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PulseAudio became the standard audio system in Fedora 8, but it is a buggy piece of crap that crashes from time to time for no apparent reason.PulseAudio, previously known as Polypaudio, is a sound server for POSIX and WIN32 systems. It is a drop in replacement for the ESD sound server with much better latency, mixing/re-sampling quality and overall architecture. PulseAudio / Pulse Audio is a sound manager for [[ALSA]] on Linux, ALSA being the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture.----PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol) is a simple GTK+ based volume control tool (mixer) for the PulseAudio sound server. In contrast to classic mixer tools this one allows you to control both the volume of hardware devices and of each playback stream separately. It also allows you to redirect a playback stream to another output device without interrupting playback. <big><big><big>pavucontrol</big></big></big> The volume control "configure" on Ubuntu and Mint is NOT the same as PulseAudio pavucontrol. You will NOT see a Configuration tab on the standard volume control mixer. Install pavucontrol for the real deal. sudo apt install pavucontrol == Distribution Specific ===== Fedora ===PulseAudio became the standard audio system in Fedora 8, but at the time it is buggy and crashed from time to time for no apparent reason. Or, sometimes it works great without any problems. Maybe it's not so bad. === Debian ===Want to install PulseAudio mixer on Debian? apt-get install pavucontrol === Ubuntu ===A sound server is basically a proxy for your sound applications. It allows you to do advanced operations on your sound data as it passes between your application and your hardware. Things like transferring the audio to a different machine, changing the sample format or channel count and mixing several sounds into one are easily achieved using a sound server. Pulseaudio is already installed by default on most Ubuntu flavors, including Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. For Ubuntu environments that use pulseaudio, Ubuntu has its own custom sound indicator that will allow you to select the preferred device and control the volume of each application. If you would prefer to try pulseaudio's generic control GUI, install the pavucontrol package and launch it with terminal command: pavucontrol source: [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio ubuntu wiki: PulseAudio] == Tips and Tricks ===== Bridge HDMI and analog audio output ===Updated: The easiest way to accomplish this on modern Ubuntu/Mint (at least 18.3 and up) is to use a utility called paprefs aka PulseAudio Preferences. You won't find the ability to enable simultaneous output in the default Pulseaudio sound controls for any desktop environment. Install PulseAudio Preferences sudo apt install paprefs Run the software paprefs aka PulseAudio Preferences paprefs There will only be one item there, Add virtual output device and you need to Check the box. Now refresh Pulseaudio [[Image:paprefsbridge.png]]<BR>''Illustration shows the paprefs interface, launched from console by typing: "paprefs" and the correct selection.'' [[Image:pulseaudiosimsel.png]]<BR>''Illustration shows the Pulse Audio Volume Control Output Devices Tab with "Set as fallback" checked for "Simultaneous output to..." checked so programs send sound on all bridged devices.'' older information:* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio/Examples PulseAudio allows for simultaneous output to multiple sources.] === How to stop and start the Pulse Audio Service ===With systemd PulseAudio is controlled by systemctl and if you kill PulseAudio it will be restarted automatically by systemctl. To suspend the service, stopping PulseAudio do: systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.socket systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.service To start it again, you can use: systemctl --user start pulseaudio.socket systemctl --user start pulseaudio.service Is PulseAudio running? ps ax|grep -i pulseIf yes 40871 ? S<sl 0:01 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal 40874 ? Sl 0:00 /usr/libexec/pulse/gsettings-helper === Temporarily suspend PulseAudio ===pasuspender is a tool that can be used to tell a local PulseAudio sound server to temporarily suspend access to the audio devices, to allow other applications access them directly. pasuspender will suspend access to the audio devices, fork a child process, and when the child process terminates, resume access again. Example environment without PulseAudio without stopping the service pasuspender bashHere is an example where a game is launched with PulseAudio suspended pasuspender ./PULSAR_LostColony.x86_64 === pulseaudio-equalizer ===Your distribution may or may not have pulseaudio-equalizer as part of the main repository. sudo apt install pulseaudio-equalizerLaunch the mixer with qpaeqFor qpaeq to work you have to have the modules module-equalizer-sink and module-dbus-protocol set to load in the /etc/pulse/default.pa file sudo vi /etc/pulse/default.paadd load-module module-equalizer-sink load-module module-dbus-protocolFor more information on pulseaudio-equalizer visit [https://livingthelinuxlifestyle.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/how-to-install-pulseaudio-equalizer-in-ubuntu-and-linux-mint/ How to Install PulseAudio-Equalizer in Ubuntu and Linux Mint] == Troubleshoot =====Test Sound Utility: Stereo Separation Test==={{:Speaker-test_stereo_separation_test_with_ALSA}}PulseAudio does not get along well with KDE===Testing audio input / microphone input from CLI==={{:Arecord_alsa_audio_input_testing}}===PulseAudio does not get along well with KDE===esdcompat: esdcompat is a compatiblity script that takes the same arguments as the ESD sound daemon esd(1), but uses them to start a the PulseAudio sound server with the appropriate parametersesdcompat: esdcompat is a compatibility script that takes the same arguments as the ESD sound daemon esd(1), but uses them to start a the PulseAudio sound server with the appropriate parametersTry this: (THIS WORKED) A viable work around to get rid of pulseaudio piece o crapTry this: (THIS WORKED) A viable work around to get rid of pulseaudio., === Microphone detected but can't change volume in Mint Linux ===You open pulseaudio in Linux Mint and the Microphone audio device under "Input" is displayed, however, the slider is grayed out. Can apply to Linux Mint 18.x - 20.x Try to clear the settings in the ~/.config/pulse directory. Delete all of the directory contents (rm * but not rm -r *). Once all the files in that folder are gone execute the following command at the cli: pulseaudio -kNow reboot and see if you have control over the microphone slider. * credit: This tip provided by user [https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=225081 trytip over at linuxmint.com] === Controlling Pulse Audio from CLI ===restart the Pulse Audio with: pulseaudio -kYou can check if the pulse audio is running by: pulseaudio --checkif all is ok no output will be shown. you can start it and check for problems on start by:* ''the pulseaudio --check reports nothing even when the service is stopped. this does not seem to do a damn thing.'' the following will start pulse audio, however, you should use systemctl instead if you are ubuntu/mint. See above on starting and stopping pulseaudio with systemctl. pulseaudio --start {{:Template:Untidy Entry}} [[Category:Linux_Sound]]