#972689 Sound output is only working randomly

Package:
timidity
Source:
timidity
Description:
Software sound renderer (MIDI sequencer, MOD player)
Submitter:
Date:
2020-12-06 19:03:11 UTC
Severity:
important
Tags:
#972689#5
Date:
2020-10-22 15:24:17 UTC
From:
To:
Maybe this this bug is already reported, but i could not find an open or fixed solution for it.
Maybe this is similar https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=787286
or https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=972654 (pipewire is not installed)

It is not possible to use Debian 10 as desktop environment, because sound is only sometimes available.
Alsa is working, because i get a sound with some sound like
aplay -D hw:0,1 /usr/share/sounds/sound-icons/canary-long.wav
But when i try speaker-test i can see in pavucontrol that there is signal, but even switching it to the correct output
the sound keeps dead.

I have no idea what can be done and why it is working only sometimes?
I can only say that i have to boot Debian 8 to get always sound!
But Debian 8 is somehow outdated now ...

Please help - this is more than annoying.

Regards
karsten


$ aplay -l
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (PLAYBACK) ****
Karte 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], Gerät 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Sub-Geräte: 0/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], Gerät 1: ES1371/2 [ES1371 DAC1]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], Gerät 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
  Sub-Geräte: 0/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], Gerät 1: VT1708S Digital [VT1708S Digital]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 0/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0

$ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
jack
    JACK Audio Connection Kit
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
default
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
sysdefault:CARD=AudioPCI
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Front speakers
rear:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Rear speakers
surround40:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
iec958:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=0
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC2/ADC
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioPCI,DEV=1
    Ensoniq AudioPCI, ES1371 DAC1
    Hardware device with all software conversions
usbstream:CARD=AudioPCI
    Ensoniq AudioPCI
    USB Stream Output
sysdefault:CARD=SB
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=SB,DEV=1
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=SB,DEV=1
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=SB,DEV=1
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=SB,DEV=1
    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital
    Hardware device with all software conversions
usbstream:CARD=SB
    HDA ATI SB
    USB Stream Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Hardware device with all software conversions
usbstream:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia
    USB Stream Output

#972689#10
Date:
2020-10-24 16:38:01 UTC
From:
To:
In the Multimediasettingsof KDE you can see that the soundblaster card is greyed out - why?
This is the card that is working in ALSA, but only sometimes with pulseaudio in KDE.

I tried to create an installation of Debian Bullseye, but this is not possible too ...
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=972820

#972689#15
Date:
2020-10-25 08:13:53 UTC
From:
To:
Regarding the Debian documentation https://wiki.debian.org/PulseAudio

Setting "autospawn = no" in /etc/pulse/client.conf has no effect!
I did also try

cp /etc/pulse/client.conf ~/.config/pulse/

pulseaudio --kill


You always have this process "00:00:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no"


I tried to delete the configuration in ~/.config/pulse/ without no effect.


When you rename /usr/bin/pulseaudio then pulseaudio cannot start but you don't have any sound in KDE!

What must be done to get rid of pulseaudio and to get direct sound with ALSA?


When you try to remove the package there are to much dependencies:

# apt-get purge pulseaudio
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut.      
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen.... Fertig
Die folgenden Pakete wurden automatisch installiert und werden nicht mehr benötigt:
  freeglut3 g++-6 gnuradio gnuradio-dev gr-fcdproplus gr-fosphor gr-iqbal gr-osmosdr libairspy0 libairspyhf1 libbladerf1
  libboost-atomic1.67-dev libboost-chrono1.67-dev libboost-chrono1.67.0 libboost-date-time-dev libboost-date-time1.67-dev
  libboost-date-time1.67.0 libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-filesystem1.67-dev libboost-program-options-dev
  libboost-program-options1.67-dev libboost-regex1.67.0 libboost-serialization1.67-dev libboost-serialization1.67.0
libboost-system-dev
  libboost-system1.67-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-test1.67-dev libboost-test1.67.0 libboost-thread-dev
libboost-thread1.67-dev
  libboost-timer1.67.0 libboost1.67-dev libcomedi0 libcppunit-1.14-0 libcppunit-dev libfreesrp0 libglfw3
libgnuradio-analog3.7.13
  libgnuradio-atsc3.7.13 libgnuradio-audio3.7.13 libgnuradio-blocks3.7.13 libgnuradio-channels3.7.13
libgnuradio-comedi3.7.13
  libgnuradio-digital3.7.13 libgnuradio-dtv3.7.13 libgnuradio-fcd3.7.13 libgnuradio-fcdproplus3.7.11 libgnuradio-fec3.7.13
  libgnuradio-fft3.7.13 libgnuradio-filter3.7.13 libgnuradio-fosphor3.7.12 libgnuradio-iqbalance3.7.11
libgnuradio-noaa3.7.13
  libgnuradio-osmosdr0.1.4 libgnuradio-pager3.7.13 libgnuradio-pmt3.7.13 libgnuradio-qtgui3.7.13 libgnuradio-runtime3.7.13
  libgnuradio-trellis3.7.13 libgnuradio-uhd3.7.13 libgnuradio-video-sdl3.7.13 libgnuradio-vocoder3.7.13
libgnuradio-wavelet3.7.13
  libgnuradio-wxgui3.7.13 libgnuradio-zeromq3.7.13 libhackrf0 libhamlib2 libjs-jquery-ui liblimesuite18.06-1
liblog4cpp5-dev liblog4cpp5v5
  libmirisdr0 libnorm1 libosmosdr0 libpgm-5.2-0 libpulsedsp libqt4-help libqt4-scripttools libqt4-test
libqtassistantclient4 libqwt-qt5-6
  librtaudio6 librtlsdr0 libsoapysdr0.6 libsodium23 libstdc++-6-dev libuhd3.13.1 libvolk1-bin libvolk1-dev libvolk1.4
libzmq5
  limesuite-udev pkg-config pulseaudio-utils python-cheetah python-cycler python-gobject-2 python-gtk2 python-kiwisolver
python-matplotlib
  python-matplotlib2-data python-networkx python-opengl python-pygraphviz python-pyparsing python-qt4 python-scipy
python-subprocess32
  python-yaml python-zmq rtkit rtl-sdr soapyosmo-common0.6 soapysdr0.6-module-airspy soapysdr0.6-module-all
soapysdr0.6-module-audio
  soapysdr0.6-module-bladerf soapysdr0.6-module-hackrf soapysdr0.6-module-lms7 soapysdr0.6-module-osmosdr
soapysdr0.6-module-redpitaya
  soapysdr0.6-module-remote soapysdr0.6-module-rtlsdr soapysdr0.6-module-uhd uhd-host

