# PulseAudio

Related articles

- PulseAudio/Examples

PulseAudio is a sound server commonly used by desktop environments like GNOME or KDE. It serves as a proxy to sound applications using existing kernel sound components like ALSA or OSS. Since ALSA is included in Arch Linux by default, the most common deployment scenarios include PulseAudio with ALSA.

## Installation

- Required package: pulseaudio
- Optional GTK GUIs: paprefs and pavucontrol
- Optional volume control via mapped keyboard keys: pulseaudio-ctl
- Optional console (CLI) mixers: ponymix and pamixer-git
- Optional web volume control: PaWebControl
- Optional system tray icon: pasystray-git
- Optional KDE plasma applet: kdemultimedia-kmix and kdeplasma-applets-veromix (If KMix/Veromix fail to connect to PulseAudio at boot you may need to edit `/etc/pulse/client.conf` to include `autospawn = yes` instead of `autospawn = no`.)

## Running

Warning: If you have per-user copies of configuration files (such as `client.conf`, `daemon.conf` or `default.pa`) in `~/.config/pulse/` or `~/.pulse/`, make sure you keep them in sync with changes to the packaged files in `/etc/pulse/`. Otherwise, PulseAudio may refuse to start due to configuration errors.
Note: Most X11 environments start PulseAudio automatically with the X11 session.

In the unlikely event that PulseAudio is not automatically started upon entering X, it can can be started with:

    $ pulseaudio --start

PulseAudio can be stopped with:

    $ pulseaudio --kill

### Autostarting in unsupported desktop environments

Note: As mentioned previously, PulseAudio is very likely launched automatically via either `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/pulseaudio` or the files in `/etc/xdg/autostart/` if users have some DE installed.

Check to see if PulseAudio is running:

    $ ps aux | grep pulse

     facade   1794  0.0  0.0 360464  6532 ?        S<l  15:33   0:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start
     facade   1827  0.0  0.0  68888  2608 ?        S    15:33   0:00 /usr/lib/pulse/gconf-helper

If PulseAudio is not running and users are using X, the following will start PulseAudio with the needed the X11 plugins manually:

    $ start-pulseaudio-x11

If you are not running GNOME, KDE, or Xfce, and your `~/.xinitrc` does not source the scripts in `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d` (such as is done in the example file `/etc/skel/.xinitrc`), then you can launch PulseAudio on boot with:

    ~/.xinitrc

    /usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11

## Back-end configuration

### ALSA

Install pulseaudio-alsa from the official repositories. This package contains the necessary `/etc/asound.conf` for configuring ALSA to use PulseAudio.

Also install lib32-libpulse and lib32-alsa-plugins if you run a x86_64 system and want to have sound for 32-bit multilib programs like Wine, Skype and Steam.

To prevent applications from using ALSA's OSS emulation and bypassing PulseAudio (thereby preventing other applications from playing sound), make sure the module `snd_pcm_oss` is not being loaded at boot. If it is currently loaded (`lsmod | grep oss`), disable it by executing:

    # rmmod snd_pcm_oss

#### ALSA/dmix without grabbing hardware device

Note: This section describes alternative configuration, which is generally not recommended.

You may want to use ALSA directly in most of your applications and to be able to use other applications, which constantly require PulseAudio at the same time. The following steps allow you to make PulseAudio use dmix instead of grabbing ALSA hardware device.

- Remove package pulseaudio-alsa, which provides compatibility layer between ALSA applications and PulseAudio. After this your ALSA apps will use ALSA directly without being hooked by Pulse.

- Edit `/etc/pulse/default.pa`.

  Find and uncomment lines which load back-end drivers. Add device parameters as follows. Then find and comment lines which load autodetect modules.

    load-module module-alsa-sink device=dmix
    load-module module-alsa-source device=dsnoop
    # load-module module-udev-detect
    # load-module module-detect

- Optional: If you use kdemultimedia-kmix you may want to control ALSA volume instead of PulseAudio volume:

    $ echo export KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 > ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh
    $ chmod +x ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh

- Now, reboot your computer and try running ALSA and PulseAudio applications at the same time. They both should produce sound simultaneously.

  Use pavucontrol to control PulseAudio volume if needed.

