[pulseaudio-discuss] [PATCH] alsa-mixer: sb-omni-surround-5.1.conf: remove analog-surround-21, add Linux 4.3+ support

[Tom Yan]

NVM I was probably wrong about those two confs.

FWIW, here are the speaker-test results of my builtin 7.1 audio (HDA
Intel PCH/Realtek ALC887-VD), when I have my only pair of stereo
speaker connected to the Center/Subwoofer port:

Firstly I tested with:
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 2 -l 1
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 4 -l 1
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 6 -l 1
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 8 -l 1
These 4 are the layout that support natively by the driver/hardware.

Interestingly, for:
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 2 -l 1
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 4 -l 1
I can hear sound coming out from my speakers respectively when:
0 - Front Left
1 - Front Right
is playing.

But while I did NOT change the physical connection at all, for these:
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 6 -l 1
speaker-test -D hw:PCH -c 8 -l 1
I can hear sound coming out from my speakers respectively when:
4 - Front Center (LEFT speaker)
5 - LFE (RIGHT speaker)
is playing.

Then I test with:
speaker-test -D surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 3 -l 1
speaker-test -D surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 5 -l 1
speaker-test -D surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 5 -l 1
which are the only 3 PCMs with ttable in their conf.

For:
speaker-test -D surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 3 -l 1
I can hear sound coming out from my RIGHT speaker when:
2 - LFE
is playing.

For:
speaker-test -D surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 5 -l 1
I can hear sound coming out from my RIGHT speaker when:
4 - LFE
is playing.

For:
speaker-test -D surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 5 -l 1
I can hear sound coming out from my LEFT speaker when:
4 - Front Center
is playing.

I think you can test with similar commands. The only part you need to
change is probably "PCH". Also the one with "-c 8" probably won't work
on your device.

Last but not least, can you paste your output of:
cat /proc/asound/cards
So that we can get an idea on which conf in /usr/share/alsa/cards/ is
your card relying on?

