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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Audio issues after latest Raspbian updates (June 2020)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    audiobusteremulationstatioraspbianupdate
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    • J
      JNunes @mitu
      last edited by

      @mitu

      Thank you for your feedback.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • H
        huey
        last edited by

        For those who are experiencing similar issues after the Dec 2020 Raspberry Pi OS update (where ALSA support is dropped in favor of PulseAudio), the following setup works for me in Sound Settings:

        AUDIO CARD: HW
        AUDIO DEVICE HDMI
        OMX PLAYER AUDIO DEVICE: HDMI

        L 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • L
          luckyluca
          last edited by luckyluca

          This post is deleted!
          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • L
            luckyluca @huey
            last edited by luckyluca

            Having the same error, however sound works both in emulators and in the interface.
            It's just that very same error text appearing everywhere every time, in-between game loads and upon exit.
            This is on a pi400 with Retropie sound settings set to hdmi1, but it happens with Auto and default too.

            I followed the guide on post #1 (thank you for posting it Mitu), but the line text error remains. Is this normal?

            I've also tried setting sound settings as
            AUDIO CARD: HW
            AUDIO DEVICE HDMI
            OMX PLAYER AUDIO DEVICE: HDMI
            but the error remains.

            mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • mituM
              mitu Global Moderator @luckyluca
              last edited by

              @luckyluca what version of RetroPie are you using ? Did you install the desktop on your system ? Please post some details about your setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first, and the output of the aplay -L command.

              L 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • L
                luckyluca @mitu
                last edited by

                @mitu

                Sorry, you're right. I'm using Retropie 4.7.1, with all installed main core packages updated to the latest versions as per last week. I'm not using a desktop OS, just Retropie. I'm testing this on both the vanilla retropieOS as well as a ready made third party image, with the same results.

                Pi Model or other hardware: Pi 400
                Power Supply used: Official white PSU
                RetroPie Version Used: 4.7.1
                Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website, booting from a samsung sdcard.
                USB Devices connected: 1x logitech k400 keyboard/mouse dongle plugged to usb2.0
                Controller used: 8bitdo sn30pro,sn30pro,sn30pro+
                Error messages received:
                volumecontrol::init() - failed to find mixer elements!

                Please note audio appears to work just fine everywhere, it's just the error message shows up multiple times, when launching emulators, closing emulationStation etc.

                The result of aplay -L:

                default
                    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
                null
                    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
                jack
                    JACK Audio Connection Kit
                pulse
                    PulseAudio Sound Server
                sysdefault:CARD=ALSA
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
                    Default Audio Device
                dmix:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
                    Direct sample mixing device
                dmix:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
                    Direct sample mixing device
                dmix:CARD=ALSA,DEV=2
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI1
                    Direct sample mixing device
                dsnoop:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
                    Direct sample snooping device
                dsnoop:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
                    Direct sample snooping device
                dsnoop:CARD=ALSA,DEV=2
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI1
                    Direct sample snooping device
                hw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
                    Direct hardware device without any conversions
                hw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
                    Direct hardware device without any conversions
                hw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=2
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI1
                    Direct hardware device without any conversions
                plughw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
                    Hardware device with all software conversions
                plughw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
                    Hardware device with all software conversions
                plughw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=2
                    bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI1
                    Hardware device with all software conversions
                usbstream:CARD=ALSA
                    bcm2835 ALSA
                    USB Stream Output
                sysdefault:CARD=b1
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1, bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    Default Audio Device
                dmix:CARD=b1,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1, bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    Direct sample mixing device
                dsnoop:CARD=b1,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1, bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    Direct sample snooping device
                hw:CARD=b1,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1, bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    Direct hardware device without any conversions
                plughw:CARD=b1,DEV=0
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1, bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    Hardware device with all software conversions
                usbstream:CARD=b1
                    bcm2835 HDMI 1
                    USB Stream Output
                
                
                
                mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator @luckyluca
                  last edited by

                  Although similar, your issue is not same. You updated your system and you installed Pulse Audio (included in the Raspberry Pi OS Dec. updates), which took over as the default ALSA sound device:

                  default
                      Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
                  ....
                  

