Bug#541538: Sound volume jumps on play

Sun Dec 26 11:13:42 UTC 2010

On Saturday 25 December 2010 19:26:44 you wrote:
> It looks like the symptom that you describe is likely a sound driver
> issue.

Depending on what you call a driver, I agree. The point is that plain ALSA 
output without pulseaudio works, so that part of the driver stack is not the 
problem. However, adding pulseaudio as intermediate driver layer causes 
problems.

> Are you still able to reproduce it in current testing?

I'm not experiencing the jumps in the output level, though I haven't tested it 
extensively. The output sliders twitch when starting, but neither is the 
effect permanent nor audible. However, I also mentioned that the problem was 
not 100% reproducible even at that time (see point 5).

Considering point one, there's still a similar effect in place. If I run 
alsamixergui in parallel, changing the PCM volume there affects both the 
sliders for Amarok on the "Playback" tab and those on the "Output Devices" tab 
of pavucontrol. Using pavucontrol, I can change both pairs of sliders 
separately though. The behaviour of alsamixergui is to follow changes on both 
to some extent.

Considering point 6, this effect is still present. However, the absolute 
limite of 43% percent actually depends on the the settings of both the sliders 
on the "Playback" and "Output Devices" tabs of pavucontrol. In any case, the 
static begins when turning the PCM output to close to zero on alsamixergui or 
when it reaches this level through the combined pavucontrol slider levels.

That and the occasional cracks and plops made stop using pulseaudio, so I 
can't really say whether the main part of the bug report is still applicable 
with current versions.

> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/AlsaInfo

See attachment, hope that helps!

Cheers and thanks!

Uli
-------------- next part --------------
upload=true&script=true&cardinfo=
!!################################
!!ALSA Information Script v 0.4.59
!!################################

!!Script ran on: Sun Dec 26 11:03:13 UTC 2010

!!Linux Distribution
!!------------------

Debian GNU/Linux squeeze/sid \n \l

!!DMI Information
!!---------------

Manufacturer:      
Product Name:      

!!Kernel Information
!!------------------

Kernel release:    2.6.37-rc5-powerpc
Operating System:  GNU/Linux
Architecture:      ppc
Processor:         unknown
SMP Enabled:       No

!!ALSA Version
!!------------

Driver version:     1.0.23
Library version:    1.0.23
Utilities version:  1.0.23

!!Loaded ALSA modules
!!-------------------

snd_aoa_fabric_layout

!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------

Pulseaudio:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pulseaudio)
      Running - Yes

ESound Daemon:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/esd)
      Running - No

aRts:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/artsd)
      Running - No

!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

 0 [SoundByLayout  ]: AppleOnbdAudio - SoundByLayout
                      SoundByLayout

!!PCI Soundcards installed in the system
!!--------------------------------------

!!Advanced information - PCI Vendor/Device/Susbsystem ID's
!!--------------------------------------------------------

!!Modprobe options (Sound related)
!!--------------------------------

snd-atiixp-modem: index=-2
snd-intel8x0m: index=-2
snd-via82xx-modem: index=-2
snd-pcsp: index=-2
snd-usb-audio: index=-2
snd-powermac: index=0

!!Loaded sound module options
!!--------------------------

!!Module: snd_aoa_fabric_layout
	* : 

!!ALSA Device nodes
!!-----------------

crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 4 Dec 24 18:58 /dev/snd/controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 6 Dec 24 18:58 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 5 Dec 26 11:21 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 3 Dec 24 18:58 /dev/snd/seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 2 Dec 24 18:58 /dev/snd/timer

/dev/snd/by-path:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  60 Dec 24 18:58 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 160 Dec 24 18:58 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  12 Dec 24 18:58 pci-0001:10:17.0 -> ../controlC0

!!Aplay/Arecord output
!!------------

APLAY

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SoundByLayout [SoundByLayout], device 0: Master []
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

ARECORD

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SoundByLayout [SoundByLayout], device 0: Master []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

!!Amixer output
!!-------------

!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [SoundByLayout]

Card hw:0 'SoundByLayout'/'SoundByLayout'
  Mixer name	: 'SoundByLayout'
  Components	: ''
  Controls      : 5
  Simple ctrls  : 5
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Detect Autoswitch',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Detected',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speakers',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 211 [83%] [-8.80dB]
  Front Right: Playback 211 [83%] [-8.80dB]

!!Alsactl output
!!-------------

--startcollapse--
state.SoundByLayout {
	control.1 {
		comment.access 'read write'
		comment.type BOOLEAN
		comment.count 1
		iface MIXER
		name 'Speakers Switch'
		value false
	}
	control.2 {
		comment.access 'read write'
		comment.type BOOLEAN
		comment.count 1
		iface MIXER
		name 'Headphone Switch'
		value true
	}
	control.3 {
		comment.access 'read write'
		comment.type BOOLEAN
		comment.count 1
		iface MIXER
		name 'Headphone Detect Autoswitch'
		value true
	}
	control.4 {
		comment.access read
		comment.type BOOLEAN
		comment.count 1
		iface MIXER
		name 'Headphone Detected'
		value true
	}
	control.5 {
		comment.access 'read write user'
		comment.type INTEGER
		comment.count 2
		comment.range '0 - 255'
		comment.tlv '0000000100000008ffffec1400000014'
		comment.dbmin -5100
		comment.dbmax 0
		iface MIXER
		name 'PCM Playback Volume'
		value.0 211
		value.1 211
	}
}
--endcollapse--

!!All Loaded Modules
!!------------------

Module
sha256_generic
aes_generic
cbc
radeon
ttm
drm_kms_helper
drm
power_supply
parport_pc
lp
parport
sco
bridge
stp
bnep
rfcomm
l2cap
crc16
fuse
firewire_sbp2
loop
dm_crypt
dm_mod
snd_aoa_codec_toonie
arc4
sd_mod
crc_t10dif
snd_aoa_fabric_layout
ecb
snd_aoa
snd_aoa_i2sbus
snd_pcm_oss
snd_mixer_oss
snd_pcm
b43
snd_page_alloc
snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi
rng_core
mac80211
btusb
snd_seq_midi_event
bluetooth
uas
snd_seq
joydev
cfg80211
usb_storage
scsi_mod
usbhid
snd_timer
snd_seq_device
hid
i2c_powermac
snd
evdev
soundcore
rfkill
snd_aoa_soundbus
ext3
jbd
mbcache
ohci_hcd
ehci_hcd
ssb
mmc_core
usbcore
firewire_ohci
ide_cd_mod
pcmcia
sungem
firewire_core
cdrom
pcmcia_core
sungem_phy
crc_itu_t
nls_base

!!ALSA/HDA dmesg
!!------------------