On 16 January 2016 at 17:59, Tom Yan <tom.ty89 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think you should use speaker-test to test the various PCMs in aplay
> -L first, so that you can at least get a hint on whether it has
> something to do with ALSA or pulse. For example:
>
> [tom at localhost ~]$ speaker-test -D surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 3 -l 1
>
> speaker-test 1.1.0
>
> Playback device is surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
> Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 3 channels
> Using 16 octaves of pink noise
> Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
> Buffer size range from 22 to 349525
> Period size range from 11 to 174762
> Using max buffer size 349524
> Periods = 4
> was set period_size = 87381
> was set buffer_size = 349524
>  0 - Front Left
>  1 - Front Right
>  2 - LFE
> Time per period = 5.470904
> [tom at localhost ~]$ speaker-test -D surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 5 -l 1
>
> speaker-test 1.1.0
>
> Playback device is surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
> Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 5 channels
> Using 16 octaves of pink noise
> Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
> Buffer size range from 22 to 349525
> Period size range from 11 to 174762
> Using max buffer size 349524
> Periods = 4
> was set period_size = 87381
> was set buffer_size = 349524
>  0 - Front Left
>  1 - Front Right
>  3 - Rear Right
>  2 - Rear Left
>  4 - LFE
> Time per period = 9.121826
> [tom at localhost ~]$ speaker-test -D surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 -c 6 -l 1
>
> speaker-test 1.1.0
>
> Playback device is surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
> Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 6 channels
> Using 16 octaves of pink noise
> Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
> Buffer size range from 22 to 349525
> Period size range from 11 to 174762
> Using max buffer size 349524
> Periods = 4
> was set period_size = 87381
> was set buffer_size = 349524
>  0 - Front Left
>  4 - Front Center
>  1 - Front Right
>  3 - Rear Right
>  2 - Rear Left
>  5 - LFE
> Time per period = 10.953665
> [tom at localhost ~]$
>
> I do feel like surround21.conf and surround41.conf is problematic
> though. I don't see why it should map LFE that way if it relys on
> surround51. It should be always "5 - LFE". I'll probably write to ALSA
> devel about it soon.
>
> On 16 January 2016 at 17:32, Nazar Mokrynskyi <nazar at mokrynskyi.com> wrote:
>> Noise appears when I test speaker in sound settings UI, so there is no
>> specific command. Also, when test sound stops - clicking doesn't.
>> I know it doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.
>> BTW, noise appears in target output, meaning even if I do not skip output,
>> but try to direct LFE to third output (one of rear speakers), there is no
>> sound there, only mentioned noise.
>>
>> Is it possible that sound card doesn't want to output low frequency sound on
>> other than default output, I mean some hardware/firmware limitation?
>> I'd be fine if LFE worked with 3rd output instead of 6th.
>>
>> Sincerely, Nazar Mokrynskyi
>> github.com/nazar-pc
>> Skype: nazar-pc
>> Diaspora: nazarpc at diaspora.mokrynskyi.com
>> Tox:
>> A9D95C9AA5F7A3ED75D83D0292E22ACE84BA40E912185939414475AF28FD2B2A5C8EF5261249
>>
>> On 16.01.16 10:24, Tom Yan wrote:
>>>
>>> Sorry, I meant surround21.
>>>
>>> On 16 January 2016 at 17:21, Tom Yan <tom.ty89 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> What do you mean by "noise in nth output starting from 1 instead,
>>>> relatively hight frequency light clicking"? How were you testing
>>>> exactly? speaker-test? if so what're the "-D"s you used? Can you paste
>>>> full commands (and maybe even the text output).
>>>>
>>>> What you said doesn't seem to make sense. If surround51 works, then
>>>> surround41 and surround20 should at most cause a signal/speaker
>>>> mismatch. I don't see how it can produce some weird noise/click.
>>>>
>>>> On 16 January 2016 at 16:26, Nazar Mokrynskyi <nazar at mokrynskyi.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> OK, I've spent another hour or so trying different combinations and it
>>>>> seems
>>>>> to be a bug inside either ALSA or PulseAudio.
>>>>> SB Omni Surround 5.1, as you can see from name, has 6 outputs:
>>>>> front-left,front-right,rear-left,rear-right,front-center,lfe (lets
>>>>> ignore
>>>>> other non-related inputs/outputs here)
>>>>> I've done many experiments and defined which modes are working and which
>>>>> doesn't.
>>>>>
>>>>> Modes that work fine:
>>>>> - 5.1
>>>>> - 5.0
>>>>> - 4.0
>>>>> - 2.0
>>>>>
>>>>> Modes that doesn't work fine:
>>>>> - 2.1 (stereo only, noise in 3rd output starting from 1 instead,
>>>>> relatively
>>>>> hight frequency light clicking)
>>>>> - 4.1 (quadro only, noise in 5th output starting from 1 instead,
>>>>> relatively
>>>>> hight frequency light clicking)
>>>>>
>>>>> It is clearly visible that any time I want to skip some output, for
>>>>> instance:
>>>>>      ttable.0.FL 1
>>>>>      ttable.1.FR 1
>>>>>      ttable.5.LFE 1
>>>>> instead of
>>>>>      ttable.0.FL 1
>>>>>      ttable.1.FR 1
>>>>>      ttable.2.LFE 1
>>>>>
>>>>> To direct LFE to proper output it doesn't work. This is the same reason
>>>>> why
>>>>> 5.0 is working fine (no skipped outputs, all consequent) and 4.1 doesn't
>>>>> (we
>>>>> need to skip 5th output starting from 1 and use 6th instead).
>>>>>
>>>>> When I try this:
>>>>>      ttable.0.FL 1
>>>>>      ttable.2.FR 1
>>>>>      ttable.1.LFE 1
>>>>> then as expected I can hear LFE in right front output.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any hints from anyone what is wrong here? There are literally NO DOCS
>>>>> about
>>>>> how it works internally, so these experiments all I can provide at the
>>>>> moment.
>>>>> There were pulseaudio logs in this thread if anyone needs details.
>>>>>
>>>>> ALSA 1.1.0, PulseAudio 7.1, Ubuntu 16.04 x64
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely, Nazar Mokrynskyi
>>>>> github.com/nazar-pc
>>>>> Skype: nazar-pc
>>>>> Diaspora: nazarpc at diaspora.mokrynskyi.com
>>>>> Tox:
>>>>>
>>>>> A9D95C9AA5F7A3ED75D83D0292E22ACE84BA40E912185939414475AF28FD2B2A5C8EF5261249
>>>>>
>>>>> On 28.11.15 09:56, Raymond Yau wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> I've been looking at those lines. Do you think it should be done in
>>>>>> USB-Audio, or should it be added into separate config file specific for
>>>>>> this
>>>>>> sound card?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-lib.git;a=blob;f=src/conf/pcm/surround21.conf;hb=HEAD
>>>>>
>>>>> The route of surround21 is hardcoded to use surround51 , this mean your
>>>>> ttable are used by those usb audio support 6 channels, those usb audio
>>>>> which
>>>>> only support 8 channels need to define their own 21 route as both
>>>>> surround51
>>>>> and surround71 of usb audio use route plugin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> pulseaudio-discuss mailing list
>>>>> pulseaudio-discuss at lists.freedesktop.org
>>>>> http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/pulseaudio-discuss
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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