[mythtv-users] alsamixer / alsactl not storing settings

[Michael T. Dean]

On 06/15/2006 01:03 AM, Caleb wrote:
> I know this has come up a few times on the list and I do apologize 
> ahead of time to bring it up again but I have exhausted my options.  I 
> have the latest release of knoppmyth on my box and all is running 
> great except that alsactrl store will not store the master volume.

(Many parts of this are to make sure there's no confusion about how 
things should work...)

alsactl store is /only/ used to store a volume to disk.  Therefore, it's 
typically used to store the volume at shutdown so it can be restored at 
startup.  Other than that, it's not typically used since the sound card 
will maintain the volume whenever it's powered.

>   When listening to music and I manually ajust the settings the volume 
> will stay the same as long as I don't change the song manually or stop 
> and start the music again.

Myth stores the last volume used and restores it every time playback is 
started.  Since you're posting to the Myth list, I'm assuming you're 
talking about MythMusic music playback.  If so, this is exactly the 
behavior you would get if you changed the volume using an external 
program (not Myth).

>   I am not sure what it going if it is the program reevaluating the 
> volume setttings.  I have run alsactl store and then shutdown the 
> computer and the settings have stuck until the player is started and 
> then the master volume will drop back to what is was previously and 
> not what I specified it to be.

Which is the desired behavior...

>   I tried chmoding 777 /var/lib/alsa/asound.state but this is not helping

And, as you've discovered, is really unnecessary.  I highly recommend 
undoing it (set it to 644 at most).

> along the lines I supposed that if I set the sound as the user that 
> was running the program that didn't work.  I tried shutting down the 
> frontend and opening up the player separately and trying to set a 
> default volume but noticed that rightly it is only adjusting the PCM 
> volume.  So my question is how do I get the master volume to stick? 

Myth will only touch the mixer settings for the control specified in the 
frontend setting on the "Audio" page of the General settings (page 2?, I 
think):

Mixer Controls
    - PCM
    - Master
Changing the volume adjusts the selected mixer.

If you have that setting set to PCM and Master is being changed, 
something else is doing it.  For example, a media player may be set to 
change the master volume.

If you want to adjust volume using an external program, you must do so 
/always/ (i.e. you can't use Myth to adjust the volume).  Disable the 
checkbox:

Use internal volume controls
MythTV can control the PCM and master mixer volume.  If you prefer to 
use an external mixer program, then disable this option.

However, note that this will also disable your volume OSD.  See, also, 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/192833#192833 if you 
want the best (that's currently possible) of both worlds.

Mike