Re: [gentoo-user] Re: alsamixer and pulseaudio - which is at fault?

[Corbin Bird]

On 12/30/2016 07:44 AM, Mick wrote:
> On Friday 30 Dec 2016 12:12:17 Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>> On 12/30/2016 12:04 PM, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>>> On 12/29/2016 03:21 PM, Mick wrote:
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> My sound has been behaving erratically for a while now, probably since
>>>> pulseaudio started being shipped with various desktop applications.
>>> I had many similar issues years ago. I solved them by doing the following:
>>> [...]
>> Oh, forgot to mention that I also deleted the ALSA custom configuration
>> files:
>>
>>    rm ~/.asoundrc
>>    rm /etc/asound.conf
>>
>> It's recommended to not have them, unless you actually need them.
> Thank you Nikos, I followed your advice above but the darn thing is still not
> working as it should.  The interaction of pa with alsa is anything but aligned
> with the way my brain works and with how alsa used to work.
>
> I've commented out the pa entries to stop it trying to restore settings as you
> suggested.  Alsamixer settings now stick between reboots, except for the first
> headphone which for some reason is always muted and changing it won't stick
> for a couple of years now.  All looks great .... until I get a desktop pop up
> warning.  Then I notice both Speaker and PCM are pegged at 100% again.  :-/
>
> This also happens if I tweak any of the pa settings using a GUI.  Adjusting
> the application settings using e.g. systemsettings5/hardware/Multimedia/Audio
> Volume/Applications, immediately resets alsamixer's Speaker and PCM bars both
> to 100.  I am guessing when a warning pops up on the desktop it is also
> plugging into pa and no matter what Speaker or PCM have been set at, they will
> be pegged at 100 once more.
>

You do need to install "media-sound/pavucontrol" and uninstall ( if
possible ) whatever desktop GUI based mixer you are currently using ( if
.. if .. it is based on the alsamixer and not on PulseAudio ).

Changing settings in the wrong mixer just doesn't work.