-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Greetings, After 9 years, I'm finally sick of my linux box sounding like bacon frying, so I've spent most of the last week reading and fiddling with settings and now I'm stuck. I'm using 10.2 and the alsa drivers (tried oss, alsa quality was better) for both of the cards I've tried so far, an ensoniq es1370 and the onboard via 8233. The 8233 has more noise in mp3 playback than the es1370. However, dvd audio from the 8233 isn't bad at all, while on the 1370 it is only marginally better than mp3. I have okay sound in kaffeine with dvd playback, but system sounds, ogg vorbis, and mp3's have alot of static behind them. If it weren't for the dvd's being acceptable, I'd just give it up as a lost cause. I'm not looking for perfection, I'd just like to be able to listen to podcasts and actually understand what is being said. At this point, here's what I've done. I've switched from the default oss drivers to the alsa drivers. I've turned off artsd. kaffeine and amarok are both using the xine engine. I tried helix banshee with no success. I've got PCM turned down in the alsa mixer. Add to this list a half dozen other things I've tried and promptly forgotten. (As a side note, for those of you having trouble with flash not having any sound in mozilla, at some point in this process, the switch to alsa, and turning off artsd i think, sound magically appeared on youtube. Unfortunately, I wasn't primarily concerned about this at the time, so there might be some other bit of finger twiddling that also has to be done, but it's possible.) If anyone has any advice about what else I can try, I'd love to hear it. Again, I'm not looking for crystal clear audio (not that I'd turn that down) so much as looking for 'listenable' audio. I accept that I'll probably have to bite the bullet and install a different sound card, but I'll worry about that later if that's the case. Thanks, Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjO6vg39m4F98CH4RAtIyAJ9a6qc2WDKojhZ1kAWvdhmq0aBmnwCfUJnP g16993RGzFZxEZ1yd5HxX7s= =m8tB -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thursday July 5 2007 8:14:23 am Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
Greetings,
After 9 years, I'm finally sick of my linux box sounding like bacon frying, so I've spent most of the last week reading and fiddling with settings and now I'm stuck.
I'm using 10.2 and the alsa drivers (tried oss, alsa quality was better) for both of the cards I've tried so far, an ensoniq es1370 and the onboard via 8233. The 8233 has more noise in mp3 playback than the es1370. However, dvd audio from the 8233 isn't bad at all, while on the 1370 it is only marginally better than mp3. <snip> If anyone has any advice about what else I can try, I'd love to hear it. Again, I'm not looking for crystal clear audio (not that I'd turn that down) so much as looking for 'listenable' audio. I accept that I'll probably have to bite the bullet and install a different sound card, but I'll worry about that later if that's the case.
Thanks,
Derek
Install/run both kmix and alsamixergui. kmix will be your long term system tray applet for volume control. So start with kmix and then alsamixergui. When you use the es1370 do you disable the via8233 in the BIOS? Start with kmix and adjust each and every possible setting while listening to anything, starting at each option's current level and raising/lowering back to its original point. Also try enabling/disabling the 'mute' switch for each and every possible input/output. I think you may find one of these produces more noise than any other and that'll be the one that you adjust to stop the bacon. If this doesn't work and this is the same motherboard (9 years old?) you may have too much electrical noise in the system. If you are serious about fixing this, then remove all non-essential boards from the PCI or ISA slots and try again. Try the es1370 in different slots. -- Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
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Install/run both kmix and alsamixergui. kmix will be your long term system tray applet for volume control. So start with kmix and then alsamixergui. When you use the es1370 do you disable the via8233 in the BIOS?
Start with kmix and adjust each and every possible setting while
anything, starting at each option's current level and raising/lowering back to its original point. Also try enabling/disabling the 'mute' switch for each and every possible input/output. I think you may find one of these
this was the state I started in when I upgraded to 10.2, with the onboard sound disabled in bios, using the es1370. listening to produces
more noise than any other and that'll be the one that you adjust to stop the bacon.
So far, the only settings I've found that signifigantly affect it are the PCM/volume settings...the problem being that in order to filter it down to a minimum, the sound is minimal too. Not terribly useful. ;)
If this doesn't work and this is the same motherboard (9 years old?) you may have too much electrical noise in the system. If you are serious about fixing this, then remove all non-essential boards from the PCI or ISA slots and try again. Try the es1370 in different slots.
