13.2 - USB speakers problem

[mimosa]

Maybe those plugins are vital, as far as I know. Anyway, it didn't work

[gapan]

Post the output of lsusb

[mimosa]

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mimosa[~]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 148f:2573 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT2501/RT2573 Wireless Adapter
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 045e:00cb Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 1130:1620 Tenx Technology, Inc. 

... but much to my embarrassment, this morning I find it all works perfectly. gstreamer-properties even gives me my headphones as an option, if they are plugged in. For the change to take effect, the output stream has to be stopped and started (in mplayer, at least) and maybe I wasn't doing that last night.

Thanks very much for all your help - as ever, each time, I've learned quite a few things

Is there a way to run gstreamer-properties from the System menu? It's not the same tool as "ALSA sound card", which looks like a front end for a couple of the alsa-utils; but there is an overlap in some functions. I'd say for what it does, gstreamer-properties is more intuitive.

[thenktor]

It already was the default, apparently (I must have managed to do this in alsamixer).

AFAIK you cannot do this in alsamixer.

Please post the output of aplay -l. Then try to play a WAV file with aplay and specify the output device with option -d.

EDIT: I've been late with this post

[mimosa]

@ Thenktor: ok here goes - but the problem was fixed by *something* I did last night.

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mimosa[~]$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: default [USB  AUDIO  ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708BCE Analog [VT1708BCE Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: VT1708BCE Digital [VT1708BCE Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
mimosa[~]$ man aplay
mimosa[~]$ aplay -D default /media/Data\ disc\ \(07\ Jan\ 11\)/Mozart\ Complete\ Piano\ Sonatas\ D.Barenboim\ Piano/cd\ 4\ k333\,475\,457/*33*mp3
Playing raw data '/media/Data disc (07 Jan 11)/Mozart Complete Piano Sonatas D.Barenboim Piano/cd 4 k333,475,457/01 Piano Sonata in B flat major, K. 333 - I. Allegro.mp3' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
^[^CAborted by signal Interrupt...

I didn't have a .wav file handy, but that worked in that the speakers made a horrible noise. I wasn't sure how to specify the device either, but 'default' correctly selected what is now, somehow or other, the new default. VT **** Analog is the headphones, VT **** Digital does nothing (in gstreamer-properties)

Incidentally, F6 in alsamixer now lists USB audio first, though unlike gstreamer-properties, it doesn't mention my headphones, which I could doubtless get at in alsamixer by selecting option 1:

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───── Sound Card ──────┐                           │
│                          │-  (default)           │                           │
│                          │0  USB  AUDIO          │                           │
│                          │1  HDA Intel           │                           │
│                          │   enter device name...│                           │
│                          └───────────────────────┘ 

[thenktor]

Code: Select all

card 0: default [USB  AUDIO  ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Card 0, Subdevice #0 should result in device 0:0.

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card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708BCE Analog [VT1708BCE Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1

Should result in devices 1:0 and 1:1.

As you've already noticed your USB audio is the default 0:0 device now.

PS: aply only plays WAV files, but the horrbile noise is enough to indicate that the output device is working
PPS: Many audio apps allow to specify the output device they should use. E.g. you can configure mpd to play music via sound card 1:0 connected to your stereo while you play your PC sounds via card 0:0 connected to some PC speakers.

[mimosa]

Thanks Thenktor. It may take me a while to digest that; but it's a couple more pieces in the jigsaw puzzle that is sound configuration (though generally, in Salix, it Just Works )

[gapan]

My guess is that it got fixed with choosing the right card in gtkalsasetup. For the changes to be applied you need to restart your session, which you maybe didn't.

gstreamer-properties is available from the Settings menu as "Multimedia Systems Selector". There is no overlap with gtkalsasetup, although it may seem that there is. With gtkalsasetup you select the default sound card for ALSA. With gstreamer-properties you select the default sound card for gstreamer. Not the same thing.