Sound settings: should change "on the fly"?

[mav@]

Options you've added are system- and possibly BIOS-specific. They could be added to the driver, but will help only limited number of people having the same motherboard model. More universal solution probably would be to teach FreeBSD sound subsystem to automatically choose default device based on connection statuses. I am already thinking about implementing it for some time and hopefully will implement it at some point.

[David30]

mav@ - it would be brilliant if the FreeBSD sound subsystem could automatically choose the default device based on when its connected. The same could hopefully apply when you plug in a microphone, including a USB microphone.

I can't get my USB microphone to work on PC-BSD though. I would be happy to paste more lines of info here if it can help discover why the USB microphone does not work in PC-BSD. I know the microphone itself does actually work.

[mav@]

There are probably two problems.
First -- is that FreeBSD now supports only one default device for both playback and recording. As result, you can't set pcm4 as default for playback, but pcm7 for recording. You have to set it in each application separately. That is the biggest problem I see now for implementing automatic switching of default device.
Second -- you've told that choosing pcm7 manually doesn't makes USB mic work. If (I suppose) it was not result of not working playback during the test, then problem is probably in snd_uaudio driver and specific mic model. Unluckily I am now very good in its internals and can't say what can be wrong there.

[David30]

Second -- you've told that choosing pcm7 manually doesn't makes USB mic work. If (I suppose) it was not result of not working playback during the test, then problem is probably in snd_uaudio driver and specific mic model. Unluckily I am now very good in its internals and can't say what can be wrong there.

If I plug in the USB microphone and then change the Sound Configuration to pcm7, I can still use the speakers or headphones for playback on the fly, while pcm7 is applied. It's only the USB microphone that is not being picked up by apps like Audacity and Sound Recorder (in GNOME).

I've attached a screenshot. Note the pcm7 mode only appears if I connect the USB microphone before opening the Sound Configuration.

[David30]

Going into the Terminal (in GNOME) and typing mixer showed that the volume for the connected USB microphone had been set to zero! Why on Earth would a sound recording or playback device be set to zero by default?

Turning the sound up to 100 for the microphone (using mixer) has got it working. Microphones don't seem to record well unless the volume is at 100 for a microphone, in my experience of using Skype and doing sound recording with computers.

I would suggest two ideas:

1. Whenever a sound device is plugged in (headphones, speakers, microphone etc) it becomes usable immediately to any sound app; no need to make a sound device the "default" or "enable" it first.

2. Playback and recording devices not set to zero volume.

Why not use a series of vertical GUI "sliders" for setting the sound volume of every sound device, accessible from the Control Panel?

[KlaymenDK]

First -- is that FreeBSD now supports only one default device for both playback and recording. As result, you can't set pcm4 as default for playback, but pcm7 for recording. You have to set it in each application separately. That is the biggest problem I see now for implementing automatic switching of default device.

mav@, you seem to really know your stuff. A follow-up question based on the above statement:
My setup is such that I'm using the rear-end surround-sound jacks for output, but sound input is from my Logitech USB webcam. Can FreeBSD support such a setup? Or, do I need to provide an actual mic at some appropriate rear-end jack?

PS. On my previous Linux OS, this (rear out, usb in) worked fine, mostly. On the PCBSDv9.1RC1 that I've just installed, I'm struggling with getting any sound output at all. I'm still trying to figure out how to fix it, but if you will answer the above question in the negative, I might as well stop trying. (Hope is still alive!)

[mav@]

As I have written above, you can't set different system-wide default devices for playback and recording. But in many cases it is possible to select specific devices in specific applications settings. For example, Skype can be set to record from different mic.

[KlaymenDK]

I am also impressed by your quick replies. I will suppose that Skype will be able to command its own audio input (unless proven otherwise).

I shall now do my best to get sound working at all on this machine, but I expect I will be posting back (probably most appropriately in a different thread).

[riberto]

I am having the very same issue with my fresh PCBSD9 install on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-52.
(I only get sound when I plug in and use my headphones. LAPTOP speakers remain silent.)
I read the posts above and even tried to apply the same fix without success.

I am including the stats for my machine in the hope you can help me.

[riberto@mango] ~> dmesg | grep hda
hdac0: <Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio Controller> mem
0xeb120000-0xeb123fff irq 22 at device 27.0 on pci0
hdac0: HDA Codec #0: Conexant CX20584
hdac0: HDA Codec #3: Intel Ibex Peak HDMI
pcm0: <HDA Conexant CX20584 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm1: <HDA Conexant CX20584 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm2: <HDA Intel Ibex Peak HDMI PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 3 nid 1 on
hdac0

[riberto@mango] ~> cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 64bit 2009061500/amd64)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <HDA Conexant CX20584 PCM #0 Analog> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <HDA Conexant CX20584 PCM #1 Analog> (play)
pcm2: <HDA Intel Ibex Peak HDMI PCM #0 DisplayPort> (play)
[riberto@mango] ~>


THANK YOU!

Rr