Very low volume on internel audio device

greencloud

greencloud

Hi everyone,

I have a little problem with sound volume on my PC. I'm using 2 devices for my audio. My default is an external speaker with a sub-woofer and 2 speakers plugged in at the back of my PC. That is:
Code: 
pcm4: <Realtek ALC1150 (Rear Analog 7.1/2.0)> (play/rec) default
and also I have a Plantronics Audio 628 USB:
Code: 
pcm8: <USB audio> (play/rec)
The problem is the default device: pcm4. For some reason its sound is way too low even if I set the mixer all the way up. pcm8 works fine though. I've already tested my external speakers on another computer and it works fine. The strange thing is sometimes it will just work okay without me changing anything but then it would turn low again I can barely here any sound.
Here's my mixer output for pcm4:
Code: 
Mixer vol      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer pcm      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer line     is currently set to   80:80
Mixer mic      is currently set to  67:67
Mixer mix      is currently set to  74:74
Mixer rec      is currently set to  37:37
Mixer igain    is currently set to 100:100
Mixer ogain    is currently set to 100:100
Recording source: line
I'm on:
Code: 
FreeBSD cornibus 11.2-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p3 #0 r338900: Mon Sep 24 14:43:16 +08 2018     root@cornibus:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64

All insights will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
The default Firefox install puts pulseaudio between Firefox and your hardware. Perhaps normal volume is from apps that send the audio stream directly to pcm4 while the low sound is passing through pulseaudio?
 
shepper said:
The default Firefox install puts pulseaudio between Firefox and your hardware. Perhaps normal volume is from apps that send the audio stream directly to pcm4 while the low sound is passing through pulseaudio?
Click to expand...
Sorry I didn't mention, when using the built-in audio device (3.5mm jack), all applications that I have that uses audio (e.g. firefox, chromium, audacity, mplayer, vlc, etc.) all outputs VERY low sound volume. But when I'm on my headset (USB), I get normal sound on everything.
 
There are multiple Realtek codecs all of which interface with snd_hda. Realtek ALC1150 is one of those codecs that interfaces with the intel hda bus.

Basic HDA Intel Concepts

Basic HDA Intel Concepts

The snd-hda-intel driver speak to codecs through the the Intel HDA bus. Each codec has many widgets inside it, and the driver can send messages (called verbs) to them to change their settings. Each widget may collect audio input from other widgets, and may their output may be sent to other widgets. The driver may probe the codec and know exactly how the widgets are wired inside the codec. The /proc/asound/card*/codec#* file contains this information.
Commonly found types of widgets:

  • Pin Complexes are input and/or output interfaces to the outside world. They normally correspond to real audio jacks, speakers or microphones on the machine
  • Audio Input/Output, ADC, or DAC are the interface between the codec and the HDA bus. This is where ALSA sends/consumes the audio streams to/from
  • Selectors and Mixers allow the driver to combine and/or select audio input coming from multiple widgets

Each widget may contain amplifiers on its inputs or outputs. The amplifiers may be controlled by the driver to change audio volume and unmute/mute audio input or output. The mixer controls seen on alsamixer normally correspond to an specific amplifier on an specific widget inside the codec.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all your input shepper. Right now I'm able to regain audio by changing the values of following parameters from the default. From:
Code: 
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:2.0
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=fixed
to
Code: 
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:2.1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=adaptive
My external speakers right now have normal sound. If it goes well in a few days without any problem, I will consider it fixed.
Fingers crossed :)
 
Hey guys, something very interesting is happening with my sound for my external speakers. Right now I only get normal sound when play MP3 using mplayer via CLI. All other applications such as Firefox, Chromium, Audacity, VLC and other programs, no sound at all. My USB headset still works fine regardless of the programs I use. Here's a little data for my external speakers (pcm4).
Code: 
dev.pcm.4.bitperfect: 0
dev.pcm.4.buffersize: 65536
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanformat: s16le:2.0
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanrate: 48000
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanmode: fixed
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchans: 1
dev.pcm.4.rec.autosrc: 2
dev.pcm.4.rec.32bit: 24
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat: s16le:7.1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanrate: 48000
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode: fixed
dev.pcm.4.play.vchans: 1
dev.pcm.4.play.32bit: 24
dev.pcm.4.%parent: hdaa4
dev.pcm.4.%pnpinfo:
dev.pcm.4.%location: nid=20,22,21,23,24,26
dev.pcm.4.%driver: pcm
dev.pcm.4.%desc: Realtek ALC1150 (Rear Analog 7.1/2.0)
For my sysctl.conf file, I now have:
Code: 
hw.snd.default_unit=4
hw.snd.vpc_0db=18
hw.snd.verbose=1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:7.1
dev.pcm.3.play.vchans=6
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=fixed
And when I'm in pcm4, sysctl hw.snd outputs:
Code: 
hw.snd.maxautovchans: 16
hw.snd.default_unit: 4
hw.snd.version: 2009061500/amd64
hw.snd.default_auto: 0
hw.snd.verbose: 1
hw.snd.vpc_mixer_bypass: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_quality: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_round: 25
hw.snd.feeder_rate_max: 2016000
hw.snd.feeder_rate_min: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_polyphase_max: 183040
hw.snd.feeder_rate_presets: 100:8:0.85 100:36:0.92 100:164:0.97
hw.snd.feeder_eq_exact_rate: 0
hw.snd.feeder_eq_presets: PEQ:16000,0.2500,62,0.2500:-9,9,1.0:44100,48000,88200,96000,176400,192000
hw.snd.basename_clone: 1
hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap: 0
hw.snd.syncdelay: -1
hw.snd.usefrags: 0
hw.snd.vpc_reset: 0
hw.snd.vpc_0db: 18
hw.snd.vpc_autoreset: 1
hw.snd.timeout: 5
hw.snd.latency_profile: 1
hw.snd.latency: 5
hw.snd.report_soft_matrix: 1
hw.snd.report_soft_formats: 1
For dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat, I've tried 2.0, 2.1 and 7.1 'cause they are the formats that make sense to me. I've tried using both the snd_driver and snd_hda modules, even pure oss, but I have no luck.
I can live with using just the headset, but it would be best if I can boost my house with some loud sounds once in a while :(

EDIT: Also, sound for mplayer comes from RS-Out instead of L-Out. If I plugged in my speakers in L-Out as I normally would, I don't get any sound at all.
 
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