### OSS

There are multiple ways of making OSS-only programs play to PulseAudio:

#### ossp

Install ossp package and start `osspd.service`.

#### padsp wrapper

Programs using OSS can work with PulseAudio by starting it with padsp (included with PulseAudio):

    $ padsp OSSprogram

A few examples:

    $ padsp aumix
    $ padsp sox foo.wav -t ossdsp /dev/dsp

You can also add a custom wrapper script like this:

    /usr/local/bin/OSSProgram

    #!/bin/sh
    exec padsp /usr/bin/OSSprogram "$@"

Make sure `/usr/local/bin` comes before `/usr/bin` in your PATH.

### GStreamer

To make GStreamer use PulseAudio, you need to install gst-plugins-good or gstreamer0.10-good-plugins.

### OpenAL

OpenAL Soft should use PulseAudio by default, but can be explicitly configured to do so:

    /etc/openal/alsoft.conf

    drivers=pulse,alsa

### libao

Edit the libao configuration file:

    # /etc/libao.conf

    default_driver=pulse

Be sure to remove the `dev=default` option of the alsa driver or adjust it to specify a specific Pulse sink name or number.

Note: You could possibly also keep the libao standard of outputting to the alsa driver and its default device if you install pulseaudio-alsa since the ALSA default device then is PulseAudio.

## Equalizer

PulseAudio has an integrated 10-band equalizer system. In order to use the equalizer do the following:

### Load equalizer sink and dbus-protocol module

    $ pactl load-module module-equalizer-sink
    $ pactl load-module module-dbus-protocol

### Install and run the GUI front-end

Install python-pyqt4 and execute:

    $ qpaeq

Note: If qpaeq has no effect, install pavucontrol and change "ALSA Playback on" to "FFT based equalizer on ..." while the media player is running.

### Load equalizer and dbus module on every boot

Edit the file `/etc/pulse/default.pa` with your favorite editor and append the following lines:

    ### Load the integrated PulseAudio equalizer and D-Bus module
    load-module module-equalizer-sink
    load-module module-dbus-protocol

## Applications

### KDE Plasma Workspaces and Qt4

PulseAudio will automatically be used by KDE/Qt4 applications. It is supported by default in the KDE sound mixer. For more information see the KDE page in the PulseAudio wiki. One useful tidbit from that page is to add `load-module module-device-manager` to `/etc/pulse/default.pa`.

If the phonon-gstreamer backend is used for Phonon, GStreamer should also be configured as described in #GStreamer.

### Audacious

Audacious natively supports PulseAudio. In order to use it, set Audacious Preferences -> Audio -> Current output plugin to 'PulseAudio Output Plugin'.

### Java/OpenJDK 6

Create a wrapper for the Java executable using padsp as seen on the Java sound with PulseAudio page.

### Music Player Daemon (MPD)

configure MPD to use PulseAudio. See also MPD/Tips and Tricks#MPD and PulseAudio.

### MPlayer

MPlayer natively supports PulseAudio output with the `-ao pulse` option. It can also be configured to default to PulseAudio output, in `~/.mplayer/config` for per-user, or `/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf` for system-wide:

    /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf

    ao=pulse

### guvcview

guvcview when using the PulseAudio input from a Webcam may have the audio input suspended resulting in no audio being recorded. You can check this by executing:

    $ pactl list sources

If the audio source is "suspended" then modifying the following line in `/etc/pulse/default.pa` and changing:

    load-module module-suspend-on-idle

to

    #load-module module-suspend-on-idle

And then either restarting PulseAudio or your computer will only idle the input source instead of suspending it. guvcview will then correctly record audio from the device.

## Troubleshooting

### No sound after install

#### Muted audio device

If one experiences no audio output via any means while using ALSA, attempt to unmute the sound card. To do this, launch `alsamixer` and make sure each column has a green 00 under it (this can be toggled by pressing `m`):

    $ alsamixer -c 0

Note: alsamixer will not tell you which output device is set as the default. One possible cause of no sound after install is that PulseAudio detects the wrong output device as a default. Install pavucontrol and check if there is any output on the pavucontrol panel when playing a .wav file.

#### Auto-Mute Mode

Auto-Mute Mode may be enabled. It can be disabled using `alsamixer`.

