2010/9/21 Colin Guthrie <gmane at colin.guthr.ie>: >> Now I have a separate problem with kmix, seemingly. >> If I use 'alsamixer -c0' in a terminal to monitor what kmix is >> actually doing to my soundcard when raising and lowering the volume, I >> notice that the 'Master' control slider sets PCM to 100 or 98 when I >> raise the volume. If I lower the volume to 0, the PCM volume is also >> set to 0. Sometimes when I rise it again, the 'Front' channel is also >> set to 100. >> >> Is there a way for me to link the kmix 'master' volume to only >> manipulate the master volume of my hda_intel soundcard? > > This page explains it all. > > http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PulseAudioStoleMyVolumes > Thanks. So kmix is not misbehaving here, it is a feature of PulseAudio. But seemingly it does not work properly with my card. My card is a HDA Intel with a Realtek ALC883 chip. Possibly pretty standard for a laptop? Anyway, if I set all the volumes in alsamixer to 0 dB, then 'Master', 'PCM' and 'Front' are all set at their maximum, level 100 (and yes I know it's not a percentage...). This means the soundcard will be roaring at its maximum, and sound is outrageously loud. I suppose dB 0 for 'PCM' and 'Front' at level 100 is OK; it would mean something like "no amplification". It looks sort of strange though, and might be wrong (see below). But a 0 dB for master at level 100 is rather silly, is it not? The graphical bars in 'alsamixer' turns red at -6 dB (level 87), -7.6 dB (level 85-and-something), and 6 dB (level 87) for 'Master', 'PCM' and 'Front', respectivelly. Do theese levels make sense to you? I thought maybe the 0 dB level should be at the breakpoint between the white and red parts of the graphs in alsamixer. This is the case for the 'Line', 'Mic' and 'Beep' controls. Does this situation qualify for a bug against the Alsa driver for my card/chip combination? Or perhaps I have the wrong module loaded? Please find attached two files containing the output of 'amixer -c0', explaining the details of the situation. > If you have problems with the system, it's really better to discuss them > and try and find solutions for any bugs they present rather than just > disabling it. > > If you genuinely don't like it, then disabling is perfectly acceptable! > I like the system, but it seems I experience clipping from time to time. And I want to avoid that. ;)Frode -- Da sa Gud: "Det bli lys!" Og det ble lys. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1. Mosebok 1.3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Genesis 1:3, NIV -------------- next part -------------- Simple mixer control 'Master',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'PCM',0 Capabilities: pvolume penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 255 Mono: Front Left: Playback 216 [85%] [-7.80dB] Front Right: Playback 216 [85%] [-7.80dB] Simple mixer control 'Front',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Line',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 26 [84%] [4.50dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 26 [84%] [4.50dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Mic',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [off] Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0 Capabilities: volume penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: 0 - 3 Front Left: 2 [67%] Front Right: 2 [67%] Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [on] Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [on] Simple mixer control 'Beep',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Capture',0 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 31 Front Left: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Capture',1 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 31 Front Left: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [off] Front Right: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Digital',0 Capabilities: cvolume penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 120 Front Left: Capture 60 [50%] [0.00dB] Front Right: Capture 60 [50%] [0.00dB] Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0 Capabilities: cenum Items: 'Mic' 'Line' Item0: 'Mic' Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1 Capabilities: cenum Items: 'Mic' 'Line' Item0: 'Line' -------------- next part -------------- Simple mixer control 'Master',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'PCM',0 Capabilities: pvolume penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 255 Mono: Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB] Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB] Simple mixer control 'Front',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Line',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Mic',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [off] Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0 Capabilities: volume penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: 0 - 3 Front Left: 2 [67%] Front Right: 2 [67%] Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [on] Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [on] Simple mixer control 'Beep',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Capture',0 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 31 Front Left: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Capture',1 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 31 Front Left: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [off] Front Right: Capture 8 [26%] [0.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Digital',0 Capabilities: cvolume penum Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 120 Front Left: Capture 60 [50%] [0.00dB] Front Right: Capture 60 [50%] [0.00dB] Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0 Capabilities: cenum Items: 'Mic' 'Line' Item0: 'Mic' Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1 Capabilities: cenum Items: 'Mic' 'Line' Item0: 'Line'
