Quoting D. R. Evans (2020-02-12 22:50:28) > Jonas Smedegaard wrote on 2/12/20 1:26 PM: > > Quoting D. R. Evans (2020-02-12 19:05:40) > >> Jonas Smedegaard wrote on 2/12/20 10:43 AM: > >>> Quoting D. R. Evans (2020-02-12 18:34:27) > >>>> I just installed buster on a new (to me) machine, and the audio > >>>> level is very low. With all the mixer controls and the physical > >>>> volume control on the speakers turned up, I can hear audio, but > >>>> even then it is unpleasantly quiet, certainly nothing one would > >>>> want to listen to. > >>>> > >>>> Any suggestions as to how to fix this, or even how to go about > >>>> investigating it sensibly, would be gratefully received. > >>> > >>> Maybe you missed some mixer controls? Desktop environments > >>> nowadays commonly use (not only ALSA but also) Pulseaudio, and a > >>> common mistake is to only play with the knobs tied to ALSA. > >>> > >>> One relatively userfriendly interface to Pulseaudio that I know of > >>> is pavucontrol, available in the Debian package of the same name. > >>> You can run it as a self-contained graphical tool, or if you want > >>> it handy accesible then additionally install pasystray. > >>> > >> > >> OK; I installed that, but it doesn't seem to do anything more than > >> the desktop mixer program. > >> > >> It says that Analog Stereo Output is 100%, as does the mixer > >> program. Moving that slider does make the volume even lower, so it > >> is having an effect, but only to make the audio even harder to > >> hear. > > > > That sounds like you have looked at _one_ of the volume controls. > > When I open pavucontrol (on my Debian unstable system, but should be > > similar e.g. on Debian buster), there are 5 tabs: > > > > * Playback > > + one control per source (e.g. "System sounds", mpv, and > > microphone) > > "System Sounds" is the only one. It's at 100% > > > * Recording > > + one control per recorder (irrelevant for _playing_ audio) > > * Output Devices > > + one control per audio device (incl. virtual ones if enabled) > > One slider, at 100%. > > > * Input Devices > > + one control per audio device (irrelevant for _playing_ audio) > > * Configuration > > + switch to select routing mode (e.g. use HDMI instead of analog) > > It's set to "Analog Stereo Output"; since my speakers are plugged into > the green jack at the back, it seems like that should be the correct > selection. > > > > > Make sure that you check both application level volume (for the > > application you want to test - while it is running) and output > > device volume. > > At this point I've tried with several programs that I've used (on > other systems) for a long time. On all of them, even with the volume > set to 100%, the sound is audible but too quiet. > > The same applications playing the same files on my debian 9 system > produces output that is too loud for comfort. Good. Now it is clear to me that you've tried all (directly) options available in that Pulseaudio. That was not clear to me previously. > > Also, try available routing modes - they depend on your audio > > device(s) so I cannot tell what is correct or optimal on your > > system. > > I don't know what "routing modes" means, nor where to control them. Don't worry, that probably just means your audo card is simple with only a single routing mode (and also, "routing mode" is not a technical term, just my sloppy description of it). Another thing you might try is go "below" Pulseaudio and mess directly with ALSA settings: Install the package alsa-utils and run (in a terminal) the tool alsamixer By default it will probably show a single volume control for a virtual audio card called Pulseaudio - switch to your real underlying audio card by hitting F6 and select it. Try play around with that... - Jonas -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private
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