Changing left/right balance in sound-preferences changes the output volume slider when indicator-applet is running

[Sitsofe Wheeler]

Description of the problem:
Moving the balance to the left in sound preferences is also causing the overall volume to become muted.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Ensure indicator-applet is running and that the speaker icon is visible within it.
2. Start gnome-terminal . Run speaker-test .
3. Run gnome-volume-control .
4. Select the Output tab.
5. Set the "Output volume" slider to 100%.
6. Drag the Balance slider all the way to the left.

Expected result:
Sound to only come out of the left speaker. Only the Balance slider should move.

Actual result:
Balance slider marker jumps back and forth while being dragged to the left. "Output volume" slider also moves to the left (seemingly all the way to 0). No sound is heard from speakers.

How reproducible is this:
It is reproducible every time.

Version information:
Ubuntu 10.04 alpha 3
gnome-media 2.29.91-0ubuntu1
pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu10

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)

Additional Information:
Pressing the right mouse button over the volume indicator applet and going to "Remove from Panel" (so step 1. no longer holds) resolves the issue.
This problem does not occur in Fedora 12.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu10 <-- this is outdated

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

I can confirm this with today's daily-live desktop. I then installed pavucontrol, unlocked the streams in the Playback tab, and successfully manipulated the separate channel volumes.

Moving from pulseaudio, which Does The Right Thing, to gnome-media.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. The issue is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug the to the people writting the software (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME)

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Upstream says it sounds like a bug in Ubuntu.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Daniel, why do you think it's a gnome-media issue? Ubuntu has no gnome-media patch to the mixer and the same code works correctly in fedora, upstream also said it's probably an issue in your pulseaudio version

reassigning to pulseaudio for now but feel free to reassign back with some explanations which we could use to convince upstream if you think the issue is really a GNOME one

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Sitsofe, that really makes no sense seeing how Fedora and Ubuntu now carry the same pulse source, but let's dig deeper. The one difference that could possibly affect this symptom is Ubuntu's runtime disabling of flat-volume, so please reenable flat-volume in ~/.pulse/daemon.conf (using "flat-volumes = yes" or just commenting out /etc/pulse/daemon.conf's negation), kill pulse and allow it to respawn.

You might also wish to confirm my steps in comment #2 regarding pavucontrol.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

I've reproduced this symptom with flat-volume enabled and using g-v-c. OTOH, I continue to be unable to reproduce it using pavucontrol after I unlock *both* the stream and output device's channels.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Daniel:
I'm just reporting what upstream told me https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=612201#c1 . I've also tested this on a Fedora 13 pre-release and the behaviour there is also strange but in a different away... https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=571962

[Pavol Klačanský (pavolzetor-deactivatedaccount)]

I have unlocked all in pavucontrol, but problem is still there

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

What do you mean by it still being there? Are you using pavucontrol -- in
Lucid -- to change the balance in the stream? Note that you should unlock
both the device and stream.

On Mar 13, 2010 2:25 PM, "pavolzetor" <email address hidden> wrote:

I have unlocked all in pavucontrol, but problem is still there

--
Changing left/right balance in sound-preferences changes the output volume
slider
https://bugs....
Status in GNOME Media Utilities: Unknown
Status in “pulseaudio” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed

Bug description:
Binary package hint: pulseaudio

Description of the problem:
Moving the balance to...

[Pavol Klačanský (pavolzetor-deactivatedaccount)]

"problem is still there" means, problem persists, pavucontrol works "properly"

[gokul (dotgokul)]

Using pavucontrol, I am able to adjust the application level balance but not the output device balance.

Playing with the left and right sliders on the output devices tab, the behavior is erratic -- the sliders appear to want to stay in sync always (even when the left and right sliders are 'unlocked'), however, at random it is possible to make one lag with the other I was able to get to about 50% and 100% on the sliders once.

[gokul (dotgokul)]

I was using totem to check the application level left-right balance:
In pavucontrol, after unlocking the sliders and setting the balance to 100 and 0 (L and R) in the application level control, on automatic change of media (file), the mode switches from stereo to mono (at 50% volume) and a subsequent change in media brings back stereo at 50% volume and the sliders are 'locked' again.

