Getting information while having sound issues
by <joekamprad>
Sometimes it is a puzzle to get around with a new soundcard, or getting a mix to work, I give some hints on getting information about devices and system here:
First check if alsamixer is enabled so you can use it as a simple source to solve most mute problems, and get a view of what is available:
Pipewire is used by default but it still lags of tools, but most pulseaudio tools will work.
Pavucontrol and mainly the Configuration tab, can resolve most of the common issues with audio:
Some other tools:
- GTK GUIs: paprefs, pavucontrol and helvum
- KDE plasma applet: kmix, plasma-pa and qpwgraph
- Xfce4 plugin: xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin, pa-applet-git
Configs are here: ~/.config/pulse ~/.local/state/wireplumber ~/.local/state/pipewire and can easily reset by removing the files and log in again in the DE (rm -R ~/.config/pulse ~/.local/state/wireplumber ~/.local/state/pipewire) as a normal user.
Auto-Mute:
If the Mode is enabled, it can cause problems for multiple users:
It can be disabled by using alsamixer.
See http://superuser.com/questions/431079/how-to-disable-auto-mute-mode for more.
pacmd list-sinkswill show info about connected output-input-devices
Some more tools:
wget http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && sh alsa-info.sh
will give you advanced info about the Soundcards + system and outputs an URL where the info is posted.
pactl list sinksLists your active devices.
speaker-test -c 6The number needs to be changed to your situation.
More info on pipewire:
In case you are reverted to use Pulseaudio:
And indeed check the Archwiki: