MOC Plays only through headphones on PoP!_OS 19.10

Submitted by Dany Gee on Tue, 2019-10-29 20:55

Forums:

MOC version: 
2.6-alpha3

Hi,

I'm having hard time to force MOC to play through speakers and I would need a hand troubleshooting this.

My audio HW:
Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3
Device-2: NVIDIA GP104 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.3.0-19-generic

MOC Version:
This is : Music On Console
Version : 2.6-alpha3
Built : Feb 15 2019 15:42:04
Compiled with : OSS ALSA JACK DEBUG Network streams resample
Running on : Linux 5.3.0-19-generic x86_64
Author : Damian Pietras
Homepage : http://moc.daper.net/
E-Mail : mocmaint@daper.net
Copyright : (C) 2003-2016 Damian Pietras and others
License : GNU General Public License, version 2 or later

ALSA part of MOC config:
# ALSA output settings. If you need to dump the audio produced by MOC
# to a file for diagnostic purposes, the following setting of 'ALSADevice'
# should do that:
#
# ALSADevice=tee:hw,'/tmp/out.wav',wav
#
#ALSADevice = default
ALSAMixer1 = Master
#ALSAMixer1 = PCM
ALSAMixer2 = Master

If more info is needed - I'll provide.

tomaszg

Tue, 2019-10-29 21:33

Are the speakers handled by the same sound card as headphones? If so then switching output would be handled well beyond MOC. I suppose the second device is HDMI output - if the speakers are connected this way, you would need to change ALSADevice variable to something like "default:CARD=NVIDIA" (you can check precise device name via aplay -L).

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 07:17

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC1150 Analog [ALC1150 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC1150 Digital [ALC1150 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

System settings show the speakers are HDMI 2 - GP104 HD Audio Controller
What exactly should I put as ALSADevice in the config?

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 08:54

Speaker test play nicely through HDMI with this:
speaker-test -D hw:1,7 -c2 -t wav

But when I put ALSADevice = hw:1,7 in MOC config, I get this:

Running the server...
Trying ALSA...
Trying JACK...
Trying OSS...

FATAL_ERROR: No valid sound driver!

FATAL_ERROR: Server exited!

tomaszg

Wed, 2019-10-30 09:03

I've always had problem determining correct Alsa device names. "hw" devices are usually bad, since they allow only one client to connect at the time and may not support volume control, rate conversion and so on.

I suggested "aplay -L" (capital L) which lists device names you could try. Maybe "default:CARD=NVIDIA,DEV=?" or "hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=?" might do the trick?

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 10:18

When I put into config:
ALSADevice = hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7

I get:
mocp
FATAL_ERROR: Error in config file: stray '=' on line 162!
(where line 162 is ALSADevice = hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7)

I've checked all the nvidia devices and all give the same error:
FATAL_ERROR: Error in config file: stray '=' on line 162!

I must be still missing something here <thinking...>

aplay -L output:
aplay -L
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
jack
JACK Audio Connection Kit
pulse
PulseAudio Sound Server
default:CARD=PCH
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Front speakers
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Digital
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Digital
Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Digital
Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Digital
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Analog
Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC1150 Digital
Hardware device with all software conversions
usbstream:CARD=PCH
HDA Intel PCH
USB Stream Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
HDA NVidia, HDMI 1
HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
HDMI Audio Output
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7
HDA NVidia, HDMI 1
Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
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 1
Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
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 1
Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
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 1
Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=8
HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=9
HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
Hardware device with all software conversions
usbstream:CARD=NVidia
HDA NVidia
USB Stream Output

tomaszg

Wed, 2019-10-30 10:22

You need to add quotes around value, i.e. ALSADevice="hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=7".

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 11:13

Adding quotes seems not to help much.
Now I get:
mocp
Running the server...
Trying ALSA...
Trying JACK...
Trying OSS...

FATAL_ERROR: No valid sound driver!

FATAL_ERROR: Server exited!

But here is something strange...
When trying "default:CARD=PCH" - i get FATAL_ERROR: No valid sound driver!
When trying "default" it works, and plays through headphones.
Looks like all we need is to find the correct HDMI/Nvidia device alias/name that is perhaps one word?