[gokul (dotgokul)]

the media (file) could have been mono (I don't know how to check this in an .flv file), but that ought not to have reduced the volume levels --- not sure if this a totem bug.

[gokul (dotgokul)]

running multiple sound apps at one time introduces noise (fizzling/buzz). [I use the PPA for ubuntu-audio-dev due to bug #537448]

Chromium and totem played the same .flv file (go to youtube, play a video in chromium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Vbs84MziY&feature=related) and play the temporary file corresponding to that ( /tmp/Flash*) in totem):
* totem plays it as mono
* chromium plays in stereo
* Starting totem (along side chromium) introduces noise, stopping totem restores clarity to chromium's playback (I am not talking about sounds overlapping, this is white noise) -- the streams appear to be interleaved and correspondingly tempo is halved -- and girl sounds like a guy etc.
* Stopping playback in chromium does not restore full clarity, totem still has residual noise but tempo appears to be restored
* closing chromium and restarting totem restores clarity to totem playback.

* if totem plays first and chromium starts after, all symptoms are inverted except that stopping playback in totem fully restores chromium's playback clarity.

pavucontrol says chromium uses ALSA playback whereas totem is reported as using Playback stream.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

gokul:
Your most recent comment (#15) is almost certainly better off in a bug of its own. Generally it's one issue per report so that a report can be closed as soon as its one issue if fixed. You may want to post a link to your new bug report in this one though.

[gokul (dotgokul)]

I tried to ensure that it is not a bug with a snapshot so I rolled back all non-lucid packages to lucid versions and the problem I have reported in comment #15 is not valid anymore.

Thanks for the suggestion Sitsofe, I will file a new bug report if the problem re-surfaces later on.

[Terrax (tball-es)]

I have the same problem. I don't know if this is due to pulseaudio og the underlying alsa.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

libasound2
Version: 1.0.22-0ubuntu6

libpulse0
Version: 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu14

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

not sure if this bug should be targetted for lucid or not but it seems to confuse users

[Michał Borsuk (michal-borsuk)]

I can confirm this bug on "Ubuntu 10.04 LTS - the Lucid Lynx" beta 3.

[johny (johny-mattsson)]

I too seem to be affected by this bug. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS updated as of last week:
pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu14
gnome-media 2.30.0-0ubuntu1
libasound2 1.0.22-0ubuntu6

I have both an SBLive! card and built-in audio in this system - the inability to adjust left/right balance (and associated lowering of main volume) via g-v-c applies to both of them.

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Live [SB Live! Value [CT4670]], device 0: emu10k1 [ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback]
  Subdevices: 31/32
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #31: subdevice #31
card 0: Live [SB Live! Value [CT4670]], device 2: emu10k1 efx [Multichannel Capture/PT Playback]
  Subdevices: 8/8
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 0: Live [SB Live! Value [CT4670]], device 3: emu10k1 [Multichannel Playback]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Let me know if there is any other specific information I can provide to help pinpoint the issue.

[Seung Soo, Ha (sungsuha-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm using Lucid Lynx Beta and I'm having same problems

Mainboard : Asus 785G

I'll provide more information if requested

[Vladimir Arvat (vladimir.arvat)]

I have same problems, i have a DELL optiplex gx520

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

I'm also affected by this one. Out of curiosity and desperation I've removed the volume applet from the panel and tried to change the balance via pavucontrol, everything works as it should be! Even launching gnome-volume-control and changing the balance there seems to be working.

[Alex Bruce (alexbruce7)]

Yip affecting me to. ill even upload a quick video showing the issue.

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

Did you tried to remove the volume applet from the panel? Did it work then?