See http://superuser.com/questions/431079/how-to-disable-auto-mute-mode for more.

#### Bad configuration files

After starting PulseAudio, if the system outputs no sound, it may be necessary to delete the contents of `~/.pulse`. PulseAudio will automatically create new configuration files on its next start.

#### Flash content

Since Adobe Flash does not directly support PulseAudio, the recommended way is to configure ALSA to use the virtual PulseAudio sound card.

Alternatively you may try out libflashsupport-pulse from the AUR.

Note: This may invariably crash the Flash plugin.

If you find audio from flash is being laggy, you might like to have flash access ALSA directly. This fixes this problem in some cases. To do this, configure PulseAudio to use dmix.

#### No cards

If PulseAudio starts, run `pacmd list`. If no cards are reported, make sure that the ALSA devices are not in use:

    $ fuser -v /dev/snd/*
    $ fuser -v /dev/dsp

Make sure any applications using the pcm or dsp files are shut down before restarting PulseAudio.

#### The only device shown is "dummy output"

This may be caused by different reasons, one of them being the `.asoundrc` file in $HOME is taking precedence over the systemwide `/etc/asound.conf`.

The user file is modified also by the tool `asoundconf` or by its graphical variant `asoundconf-gtk` (the latter is named "Default sound card" in the menu) as soon as it runs. Prevent the effects of `.asoundrc` altogether by commenting the last line like this:

    .asoundrc

    # </home/yourusername/.asoundrc.asoundconf>

Maybe some program is monopolizing the audio device:

    # fuser -v /dev/snd/*

                         USER       PID  ACCESS COMMAND
    /dev/snd/controlC0:  root        931 F....  timidity
                         bob        1195 F....  panel-6-mixer
    /dev/snd/controlC1:  bob        1195 F....  panel-6-mixer
                         bob        1215 F....  pulseaudio
    /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   root        931 F...m  timidity
    /dev/snd/seq:        root        931 F....  timidity
    /dev/snd/timer:      root        931 f....  timidity

That means timidity blocks PulseAudio from accessing the audio devices. Just killing timidity will make the sound work again.

Another reason is FluidSynth conflicting with PulseAudio as discussed in this thread. The solution is to remove FluidSynth:

    # pacman -Rnsc fluidsynth

#### No HDMI 5/7.1 Selection for Device

If you are unable to select 5/7.1 channel output for a working HDMI device, then turning off "stream device reading" in `/etc/pulse/default.pa` might help.

See #Fallback device is not respected.

#### KDE Plasma Workspaces

It may be that another output device set as preferred in phonon. Make sure that every setting reflects the preferred output device at the top, and check the playback streams tab in `kmix` to make sure that applications are using the device for output.

To see your default audio device, you can run:

    pactl stat

To see available audio devices:

    pactl list

To set your default audio device, use "pacmd" or add to `/etc/pulse/default.pa`:

    set-default-sink alsa_output.analog-stereo

#### Failed to create sink input: sink is suspended

If you do not have any output sound and receive dozens of errors related to a suspended sink in your `journalctl -b` log, then backup first and then delete your user-specific pulse folders:

    $ rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.pulse-cookie

### No HDMI sound output after some time with the monitor turned off

The monitor is connected via HDMI/DisplayPort, and the audio jack is plugged in the headphone jack of the monitor, but PulseAudio insists that it is unplugged:

    pactl list sinks

    ...
    hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority: 5900, not available)
    ...

This leads to no sound coming from HDMI output. A workaround for this is to switch to another TTY and back again. This problem has been reported by ATI/Nvidia/Intel users.

### Can't update configuration of sound device in pavucontrol

pavucontrol is a handy GUI utility for configuring PulseAudio. Under its 'Configuration' tab, you can select different profiles for each of your sound devices e.g. analogue stereo, digital output (IEC958), HDMI 5.1 Surround etc.

However, you may run into an instance where selecting a different profile for a card results in the pulse daemon crashing and auto restarting without the new selection "sticking". If this occurs, use the other useful GUI tool, paprefs, to check under the "Simultaneous Output" tab for a virtual simultaneous device. If this setting is active (checked), it will prevent you changing any card's profile in pavucontrol. Uncheck this setting, then adjust your profile in pavucontrol prior to re-enabling simultaneous output in paprefs.

