nerdster · 2011-07-26 00:33:50

This is what I found from the logs:

Jul 18 21:38:34 arch pulseaudio[946]: alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
Jul 18 21:38:34 arch pulseaudio[946]: alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 18 21:38:34 arch pulseaudio[946]: alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.
Jul 19 00:53:54 arch pulseaudio[946]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 19 00:53:54 arch pulseaudio[946]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 19 21:59:22 arch pulseaudio[963]: alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
Jul 19 21:59:22 arch pulseaudio[963]: alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 19 21:59:22 arch pulseaudio[963]: alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.
Jul 20 02:35:47 arch pulseaudio[963]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 20 02:35:47 arch pulseaudio[963]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 20 12:22:05 arch pulseaudio[981]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 20 12:22:05 arch pulseaudio[981]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 20 12:22:05 arch pulseaudio[981]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 21 01:25:49 arch pulseaudio[953]: alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
Jul 21 01:25:49 arch pulseaudio[953]: alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 21 01:25:49 arch pulseaudio[953]: alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.
Jul 21 14:33:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 21 14:33:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 21 14:33:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 22 01:58:04 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 22 01:58:04 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 22 02:20:11 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 22 02:20:11 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 22 02:48:30 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 23 00:21:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
Jul 23 00:21:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 23 00:21:44 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.
Jul 23 11:43:46 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 23 11:43:46 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 23 11:43:56 arch pulseaudio[973]: alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy
Jul 24 03:05:32 arch pulseaudio[954]: alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
Jul 24 03:05:32 arch pulseaudio[954]: alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 24 03:05:32 arch pulseaudio[954]: alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.

And yes I have gstreamer.

Last edited by nerdster (2011-07-26 00:35:45)

linovix · 2011-07-26 00:56:45

I am actually having the same problems currently. Upon startup I can run sound using cmus no problem, then when I try to play a youtube video there's no sound. The same happens vice versa and when I close one the other will play no problem.

Gooru · 2011-07-26 14:18:15

It seems like there's a lot similar problems, but with different symptoms. What is your audio device? Post results of

lspci | grep Audio

Maybe there's a possibility that you use other device or alsa loads wrong module? Do you have up to date versions of alsa and pulseaudio?

nerdster · 2011-07-26 14:37:05

linovix wrote:

I am actually having the same problems currently. Upon startup I can run sound using cmus no problem, then when I try to play a youtube video there's no sound. The same happens vice versa and when I close one the other will play no problem.

Exactly this.

Gooru wrote:

It seems like there's a lot similar problems, but with different symptoms. What is your audio device? Post results of
Maybe there's a possibility that you use other device or alsa loads wrong module? Do you have up to date versions of alsa and pulseaudio?

lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

Alsa and pulseaudio seem to be up to date, don't know anything about the module loading thing though.

Gooru · 2011-07-26 19:12:32

I found something, please read this https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=120307. Isn't this the same issue? There's also solution and explanation provided.

linovix · 2011-07-27 00:36:30

I got the issue solved on mine. I had apparently during my frustrations installed oss and pulseaudio. I removed pulse and oss and reinstalled pulse again. I still had problems at first but I found the issue lied in pulseaudio's configuration. By installing pavucontrol I was able to set the appropriate audio hardware and now my sound works flawlessly.

Thanks!!

ChoK · 2011-07-27 19:24:09

Please mark the topic as SOLVED for future reference when people start searching for the same issue. Also don't forget that flash needs additional libraries to be able to use pulseaudio.

karol · 2011-07-27 19:25:43

ChoK wrote:

Please mark the topic as SOLVED for future reference when people start searching for the same issue. Also don't forget that flash needs additional libraries to be able to use pulseaudio.

Well, nerdster is the OP and we don't know if it's working for him.

nerdster · 2011-07-29 19:01:32

Well I still haven't solved this but I guess I have to deal with it.

ScannerDarkly · 2011-07-30 14:20:41

If you're using ALSA, software mixing is handled by dmix by default. If it isn't working create ~/.asoundrc (.asoundrc in /home/<user>) with the contents:

pcm.dsp {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmix"
}

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-25 17:01:22

Playing sound from multiple applications?

#2 2011-07-25 22:32:37

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#3 2011-07-26 00:33:50

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#4 2011-07-26 00:56:45

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#5 2011-07-26 14:18:15

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#6 2011-07-26 14:37:05

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#7 2011-07-26 19:12:32

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#8 2011-07-27 00:36:30

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#9 2011-07-27 19:24:09

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#10 2011-07-27 19:25:43

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#11 2011-07-29 19:01:32

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

#12 2011-07-30 14:20:41

Re: Playing sound from multiple applications?

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