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 11:35

Speaker test properly plays for hw:0 = headphones and hw:1,7 = HDMI.
MOC properly plays for hw:0 = headphones and does not play for hw:1,7.
What can be the cause here?

Dany Gee

Wed, 2019-10-30 12:29

Oct 30 13:28:28.103448: alsa.c:477 alsa_init(): Initialising ALSA device: hw:1,7
Oct 30 13:28:28.103970: alsa.c:157 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Unknown parameter 1
Oct 30 13:28:28.103982: alsa.c:157 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Parse arguments error: No such file or directory
Oct 30 13:28:28.103986: alsa.c:157 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Invalid CTL hw:1,7
Oct 30 13:28:28.103992: alsa.c:415 alsa_open_mixer(): ERROR: Can't attach mixer: No such file or directory
Oct 30 13:28:28.103994: server.c:672 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients

jcf

Fri, 2019-11-08 02:37

The issue here is how to tell MOC the ALSA output device to which to direct the audio.

ALSA's device naming has never been entirely clear to me either, but I can report the following for my system to see if you can apply it to yours.

On my system there are two sound cards:

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Audio [C-Media USB Audio], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ID 892 Analog [ID 892 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ID 892 Digital [ID 892 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Then we get:

# aplay -L
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=Audio
C-Media USB Audio, USB Audio
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Audio,DEV=0
C-Media USB Audio, USB Audio
Front speakers
...
default:CARD=SB
HDA ATI SB, ID 892 Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=SB,DEV=0
HDA ATI SB, ID 892 Analog
Front speakers
...
iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
HDA ATI SB, ID 892 Digital
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

(I've removed the plethora of other devices which follow two front devices.)

Running these commands work as expected on the first device speakers:

AUDIODEV=hw:0 play x.wav
aplay -D hw:0 aplay x.wav
AUDIODEV=default play x.wav
aplay -D default aplay x.wav
AUDIODEV=default:CARD=Audio play x.wav
aplay -D default:CARD=Audio aplay x.wav

And these as expected on the second device speakers:

AUDIODEV=hw:1 play x.wav
aplay -D hw:1 play x.wav
AUDIODEV=default:CARD=1 play x.wav
aplay -D default:CARD=1 play x.wav
AUDIODEV=default:CARD=SB play x.wav
aplay -D default:CARD=SB play x.wav

These do not work:

AUDIODEV=default:CARD=SB,DEV=0 play x.wav
aplay -D default:CARD=SB,DEV=0 play x.wav

The only ones which work as the ALSADevice setting for MOC are hw:0, hw:1 and default. But the direct hardware devices do not support volume control.

So, MOC should accept the likes of default:CARD=SB but doesn't. More precisely, ALSA does not accept it when MOC passes that to it, but it obviously does when either aplay(1) or play(1) do.

I have a hypothesis as to why that is so, but if it were true then MOC would not be able to play even on the default device. It has to do with the order in which the MOC code does things, but for it to work with default it would mean that ALSA always keeps that device open, and I don't know if that is the case or not.

So, that's where we are at. If you can apply the above to your situation then you may have a solution (albeit not a very good one). MOC should be able to use the more explicit device names and it will need to be pursued further.

Or, if you are brave enough to tackle ALSA configuration files, you could create a simply named device in your ~/.asoundrc file and which maps to the actual headphones device (possibly via an appropriate mixer to get volume control) and see if that works.

tomaszg

Fri, 2019-11-08 11:33

> So, MOC should accept the likes of default:CARD=SB but doesn't.
At least in one case it did accept it for me. However I run a modified version of MOC and I would have to check with vanilla and see what happens.

jcf

Fri, 2019-11-08 19:19

As I indicated, it's actually ALSA which is rejecting it. If you can reproduce your success, that might tell us something.

tomaszg

Fri, 2019-11-08 20:44

I have now two machines which run with similar devices. In one case it is AlsaDevice="iec958:CARD=Generic_1,DEV=0", in the other: AlsaDevice= "default:CARD=PCH". Surprisingly in the second case I see in the log:

