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Old 09-26-2004, 02:04 PM   #1
nyk
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Can't change sound volume anymore!


I had a Soundblaster PCI card that worked perfectly with Fedora Core 2 using ALSA. The sound volume could be regulated in programs like XMMS or mplayer.

But then this soundcard got damaged and I had to use my onboard sound. It's a Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0).
It was automatically recognized by kudzu and works with ALSA, but the sound volume can't be changed in XMMS or mplayer anymore! It's only possible in alsamixer, strangely... What could be the reason?
 
Old 09-26-2004, 02:51 PM   #2
mungulish
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Have you tried changing the volume in XMMS or mplayer as root?
 
Old 09-26-2004, 02:56 PM   #3
vectordrake
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Just a hunch, but look in the preferences box for xmms and select on the "Audio I/O Plugins" tab click on the "configure" button. Under "Mixer" is the "Use software volume control" NOT selected? Is the mixer selected "PCM"? Mine works as advertized and that's what my setting is. Try it if not.
 
Old 09-26-2004, 02:58 PM   #4
AAnarchYY
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well one way to fix that is in the xmms prefrences, open up the configurations in alsa, and set the mixer device to master.
 
Old 09-26-2004, 03:07 PM   #5
vectordrake
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Yeah, that'll work too, but its usually the PCM device that's used.
 
Old 09-26-2004, 03:29 PM   #6
nyk
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thanks, setting mixer to master works in xmms!

but in mplayer there no volume controll too. I use alsa1x driver...

Last edited by nyk; 09-26-2004 at 06:02 PM.
 
Old 09-27-2004, 02:20 AM   #7
Electro
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There is a volume control in mplayer GUI if you use OSS output. If you use ALSA output, mplayer's GUI will not like it. Either mplayer developers do not want to include a software volume or ALSA's libraries are messed up. Just run mplayer from command line or use VLC (Video Lan Client) media player.
 
Old 09-27-2004, 02:27 AM   #8
vharishankar
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mplayer is definitely having problems with volume control, especially if you run it in KDE.

KDE Sound Server takes complete control of your audio hardware and the mplayer volume control does not work sometimes.

This also happens if you install a driver other than OSS. I tried the NForce nvsound module and that also has problems with many volume control mixers.

Best is to use OSS. Has best compatibility with most of the audio/multimedia applications for Linux out there.
 
Old 09-27-2004, 02:29 PM   #9
vectordrake
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You can also see if your kernel has been compiled with oss emulation (as alsa can do oss easily). Look for modules like snd-pcm-oss or snd-mixer-oss (you can try to modprobe them and see if they load). You can use oss apps with alsa then.
 
Old 10-08-2004, 09:58 PM   #10
crnchyfrog
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Hello..i'm new...so please have mercy.

I am running Fedora core2
I just installed the xmms-mp3-1.2.8-3.p.i386.rpm plugin for xmms in order to get xmms to playback mp3 files.

I am having problems w/ the volume control. I ran a search but nothing really matched. I am using onboard sound off an intel mobo, the xmms player while using the OSS Driver 1.2.10 is only able to mute or play at 100% volume. The slider bar moves, but does nothing until it get's to 0% where it then mutes.

Using the ALSA driver I get no response, although the slider bar does tie in with the master volume control.

In the main volume control only PCM control works, but again only at mute and 100%. I get no volume control inbetween.

Thanks for your help...

Dave
 
Old 10-11-2004, 05:53 PM   #11
nyk
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loading the kernel oss modules doesn't help... I still can't change the volume in gmplayer, but it works in XMMS.
I choose OSS with sound device: /dev/dsp and mixer: /dev/mixer
Tried changing the settings in all combinations, but still no controll on volume... any ideas? maybe an other mixer devince with a name unknown to me?
 
Old 10-12-2004, 01:26 AM   #12
Electro
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I'll say it again but differently. XMMS has two ways to handle the volume. One is straight from the hardware or sound device which works with OSS very well. The other way is using its (XMMS) own software volume and then passes the audio to the sound device. The software volume feature in XMMS was included because ALSA libraries that handles the alsa mixer control was buggy, so XMMS developers added software volume control.

It is not the same for mplayer because they have not thought of adding their own on the fly software volume for sound systems like ALSA and most mplayer developers just run mplayer from the command line instead of using gmplayer (mplayer's frontend). Though mplayer does have a software volume setting, but it has to be set before loading a video/audio file and you can not adjust it during the file is loaded.

I have used both programs they work well for OSS but with ALSA the mixer control does not work. The XMMS developers did something right by include a software volume. The mplayer developers are now behind in this area.

You will have to use alsamixer to adjust your volumes for your sound device.
 
Old 10-12-2004, 12:14 PM   #13
nyk
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So I could take the master_volume_change code from alsamixer and paste it into the mplayer volume control.
Alsamixer source is quite small...
Should be possible, don't you think so?

Is the gmplayer source also in the MPlayer... tar.bz?

Last edited by nyk; 10-12-2004 at 12:18 PM.
 
  


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