No, this motherboard is...3 years old I'd guess. What I meant was that I've been using linux for about 9 years now, and I've never had 'good' sound. I think 6.4 came closest (but 6.4 was near perfect,) but even that was just on the acceptable side of crap. The only boards I've got in this machine atm are the vid card, the network card, and the sound card. Pretty much a minimal setup. Thanks, Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjQIPg39m4F98CH4RAoL+AJ4lb9W730vVZqBkdOvGEaEeoPJBbwCffRWx 0eqUe8TVJogsZ5unrFjU7KI= =fzVx -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thursday July 5 2007 9:37:03 am Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
this was the state I started in when I upgraded to 10.2, with the onboard sound disabled in bios, using the es1370.
Start with kmix and adjust each and every possible setting while
So far, the only settings I've found that signifigantly affect it are the PCM/volume settings...the problem being that in order to filter it down to a minimum, the sound is minimal too. Not terribly useful. ;)
No, this motherboard is...3 years old I'd guess. What I meant was that I've been using linux for about 9 years now, and I've never had 'good' sound. I think 6.4 came closest (but 6.4 was near perfect,) but even that was just on the acceptable side of crap.
The only boards I've got in this machine atm are the vid card, the network card, and the sound card. Pretty much a minimal setup.
Thanks, Derek
What about in YaST, Hardware, Sound settings? Does playing the Volume, Test option give decent sound or is that as bad as anything else? Are these the same speakers, speaker wires and general physical placement for the last 3 or 9 years? Are they externally powered and is that a relatively clean or noise free circuit? Or are the speaker wires wrapped around your wireless antennas or microwave oven? Ever take just the system box itself to a different room or friend's place and tried totally different power, keyboard/mouse, speakers, monitor, etc? -- Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
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What about in YaST, Hardware, Sound settings? Does playing the Volume, Test option give decent sound or is that as bad as anything else?
Right now, both cards are showing up as unconfigured in Yast since I started using the alsa drivers for both cards. Before I switched the test option sounded bad, but as I've slept since then, I'll go back and fiddle around a little to make sure.
Are these the same speakers, speaker wires and general physical placement for the last 3 or 9 years? Are they externally powered and is that a relatively clean or noise free circuit? Or are the speaker wires wrapped around your wireless antennas or microwave oven?
Yeah, the speakers (and more importantly I'm sure, the wires) are getting long in the tooth. But, I just plugged the box into the new speakers that we bought earlier this year for the other computer and it's still doing it's breakfast impersonation. The wiring to the other speakers are running a different direction away from the box, but they are still near the router and the other computer currently running, so I might still be picking up interference from something over there. Something interesting popped up though. The other speakers have seperate bass/treble knobs. If i turn the treble all the way down, the noise disappears. The bass setting has no effect, and turning down the treble in amarok's equalizer has no effect.
Ever take just the system box itself to a different room or friend's place and tried totally different power, keyboard/mouse, speakers, monitor, etc?
I have, but I've slept since then, and I really doubt I bothered trying the sound when I did. Starting to think with the test on the new speakers that this is an interference problem, but why would dvd audio sound okay, while other audio sounds horrible? Thanks, Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjQ9og39m4F98CH4RAvW5AJ98UnHgmaeCzEvMCQ7sEu0IUvUQBwCeN/72 ZpiunNgoaBKb0fpfXJwQ5zw= =8Sok -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
What about in YaST, Hardware, Sound settings? Does playing the Volume, Test option give decent sound or is that as bad as anything else?
Right now, both cards are showing up as unconfigured in Yast since I started using the alsa drivers for both cards. Before I switched the test option sounded bad, but as I've slept since then, I'll go back and fiddle around a little to make sure.
The Yast test audio has the crackling. Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjRDvg39m4F98CH4RAhEyAJ9tnIjlpS+bPKY0HGtCDo5uCzU/NQCfWiQN O45qxNL8HLI3JTN1sf5+B+o= =gqGj -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thursday July 5 2007 10:34:00 am Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
Are these the same speakers, speaker wires and general physical placement for the last 3 or 9 years? Are they externally powered and is that a relatively clean or noise free circuit? Or are the speaker wires wrapped around your wireless antennas or microwave oven?
Yeah, the speakers (and more importantly I'm sure, the wires) are getting long in the tooth. But, I just plugged the box into the new speakers that we bought earlier this year for the other computer and it's still doing it's breakfast impersonation.
The wiring to the other speakers are running a different direction away from the box, but they are still near the router and the other computer currently running, so I might still be picking up interference from something over there.
