Cannot capture audio from mic, so no Skype for me!

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of computer audio hardware
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benny7440
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Cannot capture audio from mic, so no Skype for me!

#1 Post by benny7440 »

Let me say exactly what I've been doing in this VAIO VGN AR250G notebook. Start 'mhWaveEdit1.4.16', select "Play" from the tabs, click on Record from the popup menu, click on "Launch mixer" from the tabs within this new window & then modify any setting in the mixer. After all this I click on "Start recording" within the last opened window & check the result within the main window of mhWaveEdit. If cannot hear anything click on "Play" again & repeat the rest of the steps above until I've exhausted all the possibilities.

Am I forgetting something crucial, like closing the mixer before starting recording? Or, maybe, closing both, the mixer & mhWaveEdit, & starting mhWaveEdit anew before attempting to start to record something? Haven't found anything as to what's the correct procedure for this...until right now. Right here today I found a way someone used to have internal speakers working starting by right-clicking the volume control icon on the taskbar. I'm using the same scheme & will try to recheck the system later; if it goes ok I'm coming back to state it was a solution to the issue.

In the meantime, if someone here knows that I'm doing something wrong/irrelevant or that I've missed something important previously, please let me know.

Thanks in advanced!

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Flash
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#2 Post by Flash »

Benny, you can save a lot of time by just looking at the meters. When they start to move, you've found the magic button that makes the mike work. :) Start by turning everything in the mixer up to max, and making sure nothing is muted. You might try the Retrovol mixer if you can find it. (Pizzasgood made it for Puppy. I think it's posted somewhere in the forum as a .pet.)

Other than that, I can't be much help except to suggest that you try some different versions of Puppy from CD, to see if your mike will work in one of them.
[url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69321][color=blue]Puppy Help 101 - an interactive tutorial for Lupu 5.25[/color][/url]

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benny7440
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#3 Post by benny7440 »

Thanks for responding, Flash! I was hoping that what you say about the meters were as you say, but I completed my scheme to the end, just in case.

I'm going to test with a handy PL431 cd that's still going; if that doesn't make things different I'm going to put an Ubuntu cd & run it from it, just to see what happens. In any case, after I perform the tests & the approaching thunderstorm has passed I'll post back anything worth adding.

Sylvander
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#4 Post by Sylvander »

1. Are you using the normal mic connected to your internal audio card?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other possibilities:
2. I bought a Logiech USB mic.
Works well.
Has its own built-in "sound-card"...
Appears in the OS as a separate "device".
In Skype I can choose to use the USB mic, and the internal sound card with either amplified speakers or a headset.
Works well both on my PC, and my son's laptop.

3. I also bought a "Lindy" USB sound-card dongle.
This has a 2-off 3.2mm jack sockets = headphone outlet and a mic input.
Works well both on my PC, and my son's laptop.

4. Also newly bought myself a "Plantronics Gamecom 367" headset with mic.
Didn't cost much, but looks good so far; haven't tried it yet.
The old headset worked fine on both the internal sound-card, and the Lindy sound dongle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Run "Menu->Setup->Alsa Sound Wizard" to see that the sound card is set up for use...
Once successful, [in lupu525] it should play a "woof-woof" sound.
Then...
Go to "Menu->Multimedia->Media Tools->Alsamixer" to see if the mic is listed and toggled on, and the volume is up.
You use the right arrow-key to move the highlighting [from the far-left along->right to the mic], then space-bar to toggle the mic on, then the up-arrow to increase the volume.

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benny7440
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#5 Post by benny7440 »

I was wondering what that "Retrovol" pet file does apart from being a sound mixer, Flash.

Sylvander, what's a 'normal' mic? I'm using now PL431 & tried everything I did with Lucid511 but nothing was different. I noticed though, that there was another api within the Multimedia menu: "Zmixer audio mixer". I tried that one & ended up not just without sound, but without the ability to re-configure anything in relation to audio/sound. The worst part of it was that I spent much time making some configurations (system wide) for creating another Frugal Installation with PL431. You're right! Errors can be included in anything that can be written.

