[SB Live! Value [CT4832]] Changing front output volume affects rear output volume

[Jarno Suni]

Now that all the outputs are supported (see bug 560178), there is still something wrong with the mixer elements.
In Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input mode (where fortunately also digital output is enabled; I don't know about the digital input)

Steps to reproduce:
Select Output Devices tab in pavucontrol (0.9.9-1)
set all channels equal somewhere between Silence and Base
Unlock channels
Increase level of front channels
Result: Front volume is increased and rear volume is decreased (even if the visible Rear channel mixer elements do not move)
Expected result: Front volume is increased and rear volume stays unchanged

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Live'/'SB Live! Value [CT4832] (rev.6, serial:0x80271102) at 0xc000, irq 19'
   Mixer name : 'TriTech TR28602'
   Components : 'AC97a:54524123'
   Controls : 216
   Simple ctrls : 38
Date: Tue Aug 23 19:15:51 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110426.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/25/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-7051
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd04/25/2005:svn:pn:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-7051:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
mtime.conffile..etc.pulse.daemon.conf: 2011-08-20T01:15:00.412912

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

On the other hand, currently you are able to change the front output volume and keep the rear output volume unchanged by using Master track in alsamixer, (or using indicator-sound and not changing volume really low). So I am afraid it would be harder to change the front output volume independently of rear output volume (and digital output volume), if this bug were fixed. Still I think it is good to be able to use single volume control to change volume of all outputs.

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

The bug is still present in Oneiric daily. Due to the bug you can not change volume of rear output by usual volume control applets (that try to change the volume of all output channels).

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

If I remove pulseaudio and use it by alsa only, Master track and PCM track control the volume of the front output, and Wave Surround controls the volume of the rear output and the digital output. It works fine that way.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hmm, "Wave Surround" is definitely a non-standard volume control name. You can workaround this for yourself by editing /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf (or whatever port you want to use), and change e g "[Element Surround]" to "[Element Wave Surround]".

I'm not familiar enough with the AC97 driver to know if and how to change the name into something more known to PA from the start.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

We probably want to deal with these as we do for other Creative cards with
similar element names, e.g., Wave Front. They're similar to their
counterparts without "Wave".

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

There exist [Element Rear] and [Element Surround] that have identical settings in /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf:
switch = mute
volume = merge
override-map.1 = all-rear
override-map.2 = rear-left,rear-right

I don't think this bug is in alsa-driver.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

It seem that pulseaudio mute the other switches (e.g. PCM and Surround) when you mute "Master Playback Volume" of ac97 codec using any alsa application (e.g. amixer, alsamixer, qasmixer, gnome-alsamixer) if your sound card with ac97 codec is set as default sound card in ubuntu 12.04

~$ amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]

~$ amixer -c0 set Master mute
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]

~$ amixer -c 0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]

~$ amixer -c0 set Master unmute
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]

~$ amixer -c 0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playbac...

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-kernel.git;a=blob_plain;f=Documentation/sound/alsa/SB-Live-mixer.txt

Some SB Live have I2S DAC which does not has any volume control, the driver use the FX-bus accumulators

"Wave" , "Wave Surround" playback volume control seem affect stream using "hw" device (i.e. analog mono profile or any alsa application using device 0)

while "front" and "Surround" playback volume control affect stream using "front" , "surround40"

name='Wave Playback Volume',index=0

This control is used to attenuate samples for left and right PCM FX-bus
accumulators. ALSA uses accumulators 0 and 1 for left and right PCM samples.
The result samples are forwarded to the front DAC PCM slots of the AC97 codec.

name='Wave Surround Playback Volume',index=0

This control is used to attenuate samples for left and right PCM FX-bus
accumulators. ALSA uses accumulators 0 and 1 for left and right PCM samples.
The result samples are forwarded to the rear I2S DACs. These DACs operates
separately (they are not inside the AC97 codec).

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "kepp PCM Playback Switch Unmute when application mute Master Playback Switch of ac97 codec" of this bug report has been identified as being a patch. The ubuntu-reviewers team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review the patch. In the event that this is in fact not a patch you can resolve this situation by removing the tag 'patch' from the bug report and editing the attachment so that it is not flagged as a patch. Additionally, if you are member of the ubuntu-reviewers team please also unsubscribe the team from this bug report.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by Brian Murray. Please contact him regarding any issues with the action taken in this bug report.]

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

The patch posted in comment #8 is unrelated to the original problem (changing front affects rear volume).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 11.10 (oneiric) reached end-of-life on May 9, 2013.
Ubuntu 11.04 (natty) reached end-of-life on October 28, 2012.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.