Trying ALSA...
Nov 8 21:36:45.875418: alsa.c:550 alsa_init(): Initialising ALSA device: default:CARD=PCH
Nov 8 21:36:45.876359: alsa.c:213 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Unknown parameters CARD=PCH
Nov 8 21:36:45.876370: alsa.c:213 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Invalid CTL default:CARD=PCH
Nov 8 21:36:45.876383: alsa.c:490 alsa_open_mixer(): ERROR: Can't attach mixer: Invalid argument
Nov 8 21:36:45.876388: server.c:677 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients
Nov 8 21:36:45.899212: audio.c:1070 print_output_capabilities(): Sound driver capabilities: channels 1 - 10000, sample rate 48000 - 48000, formats: 8-bit signed, 8-bit unsigned, 16-bit signed, 16-bit unsigned, 24-bit signed (as 32-bit samples), 24-bit unsigned (as 32-bit samples), 24-bit signed (in 3bytes format), 24-bit unsigned (in 3bytes format), 32-bit signed, 32-bit unsigned little-endian (native)

but it does work! Without setting ALSAdevice option (and with no .asoundrc) I get a fatal:

Nov 8 21:39:24.016295: alsa.c:550 alsa_init(): Initialising ALSA device: default
Nov 8 21:39:24.017360: alsa.c:430 alsa_init_mixer_channel(): ERROR: Can't find mixer PCM
Nov 8 21:39:24.017378: server.c:677 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients
Nov 8 21:39:24.017387: alsa.c:430 alsa_init_mixer_channel(): ERROR: Can't find mixer Master
Nov 8 21:39:24.017392: server.c:677 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients
Nov 8 21:39:24.019886: alsa.c:213 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: unable to open slave
Nov 8 21:39:24.020011: alsa.c:228 alsa_open_device(): ERROR: Can't open audio: No such file or directory
Nov 8 21:39:24.020021: server.c:677 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients

FATAL_ERROR: No valid sound driver!

If I use asoundrc to change the default, I get the sound in both cases (with or without Alsadevice option).

In the case of the first machine, I see similar behaviour in the log, but it is further complicated, probably due to the fact that it uses digital output. In that instance, MOC starts without ALSADevice option, but is unable to play anything (skips through all tracks).

tomaszg

Fri, 2019-11-08 21:42

I compiled a vanilla MOC and it seems it is broken ;) My success immediately turned into defeat - I get:

Nov 8 22:40:04.140026: alsa.c:477 alsa_init(): Initialising ALSA device: default:CARD=PCH
Nov 8 22:40:04.148947: alsa.c:157 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Unknown parameters CARD=PCH
Nov 8 22:40:04.149097: alsa.c:157 alsa_log_cb(): ALSA said: Invalid CTL default:CARD=PCH
Nov 8 22:40:04.149177: alsa.c:415 alsa_open_mixer(): ERROR: Can't attach mixer: Invalid argument
Nov 8 22:40:04.149208: server.c:672 add_event_all(): No events have been added because there are no clients

FATAL_ERROR: No valid sound driver!

jcf

Sat, 2019-11-09 08:38

There's something we're just not understanding about what the ALSA naming means and how it should be used. I have in the past looked for a good explanation of this but without success.

tomaszg

Sat, 2019-11-09 09:48

It's not exactly problem with naming as it works for my fork. Seems the important difference in the codebase is that my fork allows for no mixer channel: https://gitlab.com/tomaszg/mocp/commit/7da9a2af6bacb57aaac05f6c4a4b3d669e998499 I was able to make mainline MOC to run with my ALSADevice setting by applying this commit and commenting out some asserts. Seems we might need to change mixer channels as well to make them work with other devices.

Still it is interesting why does ALSA report it doesn't understand the option while it apparently does (it does play correctly!).

jcf

Sat, 2019-11-09 08:40

In that instance, MOC starts without ALSADevice option, but is unable to play anything (skips through all tracks).

Do you think that might be related to any of these posts?

tomaszg

Sat, 2019-11-09 09:50

No, it doesn't play anything. MOC attempts to play the file, fails and moves on to the next one. I didn't debug it further as it seemed to be caused by deliberate misconfiguration on my part.