[SOLVED] Audacity can't play audio on Fedora 32

[ng.newbie]

I am on Fedora 32.
Linux Kernel: 5.6.11-300
Installed Audacity from: Gnome Software (so probably a flatpak)

When I hit play on Audacity it fails with:

Code: Select all

Error opening sound device
Try changing the audio host, playback device and the project sample rate

I have the following audio devices listed beside the small speaker sign on top right hand side:

• HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 0 (hw:0.3)

• HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 1 (hw:0.7)

• HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 2 (hw:0.8)

• HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 3 (hw:0.9)

• HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 4 (hw:0.10)

• hdmi

The "Audio mode" is to:
ALSA

What do I do ?

I am pretty sure Fedora uses PulseAudio rather than ALSA.
Is that what is causing the problem ?

[steve]

Run the "Audio Device Info" and save the info somewhere convenient, then attach the "deviceinfo.txt" file to your reply.

[ng.newbie]

Run the "Audio Device Info" and save the info somewhere convenient, then attach the "deviceinfo.txt" file to your reply.

Here is my Audio Device Info. And please note that this problem is with Audacity only. VLC, Firefox and everything else can play audio fine.

audio_device_info.txt

(4.34 KiB) Downloaded 34 times

[steve]

I am pretty sure Fedora uses PulseAudio rather than ALSA.

PulseAudio is a software layer between ALSA and applications, but yes I would have expected Fedora to use PulseAudio.
Surprisingly there is no sign of PulseAudio in the Audio Device Info.

To check if PulseAudio is installed, run this in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

pulseaudio --version

[ng.newbie]

I am pretty sure Fedora uses PulseAudio rather than ALSA.

PulseAudio is a software layer between ALSA and applications, but yes I would have expected Fedora to use PulseAudio.
Surprisingly there is no sign of PulseAudio in the Audio Device Info.

To check if PulseAudio is installed, run this in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

pulseaudio --version

Code: Select all

$ pulseaudio --version
pulseaudio 13.99.1-rebootstrapped

[ng.newbie]

I am pretty sure Fedora uses PulseAudio rather than ALSA.

PulseAudio is a software layer between ALSA and applications, but yes I would have expected Fedora to use PulseAudio.
Surprisingly there is no sign of PulseAudio in the Audio Device Info.

To check if PulseAudio is installed, run this in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

pulseaudio --version

So now what ?

Is there no solution ?

[steve]

$ pulseaudio --version
pulseaudio 13.99.1-rebootstrapped

OK, so pulseaudio is installed.

What happens if you run:

Code: Select all

pavucontrol

[ng.newbie]

$ pulseaudio --version
pulseaudio 13.99.1-rebootstrapped

OK, so pulseaudio is installed.

What happens if you run:

Code: Select all

pavucontrol

$ pavucontrol
bash: pavucontrol: command not found...

Should I install it ?

[steve]

Should I install it ?

"pavucontrol" is the "PulseAudio Volume Control" and is a standard part of a PulseAudio setup. It may not be strictly "necessary" on all systems (you may have some other volume control available), but it is a useful tool, and probably the best volume control when using PulseAudio. In short, yes I think you should install it.

I don't use Fedora myself, but you may find this article useful: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases ... Pulseaudio

[ng.newbie]

Should I install it ?

"pavucontrol" is the "PulseAudio Volume Control" and is a standard part of a PulseAudio setup. It may not be strictly "necessary" on all systems (you may have some other volume control available), but it is a useful tool, and probably the best volume control when using PulseAudio. In short, yes I think you should install it.

Ok.

I just want to know if this a problem with Audacity or Fedora.

Who should I contact for this problem ? Audacity devs or Fedora ?

I don't use Fedora myself, but you may find this article useful: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases ... Pulseaudio

I went through the link, but it did not prove to be useful. I think this is a problem with Audacity itself since I have no problems with sound on Fedora otherwise.

Just point me in the right direction. I have no idea what is going wrong where.