Sound Solutions for Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) Users
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The first thing you should check is the volume control on the panel. It has a new Sound Theme tab. You can set the theme for your system sounds there. If you wish to disable system sounds set Sound Theme: No Sounds.
Next, check out System/Preferences/Sound. It has only two tabs, Devices and Sounds. The Devices tab is where you choose the device to play your sounds. We will return to this later. In the Sounds tab there are numerous sound preferences that can be set for everything from button clicks to email alerts. You can change the default sound or disable it by double clicking on Default.
Necessary Packages
As with Hardy and Intrepid, some important packages necessary for optimal sound set up are missing. Open System/Adminstration/Synaptic package manager and search pulse. This is the easiest way to find and install all the packages we need. Select the following packages
padevchooser -this will pull in all the pulseaudio guis and their dependencies
if you plan on using vlc or xmms2 or 32 bit or libao apps etc, you can get those packages now too. If you are not constrained on disk space it is a good idea to get all of the following
vlc-plugin-pulse -this also pulls in a lot of libs that vlc will need
xmms2-plugin-pulse -this also pulls in the xmms2 core
pulseaudio-module-lirc -- this is to use lirc and your infrared remote with pulse
libsdl1.2debian-all -- this will replace the alsa version with all available drivers
lib32asound2-plugins -- this is the 32 bit plugins for 32 bit apps
libao2 -- you need this for apps using the libao cross platform library
asoundconf-gtk -- applet for default alsa sound card
audacious-plugins-extra -- plugins for audacious for many codecs like MP3, aac, FLAC, WMA, etc
The gnome-volume-control-pulse is somewhat broken so I do not recommend installing or using it yet.
Search alsa and select the following
gnome-alsamixer -- this mixer is far easier to use than the alsamixer
alsa-oss -- this is the alsa wrapper for oss apps
Click apply and the packages will download and install themselves
Also select the following
ubuntu-restricted-extras
Click apply. This download may take a while, the ubuntu-restricted-extras package is quite large but installs almost all the codecs and java and flash 10.0.22.87 and a bunch of other stuff that you will be needing. It also updates the gstreamer packages and some other stuff.
A window will pop up during the installation asking you to agree to the sun-java6-jre license terms, click the little box and then Forward.
In System/Adminstration/Users and Groups check that your users and root are members of the following groups
pulse
pulse-access
pulse-rt
Reboot your system
Setup
System/Preferences/Sound, change everything to PulseAudio Sound Server except Default Mixer tracks which you should change to you hardware playback device like Playback: HDA ATI SB ALC888 Analog..... or something like that. Default Mixer tracks is where you set what your multimedia keys control.
Click Applications/Sound and Video/PulseAudio Device Chooser.(padevchooser) The icon should appear in the panel. Click on it, choose Preferences/Start Applet on session login so it stays in your panel when you reboot. Choose it again, click Volume Control.
In Playback you will notice System Sounds. You can set the volume of your system sounds here or mute them with the mute button. In the Output Devices tab you will see your sound device(s). if you right click on the volume bars you can make it the default. if you have already opened and application and it plays on another device this will have no effect and you will need to move the stream manually next time you open it.
Lets' play something. Start Rythmbox and play one of the radio stations. Rythmbox should show up in the Playback tab with the volume bar moving with the sound. Click Output Devices, you should see the same thing in your output device. You can adjust the volume or mute the individual stream in Playback or the entire device in Output Devices
If you have more than one device and rythmbox is playing in the wrong one go back to the playback tab, right click on the volume bars and choose move stream to move it to the correct device. You can also go back to the padevchooser and open Configure Local Sound Server/Simultaneous Output and check to box. That will create a new Simultaneous output.... Virtual Stream in Output Devices. You can move any playing stream to the new device and have sound everywhere all at once.
Lets check if we can record. Leave rythmbox playing.
Open Applications/Sound and Video/Sound Recorder. Click the record button. In the PA volume control recording tab you should now see
gnome-sound-recorder: Record Stream.
right click on the volume bar and choose move stream and move it to the monitor of the output device you are using. Click stop in sound recorder and then record. Sound recorder should now be recording from rythmbox. Click stop. Change to the playback tab in the pavolume control. click the speaker on the rythmbox stream to mute it. click play on sound recorder. You should now see stream recorder in playback and hear what you just recorded.
Let's try recording from the microphone. Go back to the recording tab. click record on stream recorder and move the stream to the device instead of the monitor. Click stop. Click record again and make some noise into the microphone. You should see the volume bars move. Congratulations, you are now a recording genius.
You can make a device or monitor the default for new applications by right clicking on it like with playback.
If your microphone does not seem to be working Open the Volume Control from your panel ( the little speaker icon) and check that it is set to the proper device (your hardware). Click Preferences and make sure that the boxes for Microphone Capture and Mic Boost Capture are checked, close the box. In the Volume Control/ Switches check the Mic Boost Capture box. In /Recording make sure the Microphone is not muted (no red x on the mic icon) and turned up. (Some devices do not have a mic boost option)
Try recording again. If it still does not work check for any other mic switches or controls and play around with them.
Remember, it is the capture/recording settings that are important for recording. Playback settings get your mic to your speakers.
If you are still having problems with your mic it is most likely a problem with the alsa driver. This is a very common issue for laptop users and fixes are very hardware specific. You should search the forums or google for your specific make and model of machine for a solution.
