Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

[ScottyK]

I have an ASUS P5KPL-CM motherboard, with onboard 5.1 sound.

In Win7, the audio sounds great, with full support of all channels.

In Kubuntu 10.04 and previous releases, all channels were supported, with great sound.

However in 10.10 It basically sounds like crap! (for lack of a more technical term).

I followed the instructions here (http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3114060.0) to install Pulse audio volume control. I also tried to go from the default 2 channel to 5.1 channel, but it then sounded even worse.

The more I tweaked, the worse I got it!

Out of curiosity, I fired up a Ubuntu 10.10 Live CD, and the sound was great again, with full channel support.

Now I could just stick with Ubuntu until 11.04, when hopefully the pulseaudio/Kmix thing is fixed, But I really like KDE!

So I'm going to zap the hard drive again, and reinstall Kubuntu.

Any suggestions to properly tweak the 5.1 sound? After the default installation, what would you do to get full 5.1 channel support?

I'm not ruling out buying a separate sound card, if that is what it takes to get full 5.1 sound in KDE.

[Rog131]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

Something to try

There are many phonon backends:

apt-cache search phonon-backend-*

phonon-backend-xine - Phonon Xine 1.1.x backend
phonon-backend-gstreamer - Phonon GStreamer 0.10.x backend
phonon-backend-null - Phonon null backend (no real backend)
phonon-backend-vlc - Phonon VLC backend
phonon-backend-vlc-dbg - Phonon VLC backend debugging symbols
phonon-backend-mplayer - Phonon mplayer backend

The Xine backend is the default with the Maverick and older /1/.

You could install the alternatives and try if there are any improvement. I think that the Ubuntu is using the GStreamer as the default media framework.


After the installation: System Settings > Multimedia > Phonon

[img width=400 height=201]http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4337/backends.jpg[/img]


Misc

From the KDE Community Forums > Phonon backend - Gstreamer or Xine

Phonon backends > Phonon Home >> Phonon Users:

...Phonon itself is just a thin shim, and makes use of backend libraries to provide the actual functionality...

/1/ The GStreamer could be the default with the Kubuntu 11.04 > About kubuntu-devel >> GStreamer Testing

[ScottyK]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

I tried the GStreamer backend, and got an error message that phonon "claimed" that it couldn't play MP3's when I opened Amarok. switching back to Xine restored MP3 playability.

I'll experiment with the others later tonight. reinstalling pavucontrol and reselecting the 5.1 analog audio device has given me some control over the channels. It's much better that yesterday, but still not up to 10.04 standard. Still, it's workable for now.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

Considering that it is an ASUS mb that is WAY beyond me.... I have never had a problem with the old tried and true Xine with the older ALSA drivers or whatever they may be.

If you can't get the above working and if NOBODY ELSE comes up with a better, more modern, solution, you might try those.

just a thought, I'm way out of the loop on this stuff. I feel so old!

woodsmoke

[dibl]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

I fired up a Ubuntu 10.10 Live CD, and the sound was great again, with full channel support.

I wonder what the Phonon settings were there? It might be instructive.

Also, if the onboard is hda-intel, it might be the case that one of the Asus options from the laptop database would work: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...sound+database
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HdaIntelSoundHowto

A lot of Asus boards let you set the sound as either Intel HDA, or AC97 (there are two motherboard connectors, and the sound cable connects to one or the other). If yours happens to be connected to AC97, I recommend you change it to Intel HDA.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

I must say dlbl that you do know your hardware!

woodsmoke

[dibl]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

Thanks! It happens that I've built 3 or 4 Asus desktop systems in the past couple of years -- each one on a different model motherboard. So .... you learn stuff.

[ScottyK]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

A quick scan of the motherboard manual indicates that the sound is provided by "VIA VT 1708B, 8 Channel High Definition Audio Codec".

I'll boot back into the live Ubuntu and see what defaults for settings and post here.

[ScottyK]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

I just booted into the Ubuntu Live CD, and I've got the sound device set for "Internal Audio, 1 Output/1 Input "Analog Surround 5.1 Output+ Analog Stereo Input".

Can't find what backend it's using.

Will also pull the case off and try and switch from AC97 to the HDA that dibi recommends.

[Snowhog]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

Can't find what backend it's using.

Look in Multimedia.

[ScottyK]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

Once I booted back in Ubuntu to look for the multimedia tab, I noticed that the music playing in rhythm box was also sounding horrible.

I then decided to go the MB website to see if there were actual linux drivers for the sound, and there are!

I downloaded it, and now the instructions say I have to compile the new drivers.

Having never done this before, I'm going to dive in and see what happens.

The first step is to run ./configure.

Here's the output, and the error I get.

checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for an ANSI C-conforming const... yes
checking for inline... inline
checking whether time.h and sys/time.h may both be included... yes
checking whether gcc needs -traditional... no
checking for current directory... /home/scott/Downloads/LinuxDrivers/VIA_Audio/via-linux-audiopackV1.5.1/alsa-driver-1.0.14
checking cross compile... 
checking for directory with kernel source... /lib/modules/2.6.35-23-generic-pae/build
checking for directory with kernel build... 
checking for kernel linux/version.h... yes
checking for kernel linux/autoconf.h... no
The file /lib/modules/2.6.35-23-generic-pae/build/include/linux/autoconf.h does not exist.
Please install the package with full kernel sources for your distribution
or use --with-kernel=dir option to specify another directory with kernel
sources (default is /lib/modules/2.6.35-23-generic-pae/build).

searching my hard drive, I found this file.

usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.35-23-generic-pae/include/generated/autoconf.h

Is this the same file it's looking for?

Thank you for your patience, I've never compiled anything before, but excited that the key to my sound issues might finally be within reach.

[M@GO LoBEL]

Re: Onboard Audio sounds like crap! Tips to tweak?

sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio (do this ONLY in Kubuntu)

Ctrl+Esc, search for pulse, kill it.

Be happy.