Hello,
I’m using audacity 2.4.1 on archlinux using kernel Linux 5.9.8 and i install it using pacman.
My problem is when i go to select a recording device audacity show me a lot of devices and no one works. but pulseaudio detect that there is only one input device and when i talk in the mic i see that it works.
Audacity Screenshot : https://i.imgur.com/nhBcZ4f.png
Pulseaudio Screenshot : https://imgur.com/MiiEkpt.png
You have a complex audio system (ALSA + PulseAudio + PipeWire). Audacity is showing the devices that it sees on your system.
Oh that is really nothing in comparison to my situation here: I count 78 (!) different record sources, I can choose in Audacity and most of them do not have any function or will urge Audacity to crash, when selected.
I am running a completely fresh installation of Manjaro-Linux on a desktop PC with an nVidia graphic Geforce GTX 1650 and a webcam with stereo mic integrated and another mono USB-Mic. Audacity is 2.4.1
My impression is, that the answer of “steve” is inadequate because not really helpful. How can a fresh installed Manjaro-Linux result in a “complex audio system”, when I did not install any additional sound processing software with except Audacity?
Everything works well on my system, but not Audacity. Therefore it seems, that Audacity or its special embedding in the OS is causing the problems itself and not “some complexity”!
All audio sources which are listed by Audacity in the drop down list consist of a group of six and the end of labels of these sources are always:
Front Mic:0,
Rear Mic:0,
Line:0,
Front Mic:1,
Rear Mic:1,
Line:1
This labeling scheme is used for the following sources:
HDA Intel PCH: ALC887-VD Analog (hw:0,0):
HDA Intel PCH: ALC887-VD Alt Analog (hw:0,0):
USB MICROPHONE: Audio (hw:2,0):
HD Pro Webcam C920: USB Audio (hw:3,0):
sysdefault:
samplerate:
speexrate:
pipewire:
pulse:
speex:
upmix:
vdownmix:
default:
As usual on Manjaro, Pulse Audio is used and from the list above, I can expect, that either “pulse:” or “default” can be selected to get the main audio output. If I play a YouTube-Video in a browser, I could record its audio via Audacity using one of these two sources.
In my case, I always get the audio from one of my microphones, but never from a software, playing audio or video.
Audacity is useless for me, if this situation keeps on! – Therefore I put the following questions:
1.) How should I do some corrections in my system, to get audio, which is played (YouTube, Mixcloud etc.) recorderd by Audacity?
2.) How can I “purge” the endless list from all entries, which will cause Audacity to crash when selected and also all entries, which have no function?
To see a list of ALSA devices in your computer, run this command:
arecord -L; aplay -L
What is the output?
To see a list of devices seen by Audacity, use “Audio Device Info” (in Audacity 2.4.2 that is in “Help menu > Diagnostics”)
What is the output?
List of all ALSA devices:
$ arecord -l & aplay -l
[1] 17579
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (CAPTURE) ****
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (PLAYBACK) ****
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 2: ALC887-VD Alt Analog [ALC887-VD Alt Analog]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Karte 2: MICROPHONE [USB MICROPHONE], Gerät 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 3: C920 [HD Pro Webcam C920], Gerät 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Sub-Geräte: 1/1
Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
[1]+ Fertig arecord -l
The ALSA-devicelist is added as attachement.
I thank you for your very quick reply!!!
Audacity-ALSA-devicelist.txt (12.6 KB)
It looks to me like Audacity is listing the ALSA devices in your computer.
ALSA is not part of Audacity, it’s part of your Linux system. HDMI cards add a lot of complexity to the sound system. I can’t do anything about that, it’s your hardware and your Linux system.
Sorry but I also have got these problems on a former Manjaro installation when the nVidia graphic card was not inserted.
I know, that ALSA is part of the system and not of Audacity. It is very strange that I have got no problems with Manjaro-Linux and Audacity, when I installed it on two notebooks. There was only a very short list of audio sources and none of these sources caused Audacity to crash, when selected. And theses notebooks also had ALSA system running, because it is implemented in Manjaro by default.
How should I proceed, to get Audacity running???
Start by telling us which version of Audacity you are using, which version of Manjaro, and what precisely the problem is.
As I already told in my first posting here:
I am running a completely fresh installation of Manjaro-Linux on a desktop PC with an nVidia graphic Geforce GTX 1650 and a webcam with stereo mic integrated and another mono USB-Mic. Audacity is 2.4.1.
Manjaro is XFCE with kernel 5.9.10-1
When I run “System Profiler & Benchmark” it tells me something about Kernel-Modules. And there i find some information concerning audio handling:. As I am relative new with Linux, I can contribute to clear up only by listing here anything, that seems to be somehow related to audio system:
-Loaded Modules-
snd_hrtimer : ALSA hrtimer backend
snd_seq_dummy : ALSA sequencer MIDI-through client
snd_seq : Advanced Linux Sound Architecture sequencer.
