By default, ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) has all channels muted in sound device configuration. For example, external microphone (‘capture’ device in alsamixer channels) is not enabled.
Question
Like the built-in speaker, shouldn’t external device have sensible default (say 60 to 80% of max gain), rather than 0?
Issue: No sound on external devices. Built-in audio on a laptop works.
Troubleshooting steps
- Check pipewire service
$ systemctl status --user pipewire-pulse.service
● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: active (running) since Sat 2023-09-23 18:31:03 BST; 4h 41min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire-pulse.socket
Main PID: 1799 (pipewire-pulse)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 4409)
Memory: 12.4M
CPU: 57.977s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-pulse.service
└─1799 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse
Sep 23 18:31:03 fedora systemd[1052]: Started pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio.
- Run alsamixer to check soundcard and settings (alternatively, you can use Pulseaudio Volume Control)
$ alsamixer
Press the F5 key on keyboard to list all sound devices
-
there is no gain on headphone and microphone.
-
Press F6 and select the sound card of your computer or preferred sound card if you have multiple cards.
- adjust the gain for microphone (capture)
Press the Esc key to exit Alsamixer.
-
Save the settings: $ sudo alsactl store
-
Press esc to exit alsamixer
Checked the audio quality on Jitsi Meet and it produces superb quality.
My setup
- KDE Plasma 5.27.8 / GNOME 44.4
- Wayland
- External audio devices: a condenser microphone, analog/digital converter (audio interface: XLR to USB), a monitoring headphone
- System settings: external device selected and audio levels checked for microphone and headphone
Source of troubleshooting: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture/Troubleshooting - ArchWiki
Solution
From the related post here