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

I found out that this bug is related to indicator-sound package.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Ensure that you have indicator-sound running in your panel aka sound menu (the speaker icon).
2. Start gnome-terminal. Run speaker-test.
3. Run gnome-volume-control.
4. Select the Output tab.
5. Set the "Output volume" slider to 100%.
6. Drag the Balance slider all the way to the left. The volume should be decreasing each time you move the slider.
7. Set the "Output volume" slider back to 100%.
8. Remove the indicator applet (sound menu, the speaker icon) from the panel.
9. Drag the Balance slider all the way to the left. Watch the volume level, it shouldn't be changing.
10. Readd the indicator applet.
11. Drag the Balance slider all the way to the left. The volume should be decreasing each time you move the slider.

You can use pavucontrol instead of gnome-volume-control, which will give you the same results.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

LiveWireBT:
You are absolutely right - it is related to the indicator-applet/indicator-sound - removing the applet stops the main slider being altered when changing the balance.

Punting from pulseaudio -> indicator-sound.

[arab80ps (arab89ps)]

affect me to

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

I'm working on the 0.2.3 stable update to lucid which fixes this issue

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Accepted indicator-sound into lucid-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

Just installed the updated package from lucid-proposed. Works now like intended. I'm going to test it on my other machine later, to see if fading between rear and front works with a 5.1 audio setup.

[Rafał Cieślak (rafalcieslak256)]

Solved for me.

[Steven Kuck (skuck71)]

Sad to report, it's "better" but not really fixed.
Moving the "Balance" left and right moves the "Fade" slider a bit, too.
Moving the "Fade" slider full to Front or Rear results in terrible, tinny sound.

Move Balance full right, move Fade full Front, move Balance full Left, move Fade full Rear.
Repeat a couple times, sound output reduces to 0 or near zero.

Moving the "Output volume" to 0 and then back to 100% DOES reset the sound to normal, which is a nice save, but not a solid fix.

[Conor Curran (cjcurran)]

Okay thx for the feedback. Will go back to the drawing board...

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

I've tested the new package on my other machine now. All I can say is: This is getting really tricky now.

First of all, I think the initial problem with indicator-sound is *solved*! (indicator-sound does not interfere with gnome-volume-control or pavucontrol anymore)

I get results similar to Steven Kuck, but I think those are rather issues with alsa, pulseaudio or what gnome-volume-control pretends to do. Run pavucontrol next to gnome-volume-control and watch the sliders carefully.

I get tinny sound with my Asus Xonar D1 on all output modes but 7.1, that's nothing new to me it was the same for karmic.

I'm going to write an exam in a couple of hours, so I don't have time for sophisticated testing. I will post further detail in the next few days, when I found some time.

[Alexey Osipov (lion-simba)]

With updated indicator-sound package on my Audigy ES ("5.1 surround output" profile) I have following results.

Moving "balance" isn't changing "volume", so fixed.

Moving "balance" moves "fade" just as in Steven Kuck report.

Moving "balance" out of center position (a bit or more) makes sound noisy. If moving to the left, noise comes from front right and rear right speakers. If moving to the right, noise comes from the front center speaker and front right speaker.
Moving "fade" out of center position (a bit or more) makes sound noisy. Noise comes from all speakers.
Moving "subwoofer" full left makes sound noisy. Noise comes from rear right speaker.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

It definitively seems to be an improvement, thus I mark this as verified for now. I suggest we leave the bug open after it moved to -updates for the remaining issues?

[Liam O'Reilly (aliam13-2)]

these 'new' problems sound very similar to the problems I have been having for quite a while now. I filled a bug report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-media/+bug/426788 when I first had the problems. Unfortunatly, the bug report I have listed here is making only slow progress.

[johanbondt (johanbondt)]

Using Analog Surround 4.0 ( snd-hda-intel model=3stick-dig), I have almost the same problems as Alexey Osipov. I just updated indicator-sound from Lucid proposed in a fresh installed Lucid 10.04 alpha.
Moving the ' fade' slider does what it is supposed to do. Moving the 'balance' to the left moves the 'fade' slider a lot. The master volume slider is not moving. There is a little noise but not much more, than I experienced before in 9.10. Moving the master volume slider to 100% seems not to affect my noise.

The problem of not being able to control the controls, as experienced before the update of indicator-sound was very annoying, so this is a real improvement to me!
 Of coarse more improvement would be welcome!