### Simultaneous output to multiple sound cards / devices

Simultaneous output to two different devices can be very useful. For example, being able to send audio to your A/V receiver via your graphics card's HDMI output, while also sending the same audio through the analogue output of your motherboard's built-in audio. This is much less hassle than it used to be (in this example, we are using GNOME desktop).

Using paprefs, simply select "Add virtual output device for simultaneous output on all local sound cards" from under the "Simultaneous Output" tab. Then, under GNOME's "sound settings", select the simultaneous output you have just created.

If this doesn't work, try adding the following to `~/.asoundrc`:

    pcm.dsp {
       type plug
       slave.pcm "dmix"
    }

### Simultaneous output to multiple sinks on the same sound card not working

This can be useful for users who have multiple sound sources and want to play them on different sinks/outputs. An example use-case for this would be if you play music and also voice chat and want to output music to speakers (in this case Digital S/PDIF) and voice to headphones. (Analog)

This is sometimes auto detected by PulseAudio but not always. If you know that your sound card can output to both Analog and S/PDIF at the same time and PulseAudio does not have this option in it's profiles in pavucontrol, or veromix then you probably need to create a configuration file for your sound card.

More in detail you need to create a profile-set for your specific sound card. This is done in two steps mostly.

- Create udev rule to make PulseAudio choose your PulseAudio configuration file specific to the sound card.
- Create the actual configuration.

Create a pulseadio udev rule.

Note: This is only an example for Asus Xonar Essence STX. Read udev to find out the correct values.
Note: Your configuration file should have lower number than the original PulseAudio rule to take effect.

    /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/90-pulseaudio-Xonar-STX.rules

    ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="sound", KERNEL=="card*", \
    ATTRS{subsystem_vendor}=="0x1043", ATTRS{subsystem_device}=="0x835c", ENV{PULSE_PROFILE_SET}="asus-xonar-essence-stx.conf"

Now, create a configuration file. If you bother, you can start from scratch and make it saucy. However you can also use the default configuration file, rename it, and then add your profile there that you know works. Less pretty but also faster.

To enable multiple sinks for Asus Xonar Essence STX you need only to add this in.

Note: `asus-xonar-essence-stx.conf` also includes all code/mappings from `default.conf`.

    /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/asus-xonar-essence-stx.conf

    [Profile analog-stereo+iec958-stereo]
    description = Analog Stereo Duplex + Digital Stereo Output
    input-mappings = analog-stereo
    output-mappings = analog-stereo iec958-stereo
    skip-probe = yes

This will auto-profile your Asus Xonar Essence STX with default profiles and add your own profile so you can have multiple sinks.

You need to create another profile in the configuration file if you want to have the same functionality with AC3 Digital 5.1 output.

See PulseAudio article about profiles

### Disable Bluetooth support

If you do not use Bluetooth, you may experience the following error in your journal:

    bluez5-util.c: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.bluez was not provided by any .service files

To disable Bluetooth support in PulseAudio, make sure that the following lines are commented out in the configuration file in use (`~/.config/pulse/default.pa` or `/etc/pulse/default.pa`):

    ~/.config/pulse/default.pa

    ### Automatically load driver modules for Bluetooth hardware
    #.ifexists module-bluetooth-policy.so
    #load-module module-bluetooth-policy
    #.endif

    #.ifexists module-bluetooth-discover.so
    #load-module module-bluetooth-discover
    #.endif

### Bluetooth headset replay problems

Some user reports huge delays or even no sound when the Bluetooth connection does not send any data. This is due to the `module-suspend-on-idle` module, which automatically suspends sinks/sources on idle. As this can cause problems with headset, the responsible module can be deactivated.

To disable loading of the `module-suspend-on-idle` module, comment out the following line in the configuration file in use (`~/.config/pulse/default.pa` or `/etc/pulse/default.pa`):

    ~/.config/pulse/default.pa

    ### Automatically suspend sinks/sources that become idle for too long
    #load-module module-suspend-on-idle

Finally restart PulseAudio to apply the changes.