                  This doesn't happen on a stock RetroPie image, which uses Raspberry Pi OS Lite, unless you install the desktop.

                  To get rid of the message, you can simply choose Master as the default Audio device in EmulationStation or disable Pulse Audio by running

                  systemctl --user mask pulseaudio.socket
                  
                  cnotoC Y 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • cnotoC
                    cnoto @mitu
                    last edited by cnoto

                    @mitu could this issue be impacting splash videos? I currently lost splash videos and images trying to adjust the oxm player sound setting?

                    mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • mituM
                      mitu Global Moderator @cnoto
                      last edited by

                      @cnoto The issue in the current topic appeared after the May 2020 updates in Raspberry Pi OS and it affects EmulationStation. I don't have reason to believe this could affect the splash videos audio, which are using omxplayer and don't rely on ALSA for audio.

                      cnotoC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • cnotoC
                        cnoto @mitu
                        last edited by cnoto

                        @mitu Thanks for the quick response. I added the video to the retropie default splash video folder and it now works.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • H
                          huey
                          last edited by

                          @huey said in Audio issues after latest Raspbian updates:

                          For those who are experiencing similar issues after the Dec 2020 Raspberry Pi OS update (where ALSA support is dropped in favor of PulseAudio), the following setup works for me in Sound Settings:

                          AUDIO CARD: HW
                          AUDIO DEVICE HDMI
                          OMX PLAYER AUDIO DEVICE: HDMI

                          Unfortunately, I am here to report after updating every package to the latest, the in-game sound seems to have been lost in my case. This affects all emulators (not just Retroarch, because even Drastic isn't outputting any sound). Still, the sound in Emulationstation works just fine using the setting above.

                          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • mituM
                            mitu Global Moderator @huey
                            last edited by

                            @huey Open a separate topic. If EmulationStation's sound works, then this is not the issue reported in this topic.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • A
                              akamming
                              last edited by akamming

                              Just to share how i fixed, since i had the same symptoms on 2 seperate rpi4's (both only using hdmi). all sounds gone after december updates. mixer volume in ES was 0%. Both caused by pulseaudio and on both pi's the instructions in this thread did not solve the issue.

                              so here's how i did it:

                              • On 1 pi the only remedy was to remove pulse audio and reboot (sudo apt --purge pulseaudio)
                              • On the other pi:
                                - i had to go to desktop mode (sudo init 5),
                                - install the pulse audio volume control (described in this this article as todo after dec updates)
                                - switch the output to hdmi
                                - and reboot
                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Y
                                yserra @mitu
                                last edited by

                                @mitu said in Audio issues after latest Raspbian updates:

                                You updated your system and you installed Pulse Audio (included in the Raspberry Pi OS Dec. updates), which took over as the default ALSA sound device (...) This doesn't happen on a stock RetroPie image, which uses Raspberry Pi OS Lite, unless you install the desktop.

                                I confirm that @luckyluca is not alone to have installed the desktop on his RetroPie distribution. The Desktop is definitively a handy tool to manipulate files when you have a mouse.

                                So, like him, and certainly like many others, my sound disappeared. I did what you told us, I typed:

                                systemctl --user mask pulseaudio.socket
                                

                                Ok, thank you very much, the sound is back now. But... very low.

                                I can barely hear anything with the sound set at 85% in EmulationStation and set at 80% on my monitor's speaker. Previously, the sound was comfortable with the sound set at 40% in EmulationStation and 10% on my monitor.

                                mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • mituM
                                  mitu Global Moderator @yserra
                                  last edited by

                                  I'm going to lock this topic, since clearly it's no longer relevant, given the other set of Audio issues appearing after the Dec. 2020 updates in Raspberry Pi OS.

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