[ALSA - liboss 0001164]: aoss + skype: volume_adjust: SOUND_MIXER_WRITE_IGAIN failed: Invalid argument

[bugtrack@alsa-project.org]

The following issue has been set as DUPLICATE OF issue 0001096.
======================================================================
<https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1164> 
======================================================================
Reported By:                sst4
Assigned To:                
======================================================================
Project:                    ALSA - liboss
Issue ID:                   1164
Category:                   
Reproducibility:            always
Severity:                   major
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     new
======================================================================
Date Submitted:             06-07-2005 00:33 CEST
Last Modified:              06-22-2005 01:48 CEST
======================================================================
Summary:                    aoss + skype: volume_adjust: SOUND_MIXER_WRITE_IGAIN
failed: Invalid argument
Description: 
I've tried 'skype' with my M-Audio Revolution 7.1.

Soon (probably in a second) after this command line:

aoss skype &

the terminal window gets filled with

volume_adjust: SOUND_MIXER_WRITE_IGAIN failed: Invalid argument

messages, and I do not hear anything in 'skype' connecting to their
automated 'echo123' service.

The message is not quite clear, and I believe it shouldn't flood the
screen.

I mean, the code should first check capabilities of the card and its
configuration and
issue the message once.


What is IGAIN in the message above ? Input gain ? That is, capture gain ?

======================================================================
Relationships       ID      Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------
duplicate of        0001096 no capture with M-Audio Revolution 7.1
======================================================================

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 tiwai - 06-08-05 14:50 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Could you try the attached patch?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 tiwai - 06-08-05 14:53 
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With revo 7.1, this might not work, too, since revo has really no "Capture
Volume" (corresponding to IGAIN in OSS).

If so, it must be a bug of Skype.  Skype must check DEVMASK before reading
IGAIN.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 sst4 - 06-12-05 19:35 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Takashi,

thanks for you reply.

I do not think it's that much of a bug in Skype.

I think it's hard to find a soundcard which doesn't have input gain
control
under Windows.

And I believe that the card should have, and it's possible to do, input
gain control - please see

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1187
.

Aslo, I'm repeating what I've said in the issue above:

"
*** I still have no capture with my Revolution 7.1 (issue 0001096) ***
.

Since I'm not getting it work, I've been trying to use ALSA utilities
('amixer',
'alsamixer', 'aoss') - "trial and error" approach - to make it work, and
have
found other problems on the way.

Resolution of these other problem, including introduction of gain
control,
will not solve my main problem - lack of capture.


I would appreciate getting an answer to the question in

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php [^]?id=1096 :

"
Maybe my previous question does not contain enough details.

Here is the rephrased question:

Running 'amixer' with this command line

amixer cget numid=<number>

, where <number is in 5..12 range, I see output like this:

"
  ; type=ENUMERATED,access=rw---,values=1,items=5
  ; Item 0 'PCM Out'
  ; Item 0000001 'H/W In 0'
  ; Item 0000002 'H/W In 1'
  ; Item 0000003 'IEC958 In L'
  ; Item 0000004 'IEC958 In R'
  : values=0
".

Can any of these controls be related to enabling capture ?

Thanks,
  Sergei.
".

Or, to be more precise, getting an answer to the question in general:
"How
to enable capture in M-Audio Revolution 7.1 ?".
".

Thanks,
  Sergei.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 tiwai - 06-13-05 13:03 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This card (codec chip) has really no input level support _on hardware_.

Can't you choose the capture source via alsamixer instead of amixer?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 sst4 - 06-13-05 14:12 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Takashi,

regarding this:
"
This card (codec chip) has really no input level support _on hardware_.
"
- I understand this, and that's why I suggested to implement it in
_software_
- please read description in

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1187
.

Regarding:
"
Can't you choose the capture source via alsamixer instead of amixer?
"
No, I can't with ALSA version 1.0,8. The attempt to at all show capture
part of 'alsamixer' causes it to segfault, and it was reported in

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1095

- claimed to be resolved.

If I understand correctly, everything that can be done in 'alsamixer' can
also
be done in 'amixer'. I think that actually even more can be done in
'amixer'
than in 'alsamixer' because 'amixer' deals with raw controls directly.

