ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

g4sra · 2025-11-24 09:47:46

@stultumanto, spot the deliberate error in your 01:49:25 code block posting

stultumanto · 2025-11-25 09:40:04

I'll be honest, I don't even remember where I got that snippet. It made the EQ controls appear in greenjeans' app, but I didn't do listening tests. I'm guessing the second block should read type equal, not type plug. Why would someone put a deliberate error in there? Wait... did I get tricked into copying AI slop?!

g4sra · 2025-11-25 13:27:40

@stultumanto

I'm guessing the second block should read type equal, not type plug

I couldn't identify which one was wrong, I have not played with 'equal' and order is important with ALSA or unwanted side-effects occur.

plug->equal->hw
or
equal->plug->hw

greenjeans · 2025-11-25 17:20:39

^^^Just for reference with the above posts, here's the new .asoundrc i'm shipping with Vuu-do and in AlsaTune, it's a bit more complex than the old one I used to use as it allows multi-sources to play at the same time.

I actually have version 2.0 of AT packaged and have been testing, but i'm agonizing today over making the soundswitch script more robust and capable to extend it's useability and try to avoid hand-editing of .asoundrc.

# Default: route through dmix > plug > equalizer > hardware
pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmixed_equal"
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
}

# Equalizer control (for mxeq GUI)
ctl.equal {
    type equal
}

# Final EQ stage: applies to mixed output
pcm.dmixed_equal {
    type equal
    slave.pcm "dmixed_plug"
}

# Plug wrapper for format/rate conversion after dmix
pcm.dmixed_plug {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmixed"
}

# dmix: allows multiple playback streams > direct to hardware
pcm.dmixed {
    type dmix
    ipc_key 1024
    ipc_key_add_uid false   # safer than 0
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,0"
        period_time 0
        period_size 1024
        buffer_size 4096
        rate 44100          # optional: lock rate if needed
    }
    bindings {
        0 0
        1 1
    }
}

# Optional: dsnoop for multiple capture (mic) apps
pcm.dsnooped {
    type dsnoop
    ipc_key 1025
    slave.pcm "hw:0,0"
}

# Optional: full duplex (for simultaneous play+capture)
pcm.duplex {
    type asym
    playback.pcm "dmixed_plug"
    capture.pcm "dsnooped"
}

# Legacy: old names for compatibility/scripts
pcm.plugequal {
    type equal
    slave.pcm "plughw:0,0"
}
pcm.equal {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "plugequal"
}

g4sra · 2025-11-25 17:51:18

@greenjeans, I notice your new pcm.dmixed_equal section (equal->plug) is in the reverse order to your legacy name pcm.equal (plug->equal).
Is that intentional ?

NB Just checked my config, order is plug->equal

Last edited by g4sra (2025-11-25 17:53:06)

greenjeans · 2025-11-25 18:38:02

Good eye g4sra, I need to drop that section anyway, had to go over my notes to even remember why it's there, it was a holdover from some early testing I was doing on music player prototypes using aplay.

greenjeans · 2025-11-28 00:39:03

New 2.0 version uploaded : https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do … /AlsaTune/

This has all the upgrades listed above and next version of the soundswitch script, includes the test tone .wav and a generic .asoundrc and updated notes about alsa and this system.

chomwitt · Yesterday 12:26:31

Hi . I have only ALSA installed.

$ aplay --list-devices
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
...

card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 10: HDMI 4 [VA3456-WQHD]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
...

When i do a test :
$ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
i hear the sound from my headphones connected to my pc cases 3.5mm jack.
My monitor has speakers and i would like to make my programs use that as 'audio sink'.
How do i do that ?

Changing the card (with F6) in alsamixer i see a list of s/pdif rectangles but i dont know what they represent and also the display only 00.

g4sra · Yesterday 12:57:10

Some modern motherboards detect when headphones are plugged in and require different handling.
Without making alsamixer changes, can you hear sound from the speakers when the headphones are unplugged ?

i see a list of s/pdif

Most likely the HDMI audio output of your graphics card (but one could be optical if your motherboard supports it).
'00' means active, they have no volume setting, when you need to you can toggle to muted 'MM' by tapping 'm'.

Last edited by g4sra (Yesterday 13:22:47)

stultumanto · Yesterday 13:49:07

Just FYI- I get no "Mic" control when using your mixer, because my system has no mixer element actually named "Mic." I have a "Headset Mic," a "Headphone Mic," and an "Internal Mic," but no "Mic." I also get no controls of any kind with my UMC202HD USB interface, because it uses non-standard element names. I know from experience it would add a lot of complexity to scan the mixer for the actual elements present on the device, but the alternative is going to be a certain number of users like me being unable to use the app with at least some devices.

Some modern motherboards detect when headphones are plugged in and require different handling.

This capability can be toggled on and off with the "Auto-Mute Mode" on many cards. alsamixer should expose this control. If it's "enabled," the speakers should be muted when headphones are plugged in. If you have more than one headphone output, there may be more than one option besides "disabled." It may take some experimentation to figure out which option you need.

greenjeans · Yesterday 19:01:47

Just FYI- I get no "Mic" control when using your mixer, because my system has no mixer element actually named "Mic." I have a "Headset Mic," a "Headphone Mic," and an "Internal Mic," but no "Mic."

Yeah that's an issue, I do have a second machine for testing down at the library and it has a mic but no internal mic. I'm marking this down in my notes as one of the first things to explore/work-on for the next version, figuring out various mic setups.

It will never work for 100% of cases out there, but by the time it's complete it will work for most, high time for a good Alsa GUI, it's just going to be slow going as i'm still learning here. So i'm just trying to knock it out with careful baby steps.

Really appreciate the feedback, it helps more than you know!

wert · Today 05:58:12

ask the name(s) of 'mic's when first run then remember it forever.
easy to implement cause not much complexity.

Last edited by wert (Today 06:00:09)

greenjeans · Today 17:36:00

Yeah the library machine (2013 E-machine) has no "mic boost" on it's card, so that field simply doesn't show up which is good behavior, but going forward I will need to poll the mixer backend at startup for the proper fields I guess. My skinny little app keeps growing.

Just saving it in an outboard file would be fine for regular use, but if the user cloned/snapshotted their system and wanted to install on another machine, then that file might no longer be correct for the new machine. These are the kinds of things I have to think about, especially in Vuu-do since from the get-go it's intended to be a "builder" system for folks to customize and then roll-their-own. For Vuu-do I could set an exclude in the Refracta configs for that file so it gets excluded and then re-built on first run in a new install, but for the standalone app that's not gonna fly.

Last edited by greenjeans (Today 17:36:25)

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#51 2025-11-24 09:47:46

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#52 2025-11-25 09:40:04

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#53 2025-11-25 13:27:40

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#54 2025-11-25 17:20:39

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#55 2025-11-25 17:51:18

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#56 2025-11-25 18:38:02

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#57 2025-11-28 00:39:03

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#58 Yesterday 12:26:31

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#59 Yesterday 12:57:10

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#60 Yesterday 13:49:07

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#61 Yesterday 19:01:47

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#62 Today 05:58:12

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

#63 Today 17:36:00

Re: ALSA-only purists: Question, new GUI app for the mixer and EQ?

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