alsa-utils missing asoundconf

[Susan Cragin]

Binary package hint: alsa-utils

System -- Karmic Koala, all updates as of 13-May-2009.
asoundconf list gives following message:

$ asoundconf list
The program 'asoundconf' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install alsa-utils
bash: asoundconf: command not found

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

I should have added that of course alsa-utils is installed, and the following commands work:
arecord
aplay

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

Asoundconf has been removed in karmic, in anticipation of the new GNOME volume control + pulse being more useful, allowing users to more easily control which sound card is used.

If you need asoundconf, I suggest you download a copy of alsa-utils from jaunty, and extract asoundconf from that.

 affects ubuntu/alsa-utils
 status wontfix

[Florian Zeitz (florian-zeitz)]

This is great, because now I have no clue how to configure my .asoundrc.asoundconf so that it uses pulse instead of the soundcard directly :/
I think asoundconf is still very useful even with pulse. Also there may be people who prefer not using pulseaudio (even if this seems to be unbelievable for some people).

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

Is there a current solution for someone who has permanently removed pulseaudio, other than regressing alsa-utils?
I have a system where I will never install pulseaudio. I need speech recognition, and my machine uses audio only to access Dragon NaturallySpeaking through wine. Pasuspender and padsp cause problems and seem to add latency.
Will the old alsa-utils work, going forward?

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

asoundconf is maintained in bzr; see my branch in asoundconf-trunk

On Jun 27, 2009 9:00 AM, "Susan Cragin" <email address hidden> wrote:

Is there a current solution for someone who has permanently removed
pulseaudio, other than regressing alsa-utils?
I have a system where I will never install pulseaudio. I need speech
recognition, and my machine uses audio only to access Dragon
NaturallySpeaking through wine. Pasuspender and padsp cause problems and
seem to add latency.
Will the old alsa-utils work, going forward?

-- alsa-utils missing asoundconf https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/376024 You
received this bug noti...

[Sven Ludwig (adan0s)]

I couldn't get my Soundcard working without asoundconf, so I took the one from jaunty as described here.
How can I configure it using the Gnome tools? I couldn't get it working with the gnome tools.

My soundcard is:
00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev a2)

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

Here is everything I do:

In terminal:

sudo dpkg -i alsa-utils.deb

asoundconf list

(the program lists your sound cards. Mine are called Intel and Generic.)

asoundconf set-default-card Generic

sudo reboot

[Zorael (zorael)]

> Asoundconf has been removed in karmic, in anticipation of the new GNOME volume control + pulse being more useful, allowing users to more easily control which sound card is used.

This sort of screws over any installation that doesn't use pulse or isn't running GNOME. For instance, KDE has its own way of telling xine which device to use, but apps that use the alsa API directly ignore those. I realize getting ahold of the script from an outside source (or an older package) works around the issue, but even with a new GNOME mixer app, I don't see why this environment-independent terminal script had to go.

Please consider Kubuntu and similar flavors that don't run pulse nor GNOME.

[stefand (stefandirnstorfer)]

Hi,
I have the same bug on Jaunty:

here is my system:
stefan@HPMini:~$ uname -a
Linux HPMini 2.6.28-12-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 1 19:27:06 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Here it claims I shout install alsa-utils:
stefan@HPMini:~$ asoundconf
The program 'asoundconf' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install alsa-utils
bash: asoundconf: command not found
stefan@HPMini:~$

Here it says alsa-utils is installed:
stefan@HPMini:~$ sudo apt-get install alsa-utils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
alsa-utils is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
stefan@HPMini:~$

I look very much forward to Karmic when hopefully I can switch the sound output as easily as in any other operating system, but I don't feel like fiddling with my system now.

Can anybody tell me how I get asoundconf on my system?

Cheers,
Stefan

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/sound/

Download the package alsa-utils from here and install it using dpkg -i

You should have asoundconf already if you have Jaunty, since it wasn't removed until Karmic....
But if somehow you don't, this will give it to you.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 6:26 AM, Susan Cragin<email address hidden> wrote:
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/sound/

Please don't do that. Karmic really does need the Karmic version of alsa-utils.

If you really want asoundconf, please use
https://code.launchpad.net/~crimsun/asoundconf-ui/asoundconf-trunk

[Daniel Albers (al)]

Shipping asoundconf wouldn't do any harm, would it? I don't understand why you would remove a well established, working application only because there's an alternative. After all, Open Source *is about* having options to choose from.

[Daniel Albers (al)]

Err, I meant to refer to alsaconf, not asoundconf.

[Psy[H[] (vovik-wfa)]

I agree, there is no reason to remove asoundconf.
And this is not the only bug created by forcing the use of pulseaudio.

[shawnlandden (shawnlandden)]

WOW, each time I upgrade Ubuntu the sound system gets worse. Pulseaudio cant handle all the hardware ALSA can, such as 24-bit emu10k1 cards, which are quite common. In Fedora it works out of the box...

[yangeryanger (davidcharlesyang)]

comment #2, this will not work for server type installs on headless systems with no GUI/Keyboard/etc. I run shoutcast server and need to control which sound card I am using for it, asoundconf is necessary. Yes, it's simple just to grab the jaunty version, but, not really user-friendly then.

[Peter Fazekas (phazec)]

It's needed and never asks for food. Or we don't need ls, too, because Nautilus does the job well :)

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

If any of you are volunteering to maintain asoundconf, then please step
forward and turn it into a separate Debian package.