### Automatically switch to Bluetooth or USB headset

Add the following:

    /etc/pulse/default.pa

    # automatically switch to newly-connected devices
    load-module module-switch-on-connect

### Pulse overwrites ALSA settings

PulseAudio usually overwrites the ALSA settings — for example set with alsamixer — at start-up, even when the ALSA daemon is loaded. Since there seems to be no other way to restrict this behaviour, a workaround is to restore the ALSA settings again after PulseAudio has started. Add the following command to `.xinitrc` or `.bash_profile` or any other autostart file:

    restore_alsa() {
     while [ -z "$(pidof pulseaudio)" ]; do
      sleep 0.5
     done
     alsactl -f /var/lib/alsa/asound.state restore
    }
    restore_alsa &

### Prevent Pulse from restarting after being killed

Sometimes you may wish to temporarily disable Pulse. In order to do so you will have to prevent Pulse from restarting after being killed.

    ~/.config/pulse/client.conf

    # Disable autospawning the PulseAudio daemon
    autospawn = no

### Daemon startup failed

Try resetting PulseAudio:

    $ rm -rf /tmp/pulse* ~/.pulse*
    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ pulseaudio --start

If there is no server running but PulseAudio fails to start with an error message "User-configured server at ... refusing to start/autospawn", the issue may be with PulseAudio settings from a previous login. Check to see if there are any stale properties attached to the X11 root window with `pax11publish -d`, and if there are, remove them with `pax11publish -r` before trying to start the server. This manual cleanup is always required when using LXDM because it does not restart the X server on logout; see LXDM#PulseAudio.

#### inotify issue

If the previous fix doesn't work, see if you get an error like this:

    $ pulseaudio -vvvv

    E: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: You apparently ran out of inotify watches, probably because Tracker/Beagle took them all away. I wished people would do their homework first and fix inotify before using it for watching whole directory trees which is something the current inotify is certainly not useful for. Please make sure to drop the Tracker/Beagle guys a line complaining about their broken use of inotify.

In which case you have run out of inotify watches.

This can quickly be resolved by:

    # echo 100000 > /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches

To have it permanently changed, use:

    /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf

    # Increase inotify max watchs per user
    fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 100000

### Glitches, skips or crackling

The newer implementation of the PulseAudio sound server uses timer-based audio scheduling instead of the traditional, interrupt-driven approach.

Timer-based scheduling may expose issues in some ALSA drivers. On the other hand, other drivers might be glitchy without it on, so check to see what works on your system.

To turn timer-based scheduling off add `tsched=0` in `/etc/pulse/default.pa`:

    /etc/pulse/default.pa

    load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

Then restart the PulseAudio server:

    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ pulseaudio --start

Do the reverse to enable timer-based scheduling, if not already enabled by default.

Using Intel's IOMMU may also lead to these problems. If you are using IOMMU and experience glitches and/or skips add `intel_iommu=igfx_off` to your kernel command line.

Please report any such cards to PulseAudio Broken Sound Driver page

### Setting the default fragment number and buffer size in PulseAudio

#### Finding out your audio device parameters (1/4)

To find your sound card buffering settings:

    $ echo autospawn = no >> ~/.config/pulse/client.conf
    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ LANG=C timeout --foreground -k 10 -s kill 10 pulseaudio -vvvv 2>&1 | grep device.buffering -B 10
    $ sed -i '$d' ~/.config/pulse/client.conf

For each sound card detected by PulseAudio, you will see output similar to this:

    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xfa200000 irq 46"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.bus = "pci"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.vendor.id = "8086"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.form_factor = "internal"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.string = "front:0"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.buffering.buffer_size = "768000"
    I: [pulseaudio] source.c:     device.buffering.fragment_size = "384000"

Take note the buffer_size and fragment_size values for the relevant sound card.

#### Calculate your fragment size in msecs and number of fragments (2/4)

PulseAudio's default sampling rate and bit depth are set to `44100Hz` @ `16 bits`.

With this configuration, the bit rate we need is `44100`*`16` = `705600` bits per second. That's `1411200 bps` for stereo.

