kmix only one channel

[angelcaf]

Hi all,
I've upgraded from 10.04 to 10.10 and in kmix I can only see a single channel that is: Internal Audio Analog Stereo.
The same happens in SystemSettings->Multimedia->Phonon there is only Internal Audio Analog Stereo. In addition xine is the only available backend.
Does anybody know how can I have more control over channels in kmix? How can I add the other channels?
Sounds like I am using the wrong kernel module for my soundcard or the wrong parameters while loading the sound card module. Can anybody help me?

[doctordruidphd]

Re: kmix only one channel

In the basic installation, you can't. All audio control has been moved into pulseaudio.

Your options are:

1. Use pulseaudio to control the volume and devices. To do this, run pavucontrol.

2. Run the alsamixer program. If it's not there, you will need to install the alsa-utils package. But this will give you only limited control over your devices.

3. Remove pulseaudio, and revert to alsa. This will give you kmix back. But be warned, oss support has been removed from kubuntu. The oss-compat package has been gutted, and the snd-pcm-oss module has been removed from the kernel. This means that, if you remove pulseaudio, no oss applications will be able to play audio. Basically anything looking for /dev/dsp will no longer work, and cannot be made to work. You would have to install packages, and perhaps rebuild the kernel, using debian packages rather than ubuntu, and that could whack your system completely.

[losingle]

Re: kmix only one channel

In order to configure my system and control the sound from multimedia keyboard, I need both Kmix and Pavucontrol. Kmix for the keyboard after configuring system analog surround with pavucontrol. One step forward two steps back.

[angelcaf]

Re: kmix only one channel

In the basic installation, you can't. All audio control has been moved into pulseaudio.

Your options are:

1. Use pulseaudio to control the volume and devices. To do this, run pavucontrol.

2. Run the alsamixer program. If it's not there, you will need to install the alsa-utils package. But this will give you only limited control over your devices.

3. Remove pulseaudio, and revert to alsa. This will give you kmix back. But be warned, oss support has been removed from kubuntu. The oss-compat package has been gutted, and the snd-pcm-oss module has been removed from the kernel. This means that, if you remove pulseaudio, no oss applications will be able to play audio. Basically anything looking for /dev/dsp will no longer work, and cannot be made to work. You would have to install packages, and perhaps rebuild the kernel, using debian packages rather than ubuntu, and that could whack your system completely.

sounds like my only good choice is the 1. btw how can i integrate the pavucontrol program in the system tray as well?
I launched pavucontrol and there are a lot of buttons with missing icons how can i fix it in order to better integrate this application in kubunutu?

thanks for your support

[dibl]

Re: kmix only one channel

You can try installing the package "padevchooser" and see if it gives you any further options.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: kmix only one channel

Yes, I launch the padevchooser program in my system tray.

SystemSettings > Startup and Shutdown > Add Program

type in padevchooser
Under Aplications > Advanced Options, check Place in system tray

That should start it in the system tray when kde starts upNote that I had to poke around to find a suitable icon for it. No real need for kmix once it is installed.

[angelcaf]

Re: kmix only one channel

Yes, I launch the padevchooser program in my system tray.

SystemSettings > Startup and Shutdown > Add Program

type in padevchooser
Under Aplications > Advanced Options, check Place in system tray

That should start it in the system tray when kde starts upNote that I had to poke around to find a suitable icon for it. No real need for kmix once it is installed.

This worked fine for me thanks!!!
Now the only problems are the icons! I'm not talking only about the program icon, but there are also several missing icons in buttons and labels inside pavucontrol.
I think they are missing in my system because the pavucontrol gui is as if it would be in ubuntu. Do you know how to fix this problem? That would be the perfect integration i was talking about earlier...

[doctordruidphd]

Re: kmix only one channel

I don't know for sure. I know there are some strange things with icons in the pa applications, I think because they are really for gnome, and have not been fully ported to kde. You might try fiddling with:

System Settings > Application Appearance > GTK+ Appearance
and try setting the qtcurve widget style, and also set your Style > Widget Style to QTcurve, at least temporarily. You may have to install the gtk2-engines-qtcurve and kde-style-qtcurve packages, if they are not already there.

Also, you may need to install the gtk-chtheme package, and run it to set the qtcurve theme in gtk's configuration files.

Most of the icons, dropboxes, etc do show up in padevchooser and its menu choices, though there are still occasional glitches in the gui.

[GreyGeek]

Re: kmix only one channel

One problem with padevchooser is that it offers no option to hoover the mouse over the volume control, like one can do with KMixer, and spin the mouse wheel forward or backward to turn the volume up or down quickly.

[angelcaf]

Re: kmix only one channel

I don't know for sure. I know there are some strange things with icons in the pa applications, I think because they are really for gnome, and have not been fully ported to kde. You might try fiddling with:

System Settings > Application Appearance > GTK+ Appearance
and try setting the qtcurve widget style, and also set your Style > Widget Style to QTcurve, at least temporarily. You may have to install the gtk2-engines-qtcurve and kde-style-qtcurve packages, if they are not already there.

I've already installed these packages in my system, but to be sure I followed the steps in Systems Settings again as you suggested me.

Also, you may need to install the gtk-chtheme package, and run it to set the qtcurve theme in gtk's configuration files.

I've installed it but I can't figure out how it works that program...it seems it has no effect: I selected QtCurve theme from the list shown and then I clicked on Apply...but after reboot nothing has changed to padevchooser

[doctordruidphd]

Re: kmix only one channel

The only thing I can think of is that it may be designed to work with an icon theme you don't have installed. It does list gnome-icon-theme as a dependency, so in theory it should have been installed.

Not sure what to try next. I don't really recognize what theme the icons are coming from. Maybe someone else does ...

[angelcaf]

Re: kmix only one channel

The only thing I can think of is that it may be designed to work with an icon theme you don't have installed. It does list gnome-icon-theme as a dependency, so in theory it should have been installed.

Not sure what to try next. I don't really recognize what theme the icons are coming from. Maybe someone else does ...

Ok,
as soon as I have some news I'll post here...

[jasontiller]

Re: kmix only one channel

Hi, doctordruidphd and dibl,

Just wanted to say "Thanks!" for this info. Tremendously helpful. I think I might actually have solved my HDMI audio problem that I've had for... ever! Yay!

I have to say, however, that it seems a little lame that I can't control my audio settings out-of-the box - what's the point of switching over to Pulse and then defaulting KMix...?

Note that I got to Maverick via upgrading my Lucid system. I wonder if the experience would have been better had I installed from scratch.

Anyhoo - thanks,

---Jason

[claydoh]

Re: kmix only one channel

No, the outcome would be the same. There probably isn't enough room on the disk to add the non-kde application and its deps, and really during the testing phase, there were very few reports on this subject in Launchpad. There aren't many now, tbh. There weren't many here until after release, either.

[Guest]

Re: kmix only one channel

While researching this along with the "no jack sense" problem I ran across what seems to be a solution, at least it worked for me (Kubuntu 10.10, KDE 4.51, Pulse Audio, KMix).

Start alsamixer as root
Set output volumes and input levels
Mute 'Headphone Jack Sense' and 'Line Jack Sense' by pressing M while they are selected.

Make a backup copy of your default settings:
# alsactl store
# cp /var/lib/asound.state /home/username

After doing this all the available channels were shown in Kmix.
Awesome! :-)
Hope this helps you!