On Oct 23, 2009 5:55 AM, "Peter Fazekas" <email address hidden> wrote:

It's needed and never asks for food. Or we don't need ls, too, because
Nautilus does the job well :)

-- alsa-utils missing asoundconf https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/376024 You
received this bug noti...

Status in “alsa-utils” package in Ubuntu: New Bug description:

Binary package hint: alsa-utils System -- Karmic Koala, all updates as of
13-May-2009. asoundconf ...

[Peter Fazekas (phazec)]

Okay, this could help for us: http://sidux.com/index.php?module=Wikula&tag=MultipleAlsaEn

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Err, alsaconf is very different to asoundconf.

[Peter Fazekas (phazec)]

I've found it here: http://sidux.com/PNphpBB2-printview-t-16607-start-0.html
Exactly the same problem.

[Forest (foresto)]

I have to agree that removing asoundconf in favor of a gnome tool that only works with PulseAudio is, to be kind, short-sighted. A lot of us have very good reasons not to use pulse or gnome, and still need an easy way to choose a default sound card.

Here's another discussion about repackaging it:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/asoundconf-gtk/+bug/378675

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Forest <email address hidden> wrote:
> I have to agree that removing asoundconf in favor of a gnome tool that
> only works with PulseAudio is, to be kind, short-sighted.  A lot of us
> have very good reasons not to use pulse or gnome, and still need an easy
> way to choose a default sound card.

No, this is _not_ the reason that asoundconf was removed. It was
removed because no one has stepped forward to maintain it (I was the
previous maintainer).

So, in short, if it's to reenter the repository, it needs:
* a separate source package
* a new maintainer (or team of maintainers)

If you're willing to work on either/both, please contact me offline.

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

Can asoundconf be kept going for instances/distros where pulseaudio is not used at all? That would make it easier to maintain.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

No, that would be an unnecessary addition to alsa-utils source. The script
should be shipped separately in another source package & binary.

On Nov 13, 2009 10:15 AM, "Susan Cragin" <email address hidden> wrote:

Can asoundconf be kept going for instances/distros where pulseaudio is
not used at all? That would make it easier to maintain.

-- alsa-utils missing asoundconf https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/376024 You
received this bug noti...

Status in “alsa-utils” package in Ubuntu: New Bug description:

Binary package hint: alsa-utils System -- Karmic Koala, all updates as of
13-May-2009. asoundconf ...

[lunkwill (launchpad-lunkwill)]

This affects me as well.

[libertyernie (libertyernie)]

If the ALSA default is PulseAudio, you can change PulseAudio's "default" card with pacmd.
$ pacmd list-sinks | less
$ pacmd set-default-sink [index number]
It's really the fallback card for apps that haven't told PulseAudio what card they want to use. One of those apps, of course, is ALSA.

[mlemanczyk (marek-lemanczyk)]

I'm having the same problem. None of the solutions that I found so far worked.

I've USB HeadSet. It works good in KDE desktop, but when I start Firefox or Konqueror and want to watch Flash movies, it doesn't play on the headset. Even tough it's selected as default device in KDE Multimedia preferences.

I tried:
asoundconf - removed :(
pacmd - I'm getting information that PulseAudio is not default or not running
PulseAudio server - no luck with getting to work
editing /etc/asound.config - doesn't work or I made something wrong

Anyone knows, how can I make my USB audio default in all the whole system, not only in those few (?) apps that respect KDE settings?

I already lost half day trying to get it working, as expected. Please help.

[Susan Cragin (susancragin)]

The only way I know how to do it is by disabling pulseaudio.

edit /etc/pulse/client.conf

change
; autospawn = yes
to
autospawn = no

In terminal:
killall pulseaudio

asoundconf
set-default-card NAME-OF-USB-HEADSET

I'm not sure that will work for you but works for me with a pc-card soundcard. All programs devices are recognized properly.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Be aware that you also need to remove the session spawn, too, in
Lucid. See /etc/xdg/autostart/pulseaudio*

[mlemanczyk (marek-lemanczyk)]

Thank you both. My understanding is, that my problem is that I can't use asoundconf, because it was removed. I successfully used it for a while and now I can't configure the USB headset.

Are you sure that removing PulseAudio will help? Will I be able to select default sound card for all apps, including Firefox and KDE?

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

You can always configure it manually, which is precisely what
asoundconf does step-wise.

Also, you can always download asoundconf from my bzr branch. I posted
in one of the first half-dozen comments.

[mlemanczyk (marek-lemanczyk)]

Daniel, you saved my day. No idea how to manually configure it. I tried to follow what was given in this thread, but with no luck. By surprise to me /etc/asound.conf wasn't created.

Thank you so much. With the script I got it working in a less than minute.

[Robert Yeckley (ryeckley82)]

Daniel, I was reading your comments - and I agree that asoundconf is much harder to maintain. Even after all these years of using computers, I'm still a little new to programming. But I have absolutely no problem with linux scripts. My gripe is this: some sound cards don't accept Pulseaudio out-of-the-box, whereas ALSA does, but doesn't always interpret right. I have used the Emu10k1 and Emu20k1 (Sound Blaster Live! and Audigy) as well as the ice1724 (VIA chipset) I have now.

Support for the higher-end cards capable of Dolby Digital and DTS, as well as hybrid analog AND digital output, need to somehow be accounted for and I don't know how to do that. I'm about to downgrade to my CMI8738 because it just worked. However, I'm going to miss my Dolby Digital (i.e. for MythTV playback). The card has a built-in encoder, no software encoding necessary.

If there's anything I can do, let me know.