Erratic volume control behaviour with different USB audio devices

[Herde]

This bug concern adjusting volume with a Logitech Premium USB headset 350.

When adjusting the volume either up or down with the remote control on the headset, the left audio channel is sometimes muted or set to a lower volume than the right audio channel. This behavior occur about every 10 times the volume is changed. It seems to always be the left audio channel misbehaving.

When pressing the volume up or down after the volume being unbalanced, the volume on both channels are equal again. Only rarely the volume balance is wrong after two volume adjustments in a row.

This behavior is strange since when pressing the volume button once, one event is reported by xev. The remote control do not have any other buttons generating events to interrupt the volume adjustment facility during the volume changing process.

My system:
Clean install 64-bit Ubuntu 7.10
Logitech Premium USB headset 350.
Alsa v1.0.14

[Keith Hughitt (keith-hughitt)]

I am having similar issues with the <a href="http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/cat640035/cat1430032">Plantronics .Audio 625 USB Headset</a> on Gusty Gibbon final. Initially the Audio controls on the headset were associated with the wrong device (a built-in sound card, instead of USB Audio). After switching it through sound preferences, the buttons now controll the headset volume however turning the volume up or down has very inconsistent results. Pressing the volume up button several times for example, the volume will increase a bit, then decrease, then decrease on one side only, etc. and eventually increase again. All of this is mirrored on the on-screen volume icon that appears on the screen too.

[tipsqueal (cptch4os)]

I am having the same issue stated above by both people. The volume adjustment is not working properly at all. If I try to adjust the volume with the Volume Applet (with my mouse) it does the same thing, so it's not just the buttons on my headset.

My system:
Clean install Ubuntu 7.10
Plantronics DSP 500 (now called GAMECONPRO 1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106070

[James Cockshaw (jacockshaw)]

Same problem too when using gnome volume control. This happens with the volume applet, the keyboard volume keys and the usb device buttons.

Clean install of Ubuntu 7.10
Logitech V20 speakers

[tranqy (linas-n)]

This happens with Creative Xmod on Gutsy also. alsamixer works ok, but with gnome-volume-control or changing volume using Xmod volume knob everything falls appart.

[tranqy (linas-n)]

BTW Xmod volume control worked correctly on Feisty.

[tranqy (linas-n)]

Because alsamixer seems to work ok, this may be a gnome bug and not ALSA one. Anybody here tried controlling volume with alsamixer (make sure to close gnome volume control or it will influence alsamixer)?

[filipebrandao_ (filipebrandao-)]

Same problem here with this system:
Clean install Ubuntu 7.10
Plantronics DSP 500 (now called GAMECOMPRO 1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106070

tranqy, I think you are right. I closed gnome-volume-manager and i was able to change the volume normally with alsamixer :)

[Øyvind Stegard (oyvindstegard)]

Same problem here. When adjusting the volume on my external Creative Xmod USB audio card, the sliders behave very erratic, and the left+right channel link is broken, one channel goes to zero, etc. Totally unusable. Alsamixer works just fine.

This worked correctly in Ubuntu Feisty for me, but broke in Ubuntu Gutsy. I don't think is an ALSA-bug, because all the native ALSA apps work fine. Perhaps it's a gstreamer volume control bug ?

[tranqy (linas-n)]

Re-submitted to gstreamer bug list:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gstreamer/+bug/158590

[arekkusu (arekkusu-r)]

Same problem here with my 2 USB sound device (logitech headset / Edirol UA-1X).
Alsamixer works.

[Alan Podlesek (seqdcer)]

Same problem here. I have logitech usb speakers.

[Dubcat (aak)]

Hi - this is definitely a gnome problem.

Open up volume control in Gnome and select USB as your audio device. You will see sliders for left and right channels in the playback tab. Try moving them - they move in an erratic fashion as described above. Unlink them by selecting the chain icon at the bottom of the sliders. You will note that the right slider moves freely while the left slider is very erratic. Close the volume control.

In a terminal run alsamixer for the usb card - for me this was achieved by typing alsamixer -c 1. Here you can control the volume of your headset with no problem at all. Just use the up and down cursor keys ..

I hope this helps someone avoid the headache I currently have after talking for too long with the volume too high on skype.

[James Cockshaw (jacockshaw)]

for anyone's information though, I got around it by installing pulseaudio and using that that that gets the volume controls and keys without having to adjust manually

Unhappily from the hardy alpha I have tried this bug is still persistant, although again setting to pulseaudio (which is standard) will help.

Here's hoping the final release will cure, but if not, looks like the only easy solution is pulseaudio

[arekkusu (arekkusu-r)]

James Cockshaw> Yes, with pulseaudio or any of the "alsa mixer" which can control sound device volume you can go around that nasty bug.
(I have been using "gamix" for some time instead of the usual gnome volume control and I can easily manage the volume of my 2 soundcard input/output)

I REALLY hope that in Hardy the default volume control (is it pulseaudio or whatever) won't have that kind of obvious problem.
I've had to explain my GF how to install the alsa mixer and add it to her panel because of that issue (I gave her a USB headset).