Something interesting popped up though. The other speakers have seperate bass/treble knobs. If i turn the treble all the way down, the noise disappears. The bass setting has no effect, and turning down the treble in amarok's equalizer has no effect.
Clue. Sounds external to the box at this time.
Ever take just the system box itself to a different room or friend's place and tried totally different power, keyboard/mouse, speakers, monitor, etc?
I have, but I've slept since then, and I really doubt I bothered trying the sound when I did.
Starting to think with the test on the new speakers that this is an interference problem, but why would dvd audio sound okay, while other audio sounds horrible?
No fair! DVD audio sounds fine? Newer system so you probably don't have the separate audio cable on the DVD drive to the motherboard, just digital over the IDE cable. From there it goes through the same sound device, speaker wires and speakers as all the other sounds... unless I'm missing something there. What do you use for DVD playback? Kaffeine, MPlayer? I've had sound behave differently through those than through amaroK on occasion. Do you have a microphone, headset for VoIP/games or other audio input connected and have you tested with those unplugged? In kmix are those muted? Thinking of feedback squeal.
Thanks,
Derek
Good clues and troubleshooting so far. I keep thinking that there is one slider in kmix or alsamixergui that you are missing. One of my systems needed DAC or ADC (iirc) slider set about 50% or I'd get weird squealing under 10.2 and it had never done that before since 7.3. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes... -- Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 S Glasoe wrote:
No fair! DVD audio sounds fine? Newer system so you probably don't have the separate audio cable on the DVD drive to the motherboard, just digital over the IDE cable. From there it goes through the same sound device, speaker wires and speakers as all the other sounds... unless I'm missing something there.
What do you use for DVD playback? Kaffeine, MPlayer? I've had sound behave differently through those than through amaroK on occasion.
I've been using Kaffeine, but I just tried MPlayer with the same results (although the quality of the non-DVD noise was a little different w/ mplayer, still bad, but different.) And yes, there are no seperate cables from the DVD drive, just the IDE interface. I know. It's weird. I could listen to the audio off dvd tracks all day long without it bothering me, but 2 minutes of any other audio makes me want to turn sound back off.
Do you have a microphone, headset for VoIP/games or other audio input connected and have you tested with those unplugged? In kmix are those muted? Thinking of feedback squeal.
No, the only thing connected currently is the speaker system. I wonder if I should go ahead and try to put dummy loads (or whatever you'd call them in this context) on those input/output jacks. Microphone inputs and auxillary outputs are all muted.
Good clues and troubleshooting so far. I keep thinking that there is one slider in kmix or alsamixergui that you are missing. One of my systems needed DAC or ADC (iirc) slider set about 50% or I'd get weird squealing under 10.2 and it had never done that before since 7.3. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
Nod, it wouldn't surprise me. The es1370 has very few options, though the onboard has a slew of them. I don't see a DAC or ADC (although I'm not familiar with those terms, so perhaps I'm just not making the connection with what's in the list.) Thanks, Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjSbLg39m4F98CH4RAhm3AJ45KkgyAEI0ojP7PTb+0DTEbPHdsACfXrQj v7u1LkM7aPtkH3uedcg79iA= =ELO8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thursday July 5 2007 12:13:47 pm Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
S Glasoe wrote: I've been using Kaffeine, but I just tried MPlayer with the same results (although the quality of the non-DVD noise was a little different w/ mplayer, still bad, but different.)
And yes, there are no seperate cables from the DVD drive, just the IDE interface.
I know. It's weird. I could listen to the audio off dvd tracks all day long without it bothering me, but 2 minutes of any other audio makes me want to turn sound back off.
What about music CDs? Do they sound OK?
Do you have a microphone, headset for VoIP/games or other audio input connected and have you tested with those unplugged? In kmix are those muted? Thinking of feedback squeal.
No, the only thing connected currently is the speaker system. I wonder if I should go ahead and try to put dummy loads (or whatever you'd call them in this context) on those input/output jacks.
Might give you another "DVD sounds fine" clue.
Microphone inputs and auxillary outputs are all muted.
Don't forget to unmute if you plug something into them!
Good clues and troubleshooting so far. I keep thinking that there is one slider in kmix or alsamixergui that you are missing. One of my systems needed DAC or ADC (iirc) slider set about 50% or I'd get weird squealing under 10.2 and it had never done that before since 7.3. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
Nod, it wouldn't surprise me. The es1370 has very few options, though the onboard has a slew of them. I don't see a DAC or ADC (although I'm not familiar with those terms, so perhaps I'm just not making the connection with what's in the list.)