Let's take a look at the parameters we have found in the previous step:

    device.buffering.buffer_size = "768000" => 768000/1411200 = 0.544217687075s = 544 msecs
    device.buffering.fragment_size = "384000" => 384000/1411200 = 0.272108843537s = 272 msecs

#### Modify PulseAudio's configuration file (3/4)

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    ; default-fragments = X
    ; default-fragment-size-msec = Y

In the previous step, we calculated the fragment size parameter. The number of fragments is simply buffer_size/fragment_size, which in this case (`544/272`) is `2`:

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    ; default-fragments = '''2'''
    ; default-fragment-size-msec = '''272'''

#### Restart the PulseAudio daemon (4/4)

    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ pulseaudio --start

For more information, see: Linux Mint topic

### Laggy sound

This issue is due to incorrect buffer sizes.

Either disable any modifications (if any) to these entries, or, if issue still exists, uncomment:

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    default-fragments = 8
    default-fragment-size-msec = 5

### Choppy, overdriven sound

Choppy sound in PulseAudio can result from wrong settings for the sample rate. Try:

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    default-sample-rate = 48000

and restart the PulseAudio server.

If one experiences choppy sound in applications using openAL, change the sample rate in `/etc/openal/alsoft.conf`:

    frequency = 48000

Setting the PCM volume above 0 dB can cause clipping of the audio signal. Running `alsamixer -c0` will allow you to see if this is the problem and if so fix it. Note that ALSA may not correctly export the dB information to PulseAudio. Try:

    /etc/pulse/defaults.pa

    load-module module-udev-detect ignore_dB=1

and restart the PulseAudio server. See also #No sound below a volume cutoff.

### Volume adjustment does not work properly

Check: `/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common`

If the volume does not appear to increment/decrement properly using `alsamixer` or `amixer`, it may be due to PulseAudio having a larger number of increments (65537 to be exact). Try using larger values when changing volume (e.g. `amixer set Master 655+`).

### Per-application volumes change when the Master volume is adjusted

This is because PulseAudio uses flat volumes by default, instead of relative volumes, relative to an absolute master volume. If this is found to be inconvenient, asinine, or otherwise undesireable, relative volumes can be enabled by disabling flat volumes in the PulseAudio daemon's configuration file:

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    flat-volumes = no

and then restarting PulseAudio by executing

    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ pulseaudio --start

### Volume gets louder every time a new application is started

Per default, it seems as if changing the volume in an application sets the global system volume to that level instead of only affecting the respective application. Applications setting their volume on startup will therefore cause the system volume to "jump".

Fix this by disabling flat volumes, as demonstrated in the previous section. When Pulse comes back after a few seconds, applications will not alter the global system volume anymore but have their own volume level again.

Note: A previously installed and removed pulseaudio-equalizer may leave behind remnants of the setup in `~/.pulse/default.pa` which can also cause maximized volume trouble. Comment that out as needed.

### No microphone on ThinkPad T400/T500/T420

Run:

    alsamixer -c 0

Unmute and maximize the volume of the "Internal Mic".

Once you see the device with:

    arecord -l

you might still need to adjust the settings. The microphone and the audio jack are duplexed. Set the configuration of the internal audio in pavucontrol to Analog Stereo Duplex.

### No microphone input on Acer Aspire One

Install pavucontrol, unlink the microphone channels and turn down the left one to 0. Reference: http://getsatisfaction.com/jolicloud/topics/deaf_internal_mic_on_acer_aspire_one#reply_2108048

### Sound output is only mono on M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card

Add the following:

    /etc/pulseaudio/default.pa

    load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=delta_out device=hw:M2496 format=s24le channels=10 channel_map=left,right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7
    load-module module-alsa-source source_name=delta_in device=hw:M2496 format=s24le channels=12 channel_map=left,right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7,aux8,aux9
    set-default-sink delta_out
    set-default-source delta_in

### Static noise in microphone recording

If we are getting static noise in Skype, gnome-sound-recorder, arecord, etc.'s recordings, then the sound card sample rate is incorrect. That is why there is static noise in Linux microphone recordings. To fix this, we need to set the sampling rate in `/etc/pulse/daemon.conf` for the sound hardware.