...
rng_core : H/W Random Number Generator (RNG) driver
dm_mod : device-mapper driver
rc_pinnacle_pctv_hd
em28xx_rc : Empia em28xx device driver - input interface
si2157 : Silicon Labs Si2141/Si2146/2147/2148/2157/2158 silicon tuner driver
si2168 : Silicon Labs Si2168 DVB-T/T2/C demodulator driver
i2c_mux : I2C driver for multiplexed I2C busses
em28xx_dvb : Empia em28xx device driver - digital TV interface
dvb_core : DVB Core Driver
hid_logitech_hidpp
...
tveeprom : i2c Hauppauge eeprom decoder driver
uvcvideo : USB Video Class driver
gspca_vc032x : GSPCA/VC032X USB Camera Driver
gspca_main : GSPCA USB Camera Driver
hid_generic : HID generic driver
videobuf2_vmalloc : vmalloc memory handling routines for videobuf2
videobuf2_memops : common memory handling routines for videobuf2
videobuf2_v4l2 : Driver helper framework for Video for Linux 2
videobuf2_common : Media buffer core framework
videodev : Video4Linux2 core driver
...
snd_usb_audio : USB Audio
usbhid : USB HID core driver
snd_usbmidi_lib: USB Audio/MIDI helper module
snd_rawmidi : Midlevel RawMidi code for ALSA.
snd_seq_device : ALSA sequencer device management
hid
mc : Device node registration for media drivers
loop
snd_hda_codec_realtek : Realtek HD-audio codec
snd_hda_codec_generic : Generic HD-audio codec parser
ledtrig_audio : LED trigger for audio mute control
...
kvm_intel
kvm
...
snd_hda_codec_hdmi : HDMI HD-audio codec
...
snd_hda_intel : Intel HDA driver
intel_pmc_bxt : Intel Broxton PMC driver
snd_intel_dspcfg : Intel DSP config driver
...
snd_hda_codec : HDA codec core
nouveau : nVidia Riva/TNT/GeForce/Quadro/Tesla/Tegra K1+
wmi_bmof : WMI embedded Binary MOF driver
...
snd_hda_core : HD-audio bus
...
glue_helper
mdio_devres
snd_pcm : Midlevel PCM code for ALSA.
mxm_wmi : MXM WMI Driver
rapl
snd_timer : ALSA timer interface
...
intel_uncore
...
snd : Advanced Linux Sound Architecture driver for soundcards.
i2c_i801 : I801 SMBus driver
...
pcspkr : PC Speaker beeper driver
soundcore : Core sound module
libphy : PHY library
drm_kms_helper : DRM KMS helper
As I also already have described, the problem is, that those audio sources labeled as “default” or as “pulse” should output audio which comes from sources like a video playing within a webbrowser. Audacity should record this audio. In my case, Audacity never does record this sort of signal but instead it only records one of the microphones.
Not necessarily. When recording from “pulse” (PulseAudio), Audacity will receive audio being sent to it from PulseAudio. That is controlled by the PulseAudio mixer. The GUI for controlling PulseAudio is called the “PulseAudio Volume Control” (pavucontrol). See: Tutorial - Recording Computer Playback on Linux - Audacity Manual
Thank you for your reply. In the Pavue, I see only one output device, called: “internal audio analog stereo” and the port is labeled “line out connected”.
No other output device is listed. And the modus "is connected"is right, because the analog output of the PC is connected to my PC loudspeakers.
When I go to Pavue configuration tab, I have disabled the “HDA NVidia profile”. Internal audio is assigned to “analog stereo output”. There are a lot of other output methods, which can be choosed by a drop down list. All of the are marked as “not accessible” but “digital stereo (IEC958)-output”. This is AFAIK the optical digital output of the Mainboard.
I had run a Manjaro-Linux on this computer before where I did not have these issues, I describe in this thread! But this installation did crash due to a kernel-graphics-driver conflict, so that I had to replace it by a complete fresh installation. As you might know, Manjaro and its repos mostly are at the latest update level, so that I cannot see anything wrong with my new system.
All the Pavue controls work as they should and as expected. That’s why I assume, that the problem is caused by the way, Audacity interprets the audio sources and audio outputs while it is installed.
do you mean “pavucontrol” (“PulseAudio Volume Control”) or something else?
Assuming that you do mean “pavucontrol”, have you selected the “Monitor” option that corresponds with your playback device?
Sorry about that I did not make it clear enough: Yes I am talking about PAVUE control.
If I choose the tab “input devices” and do select to show up “monitors”, then I get “Monitor of internal audio analog stereo” and it is the only device showing up. This device is not listed in the Audacity audio source selection list.
When I described the output devices in my previous posting, then I had selected to show up “all output devices”.
Why do you think it should be?
Try following the instructions here:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_linux.html
Ohhhh sorry about all this time consuming discussion! Hope you can forgive me!
Yes, now I have learned:
I simply have to start Audacity, then start PAVUEcontrol, choose the tab recodering and then select “monitor of built in audio” from drop down list.
And in Audacity, input selection should be pulse: Line 0
I thank you very much for your patience!!!
To Steve’s appreciation of your patience, I’d have to add at least some appreciation for Steve’s persistence.
I am proof that he’s not the last person to need help finding out where this control can be set. Thanks to both of you!