Analog-Digital Converter and Digital-Analog Converter IINM. How about IEC958 or External Amplifier or anything that may deal with amplification, gain, etc that is overpowering the sound output?
Thanks,
Derek
How about muting everything all at once and then enabling just Master Volume and PCM or something? Bare minimum for noise. -- Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 S Glasoe wrote:
What about music CDs? Do they sound OK?
No, CD's sound just as bad as mp3's. Tried it with a disc that I'd burned tracks from (mp3's sound fine in my external mp3 player), and there wasn't a bit of difference between the track from the cd and and the mp3.
Do you have a microphone, headset for VoIP/games or other audio input connected and have you tested with those unplugged? In kmix are those muted? Thinking of feedback squeal. No, the only thing connected currently is the speaker system. I wonder if I should go ahead and try to put dummy loads (or whatever you'd call them in this context) on those input/output jacks.
Might give you another "DVD sounds fine" clue.
I tried this after I sent my last email. Didn't change quality, good or bad.
Analog-Digital Converter and Digital-Analog Converter IINM. How about IEC958 or External Amplifier or anything that may deal with amplification, gain, etc that is overpowering the sound output?
No, there's really nothing complicated about the setup, just audio into basic powered altec lansing speakers. That being said, there's alot of electronic crap in this corner, and I know it's likely there's some stray RF floating around. My ham gear is in a box, but I had some trouble with HF while I had it set up. As I said earlier, if it weren't for the fact that DVD audio sounds fine, I'd just chalk it up to interference and forget about it for awhile.
How about muting everything all at once and then enabling just Master Volume and PCM or something? Bare minimum for noise.
Nod, I did this when i filled the jacks earlier this afternoon. No help. By the time I got got audible sound, the interference had crept back in (it goes up in proportion to the volume, when everything is turned down, I don't hear it.) Appreciate you sticking through this with me. Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjUqOg39m4F98CH4RAn5vAJ99kpfw3oh21AkhVxnnb/Jo5Oi1IQCfXw9q NPTrntYW2dF2GOYclWAXm/o= =IB71 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thursday July 5 2007 2:46:23 pm Michael Derek Barnett wrote:
S Glasoe wrote:
What about music CDs? Do they sound OK?
No, CD's sound just as bad as mp3's. <snip>
No, there's really nothing complicated about the setup, just audio into basic powered altec lansing speakers. That being said, there's alot of electronic crap in this corner, and I know it's likely there's some stray RF floating around. My ham gear is in a box, but I had some trouble with HF while I had it set up. As I said earlier, if it weren't for the fact that DVD audio sounds fine, I'd just chalk it up to interference and forget about it for awhile.
Time to relocate the system box, speakers, kybd/mouse/monitor to another electrical circuit on the other side of the room/house/apartment preferably with a decent power conditioning UPS or power strip.
How about muting everything all at once and then enabling just Master Volume and PCM or something? Bare minimum for noise.
Nod, I did this when i filled the jacks earlier this afternoon. No help. By the time I got got audible sound, the interference had crept back in (it goes up in proportion to the volume, when everything is turned down, I don't hear it.)
Appreciate you sticking through this with me.
Derek
Sounded like a quick fix at first :( with kmix settings... Have you disconnected extra CD, floppy, hard drives and unplugged power and data cables? Sheesh. Not much else to tear out or turn off is there? Any external devices plugged in like USB hard drives, USB hubs, wireless NICs, firewire cameras that you haven't removed? Wireless keyboard/mouse setup? -- Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
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Appreciate you sticking through this with me.
Okay, if anyone else happens upon this same trouble, I found the solution (more or less) here: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Via8233 My problem apparantly has something to do with the DXS channels. I solved it within YAST by reconfiguring the sound driver for the via8233, choosing the advanced options, and then editing the dxs support option (4 was the best on my system, for what it's worth.) Everything sounds quite good now, and flash audio still works, much to my surprise. Thanks to Stan for his help! Derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGjVhdg39m4F98CH4RAvhIAJ9IG83urQscibWcZ3Gz3geyhsj36wCeIa5+ e+b1p6lxlgL38e1gZmjvPYk= =J66P -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (2)
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Michael Derek Barnett
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S Glasoe