[AV200 - Xonar STX, recording] Microphone is not working on front panel

[Simplehuman]

Microphone is not working on frontpanel of my soundcard Asus Xonar Essence STX. In Windows it works normally.

Workaround:

1. Start alsamixer from a terminal.
2. Press F6 to select the Xonar sound card
3. Press F4 to see recording controls.
4. Use arrow keys to find a control named "Mic Source" and change it from "Mic Jack" to "Front Panel".

Still actual for:

Ubuntu 16.04 x64

4.3.0-2-generic

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu4
Uname: Linux 3.9.0-030900rc8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: simplehuman 2394 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c: simplehuman 2394 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: simplehuman 2394 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Mon Apr 22 15:06:32 2013
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-02-14 (67 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaRecordingTest: ALSA recording test through plughw:STX failed
Symptom_Card: GF110 High Definition Audio Controller - HDA NVidia
Symptom_Type: None of the above
Title: [AV200 - Xonar STX, recording] Recording problem
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-02-14 (67 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/09/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1402
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: SABERTOOTH X58
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1402:bd08/09/2012:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnSABERTOOTHX58:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

Simple mixer control 'Mic Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic Jack' 'Front Panel'
  Item0: 'Mic Jack'

you have not selected front panel

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

device.description = "CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio] Аналоговое стерео"
  alsa.mixer_name = "AV200"
  alsa.components = "PCM1792A CS5381 AV200"
  module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
  device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
 ports:
  analog-input-microphone: Микрофон (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:
    device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
  analog-input-linein: Линейный вход (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input: Аналоговый вход (priority 8000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:

 active port: <analog-input-microphone>

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Raymond, I tried every 4 options in "Sound settings" in input tab

Each option does not work.

It is actual on Ubuntu 13.10 x64, 3.11 kernel

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Still actual on Ubuntu 14.10 x64

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

ports:
  analog-input-microphone: Микрофон (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:
    device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
  analog-input-linein: Линейный вход (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input: Аналоговый вход (priority 8000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
   properties:

 active port: <analog-input-microphone>

Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Mono: Capture 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic Jack' 'Front Panel'
  Item0: 'Mic Jack'

do mic boost really affected playback only ?

ARECORD

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: STX [Xonar STX], device 0: Multichannel [Multichannel]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

it is strange to use multichannel as device name , does it replay support multi channel capture ?

you have to ask the author why not implement capture source control to select rear Mic, front mic and line in

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-input-front-mic.conf

you need add Mic source into the above conf

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Raymond, I checked all the outputs with no effect. Or you are asking something else?

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/commit/sound/pci/oxygen?id=e96f38f732d24515792296b3738842934c985539

seem just using AC97 mic1 mic2 but Change the name of the control

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-input-mic.conf

you need to add Mic Source, Mic, Front Panel similar to Mic Select, Mic 1 and Mic 2 in those pulseaudio input confs

Some AC'97s have "Mic Select" and "Mic Boost (+20dB)"

[Element Mic Select]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Select:Mic1]
name = input-microphone
priority = 20

[Option Mic Select:Mic2]
name = input-microphone
priority = 19

[Element Mic Boost (+20dB)]
switch = select
volume = merge

[Option Mic Boost (+20dB):on]
name = input-boost-on

[Option Mic Boost (+20dB):off]
name = input-boost-off

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

In this conf /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input-mic.conf ?

Like this?

[Element Mic Select]
enumeration = select

[Element Mic Source]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Select:Mic1]
name = input-microphone
priority = 20

[Option Mic Select:Mic]
name = input-microphone
priority = 20

[Option Mic Select:Mic2]
name = input-microphone
priority = 19

[Option Mic Select:Front Panel]
name = input-microphone
priority = 19

[Element Mic Boost (+20dB)]
switch = select
volume = merge

[Option Mic Boost (+20dB):on]
name = input-boost-on

[Option Mic Boost (+20dB):off]
name = input-boost-off

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

you have to use Mic Source

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-input.conf.common

however front panel seem not a defined name for input

and you just have three capture switches instead of capture source control for selecting Mic, line and aux

in virtualbox with enumulated AC97 codes, sound preference show micrphone1 ,microphone2 and the other AC97 inputs such as aux, video, CD and line in

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

So I need to change "Mic Select" to "Mic Source" in analog-input-mic.conf ?

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

how do this driver allow you to select capture source?

do the control allow you to turn ON more than one input capture switch at same time ?

SImple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Mono: Capture 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]

Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

the following are normal AC97 capture controls , the driver can be customised to remove some unused input sources

control.20 {
   iface MIXER
   name 'Capture Source'
   value.0 Mic
   value.1 Mic
   comment {
    access 'read write'
    type ENUMERATED
    count 2
    item.0 Mic
    item.1 CD
    item.2 Video
    item.3 Aux
    item.4 Line
    item.5 Mix
    item.6 'Mix Mono'
    item.7 Phone
   }
  }
  control.21 {
   iface MIXER
   name 'Capture Switch'
   value.0 false
   value.1 false
   comment {
    access 'read write'
    type BOOLEAN
    count 2
   }
  }
  control.22 {
   iface MIXER
   name 'Capture Volume'
   value.0 13
   value.1 13
   comment {
    access 'read write'
    type INTEGER
    count 2
    range '0 - 15'
    dbmin 0
    dbmax 2250
    dbvalue.0 1950
    dbvalue.1 1950
   }
  }

  control.24 {
   iface MIXER
   name 'Mic Select'
   value Mic1
   comment {
    access 'read write'
    type ENUMERATED
    count 1
    item.0 Mic1
    item.1 Mic2
   }
  }

