# Very low volume on internel audio device



## greencloud (Sep 24, 2018)

Hi everyone,

I have a little problem with sound volume on my PC. I'm using 2 devices for my audio. My default is an external speaker with a sub-woofer and 2 speakers plugged in at the back of my PC. That is:

```
pcm4: <Realtek ALC1150 (Rear Analog 7.1/2.0)> (play/rec) default
```
and also I have a Plantronics Audio 628 USB:

```
pcm8: <USB audio> (play/rec)
```
The problem is the default device: *pcm4*. For some reason its sound is way too low even if I set the mixer all the way up. *pcm8* works fine though. I've already tested my external speakers on another computer and it works fine. The strange thing is sometimes it will just work okay without me changing anything but then it would turn low again I can barely here any sound.
Here's my mixer output for pcm4:

```
Mixer vol      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer pcm      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer line     is currently set to   80:80
Mixer mic      is currently set to  67:67
Mixer mix      is currently set to  74:74
Mixer rec      is currently set to  37:37
Mixer igain    is currently set to 100:100
Mixer ogain    is currently set to 100:100
Recording source: line
```
I'm on:

```
FreeBSD cornibus 11.2-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p3 #0 r338900: Mon Sep 24 14:43:16 +08 2018     root@cornibus:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64
```

All insights will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.


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## shepper (Sep 24, 2018)

The default Firefox install puts pulseaudio between Firefox and your hardware.  Perhaps normal volume is from apps that send the audio stream directly to pcm4 while the low sound is passing through pulseaudio?


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## greencloud (Sep 25, 2018)

shepper said:


> The default Firefox install puts pulseaudio between Firefox and your hardware. Perhaps normal volume is from apps that send the audio stream directly to pcm4 while the low sound is passing through pulseaudio?


Sorry I didn't mention, when using the built-in audio device (3.5mm jack), all applications that I have that uses audio (e.g. firefox, chromium, audacity, mplayer, vlc, etc.) all outputs VERY low sound volume. But when I'm on my headset (USB), I get normal sound on everything.


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## shepper (Sep 25, 2018)

There are some sound(4) parameters that can be tweaked:
Thread 49620


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## greencloud (Oct 6, 2018)

shepper said:


> There are some sound(4) parameters that can be tweaked:
> Thread 49620


This did not help me maybe because that was on an Intel chip and I'm using Realtek. I'm still having the same problem. This morning my audio was okay but just now, it's back to like almost a whisper


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## shepper (Oct 6, 2018)

There are multiple Realtek codecs all of which interface with snd_hda.  Realtek ALC1150 is one of those codecs that interfaces with the intel hda bus.

Basic HDA Intel Concepts



> * Basic HDA Intel Concepts*
> 
> The snd-hda-intel driver speak to codecs through the the Intel HDA bus. Each codec has many *widgets* inside it, and the driver can send messages (called *verbs*) to them to change their settings. Each widget may collect audio input from other widgets, and may their output may be sent to other widgets. The driver may probe the codec and know exactly how the widgets are wired inside the codec. The /proc/asound/card*/codec#* file contains this information.
> Commonly found types of widgets:
> ...


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## greencloud (Oct 6, 2018)

Thanks for all your input shepper. Right now I'm able to regain audio by changing the values of following parameters from the default. From:

```
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:2.0
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=fixed
```
to

```
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:2.1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=adaptive
```
My external speakers right now have normal sound. If it goes well in a few days without any problem, I will consider it fixed.
Fingers crossed


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## greencloud (Oct 8, 2018)

Hey guys, something very interesting is happening with my sound for my external speakers. Right now I only get normal sound when play MP3 using `mplayer` via CLI. All other applications such as Firefox, Chromium, Audacity, VLC and other programs, no sound at all. My USB headset still works fine regardless of the programs I use. Here's a little data for my external speakers (pcm4).

```
dev.pcm.4.bitperfect: 0
dev.pcm.4.buffersize: 65536
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanformat: s16le:2.0
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanrate: 48000
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchanmode: fixed
dev.pcm.4.rec.vchans: 1
dev.pcm.4.rec.autosrc: 2
dev.pcm.4.rec.32bit: 24
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat: s16le:7.1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanrate: 48000
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode: fixed
dev.pcm.4.play.vchans: 1
dev.pcm.4.play.32bit: 24
dev.pcm.4.%parent: hdaa4
dev.pcm.4.%pnpinfo:
dev.pcm.4.%location: nid=20,22,21,23,24,26
dev.pcm.4.%driver: pcm
dev.pcm.4.%desc: Realtek ALC1150 (Rear Analog 7.1/2.0)
```
For my sysctl.conf file, I now have:

```
hw.snd.default_unit=4
hw.snd.vpc_0db=18
hw.snd.verbose=1
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat=s16le:7.1
dev.pcm.3.play.vchans=6
dev.pcm.4.play.vchanmode=fixed
```
And when I'm in pcm4, `sysctl hw.snd` outputs:

```
hw.snd.maxautovchans: 16
hw.snd.default_unit: 4
hw.snd.version: 2009061500/amd64
hw.snd.default_auto: 0
hw.snd.verbose: 1
hw.snd.vpc_mixer_bypass: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_quality: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_round: 25
hw.snd.feeder_rate_max: 2016000
hw.snd.feeder_rate_min: 1
hw.snd.feeder_rate_polyphase_max: 183040
hw.snd.feeder_rate_presets: 100:8:0.85 100:36:0.92 100:164:0.97
hw.snd.feeder_eq_exact_rate: 0
hw.snd.feeder_eq_presets: PEQ:16000,0.2500,62,0.2500:-9,9,1.0:44100,48000,88200,96000,176400,192000
hw.snd.basename_clone: 1
hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap: 0
hw.snd.syncdelay: -1
hw.snd.usefrags: 0
hw.snd.vpc_reset: 0
hw.snd.vpc_0db: 18
hw.snd.vpc_autoreset: 1
hw.snd.timeout: 5
hw.snd.latency_profile: 1
hw.snd.latency: 5
hw.snd.report_soft_matrix: 1
hw.snd.report_soft_formats: 1
```
For `dev.pcm.4.play.vchanformat`, I've tried 2.0, 2.1 and 7.1 'cause they are the formats that make sense to me. I've tried using both the *snd_driver* and *snd_hda* modules, even pure oss, but I have no luck.
I can live with using just the headset, but it would be best if I can boost my house with some loud sounds once in a while 

EDIT: Also, sound for `mplayer` comes from RS-Out instead of L-Out. If I plugged in my speakers in L-Out as I normally would, I don't get any sound at all.


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