Equalizers

[RustyShackleford]

So does anybody use a systemwide equalizer? At the moment the two choices are either pulseaudio or alsa equalizer. Thread is based around arch with gnome and alsa-utils and pulseaudio. I have a minimal understanding of linux sound, I only really investigate it when something isn't working and its generally really good so I don't have to.

Pulse:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio#Install_and_run_the_GUI_front-end
Alsa:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#System-wide_equalizer

The alsa one is nice and simple you just install it and replace a config file. The only problem is that it doesn't work with gstreamer applications like all music players. It does work with youtube (which was the primary reason I wanted an equalizer). Unfortunately it causes some finicky behavior like the bottom panel (with pause and volume control etc.) would get compressed and overlap. I also couldn't use a music player while even having a youtube video open nor could I adjust the application volume from sound control. I believe it also caused other formatting issues.

So I tried pulseaudio, this too worked relatively easily. You just have to install it and put some stuff to the config file so it runs at boot. What is really weird is that I am encountering an error were the sound gets all choppy when I use my volume buttons. I modified the config per the wiki and restarted pulseaudio and it solved the issue. So I go to restart to test that its all in order and the choppy issue comes back. I test a few different things and long story short it will be choppy until I open and save the file (could have literally no changes) then restart pulse and it will resolve the error. This is really bizarre. Just now I started it manually and this didn't happen, but it always happens when its set to start on boot and was happening before when I started it manually.

Not sure what that is about, and not sure what I can besides maybe make a script to modify the file and restart pulse, kind of a half assed fix though.

Regardless I will be sticking with pulse, it integrates slightly better. You choose it as the output device and all the sound will get routed to it regardless of whether you are using the built in speakers, headphone jack, or bluetooth audio - In fact I would prefer this behavior - one output device with a predetermined hierarchy and if I want to override it I am still able to.

It's come a long way since a few years ago when I last tried - it was totally unusable. Still a few glitches especially with multiple audio devices. Post your experiences / if you can help me / if you want help I'll try my best.

[aldra]

I'm not a big fan of equalisers in general because with decent audio equipment, you shouldn't really need them... I like the idea of listening to music the way it was intended, as opposed to re-balancing it myself.

that said, I've always preferred also over pulse - driver integration and program flow is a lot more straightforward, even if it is somewhat less extensible.

I actually need to set up audio on this laptop; I haven't bothered yet because I'm usually working on something when I've got lunix running, and I usually end up just using my phone to listen to music during

[RustyShackleford]

I'm not a big fan of equalisers in general because with decent audio equipment, you shouldn't really need them... I like the idea of listening to music the way it was intended, as opposed to re-balancing it myself.

I am just the opposite, I like making really deep then making it normal and changing it back and forth.

that said, I've always preferred also over pulse - driver integration and program flow is a lot more straightforward, even if it is somewhat less extensible.

I actually need to set up audio on this laptop; I haven't bothered yet because I'm usually working on something when I've got lunix running, and I usually end up just using my phone to listen to music during

My normal setup is to install pulseaudio and alsa-utils and that sort of just works. I'm not sure exactly how it works, amixer / alsamixer ends up controlling everything, but I was able to just install and run the pulseaudio equalizer without having to mess with anything (too much). So alsa is the base, but pulseaudio is still in there somewhere doing something.

But what do you mean by you still need to set up audio? It should be pretty trivial I just get pulseaudio and alsa-utils, some gstreamer plugins too I guess. It really doesn't take any fussing, but maybe that's because gnome takes care of some of it. My knowledge on it is pretty limited, besides messing with sound sinks and stuff.

[RustyShackleford]

Well I have been pretty satisfied. The sound glitch I described I've just learned to live with. It only happens when I change the volume with the keys or from the sound settings and not when I use alsamixer or the eq gain. I'm still considering making a script or something to do a edit non edit of the config file (as that solves the problem temporarily).

The pulse audio equalizer is definitely the way to go. The wider you make the window the more customizable it becomes and it's really easy to switch between different eq modes.

[Max Headroom]

I just equalize with realtek 

[RustyShackleford]

I just equalize with realtek

Do you mean like a software realtek equalizer? I don't think that would be something that works on linux.