How to fix sound problems in Linux Mint with Alsamixer?
It is no secret to anyone that One of the most frequent problems that arise just after installing any GNU/Linux Distribution is, presenting network connection problems (wired or wireless), video problems (no broadcast or low resolution quality) and audio problems (no broadcast or low volume or poor quality). Which, in some cases, are usually due to the complete lack (non-installation) of the correct driver or the installation of a different one (generic or inadequate) that does not allow the full or satisfactory use of said components. While, in other cases it is due to the lack of a correct configuration. And just in these cases, at the audio level, many of these sound problems, either in Linux Mint or other similar, can be arranged with the terminal command called Alsamixer.
So, to take advantage of the fact that in these present times, I have had this problem with the sound (volume) on some computers that currently have Linux Mint installed, I leave you with a small tutorial on what is the Alsamixer command. And also, on how it can be used for Troubleshoot sound (volume) issues when we know the problem is not at the driver level, but rather settings (configuration). So without further ado, read on to learn one more cool tech tip from us.
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But, before starting this post about this useful tutorial for «fix sound problems in Linux Mint» and other similar Distros with the Alsamixer command, we recommend you explore the Previous Linux Mint related content, at the end of reading it:
Troubleshooting sound issues with Alsamixer on Linux Mint and other similar distros
About Alsamixer and other related concepts/software
Before getting into the Tutorial, as usual and as good documentary practice, it is good to make clear, especially for those less knowledgeable in the subject, What is Alsamixer and other related software concepts. Therefore, we will briefly mention and quote the following concepts below:
ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
It is a software that provides audio and MIDI functionality to the Linux operating system.. And its important features include: Efficient support for all types of audio interfaces, from consumer sound cards to professional multi-channel audio interfaces; the use of fully modularized sound drivers; a thread-safe and SMP-safe design; the implementation of the user-space library (alsa-lib) to simplify application programming and provide higher-level functionality. In addition, it offers compatibility with the old Open Sound System (OSS) API, and consequently, provides binary compatibility for most OSS programs. See more
Alsa-utils
It is a software package that offers a set of utilities to configure and use ALSA in the easiest and most efficient way possible. It includes terminal tools (CLI) such as alsactl (which includes advanced controls for ALSA sound drivers) and alsaloop (which allows you to create closed circuits between capture devices). It also offers other useful pulse code modulation (PCM) playback tools among which are the following: alsamixer (mixer with ncurses interface), alsaucm (alsa use case manager), amixer (CLI mixer), amidi (for reading and writing over ALSA's RawMIDI ports), and aplay/arecord (for playback and recording via terminal) and aplaymidi/arecordmidi (for MIDI playback and recording via terminal). See more
Alsamixer
It is an audio mixing program used for the Linux ALSA sound architecture.. It is used to configure the sound and adjust the volumes of each of the audio and output interfaces (cards). It has a user interface based on ncurses (text mode), and therefore, it does not need the X Window System to work. In addition, it supports a wide variety of sound cards with multiple devices, and can work with both PulseAudio and Pipewire. See more
PressAudio
It is a sound server system for POSIX operating systems, which means it is a proxy for various sound applications. Besides, andIt is an integral part of all relevant modern Linux distributions and is used on various mobile devices from multiple vendors. It is capable of rperform advanced operations on sound data as it passes between your application and your hardware. Things like transferring audio to a different machine, changing the sample format or number of channels, or mixing multiple sounds into one input/output are all easily accomplished using PulseAudio.. See more
pipewire
It is a free and open source project that aims to greatly improve audio and video handling on Linux. Therefore, pIt provides a low-latency graphics-based processing engine. And it was designed with a powerful security model that facilitates interaction with audio and video devices from container-based applications, with support for Flatpak applications being the main goal. Thus, together with Wayland and Flatpak, it is expected to provide a central component for the future of Linux application development. See more
Steps to fix sound problems with Alsamixer on Linux Mint and other similar distros
Yes, you have already carried out the steps and checks that have allowed you rule out that the lack of sound is due to hardware problems with the audio card or software problems due to the complete lack of the audio driver, or the correct or compatible one, or the lack of its correct configuration; the ideal first option is to use the Alxamiser command. Which is provided by the alsa-utils package, so we must have it installed to use it.
Ya installed said package (alsa-utils) and executed said command (alsamixer) In a user terminal (without the sudo command or as superuser) we will see the following screen in a very similar way:
Step 1:
Step 2:
And the ideal, then, is Press the F5 and F4 keys to switch from viewing only the audio inputs and outputs of the default configured audio card, to View all inputs and outputs of all available and configured audio cards.
Step 3:
Once this step has been completed, the ideal is Turn up the volume on all audio inputs and outputs to maximum, as seen below.
Step 4:
You can then go back to seeing everything as before by pressing the F3 key.
More about using alsamixer
Additionally, you can get more help or information on how to use alsamixer by pressing the F1 key.
Check the problem solution and final adjustments
Once this is done, We just have to try it with any multimedia player application, or a YouTube video in the Web Browser, or forcing some previously configured multimedia effect from the Desktop, if we get sound satisfactorily. However, later, if necessary, especially to make final adjustments to the sound, you can Using the Pavucontrol app (Volume Control), as shown below:
Finally, and in case you are using Linux Mint, or another similar Distro that uses its own Sound Management application, this can be used instead of Pavucontrol for the same final task. As shown below:
Another alternative way, ideal for those who prefer the use of graphical interfaces to terminal ones, is the use of applications such as
In some cases, these changes can be undone by restarting the computer's operating system, so the ideal thing is to force the saving of the Alsamixer configuration. And to do this we recommend executing the recommendations (steps) indicated on the official website of Ubuntu Forum or of Ask Ubuntu.
However, If all this fails on Linux Mint and Ubuntu, or other similar ones, a good recommendation will always be to install the pulsemixer package (explore GitHub), set the default sound card (optional), reboot and test. Because, in many cases, the problem is not Alsamixer, but PulseAudio. Remember that, in many Distros, sometimes Pipeware rules, sometimes PulseAudio and other times ALSA.
Ubuntu 18.04 is the latest version of Ubuntu LTS and possibly the most compatible and powerful version of all Ubuntu versions. But despite this, there are always certain problems with certain types of hardware or with certain configurations.
Summary
In short, we hope that this useful little Tutorial to “fix sound problems in Linux Mint” and other similar Distros with the Alsamixer command, it will be very effective for those occasions when you have not been able to reproduce sound in some free and open operating systems. And since there are always many different ways to do or solve the same problem, We invite you to tell us your possible solutions or recommendations in this regard.. In order to continue promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of our beloved GNU/Linux Distros.
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