On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 2:46 AM, Andrea <andrea at z80.it> wrote: > I recently upgraded from an old KDE3.5+arts installation to a full upgraded > debian wheezy with kde4.8+phonon4.6+pulseaudio2.0+alsa > > upon installation i added pavucontrol1.0 and amarok2.6 to my desktop using the > standard repositories (i use wheezy base + contrib + nonfree). > > the first time i started my installation i unmuted the alsa output via > alsamixer (obviously). > > now i am trying to reach a confortable use case that i was used to with > kde 3.5. > > In short i want to keep amarok playing from my collection at a soft volume > level *and* hearing the system notifications (example, the email arrived) at a > noticeable level *over* the music. > > with pavucontrol, I am setting the output volume in the "output devices" tab > to a confortable high level, say a -2 db. this the maximum output i am > allowing in this particular moment. this is my *master* level i want to adjust > based on environment condition (if at the phone i lower this, if i'm alone i > upper this) > > then in the playback section I set the "system sounds" stream at a confortably > high level, say -4db, to get a noticeable notification, if i may. > > and then i set the libvlc audio stream that is opened by amarok at a much > lover level, say -12db, to get a reasonable background music level (this is > the control that moves using both the pavucontrol and the volume control of > amarok interface. > > Now, i am writing this because i get an effect that is unplanned and i am > searchin both an explanation for this and the method i need to implement to > get che results i want, that are > > 1. get a single control to use to adapt to environment conditions (i'm on the > phone, ecc.) > > 2. get a place to setup the relative levels of the sound sources. > > the effect i am getting is that *every* time i receive an email, i am notified > by the kde system notifier with a sound, and this sound is played, obviously, > at the level i set up with the system sounds control. > > what is *very* annoying is that while playing the sound, it seems that the > master level is going up then down, so while i hear the notify i hear also the > background music at a higher level for some deciseconds before and after the > notification sounds, > > The overall results is as i go up with the master volume and then down. > > i read the document on the mixer logic, and i can see this mechanics based on > a technical standpoint (it's more accurate to leave all volume sources to 0 db > to get the max digital dynamic range and use only the master at the analog > output to set the out level.) *BUT* this is good only from a single-source > perspective. > > When i have the pulseaudio system mixing multiple sources, i cannot let the > inner volume control (the control at the source) touch the outer control (the > analog output in this case) because this will touch the level of another > stream and this is no desired. > > how can i configure the control logic to return to an approach more like an > analog mixer? > > thank you all. > Andrea Usually it works well, i.e. there are no noticeable volume changes in background streams. If it doesn't, uncomment and disable flat-volumes in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf.