[Conor Curran (cjcurran)]

Yes I intend to make this flawless in the very near future. I need to set up a surround sound test env ...

[johanbondt (johanbondt)]

I am sorry, I did not install Lucid ' alpha' , but ' final ' of coarse...

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Hmm I'm sorely tempted to say that this bug should be marked as fixed as the problem that I originally described sounds (ha) like it has been fixed. I would recommend that new single issue bugs with a single set of steps to reproduce be filed on the other issues (such as front/back issues in a surround sound setup). This is partly because I only have a 2.0 setup and partly because that means that the issues can be resolved separately one at at time.

LiveWireBT:
Good job on diagnosing this bug. Thanks!

[Justas Lavišius (bucaneer)]

The proposed package works as far as making it possible to adjust fade/balance, but all changes are reset when adjusting volume through indicator-sound. Everything is well when using gnome-volume-control or pavucontrol.

[Kurt Kraut (kurtkraut)]

Are you sure this has been fixed? I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 amd64 on a frest install and see what happens when I try to change the balance: http://www.kurtkraut.net/images/balance-reduces-sound.gif

I'm running gnome-media version 2.30.0-0ubuntu1 and indicator-sound 0.2.2-0ubuntu1

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Kurt:
A fix has been committed to the package but has not yet been released via the Ubuntu 10.04 default updates. It might be that the update is held until the other issues are also fixed (that's why it sounds like the issue has been fixed ;).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package indicator-sound - 0.2.3-0ubuntu1

---------------
indicator-sound (0.2.3-0ubuntu1) lucid-proposed; urgency=low

  * New upstream version:
    - "Changing left/right balance in sound-preferences changes the output
       volume slider when indicator-applet is running" (lp: #532095)
    - update the mute animation on theme changes (lp: #568586)
 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:53:37 +0200

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Copied lucid-proposed to maverick.

[braweheart (braweheart)]

I have 5.1 speakers and if I try to change balance, or tone (balande towards back speakers, "surround" in alsamixer) the overall volume and subwoofer slider is changed instead.

Same problem if I use Gnome Alsamixer and try to change volume for any individual speaker.

Sound like I', affected by this bug, how long may it take until I might get the updated package in my updates? If it takes some time, I can beta test this updated package, indicator-sound - 0.2.3-0ubuntu1, but if so, where do I get it?

[Justas Lavišius (bucaneer)]

braweheart:
Enable proposed package archive as shown here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed and then run "sudo aptitude install indicator-sound/lucid-proposed". You may disable the proposed sources afterwards.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package indicator-sound - 0.2.3-0ubuntu1

---------------
indicator-sound (0.2.3-0ubuntu1) lucid-proposed; urgency=low

  * New upstream version:
    - "Changing left/right balance in sound-preferences changes the output
       volume slider when indicator-applet is running" (lp: #532095)
    - update the mute animation on theme changes (lp: #568586)
 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:53:37 +0200

[braweheart (braweheart)]

I expected email notification for new comments, so I haven't looked here since my previous post. But today, finally, I saw Justas answer and updated indicator-sound. It seems to work fine, if I encounter any problem I will repost back here.

Thanks for the fix :-)

[braweheart (braweheart)]

Found a bug, or rather, the bug is not completely exterminated.

I lower the volume for front and center speaker. If I adjust the Master control in Gnome Alsamixer, the balance is kept. But if I adjust he volume with indicator-sound, or with my keyboard volume keys, the balance is lost.

[Torsten Martinsen (bullestock)]

I am seeing the same behaviour in 11.04.

Removing the applet from the panel seems to make no difference.

[Dylan Borg (borgdylan)]

same bug occurs in 13.10 saucy salamander.

[Julien-Charles Lévesque (jclevesque)]

When I drag the balance so that only the R speaker is outputting sound, the indicator-sound menu volume drops to zero, even though the sound is correctly being played (only on the R speaker). Playing with the sound level in the indicator becomes very glitchy (it always displays a 0 level even though the volume is not 0). This is with 14.04.

[Benjamin Tegge (livewirebt)]

Please create a new bugreport for this issue.