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Linux sound HOWTO for Pulseaudio users
DISCLAIMER
Try at own risk as I am not an expert. In case you are interested, I am an ALSA fan due to the fact that I have a 2 ch desktop speaker system and an average on motherboard sound device from intel. What is pulseaudio ( PA ) good for? --Allows on-the-fly changing of mixer channels and sound devices --Allows graphical = gui control of settings --Allows some mixing capabilities without needing to learn asoundrc file stuff --Newbies struggle with the alsamixer command ----However, with so many controls, it is easier to bork your sound. ----And not all things can be changed by gui IMHO Decisions on how to configure Pulseaudio At some point you might need to decide if you need to run system wide stuff or home user stuff. At this stage ---I prefer system wide alsa config for the alsa-base.conf ---I prefer home user pulse configs using the guis Local user configs exist under home .pulse HDMI users should consider using a system wide default.pa instead of a copy in home users .pulse with a setting as in part 2. What packages are installed ---assumes alsa packages already installed on your distro padevchooser no longer exists so now :: Code ::
apt-get install pulseaudio paman pavucontrol pavumeter paprefs --which gets gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio libasound2-plugins libgconfmm-2.6-1c2 libglademm-2.4-1c2a libgtkmm-3.0-1 libsystemd-daemon0 libwebrtc-audio-processing-0 paman paprefs pavucontrol pavumeter pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-gconf pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-module-zeroconf pulseaudio-utils rtkit Note that I use E17 which is low resource and if you use KDE or gnome etc its likely to pull down more packages. Warning for those with modest hardware :: Quote ::
cat /usr/share/doc/pulseaudio/README.Debian pulseaudio for Debian The pulseaudio executable is installed suid root. In the near future, the current Suggests for rtkit may be promoted, as upstream developers strongly recommend that latter approach instead. PLEASE NOTE: PulseAudio's default configuration uses high quality sample rate conversion that may be overly CPU intensive. If PulseAudio's CPU usage is unacceptable on your hardware, please change the resample-method option in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to either src-linear or trivial. See daemon.conf for more details. Warning for known hardware or codec www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Backends/ALSA/BrokenDrivers Multimedia packages You are likely to need a plugin package for your multimedia app I use vlc so need :: Code ::
apt-get install vlc-plugin-pulse Then we need to tweak the settings 
If you also use bluetooth, infrared etc you may also need to download the other packages such as showing here ftp.iinet.net.au/debian/debian/pool/main/p/pulseaudio/ Home user config Next as its gui ....add paman and pavucontrol to your desktop list, or create icons or ibar (panel icons for E17) etc :: Code ::
ls /usr/share/applications/p* (culled results) paman.desktop pavumeter.desktop paprefs.desktop pavumeter-record.desktop pavucontrol.desktop I don't need the other icons but will discuss later Surround sound Method 1 ...gui Start paman either by desktop icon, run command, menu item under sound, ibar icon or by terminal command. As I am an intel user I initially had ch2 default output if you want surround sound here is what I did. Open the PA volume control icon and click on configuration tab click on the pulldown....and if alsa was setup correctly you get various output or output+input surround sound devices choose one 
If you can not get an option pulldown for surround sound, likely for sound modules with mutiple model=string configs, you need an alsa-base file as per the Alsa HOWTO. Method 2....text file edit copy /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to /home/yourname/.pulse (note its dot pulse ) Edit this file based on your research, I am using just smallest changes at this stage contents changed are these lines: :: Quote ::
default-script-file = /home/gordon/.pulse/default.pa alternate-sample-rate = 48000 default-sample-channels = 6 reboot and open paman to see 
above image now 6 ch instead of 2 ch and frequency upped from 41400 to 48000 --There is a lot more you can change but I suggest you do it ---one change at a time and test your cpu usage and sound quality ----Part A Research your sound card as per wiki reference :: Code ::
arecord -f dat -r 60000 -D hw:0,0 -d 5 test.wav Recording WAVE 'test.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 60000 Hz, Stereo Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 60000Hz, got = 48000Hz) please, try the plug plugin Note that I have an onboard cheap card so got only 48000 while YMMV Play a file and check your CPU usage. I run vlc and check using either htop or top before vlc....dual core was about 3% jumped to 15% for 6 ch or about 6% for 2 ch and modded back to 41400 Hz YMMV Part 2 follows < Edited by aus9 :: Aug 31, 12, 21:46 > Back to top |
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part 2
How do I know PA controls my home user? As a local user run alsamixer command in a terminal 
You can also check the underlying alsa settings with :: Code ::
alsamixer -c (cardnumber) replace (cardnumber) with 0 or 1 or whatever you need for surround sound. Note you may need to set an index if your surround options do not appear in pavucontrol as well?? 