So, could you please tell me how to enable capture using 'amixer' ?

Thanks,
  Sergei.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 tiwai - 06-13-05 14:30 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No, such a software conversion shouldn't be in the kernel code.  It's a job
of user-space.  That is, such a feature could be implemented easily on
alsa-lib, but this can't be used through kernel OSS emulation.

The fix of alsamixer should be already fixed in 1.0.9b.  Please update
your system.

I know there is a bug in amixer (the bug report isn't closed), but
currently this is still in the deep of my long TODO list.  If anyone can
take a look and debug it, it'd be appreciated.

BTW, you can do the following instead of amixer, if you don't like the
interactive program:
- alsactl -f somefile store
- edit somefile manuall
- alsactl -f somefile restore

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 sst4 - 06-13-05 16:05 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Takashi,

regatrding

"
you can do the following instead of amixer, if you don't like the
interactive program:
- alsactl -f somefile store
- edit somefile manuall
- alsactl -f somefile restore
"
- please find attached 'asound.state.generated_by_alsaconf' file
generated
by  'alsaconf'. Before generation I cleaned up /etc/modprobe.conf by
removing
all sound related entries from it.

Could you please tell me which lines to change and how in the
'asound.state.generated_by_alsaconf' in order to enable capture ?

Please note that the word "capture" does not appear in the file.

Regarding 'amixer'. The bug that I filed affects only control number 0 -
maybe
'amixer' is still good enough to enable capture ?

Anyway, please let me know how to enable capture either through changes
in
the 'asound.state.generated_by_alsaconf' file or using 'amixer'.

Thanks,
  Sergei.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 sst4 - 06-15-05 08:25 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Takashi, what about an answer to this question of mine:

"
Could you please tell me which lines to change and how in the
'asound.state.generated_by_alsaconf' in order to enable capture ?
"

?

Thanks,
  Sergei.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 tiwai - 06-15-05 15:44 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't understand what you mean "enable capture" in general.  One of your
bugreports told that you could capture (even on OSS) with a certain
application.

Again, revo has no capture control.  At least, the hardware spec I got
tells so.

The thing that Skype aborts when no IGAIN exists is the bug of Skype.  It
has to be fixed by the application itself.  Please report this to Skype at
first.

As a workaround of this problem, you can add a softvol plugin to 
create a virtual volume attenuator.  For example,

pcm.revocap {
  type softvol
  slave.pcm {
    type hw
    card 0
  }
  control {
    name "Capture Volume"
    card 0
  }
}

Then, define "dsp0" PCM:

pcm.dsp0 {
  type asym
  playback.pcm "plughw:0"
  capture.pcm {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "revocap"
  }
}

so that aoss uses the newly defined capture PCM.

Issue History
Date Modified  Username       Field                    Change              
======================================================================
06-07-05 00:33 sst4           New Issue                                    
06-08-05 14:50 tiwai          Note Added: 0004923                          
06-08-05 14:51 tiwai          File Added: aoss-igain-fix.diff                   

06-08-05 14:53 tiwai          Note Added: 0004926                          
06-08-05 14:54 tiwai          File Added: aoss-igain-fix2.diff                  
 
06-08-05 14:55 tiwai          File Deleted: aoss-igain-fix.diff                 
  
06-12-05 19:35 sst4           Note Added: 0004999                          
06-13-05 13:03 tiwai          Note Added: 0005006                          
06-13-05 14:12 sst4           Note Added: 0005009                          
06-13-05 14:30 tiwai          Note Added: 0005010                          
06-13-05 15:55 sst4           File Added: asound.state.geberated_by_alsaconf    
               
06-13-05 15:59 sst4           File Added: asound.state.generated_by_alsaconf    
               
06-13-05 16:05 sst4           Note Added: 0005012                          
06-15-05 08:25 sst4           Note Added: 0005021                          
06-15-05 15:44 tiwai          Note Added: 0005035                          
06-22-05 01:48 rlrevell       Relationship added       duplicate of 0001096
======================================================================




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