Have, at this moment, no idea how to fix that except by deleting? the 'pupsave' file; or, can it be overwritten? I've rebooted using pfix=ram & I've audio again, but there's something I don't like: the web station that I use plays for just a few secs & stops. That was the reason for downloading the newest Seamonkey version. Unlucky for me, I haven't seen it in action because can't start it.

The persistent error that anything audio-related was giving me after trying that api (Zmixer audio mixer) was: <error : no sound card detected/associated...>.

I checked also the pets for a newer Seamonkey version but all there's pointing in the direction of not being suitable as a replacement.

PS. There web radio station, BTW, is WQXR. I usually open a tab & make sure the popup player is doing what I want & keep working in other tabs. At least with FF I don't have any problems (either 4.* or the newest 5.* versions).

Any ideas?

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Flash
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#6 Post by Flash »

benny7440 wrote:I was wondering what that "Retrovol" pet file does apart from being a sound mixer, Flash.
Retrovol seems to work different from Alsamixer. I thought your mike might work in Retrovol when it doesn't in Alsamixer. And if I remember right, mhWaveEdit allows you to choose which mixer it uses. All I'm suggesting is, if it's not much trouble, give Retrovol a try. :)
[url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69321][color=blue]Puppy Help 101 - an interactive tutorial for Lupu 5.25[/color][/url]

Sylvander
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#7 Post by Sylvander »

1. "what's a 'normal' mic?"
The type with 3.2mm jack that plugs into a sound card mic input socket.
e.g. My headset has 2-off 3.2mm jacks; one for the headphones, another for the included mic.
These plug into the appropriate 3.2mm sockets on the internal sound card, or the "Lindy" sound-card dongle.

2. "no idea how to fix that except by deleting? the 'pupsave' file; or, can it be overwritten?"
I'd delete the pupsave and begin anew.
And make copies of the pupsave at various sensible points in time along the way, as you make changes.
So that you can undo a change if you don't like it, by restoring a copy of the pupsave.

3. "the web station that I use plays for just a few secs & stops"
I think that is happening because:
You are running the Puppy using puppy pfix=ram...
So the Puppy is running totally in RAM...
No other storage...
The [streamed audio] file that is being made [in the tmp folder] by the Puppy...
Is filling up your RAM storage, and running out of space.
Whereas...
If you had a pupsave file in use...
And if the pupsave was big enough....
There would be a lot more storage space...
And it would take much longer before that space was all used up.
Remember, the contents of the tmp folder are deleted at shut-down.

4. "The persistent error that anything audio-related was giving me after trying that api (Zmixer audio mixer) was: <error : no sound card detected/associated...>"
Does the Alsa Sound Wizard see the card?

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benny7440
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#8 Post by benny7440 »

Thanks to both for responding, Flash & Sylvander!

I deleted the pupsave file related to my problem & left in its place the SFS file because thought it carries no new info within it. In fact, I rebooted with pfix=ram & saved a new pupsave file & now I had to make my selection from both & it's behaving as originally did.

The cache at Seamonkey Preferences was a little too low & boosted it, enabled Java & I'm not running anything else besides Seamonkey. The little square besides the clock is >50% red. Since I'm not running right now in RAM I don't know what it might be except, possibly, as simple as being an old version of it not suitable for working with this website. Curiously, within the same site I can stream certain files there & works ok, the problem arises as soon as I select to hear the "live" content.

The ALSA Sound Wizard sees the card & gives me another 3 choices, none of them makes me capable of hearing a thing.

Sylvander
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#9 Post by Sylvander »

1. "The little square besides the clock is >50% red. Since I'm not running right now in RAM I don't know what it might be"
If that's the display telling you that your "personal storage" [in the pupsave] is low, then...
How big did you make your pupsave?