#972689#20
Date:
2020-10-26 10:55:46 UTC
From:
To:
After the last experiments and rebooting this time there is a new situation without sound.

The soundblaster card is now card 2 and ALSA is working with
aplay -D hw:2,0 /usr/share/sounds/sound-icons/canary-long.wav

As you can see in the screenshot the card has been found by pulseaudio,
but when it is moved up to the first position it cannot be used when you click on test.
The error says that the device cannot be selected.

What is going on with PulseAudio here?


I tried to contact pulseaudio-discuss@lists.freedesktop.org with this problem and linked this bug ...



$ aplay -l
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (PLAYBACK) ****
Karte 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], Gerät 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
  Sub-Geräte: 0/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], Gerät 1: VT1708S Digital [VT1708S Digital]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], Gerät 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 2: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], Gerät 1: ES1371/2 [ES1371 DAC1]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0

#972689#25
Date:
2020-10-27 08:37:45 UTC
From:
To:
I got an answer from pulseaudio-discuss@lists.freedesktop.org.
The suggestion ist to run the script
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/-/raw/master/src/utils/pa-info
and open a bug at PulseAudio.


The interesting thing is that this script should be part of the package pulseaudio-utils,
but this package is installed and the script is not existant?

# apt-file search pa-info
pulseaudio-utils: /usr/bin/pa-info


So i downloaded the script and the result of it is attached.

A corresponding bug is opened now at PulseAudio
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/-/issues/1021

#972689#30
Date:
2020-10-31 09:00:19 UTC
From:
To:
The next version of PulseAudio makes the promise to be "stable now".

==========================================

Hi everyone,

We found a few more papercuts in 13.99.2 than we'd hoped for, so here's one more RC to make sure things are stable now.

tarball: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/pulseaudio/releases/pulseaudio-13.99.3.tar.xz
sha256: 60fdb5f619c85dfe3e018ad0ee1d8f6fe9041885c2e8b6ded724c855880276c8

Since 13.99.2, we've fixed some issues that came up with mixer configuration, availability groups being populated correctly, some jitter while streaming with the experimental GStreamer RTP backend, a couple of use-after-free crashes, and some default sink/source routing corner cases. Thanks to everyone who participated in testing, debugging and ironing these out!

Please do test, and assuming things are quiet, I'll roll out 14.0 next week. As before, the plan is to roll out some more SoF-related fixes in 14.1.

Cheers,
Arun

#972689#35
Date:
2020-12-06 10:25:07 UTC
From:
To:
forcemerge 972689 901148


Hello together,

inspired from this bug: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=935081
i tried the same on the Desktop PC with the problems in this bug:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=972689

Stopping timidity reactivates the sound in pulseaudio!


But after installing the packages from joachim there where 2 instances of timidity after boot:

timidity   791     1  0 15:45 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/timidity -Os -iAD
karsten   2603     1  0 15:48 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/timidity -iA -Os

I deactivated the system start of timidity with rcconf and now everything is fine.
This modifications must be part of the distributions.

Best regards
karsten

#972689#40
Date:
2020-12-06 11:50:34 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Karsten,

Karsten wrote on 2020-12-06 11:25:

because of all this trouble with timidity-daemon I have started
build new packages, at first for testing, but then for buster
to fix these bugs. The maintainer will sponsor me. Please wait
a few days.
--- Have a nice day. Joachim (Germany)