[opensuse] Problem with USB headset microphone volume
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset. Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input. A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs. I need this because I am disabled, but volunteer time and expertise to a couple of highly visible and important state task forces that report to the Secretary of Health Services and I serve, as a volunteer on the board of directors of a very large and influential advocacy agency serving others with the same disability as I deal with. It's not important you know that, except that I am not paid and am trying to make a difference, and can't afford to acquire and dispose of technologies that may or may not work, and from what I read online anyway, this is a pretty common problem. I also do NOT want to be forced into the Windows world, and in fact, I am trying to advocate for others in my situation to use Linux where I would help them (and I have been supporting Linux users for a very long time. I just run into new things every so often that I need help with). This is all to say this is important to more people than me, and any help is doing work for the public good. Enough said. So, any help on this would be very much appreciated. TIA, Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 23/08/13 20:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input.
A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs.
I need this because I am disabled, but volunteer time and expertise to a couple of highly visible and important state task forces that report to the Secretary of Health Services and I serve, as a volunteer on the board of directors of a very large and influential advocacy agency serving others with the same disability as I deal with. It's not important you know that, except that I am not paid and am trying to make a difference, and can't afford to acquire and dispose of technologies that may or may not work, and from what I read online anyway, this is a pretty common problem. I also do NOT want to be forced into the Windows world, and in fact, I am trying to advocate for others in my situation to use Linux where I would help them (and I have been supporting Linux users for a very long time. I just run into new things every so often that I need help with). This is all to say this is important to more people than me, and any help is doing work for the public good. Enough said.
So, any help on this would be very much appreciated.
TIA,
Jim
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then- on a comman line run alsamixer and press F6 to first select your audio card then press F5 to see all available channels. Look at the one re the microphone and see if its output level is high enough - use the up/down arrows to raise/lower the volume. And use the key "m" to switch on/off the channels (get to them by using the left/right arrows)--the 'mm' will be highlighted if the channels is active. When you do the above it would be helpful if you have something producing sound running in the background so that you can gauge how your adjustments in alsamixer are working. Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work. BC -- Using openSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.11.0 & kernel 3.10.9-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Basil Chupin <blchupin@iinet.net.au> wrote:
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
and press F6 to first select your audio card then press F5 to see all available channels. Look at the one re the microphone and see if its output level is high enough - use the up/down arrows to raise/lower the volume. And use the key "m" to switch on/off the channels (get to them by using the left/right arrows)--the 'mm' will be highlighted if the channels is active.
When you do the above it would be helpful if you have something producing sound running in the background so that you can gauge how your adjustments in alsamixer are working.
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
Hey Basil... same question I asked last time. I've installed oS 12.3 multiple times on multiple systems with varying kinds of audio devices.. onboard, USB etc., and not once have I ever had to use alsamixer to set things up so that pavucontrol will work. What is special about your config that requires this intermediary step? I know Pulse sits above alsa... but... the need for alsamixer... that seems odd based on my experience. On to Jim's issue. I have no solution other than a "me too". I've had my Logitech Clearchat USB Wireless headset behave exactly as described... IF.. if I disconnected it for a period, and then reconnected. It happened once - last week actually - where I disconnected the headset to use on another computer. When I reconnected it to my main computer running 12.3 and KDE 4.10, the audio, especially the microphone was horribly distorted and at a low volume. The "fix" in my case was to restart (I had to reboot for other reasons) with the headset connected to the USB bus. This only happened the one time though... and I've since disconnected/reconnected the USB receiver and had no problems. C. -- openSUSE 12.3 x86_64, KDE 4.11 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 23/08/13 21:08, C wrote:
On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Basil Chupin <blchupin@iinet.net.au> wrote:
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
and press F6 to first select your audio card then press F5 to see all available channels. Look at the one re the microphone and see if its output level is high enough - use the up/down arrows to raise/lower the volume. And use the key "m" to switch on/off the channels (get to them by using the left/right arrows)--the 'mm' will be highlighted if the channels is active.
When you do the above it would be helpful if you have something producing sound running in the background so that you can gauge how your adjustments in alsamixer are working.
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
Hey Basil... same question I asked last time. I've installed oS 12.3 multiple times on multiple systems with varying kinds of audio devices.. onboard, USB etc., and not once have I ever had to use alsamixer to set things up so that pavucontrol will work. What is special about your config that requires this intermediary step?
I know Pulse sits above alsa... but... the need for alsamixer... that seems odd based on my experience.