HDMI users please read If you prefer HDMI output as the default, do not have a copy of default.pa in each home users .pulse edit /etc/default.pa to preset your hardware device as per wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio/Examples#HDMI_output_configuration Personal note, currently all hdmi aplay output I have seen are all hw1 as makers set analog as card 0. And I don't have hdmi to test Muting, volume and other changes Most are done from the gui for pavucontrol icon The main options are: muting or unmuting linking volumes across all channels or making independent setting volume levels Turning off PA is done through paman using the disconnect button Multiple ways of muting or volume changes This is why PA "may" be confusing to newbies. Assuming PA is running correctly here are ways of muting or changing volumes 
Above, config is 2 channel and we are on the playback panel Showing application outputs Vlc section shows a speaker MUTE icon....which mutes or unmutes image shows mute-speaker button and is not clicked IN so its not muted second button is for linking volume sliders and is clicked IN so links volume sliders are set to 100% Bottom of above image is a meter --Moving to OUTPUT tab 
Mute button is clicked In and meter is empty, so no sound The Link button to the right has been un-clicked so I set a separate volume Unmuting gives us the below image 
Part 3 follows < Edited by aus9 :: Aug 31, 12, 15:04 > Back to top |
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Part 3
Webcam mic Open pavucontrol and look at these images You can choose your webcam mic or your sound card mic if they exist There is more than one to configure, I show guvcview and if you look closely you will see a pulldown that shows I selected pulse size for first image may need to scroll, but I could not resize without risking losing details. Trivia green bars show on screen mic volumes 
References www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/FAQ looking at resample and cpu usage proaudio.tuxfamily.org/wiki/index.php?title=PulseAudio some FAQ I am looking at www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/FAQ#I_have_a_surround_sound_card.2C_but_PulseAudio_uses_just_the_front_speakers.21 sounds to 2 devices at same time www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/FAQ#Can_I_use_PulseAudio_to_playback_music_on_two_sound_cards_simultaneously.3F reverse speakers www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/FAQ#How_can_I_reverse_my_left_and_right_speaker_channels.3F arch is good for stuff but its out-of-date for some as well wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio < Edited by aus9 :: Aug 30, 12, 1:17 > Back to top |
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there is a ton of info available within a terminal
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pacmd Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information. >>> help Available commands: help Show this help list-modules List loaded modules list-cards List cards list-sinks List loaded sinks list-sources List loaded sources list-clients List loaded clients list-sink-inputs List sink inputs list-source-outputs List source outputs stat Show memory block statistics info Show comprehensive status load-module Load a module (args: name, arguments) unload-module Unload a module (args: index) describe-module Describe a module (arg: name) set-sink-volume Set the volume of a sink (args: index|name, volume) set-source-volume Set the volume of a source (args: index|name, volume) set-sink-mute Set the mute switch of a sink (args: index|name, bool) set-source-mute Set the mute switch of a source (args: index|name, bool) set-sink-input-volume Set the volume of a sink input (args: index, volume) set-source-output-volume Set the volume of a source output (args: index, volume) set-sink-input-mute Set the mute switch of a sink input (args: index, bool) set-source-output-mute Set the mute switch of a source output (args: index, bool) set-default-sink Set the default sink (args: index|name) set-default-source Set the default source (args: index|name) set-card-profile Change the profile of a card (args: index|name, profile-name) set-sink-port Change the port of a sink (args: index|name, port-name) set-source-port Change the port of a source (args: index|name, port-name) suspend-sink Suspend sink (args: index|name, bool) suspend-source Suspend source (args: index|name, bool) suspend Suspend all sinks and all sources (args: bool) move-sink-input Move sink input to another sink (args: index, sink) move-source-output Move source output to another source (args: index, source) update-sink-proplist Update the properties of a sink (args: index|name, properties) update-source-proplist Update the properties of a source (args: index|name, properties) update-sink-input-proplist Update the properties of a sink input (args: index, properties) update-source-output-proplist Update the properties of a source output (args: index, properties) list-samples List all entries in the sample cache play-sample Play a sample from the sample cache (args: name, sink|index) remove-sample Remove a sample from the sample cache (args: name) load-sample Load a sound file into the sample cache (args: name, filename) load-sample-lazy Lazily load a sound file into the sample cache (args: name, filename) load-sample-dir-lazy Lazily load all files in a directory into the sample cache (args: pathname) kill-client Kill a client (args: index) kill-sink-input Kill a sink input (args: index) kill-source-output Kill a source output (args: index) set-log-level Change the log level (args: numeric level) set-log-meta Show source code location in log messages (args: bool) set-log-time Show timestamps in log messages (args: bool) set-log-backtrace Show backtrace in log messages (args: frames) play-file Play a sound file (args: filename, sink|index) dump Dump daemon configuration dump-volumes Debug: Show the state of all volumes shared Debug: Show shared properties exit Terminate the daemon you would then input the next command, its acts like a grub command box so eg of next command is dump not pacmd dump Back to top |
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aus9 has moved this post from Alsa HOWTO to here for original poster GoinEasy9 about date:
Jan 18, 12, 13:04 :: Quote ::
PulseAudio did a good job with HDMI output on Fedora, but, since we don't use it on siduction, I'll have to come back to this thread once I start to install siduction on the laptops that have HDMI outputs. That probably won't be for a couple of weeks yet, but, it would be nice to have it work with alsa. Then again, I really need to experiment with PulseAudio on Sid also, I still don't know if it's up to par with what's running on Fedora. Since Lennart is on Red Hat's payroll, his applications seems to work better on the RedHat/Fedora distros. Nice to see your still adding stuff to this thread, Thanks aus9. _________________ Registered Linux User: 348347 Back to top |
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Nice having all that info together. I still haven't tried it with siduction though. I mainly use PulseAudio Controls when I'm hooking up the laptop to the TV to watch movies. It's a bit cumbersome, but, it gets the job done.
What would be nice, would be, if it gave you the option of switching to the HDMI settings when it sees the HDMI connection. It already recognizes the connection, as you can see when accessing the info in the pavucontrol application. It just needs to get one feature better. Back to top |
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howto being improved for part 1 and part 2 for hdmi users.
ahh I should read your post? possible reads lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pulseaudio-discuss/2012-March/013009.html www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/RFC/PriorityRouting hmmm running :: Code :: pacmd no such animal...we are not there yet full output list shows above Back to top |
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I won't edit above post but may delete and tidy up with matters resolved?
to any HDMI user I think for hdmi users, my new howto is correct. b) when I made the default 6 ch....in pavucontrol ...config panel THAT selection went to the top of the pulldown choices. I suspect the same will apply if you pre-set hdmi In other words, if you have a family, you can train them to go to pavucontrol -> configuration and choose some analog or what ever setting. To get back to hdmi, they choose the top mentioned pull down. BUT, each hdmi user has to do the research and config as per part 2. Sorry about that......but its just as ugly in alsa but in alsa you would use asoundrc and thats not perfect for on-the-fly changing Back to top |
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