2. "within the same site I can stream certain files there & works ok"
Perhaps each of those particular streams do not produce a LARGE file in the tmp folder.

3. "the problem arises as soon as I select to hear the "live" content"
And this DOES [produce a LARGE file in the tmp folder.]

4. "The ALSA Sound Wizard sees the card & gives me another 3 choices"
Don't you mean the "Alsa mixer"?
Is one of those adjustment bars [in Alsa mixer] for the mic?
See screenshot below of how it should look [in Alsa mixer] when properly adjusted.
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benny7440
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#10 Post by benny7440 »

Thanks, Sylvander, for responding!

In the case of PL431 it's 512 MB; in PL511 it's 758 MB (here I'm talking about the pupsave files).

I meant that I saw 4 different configurable cards when ran the wizard & using the 1st one (probably the default) is the only setting that's capable of producing any sound.

When opening the ALSA Mixer & augmenting its displayable configurable devices by pressing PF5 key I see it along with another 3-4 more (things). I see the regular sliders: (1) Master, (2) Speaker, (3) PCM; (4) Front; (5) Surround; (6) Mic Jack Mode [Mic In or Line In]; (7) S/PDIF & (8) S/PDIF Default PCM right after opening the mixer. After pressing PF key #5 the others are: (a) Capture; (b) Digital; (c) Input Source [Mic or Front Mic] & (d) Mux.

Elsewhere, someone wrote something about adjusting the Mic Volume by right-clicking on the Volume Control icon on the toolbar (near the clock) & I followed suit & saw some volume controls new to me; the problem was that the mic volume slider couldn't be moved at all by any means imagined/tried by me. That alone points me to conclude that a mic isn't seen by ALSA. BTW, in PL511 I get to the Wizard from Menu>Setup & to the mixer by Menu>Multimedia>Pmusic audio player (within this api I click on Tools tab & there it is).

In a few days (before the 4th of J.) I'm going to give Retrovol a chance to do its magic. In any case, if something new arises I'll post it right below.

Sylvander
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#11 Post by Sylvander »

1. "In the case of PL431 it's 512 MB"
I generally make my pupsave files 1GB.
So far I've never had any problems with space.
I've seen 1GB being half filled.

2. "I saw 4 different configurable cards when ran the wizard & using the 1st one (probably the default) is the only setting that's capable of producing any sound"
Seems to me that only one of those is the correct one, and you have chosen right.
In my own system I chose cmicpi, and ignored "legacy isa non-pnp", and "usb-audio", and "apple onboaurd audio".

3. "(6) Mic Jack Mode [Mic In or Line In]"
Is this the control for your mic I wonder?
Have you tried adjusting it to a correct volume setting?
How about near-maxing ALL volume settings?

4. "the problem was that the mic volume slider couldn't be moved at all by any means imagined/tried by me"
I wonder if that's because there isn't a suitable driver for your sound card included in the kernel of that particular version of Puppy?
Otherwise you'd think it would be pretty simple to use the Alsa-mixer to make the necessary adjustment.

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gjuhasz
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Re: Cannot capture audio from mic, so no Skype for me!

#12 Post by gjuhasz »

benny7440 wrote:if someone here knows that I'm doing something wrong/irrelevant or that I've missed something important previously, please let me know.
Please take a look at my retrovol settings in Wary512. Notice that the mic slider is disabled to suppress echo thru the mic during playback :) but Capture is enabled, Capture source is set to Mic and Mic boost is checked.
Of course, available controls displayed in retrovol depend on the type of sound card.
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benny7440
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#13 Post by benny7440 »

Thanks for responding, Sylander!

In the case I'm using PL511, pfix=ram or frugally, I don't have any issues with the audio playback anywhere.

I've tried everything that's evident as well as other things that aren't so evident but without any success until now.

Thanks, gjuhasz, for your screenshot, it surely moves me closer to try Retrovol.

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