Alsa(mixer) has used for quite some time, certainly before pulse audio was even thought about and so using alsamixer was required to get your sound card working correctly. If you have a sound chip on your mobo as well as a PCIe sound card you need to select the right one in alsamixer to get everything working properly. Pulse then came on the scene and it was a real pain in the arse. I used to simply uninstall it and relegate it to the latrine. With pulse audio installed and you ran alsamixer you would see only one "channel" displayed or possibly 3 or 4 when you pressed F5. If you were deadset in using pulse then it was a matter of disabling pulse (or uninstalling it), running alsamixer to be able to see all the channels to configure them, then reactivating or re-installing pulse so that you could use pulseaudio effectively. I believe that pulse has got a lot better recently but I find that the best way for me to get my sound card (an Audigy Creative X-Fi) working correctly is to do what I suggested. When someone has a problem with sound this is what I suggest people should try and do. In most cases it fixes the problem. If it doesn't then at least this variable has been eliminated and the search for a solution can take a different direction.
On to Jim's issue. I have no solution other than a "me too". I've had my Logitech Clearchat USB Wireless headset behave exactly as described... IF.. if I disconnected it for a period, and then reconnected. It happened once - last week actually - where I disconnected the headset to use on another computer. When I reconnected it to my main computer running 12.3 and KDE 4.10, the audio, especially the microphone was horribly distorted and at a low volume. The "fix" in my case was to restart (I had to reboot for other reasons) with the headset connected to the USB bus. This only happened the one time though... and I've since disconnected/reconnected the USB receiver and had no problems.
C. BC
-- Using openSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.11.0 & kernel 3.10.9-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 08/23/2013 05:42 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 23/08/13 20:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input.
A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs. <snip>
TIA,
Jim
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
and press F6 to first select your audio card then press F5 to see all available channels. Look at the one re the microphone and see if its output level is high enough - use the up/down arrows to raise/lower the volume. And use the key "m" to switch on/off the channels (get to them by using the left/right arrows)--the 'mm' will be highlighted if the channels is active.
When you do the above it would be helpful if you have something producing sound running in the background so that you can gauge how your adjustments in alsamixer are working.
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
BC
Configuring alsamixer was the most common fix I found on the internet and it was the first thing I tried. I've been trying to find a configuration that works, but no luck. I can get it configured so that the sound level bars show appropriate levels, but only very faint sound through the headphones. BTW, mm on my system turns off the input / output and 00 turns them on. Alsamixer v1.0.25, if that makes a difference. Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 24/08/13 07:30, Jim Sabatke wrote:
On 08/23/2013 05:42 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 23/08/13 20:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input.
A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs. <snip>
TIA,
Jim
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
and press F6 to first select your audio card then press F5 to see all available channels. Look at the one re the microphone and see if its output level is high enough - use the up/down arrows to raise/lower the volume. And use the key "m" to switch on/off the channels (get to them by using the left/right arrows)--the 'mm' will be highlighted if the channels is active.
When you do the above it would be helpful if you have something producing sound running in the background so that you can gauge how your adjustments in alsamixer are working.
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
BC
Configuring alsamixer was the most common fix I found on the internet and it was the first thing I tried. I've been trying to find a configuration that works, but no luck. I can get it configured so that the sound level bars show appropriate levels, but only very faint sound through the headphones. BTW, mm on my system turns off the input / output and 00 turns them on. Alsamixer v1.0.25, if that makes a difference.
Jim
The version I have is 1.0.26 but that is neither here not there. Re the "oo" and the "mm": yep, I was working from memory and what you state is correct- "oo" ON and "mm" is OFF. Puzzling problem. Did you have some sound being generated when you were fiddling with the channels? While I don't use a headset with a mic I found that I couldn't get sound out of the speakers because of a certain combination of channels being active at the same time; I happened to turn off some channels and suddenly had sound from the speakers. The other thing is with pavucontrol. I have a 5-1 sound system and have all 5 of the speakers operating OK. However, when I watch a DVD I use headphones and when I do I lose most of the sound in the movie. Reason? The headphones are stereo of course and therefore lose sound from anything except the left and right channels. To get full sound I have to go into pavucontrol and select the stereo output which combines all sound and I can then hear the movie perfectly. I wonder if this is what may be causing your problem (the headset is 'stereo' afterall)? BC -- Using openSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.11.0 & kernel 3.10.9-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 08/23/2013 10:15 PM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 24/08/13 07:30, Jim Sabatke wrote:
On 08/23/2013 05:42 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 23/08/13 20:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
<snip>
Jim
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
<snip>
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
BC
Configuring alsamixer was the most common fix I found on the internet and it was the first thing I tried. I've been trying to find a configuration that works, but no luck. I can get it configured so that the sound level bars show appropriate levels, but only very faint sound through the headphones. BTW, mm on my system turns off the input / output and 00 turns them on. Alsamixer v1.0.25, if that makes a difference.
Jim
The version I have is 1.0.26 but that is neither here not there.
Re the "oo" and the "mm": yep, I was working from memory and what you state is correct- "oo" ON and "mm" is OFF.