#### Determine sound cards in the system (1/5)

This requires alsa-utils and related packages to be installed:

    $ arecord --list-devices

    **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
    card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
      Subdevices: 1/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
    card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 2: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
      Subdevices: 1/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Sound card is `hw:0,0`.

#### Determine sampling rate of the sound card (2/5)

    arecord -f dat -r 60000 -D hw:0,0 -d 5 test.wav

    "Recording WAVE 'test.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 60000 Hz, Stereo
    Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 60000Hz, got = 96000Hz)
    please, try the plug plugin

observe, the `got = 96000Hz`. This is the maximum sampling rate of our card.

#### Setting the sound card's sampling rate into PulseAudio configuration (3/5)

The default sampling rate in PulseAudio:

    $ grep "default-sample-rate" /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    ; default-sample-rate = 44100

`44100` is disabled and needs to be changed to `96000`:

    # sed 's/; default-sample-rate = 44100/default-sample-rate = 96000/g' -i /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

#### Restart PulseAudio to apply the new settings (4/5)

    $ pulseaudio -k
    $ pulseaudio --start

#### Finally check by recording and playing it back (5/5)

Let us record some voice using a microphone for, say, 10 seconds. Make sure the microphone is not muted and all

    $ arecord -f cd -d 10 test-mic.wav

After 10 seconds, let us play the recording...

    $ aplay test-mic.wav

Now hopefully, there is no static noise in microphone recording anymore.

### My Bluetooth device is paired but does not play any sound

See the article in Bluetooth section

Starting from PulseAudio 2.99 and bluez 4.101 you should avoid using Socket interface. Do NOT use:

    /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf

    [General]
    Enable=Socket

If you face problems with A2DP and PA 2.99 make sure you have sbc library.

### Subwoofer stops working after end of every song

Known issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/494099

To fix this, must edit: `/etc/pulse/daemon.conf` and enable `enable-lfe-remixing` :

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    enable-lfe-remixing = yes

### PulseAudio uses wrong microphone

If PulseAudio uses the wrong microphone, and changing the Input Device with Pavucontrol did not help, take a look at alsamixer. It seems that Pavucontrol does not always set the input source correctly.

    $ alsamixer

Press `F6` and choose your sound card, e.g. HDA Intel. Now press `F5` to display all items. Try to find the item: `Input Source`. With the up/down arrow keys you are able to change the input source.

Now try if the correct microphone is used for recording.

### Choppy sound with analog surround sound setup

The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is not remixed per default. To enable it the following needs to be set in `/etc/pulse/daemon.conf` :

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    enable-lfe-remixing = yes

### Unable to select surround configuration other than "Surround 4.0"

If you're unable to set 5.1 surround output in pavucontrol because it only shows "Analog Surround 4.0 Output", open the ALSA mixer and change the output configuration there to 6 channels. Then restart pulseaudio, and pavucontrol will list many more options.

### No sound below a volume cutoff

Known issue (won't fix): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/223133

If sound does not play when PulseAudio's volume is set below a certain level, try setting `ignore_dB=1` in `/etc/pulse/default.pa`:

    /etc/pulse/default.pa

    load-module module-udev-detect ignore_dB=1

However, be aware that it may cause another bug preventing PulseAudio to unmute speakers when headphones or other audio devices are unplugged.

### Low volume for internal microphone

If you experience low volume on internal notebook microphone, try setting:

    /etc/pulse/default.pa

    set-source-volume 1 300000

### Clients alter master output volume (a.k.a. volume jumps to 100% after running application)

If changing the volume in specific applications or simply running an application changes the master output volume this is likely due to flat volumes mode of pulseaudio. Before disabling it, KDE users should try lowering their system notifications volume in System Settings -> Application and System Notifications -> Manage Notifications under the Player Settings tab to something reasonable. Changing the Event Sounds volume in KMix or another volume mixer application will not help here. This should make the flat-volumes mode work out as intended, if it does not work, some other application is likely requesting 100% volume when its playing something. If all else fails, you can try to disable flat-volumes:

    /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

    flat-volumes = no

Then restart PulseAudio daemon:

    # pulseaudio -k
    # pulseaudio --start

### Realtime scheduling

If rtkit does not work, you can manually set up your system to run PulseAudio with real-time scheduling, which can help performance. To do this, add the following lines to `/etc/security/limits.conf`:

    @pulse-rt - rtprio 9
    @pulse-rt - nice -11

Afterwards, you need to add your user to the `pulse-rt` group:

    # gpasswd -a <user> pulse-rt

### No sound after resume from suspend

If audio generally works, but stops after resume from suspend, try "reloading" PulseAudio by executing:

    $ /usr/bin/pasuspender /bin/true

This is better than completely killing and restarting it (`pulseaudio -k` followed by `pulseaudio --start`), because it doesn't break already running applications.

