I'm running in system mode on a headless media server. xbmc has to play sound as one user, mpd as another user, and I've got two more reserved virtual outputs on my sound card if I need them.. my system.pa is thus: load-module module-native-protocol-unix ### COnfigure my actual Soundcard. load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=raw device=surround71 channels=8 channel_map=aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7 load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=xbmc.001 master=raw channels=2 master_channel_map=aux0,aux1 channel_map=left,right load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=mpd.001 master=raw channels=2 master_channel_map=aux2,aux3 channel_map=left,right load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=t02 master=raw channels=2 master_channel_map=aux4,aux5 channel_map=left,right load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=t03 master=raw channels=2 master_channel_map=aux6,aux7 channel_map=left,right load-module module-ladspa-sink sink_name=xbmc master=xbmc.001 plugin=dyson_compress_1403 label=dysonCompress control=1.0,0.5,0.5,0.8 load-module module-combine sink_name=mpd.002 slaves=mpd.001 channels=2 load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=mpd.003.lr master=mpd.002 channels=2 master_channel_map=left,right channel_map=left,right load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=mpd.003.rl master=mpd.002 channels=2 master_channel_map=right,left channel_map=left_right load-module module-combine sink_name=mpd slaves=mpd.003-rl,mpd.003.lr channels=2 update-sink-proplist raw device.description="actual soundcard" update-sink-proplist xbmc device.description="XBMC stereo output" update-sink-proplist mpd device.description="MPD Stereo output" ### ENd config snippet. The problem is that I'm getting some perculiar errors on starting pulseaudio: Dec 21 11:19:06 rebirth pulseaudio[14764]: module-combine.c: No slave sinks specified. Dec 21 11:19:06 rebirth pulseaudio[14764]: module-remap-sink.c: No remapping configured, proceeding nonetheless! then, despite the fact that it says it's proceeding, it simply proceeds to exit with no further log entries. So you may ask what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm trying to down-mix stereo audio to mono before passing it off to the virtual sink mpd.001. the reason is that I've got a blown speaker, that I've gotten rid of and only one speaker left. This Christmas music sounds terrible when you can't hear Alvin, or you can't hear Simon and Theodore. If you can help me fix this existing config, or find a better way to down-mix my music to mono (actually mix l and r, not just one or the other) I'd be very happy, and the childrens' Christmas would be immeasurably merrier! thank you.