Puzzling problem. Did you have some sound being generated when you were fiddling with the channels? While I don't use a headset with a mic I found that I couldn't get sound out of the speakers because of a certain combination of channels being active at the same time; I happened to turn off some channels and suddenly had sound from the speakers.
The other thing is with pavucontrol.
I have a 5-1 sound system and have all 5 of the speakers operating OK. However, when I watch a DVD I use headphones and when I do I lose most of the sound in the movie. Reason? The headphones are stereo of course and therefore lose sound from anything except the left and right channels. To get full sound I have to go into pavucontrol and select the stereo output which combines all sound and I can then hear the movie perfectly.
I wonder if this is what may be causing your problem (the headset is 'stereo' afterall)?
BC
Actually, I have no problem hearing DVDs or any other media at all. I've been seeing some reports online that there are problems getting the machine to use input and output at the same time. I need to look into it further as it is getting beyond my expertise. I may have to compile a kernel module. Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 26/08/13 02:48, Jim Sabatke wrote:
On 08/23/2013 10:15 PM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 24/08/13 07:30, Jim Sabatke wrote:
On 08/23/2013 05:42 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
On 23/08/13 20:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
<snip>
Jim
Pulse/pavucontrol are sitting on top of alsa. Have you configured alsa? If no then-
on a comman line run
alsamixer
<snip>
Once you have this right then pavucontrol will work.
BC
Configuring alsamixer was the most common fix I found on the internet and it was the first thing I tried. I've been trying to find a configuration that works, but no luck. I can get it configured so that the sound level bars show appropriate levels, but only very faint sound through the headphones. BTW, mm on my system turns off the input / output and 00 turns them on. Alsamixer v1.0.25, if that makes a difference.
Jim
The version I have is 1.0.26 but that is neither here not there.
Re the "oo" and the "mm": yep, I was working from memory and what you state is correct- "oo" ON and "mm" is OFF.
Puzzling problem. Did you have some sound being generated when you were fiddling with the channels? While I don't use a headset with a mic I found that I couldn't get sound out of the speakers because of a certain combination of channels being active at the same time; I happened to turn off some channels and suddenly had sound from the speakers.
The other thing is with pavucontrol.
I have a 5-1 sound system and have all 5 of the speakers operating OK. However, when I watch a DVD I use headphones and when I do I lose most of the sound in the movie. Reason? The headphones are stereo of course and therefore lose sound from anything except the left and right channels. To get full sound I have to go into pavucontrol and select the stereo output which combines all sound and I can then hear the movie perfectly.
I wonder if this is what may be causing your problem (the headset is 'stereo' afterall)?
BC
Actually, I have no problem hearing DVDs or any other media at all. I've been seeing some reports online that there are problems getting the machine to use input and output at the same time. I need to look into it further as it is getting beyond my expertise. I may have to compile a kernel module.
The point of my message was to prompt you to look at the whether these may eliminate your problem. Telling me that you have no trouble playing DVDs or any other media is immaterial. If you have tried out what I raised and found that it made no difference then I will accept that and until you do this leaves questions about whether these are causing your problem. You see, from what I have been led to understand pulse/pavucontrol has been 'created' to be able to do just what you want done; pulse/pavucontrol is supposed to handle input from a variety of sources simultaneously and output them - something which is something that alsa cannot do. BC -- Using openSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.11.0 & kernel 3.10.9-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 23/08/13 12:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input.
A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs.
I'm no expert on sound issues or your particular equipment, but I have experienced various similar issues of mics being muted after an install or upgrade. Firstly, Skype can be a culprit since it thoughtfully sets 'Let Skype muck about with my mixer levels' as default and accessible only after logging in to the client, meaning it's already tampered with them before you can attempt to repair the damage. If it has allowed itself to act as studio engineer and the mic isn't working, untick that option, it's evidently not helpful. I've usually succeeded after opening a terminal and typing 'alsamixer', from where you get a basic set of mixer controls. However, with PulseAudio installed it will be default show a single master volume slider (like in KMix). There might be a switch in there to change this, I forget. If not, you might think to temporarily disable PulseAudio, which can be done by going to YaST -> Sound, clicking on 'Other' and Pulse Audio Configuration. I don't recall if any logging in/out, restarting of any service or rebooting is required for that to take effect. When you can get a full mixer control in Alsamixer, try going along each control using the arrow keys and flicking those that have switches, for example something named Ext or Aux, which can show 00 or MM. I've usually found one of those controls, though not obvious, acts as a switch that reroutes the audio and effectively unmutes the mic. You might have to play around a bit with all that. When done, re-enable PulseAudio and you should be okay from thereon. Just my experience. Others might have better suggestions. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (4)
-
Basil Chupin -
C -
Jim Sabatke -
Peter