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

pactl list of sound card with AC97 codec

 alsa.components = "AC97a:41445374"
  module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
  device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
 ports:
  analog-input-microphone;input-microphone-1: Microphone / Microphone 1 (priority 8720, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input-microphone;input-microphone-2: Microphone / Microphone 2 (priority 8719, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input: Analog Input (priority 8000, available: unknown)
   properties:

  analog-input-video: Video (priority 7000, available: unknown)
   properties:

 active port: <analog-input-microphone;input-microphone-1>

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

[Element Mic Source]
 enumeration = select

[Option Mic Source:Mic]
 name = input-microphone
 priority = 20

[Option Mic Source:Front Panel]
 name = input-microphone
 priority = 19

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [off]

it is a bug of alsa lib/driver to regard this switch as pswitch since this affect both playback and capture

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

> do the control allow you to turn ON more than one input capture switch at same time ?
as I understand it don't allow it

It is really hard to understand everything in your comments for me, because I am not so well versed in this. I am just affected with this bug and want it to be fixed. I can give any information and do any tests that you ask if you give me instructions for it. At the moment I don't understand correctly what are you asking me to do

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

Simple mixer control 'Mic Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic Jack' 'Front Panel'
  Item0: 'Mic Jack'

how about

amixer -c 0 cset name='Mic Source' 'Front Panel'

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

> how about

amixer -c 0 cset name='Mic Source' 'Front Panel'

Well... better late than never... :)

$ amixer -c 0 cset name='Mic Source' 'Front Panel'
amixer: Cannot find the given element from control hw:0

Updated description and tags.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/commit/sound/pci/oxygen?id=e96f38f732d24515792296b3738842934c985539

ether change the name of the control of the driver from "Mic Source" to "Mic Select" and "Front Panel" to "Front Mic"

or

add "Mic Source" similar to "Mic Select" in pulseaudio conf files

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

$ amixer -c 0 cset name='Mic Select' 'Front Mic'
amixer: Cannot find the given element from control hw:0

I found Mic Select only in /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input-mic.conf . If this is a correct file, then there are this lines:

;;; Some AC'97s have "Mic Select" and "Mic Boost (+20dB)"

[Element Mic Select]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Select:Mic1]
name = input-microphone
priority = 20

[Option Mic Select:Mic2]
name = input-microphone
priority = 19

Added:

[Element Mic Source]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Source:Mic1]
name = input-microphone
priority = 20

[Option Mic Source:Mic2]
name = input-microphone
priority = 19

It didn't change anything after PulseAudio restart. I'm doing it right?

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Here is mine amixer output:

$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 135 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphones Impedance',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: '< 32 ohms' '32-64 ohms' '64-300 ohms' '300-600 ohms'
  Item0: '< 32 ohms'
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Mono: Capture 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic Jack' 'Front Panel'
  Item0: 'Mic Jack'
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Loopback',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Validity Check',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Input Monitor',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 1
  Mono: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Output',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Speakers' 'Headphones' 'FP Headphones'
  Item0: 'Speakers'
Simple mixer control 'DAC Filter',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'Sharp Roll-off' 'Slow Roll-off'
  Item0: 'Sharp Roll-off'
Simple mixer control 'Digital Input Monitor',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 1
  Mono: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

if "Front Panel" is equivalent to "front Mic"

and "Mic Jack" is equivalent to "Rear Jack"

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-input-front-mic.conf

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-input-rear-mic.conf

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Please, be more specific. I have almost no experience in configuring PulseAudio. What exactly you want me to do? It is really hard to understand :)

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Start alsamixer from a terminal.
You might need to press F6 to select the Xonar sound card, then F4 to see recording controls.
Use arrow keys to find a control named "Mic Source" and change it from "Mic Jack" to "Front Panel". Does this enable recording for you?

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

David Henningsson (diwic) , yes, thanks. Mic is working now from front panel. Is there a way to fix this bug? For ex. add this option to Ubuntu sound settings?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Could you try the following:

Edit this file:
 /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input-front-mic.conf

And add these lines:

[Element Mic Source]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Source:Front Mic]
name = analog-input-microphone-front
required-any = any

Then edit this file:
/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input-mic.conf

And add these lines:

[Element Mic Source]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Source:Mic Jack]
name = analog-input-microphone
required-any = any

Now reboot your computer (or restart PulseAudio).

You should now have a "Front Microphone" representing the front panel mic and a "Microphone" representing the other mic jack (wherever that is, probably on the rear).

I'm also attaching a patch which can be upstreamed once you confirm that this is actually working. Thanks!

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Sorry, there's a mistake in the above instruction.
For the /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input-front-mic.conf file, instead add these lines:

[Element Mic Source]
enumeration = select

[Option Mic Source:Front Panel]
name = analog-input-microphone-front
required-any = any

(Notice how "Front Mic" should say "Front panel" instead.)

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

After restaring PulseAudio by: pulseaudio -k

A new option "Front Mic" in sound settings appeared. But... it is not working. The old option works for Jack source as usual.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@simplehuman: Don't worry about this patch for now, it's just to help me remember to upstream it later.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

> A new option "Front Mic" in sound settings appeared. But... it is not working.

Did you see my update in comment #30? It should be "Front Panel", not "Front Mic". After editing, reboot and restart PulseAudio again. Is it still not working?

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Sure, I saw it. Edited files considering your #30 comment. Not working

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

(Sorry for late answer)

I find it weird that the suggested change does not work; could you submit a pulseaudio verbose log ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio/Log ) where you select the front mic and try to record from it?

And also, one alsa-info from where pulseaudio fails to set front mic input, and one alsa-info from where you have successfully set it (with alsamixer) and confirmed that the audio recording is working?

Thanks!

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

(I'm sorry too for late answer)

More fresh system install now. Did the same, very carefully. It doesn't work.