If the above fixes your problem, you may wish to automate it, by creating a systemd service file.

1. Create the template service file in `/etc/systemd/system/resume-fix-pulseaudio@.service`:

    [Unit]
    Description=Fix PulseAudio after resume from suspend
    After=suspend.target

    [Service]
    User=%I
    Type=oneshot
    Environment="XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/%U"
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/pasuspender /bin/true

    [Install]
    WantedBy=suspend.target

2. Enable it for your user account

    # systemctl enable resume-fix-pulseaudio@YOUR_USERNAME_HERE.service

3. Reload systemd

    # systemctl --system daemon-reload

### ALSA channels mute when headphones are plugged/unplugged improperly

If when you unplug your headphones or plug them in the audio remains muted in alsamixer on the wrong channel due to it being set to 0%, you may be able to fix it by opening `/etc/pulse/default.pa` and commenting out the line:

    load-module module-switch-on-port-available

### pactl "invalid option" error with negative percentage arguments

`pactl` commands that take negative percentage arguments will fail with an 'invalid option' error. Use the standard shell '--' pseudo argument to disable argument parsing before the negative argument. e.g. `pactl set-sink-volume 1 -- -5%`.

### Daemon already running

On some systems, PulseAudio may be started multiple times. journalctl will report:

    [pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running.

Make sure to use only one method of autostarting applications. pulseaudio includes these files:

- `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/pulseaudio`
- `/etc/xdg/autostart/pulseaudio.desktop`
- `/etc/xdg/autostart/pulseaudio-kde.desktop`

Also check user autostart files and directories, such as xinitrc, `~/.config/autostart/` etc.

### Fallback device is not respected

PulseAudio does not have a true default device. Instead it uses a "fallback", which only applies to new sound streams. This means previously run applications are not affected by the newly set fallback device.

Only gnome-control-center and mate-media-pulseaudio handle this gracefully. Alternatively:

1. Move the old streams in pavucontrol manually to the new sound card.

2. Stop Pulse, erase the "stream-volumes" in `~/.pulse` and restart Pulse. This also resets application volumes.

3. Disable stream device reading. This may be not wanted when using different soundcards with different applications.

    /etc/pulse/defaults.pa

    load-module module-stream-restore restore_device=false

### No Microphone on Steam or Skype if you set enable-remixing = no

When you set `enable-remixing = no` on `/etc/pulse/daemon.conf` you may find that your microphone has stopped working on certain applications like Skype or Steam. This happens because these applications capture the microphone as mono only and because remixing is disabled, Pulseaudio will no longer remix your stereo microphone to mono.

To fix this you need to tell Pulseaudio to do this for you:

1. Find the name of the source

    # pacmd list-sources

Example output edited for brevity, the name you need is in bold:

       index: 2
           name: <alsa_input.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo>
           driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
           flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY

2. Add a remap rule to `/etc/pulse/default.pa`, use the name you found with the previous command, here we will use alsa_input.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo as an example:

    /etc/pulse/default.pa

    ### Remap microphone to mono
    load-module module-remap-source master=alsa_input.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo master_channel_map=front-left,front-right channels=2 channel_map=mono,mono

3. Restart Pulseaudio

    # pulseaudio -k

Note: Pulseaudio may fail to start if you don't exit a program that was using was using the microphone (ex. if you tested on Steam before modifying the file), in which case you should exit the application and manually start Pulseaudio:

    # pulseaudio --start

## See also

- http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc - ALSA wiki on .asoundrc
- http://www.pulseaudio.org/ - PulseAudio official site
- http://www.pulseaudio.org/wiki/FAQ - PulseAudio FAQ

Categories:

- Audio/Video
- Sound