[xubuntu-users] Sound Systems and Volume Control Programs ?

Charlie Kravetz cjk at teamcharliesangels.com
Sun Nov 1 13:21:26 UTC 2009


On Sun, 1 Nov 2009 11:45:32 +1100
David Collins <david.8.collins at gmail.com> wrote:

> Firstly, congratulations to all involved in the creation of Karmic
> Xubuntu - it is more functional, prettier - and faster as well !
> (specifically, when starting my session after logging in) - and all
> this only 6 months since the last upgrade.  It is a glowing example of
> the efficiency of open source development.
> 
> With change to sound functionality, the upgrade has prompted me to try
> to understand sound better.
> 
> Can anyone give me an overview of sound systems in Ubuntu?  What is
> the relationship between OSS, ALSA, ESD, PulseAudio, etc.?
> Does PulseAudio supersede everything else?  Does it sit on top of ALSA?
> 
> And what volume/microphone settings program is most appropriate?  The
> new system installs 'gnome-volume-control', but I used to use
> 'xfce-mixer', and I have also tried out 'pavucontrol' which in the deb
> package notes 'is a simple GTK+ based volume control tool (mixer) for
> the PulseAudio sound server. In contrast to classic mixer tools this
> one allows you to control both the volume of hardware devices and of
> each playback stream separately'.  Then there is 'gnome-alsamixer' or
> is that a cocktail? :)
> 
> Regards and thanks,
> David Collins
> 

I do not know much about sound, but will answer parts of this for you.
As close as I can tell, 'gnome-volume-control' and 'xfce-mixer' appear
to be almost the same when controlling volume. Gnome-alsamixer is
simply a GUI for the alsamixer you can use from the terminal. 

pulseaudio is not the same as alsa or oss, however. pulseaudio is a
level above both of those, allowing the system to control those, as
well as several input sources at the same time, I think. Using
pulseaudio, I have been able to play music and hear system sounds at
the same time, through the same speakers. This also means pulseaudio is
more complicated and has more issues since it is an audio server, not
simply a mixer.

'pavucontrol' is indeed the control for pulseaudio. It is not needed
for alsa or oss. 

Hopefully, this did not confuse you worse. Perhaps someone else will
feel free to jump in and clear this up better?

-- 
Charlie Kravetz 
Linux Registered User Number 425914          [http://counter.li.org/]
Never let anyone steal your DREAM.           [http://keepingdreams.com]




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