Now you know how to use all the basic tools. There will be some updates along shortly so if your sound stops working after an update, check the basics, like the volume controls and switches and stream locations first before taking any more drastic steps.
Some more tips
1) If you have problem with sound in flash install the following packages
sudo apt-get install libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev
2) If you have HP 6730s and was only getting sound from the headphone jack, not the internal speakers use the following solutions
edit the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
add the following line
options snd-hda-intel model=laptop enable=1 index=0
Save abd exit the file.
If you want more sound solutions check here and if you want to remove pulse audio try this.
Article Credit goes here
i cant seem to fin lib32asound2-plugins
can anyone help me please
lib32asound2 is in the Library repository. You should find it in Synaptic.
@Gewitty ive used System/Adminstration/Synaptic and input lib32asound2-plugins in the search bar. but cant seem to find the file, but what i do find is lib64asound2-plugins version. i really want to get this OS up and going! heard alot of great stuff about it. thanks
Have you tried just installing the lib32asound2 file? This is all I have used on my system and it works just fine.
i figured what the issue was. i just switched my audio wires from my sound card to my motherboard sound card. thanks for your help!
this is the best audio tutorial I have seen around I tryed it all, but if your sound is not working you have to work the other way around removing the pulseaudio which is very hard to do but i found a way that has been working today.http://idyllictux.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/ubuntu-904-jaunty-keeping-the-beast-pulseaudio-at-bay/
Great tutorial, I only followed portions of it, but have wonderfully working sound – and the pointers for padevchooser were very helpful.
@ daniel – pulse is great 🙂
I figured out how to use the PA and select to record from either my mic or my line-in, but how can I play something on rhythymbox and record the line-in only? I don’t want the music from rhythymbox to be recorded with the line-in, I only want rhythymbox to go to the speakers and not sound recorder
Thank you very much, I use an HP 6735, this worked a treat.
Cheers
I only have soun on login screen, after that silence only.
Nothing is muted.
i did everything the tutorial said.. up until the bit where it goes “application/sound and video/pulse audio”
i dont have pulse audio..
can anyone help?
thanks
Thank you so much, I’ve been having various issues with sound for a long time (recording in particular), and now everything works a treat.
Great tuto !
Hi:
what if I messed up sound for good? I there a way to reinstall the default sound system?
I’m with Ben! How do I recover from a real messy something or other!? I am being told I HAVE NO SOUNDCARD, but sound works in my Windows partition!
the bar is pulsing in the Output Devices tab in volume control….but neither my headphone jack is getting an output neither the speakers are working…. is there any possible disabled feature in Ubuntu 9.04 that i need to manually tweak? please consider the worst case scenario and please help!! i have been stuck with no sound ever since i installed Ubuntu 9.04… In Windows though it is working perfectly fine…. and i really dont want to use Windows for all that… please help!! Thanks in advance…
For God’s sake am a linux newbie and this is making me rethink my decision maybe I shouldn’t have wiped off the Windows installation on my laptop.
Nice tutorial but nothing works here.
When will linux ever become simple like mac or windows?
padevchooser doesn’t work with some … alternative window managers. I use ion3 and xmonad, and it won’t run on either as far as I’ve found. A friend running enlightenment says the same.
Works like charm..Thanks for the awesome post!
thanks man 🙂
This was a good article except for the fact that I still have no sound anywhere since switching from XP Home. Synaptic package manager does not show the package the article recommends “lib32asound2-plugins” … somehow I guess its not included in jaunty jack? where can you get it?
funny how all the sound volume meters bounce around showing the audio arriving at the pc but just not getting out to the speaker or headphone jack.
Without sound ubuntu is really not attractive. Seems to work ok otherwise.. just not the sound
Running a Piii 650Mhz compaq deskpro EN with audio right on the motherboard.
Thank you so much! This was a fantastic and easy tutorial when I thought it was going to be a nightmare getting sound working properly. I’m already listening to internet radio!
Thanks again!
Sound Preferences isn’t showing any default mixer tracks in the device list. I’m not sure how to address my situation.
i too have the same probs….neither my headphone jack is getting an output neither the speakers are working..by my vista is working pretty normally…i am using dell studio1555…can any one help… 🙁
I’m having a similar problem. When I click on volume control from the pulse audio applet it opens up a window. Within a few seconds an error pops up that says “connection failed.” Dunno what to do I really wanna use this OS, but I need my sound. Someone please help.
I would like to to thank you for all your help. Recording and playback are working a treat. Still fighting with recording from the mike and line-in, but, hey, no-one said it should be easy!!!
Inspiron 1525
Kindest regards
i don`t what`s going on every time i open the pulse audio volume controller a connection failed sign come up? what should i do?
i cannot acess sound in ubuntu9.04
Ubuntu is getting worse. Initially I got sound and after a few days the sound stopped working.
Same for my friends with different computer.
Ubuntu sucks!
Sorry, i’m not fluent in english.
Ok, i had one problem with this great tutorial. I list only Null Output in my output device… And when I tested Pulse Audio Sound Server in System/Preferences/Sound i heared no sound…
I did that :
sudo adduser alexandre audio
sudo killall pulseaudio
The first line add me in audio group. So replace alexandre by your ubuntu accounts. And after that i kill all pulseaudio processus.
Now all is working fine.
I hope that my experience can help you
Thank-you, this is a great guide. I’ve been trying for days to get Audacity to record and this solved it for me 🙂