Sorry if you found my comment unnecessary (I know it won't help directly solve the issue) but I really thing you should pay attention to that kind of annoying problem especially for the LTS release which Hardy is.

[Patryk Bajer (bayger)]

As someone noted above this bug is also present when using creative xmod. It seems to be some kind of race condition, where maybe two pieces of code try to change volume to the response of changing volume using the knob or +/- on the keyboard. This is only my guess. Anyway, bug still exists in Hardy. It is very annoying, because I must use mouse to change the volume. Even changing the volume using mouse causes a lot of problems (sometimes I must mute/unmute using the keyboard). So please, try to investigate this before releasing next Ubuntu. I know that a lot of people are using external usb audio devices. This is very important for me. If you need any assistance in hunting this bug just drop me an email. I'll try to help as best as I can.

Regards.

[Øyvind Stegard (oyvindstegard)]

Can't believe this annoying bug is still present in Hardy. IIRC, Feisty did not have problems with volume control on my Creative Xmod.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Not a g-v-m bug, closing this task.

[Allard Hoeve (allard)]

I'm experiencing this with several types of USB soundcards, in fact, all of the types I'ved used and on three different systems I've used them with. It' s a very consistent bug. I'd help, but I currently have no idea where to look.

If you need assistence testing a patch, please let me know.

[Jonathan Lange (jml)]

The Gnome Volume Manager problem has been filed as bug 148181. It's possible that it's the same underlying problem.

[Jonathan Lange (jml)]

So it turns out that "Gnome Volume Manager" manages _disk_ volumes. I should have said "Gnome Volume Controller", which is a part of gnome-media, I believe.

[antrophos (antrophos)]

This Bug is not Gnome Volume only but is somehow connected to alsa itself, please keep that in mind. I also don't know why pulse Volume Control is the only tool not affected by this bug.

[one goat (noze23)]

I actually did observe this a few days ago in pavucontrol (one channel moving spurriously, sudden muting while adjusting volume w/ mouswheel, only on control for affected soundcard (the soundblaster mp3+ usb)) but seems fine now...

[antrophos (antrophos)]

Hi,

from my point of view pulse volume control was not affected by this bug. Indeed I am using pulse controls all the time since 7.10 because it is the only one working without bugs.

[Ambricka (petter-ambricka)]

I have "exactly" the same problems with Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI] (rev 01), so it's not only USB devices. This is intrepid ibex rc on amd64.

[Øyvind Stegard (oyvindstegard)]

Can't believe this problem is worse than ever in Intrepid :( .... Adjusting the volume of my Creative Xmod through the normal Gnome mixer (as ALSA device) is next to impossible without the sliders jumping everywhere, channels un-linking, etc. And now it even affects the Intel HDA sound card on my motherboard. Why is priority set to low ? It makes hardware volume control from Gnome/GStreamer useless.

[Nicolas Nobelis (nobelis)]

Øyvind,

I have exactly the same problem with my Asus Xonar D1 (lspci = 06:01.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio]).

If I select "Xonar D1 (Alsa Mixer)" in the default mixer track of gnome-sound-properties, any sound volume is going mad (sliders jumping randomly, ...).

However, if I select "AV200 (OSS MIXER)", the volume changes are fine (exept the well known Intrepid bug -- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/200165).

[komputes (komputes)]

Thank you all for confirming this disjointed (unbalanced), erratic volume control issue. I am glad to hear that it's not only my hardware (Samson Audio - C01U USB Microphone) but many USB devices suffering from this issue. Must have taken me 20 attempts to get both channels up to 80. Is there any possibility that this bug can be assigned/escalated to be fixed in Intrepid or Jaunty?

[Alfred (alfred-reichenberger)]

I can confirm this very annoying bug with my Club3D Theatron (which uses a CMI8788 chip) under Intrepid.
Please fix this bug as soon as possible!

[PsYcHoK9 (psychok9)]

I've the same problem with Ubuntu 8.10 x64, CMI8788 audio card (X-Meridian 7.1) and Alsa 1.0.17. The volume control of gnome going crazy if I want setup volume on lower or upper setting.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could you try if that's still an issue in jaunty?

[antrophos (antrophos)]

Sorry, I don't have the USB sound card any more. But as in jaunty pulse is somehow used to set volume and pulse never was affected by this problem it could get quiet here.

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

I will check on jaunty this evening.

[Øyvind Stegard (oyvindstegard)]

I have not seen this problem in Ubuntu Jaunty, it appears to be fixed. Mixer control works fine.

Hardware:
Creative Xmod USB, USB Device ID 041e:30d0 Creative Technology, Ltd

[Øyvind Stegard (oyvindstegard)]

Oh, for clarity, I'm talking about mixer control both through Gnome->GStreamer->ALSA->HW, and (GStreamer)->PulseAudio->ALSA->HW.
All working.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

closing since that works in jaunty now