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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

    USB headset not working

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    usb audio audio problem
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    • E
      ericball
      last edited by

      RPi0w w/ retropie-4.5-rpi1_zero.img (due to mame4all issues in 4.6/4.7)
      Dell 2007FP 1600x1200 LCD via DVI
      power and SNES USB controller, wireless USB keyboard / mouse & USB headset via powered USB hub built into monitor

      Headset works in Recalbox & Lakka, but I'd prefer to use RetroPie w/ AM (at least for vertical mame4all / Vectrex)

      Didn't work out of the box so as recommended on https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Sound-Issues/ I set dtparam=audio=off in config.txt.

      pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -L
      null
      Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
      default:CARD=J65
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Default Audio Device
      sysdefault:CARD=J65
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Default Audio Device
      front:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Front speakers
      surround21:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
      surround40:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
      surround41:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
      surround50:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
      surround51:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
      surround71:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
      iec958:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
      dmix:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Direct sample mixing device
      dsnoop:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Direct sample snooping device
      hw:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Direct hardware device without any conversions
      plughw:CARD=J65,DEV=0
      Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
      Hardware device with all software conversions

      pi@retropie:~ $ amixer scontrols -D default
      amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory

      When I go into the Audio config from the RetroPie system menu I get lvl0 and ALSA errors. I'm not too far into setup & customization so let me know if starting over would be easier.

      Working towards a vertical barcade based around a Dell 2007FP 1600x1200 LCD & Raspberry Pi Zero W

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

        @ericball said in USB headset not working:

        pi@retropie:~ $ amixer scontrols -D default

        What does amixer controls -D default show up ? Do you have an $HOME/.asoundrc file ? If yes, try deleting it and then run the amixer command(s) again.

        E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • E
          ericball @mitu
          last edited by

          @mitu - thanks for the response, unfortunately . . .

          No ~pi/.asoundrc

          pi@retropie:~ $ ls -al
          total 48
          drwxr-xr-x 7 pi pi 4096 Jan 16 18:29 .
          drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Apr 8 2019 ..
          lrwxrwxrwx 1 pi pi 43 Jan 16 11:23 .atari800.cfg -> /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/atari800.cfg
          lrwxrwxrwx 1 pi pi 37 Jan 16 11:22 .attract -> /opt/retropie/configs/all/attractmode

          pi@retropie:~ $ amixer controls -D default
          amixer: Control default open error: No such file or directory

          with dtparam=audio=on in config.txt:

          pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -L
          null
          Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
          default:CARD=ALSA
          bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
          Default Audio Device
          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
          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
          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
          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
          default:CARD=J65
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Default Audio Device
          sysdefault:CARD=J65
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Default Audio Device
          front:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Front speakers
          surround21:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
          surround40:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
          surround41:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
          surround50:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
          surround51:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
          surround71:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
          iec958:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
          dmix:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Direct sample mixing device
          dsnoop:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Direct sample snooping device
          hw:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Direct hardware device without any conversions
          plughw:CARD=J65,DEV=0
          Jabra EVOLVE 65, USB Audio
          Hardware device with all software conversions

          pi@retropie:~ $ amixer scontrols -D default
          Simple mixer control 'PCM',0

          pi@retropie:~ $ amixer controls -D default
          numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Route'
          numid=2,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Switch'
          numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
          numid=5,iface=PCM,name='IEC958 Playback Con Mask'
          numid=4,iface=PCM,name='IEC958 Playback Default'

          Working towards a vertical barcade based around a Dell 2007FP 1600x1200 LCD & Raspberry Pi Zero W

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

            @ericball said in USB headset not working:

            numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'

            Try adding this to the value of 'AudioDevice', by editing es_settings.cfg directly, and see if you still get the error.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • E
              ericball
              last edited by

              I've been doing some additional research and testing and I've identified two challenges.

              First, when the internal "sound card" is disabled in /boot/config.txt the ALSA still maps the USB headset to card 1. I think that's what's causing the "lv0" errors and is what @mitu is addressing with the suggested es_settings.cfg change.

              But the bigger problem is mame4all-pi uses a 44.1kHz sample rate and the USB headset only supports 48kHz. And while there is a samplerate setting in mame.cfg, rpi/config.cpp restricts it to a maximum of 44.1kHz. (And it looks like a couple of the emulator cores also hardcode 44.1kHz. So while I'm temped to "fix" mame4all-pi, I suspect it would require a lot of effort.)

              I suspect both issues can be addressed via the ALSA config files, unfortunately there's no good, authoritative, how-to ALSA docs - just a lot of "this worked for me" of varying currency and applicability.

              I will update this post if / when I make any progress.

              Working towards a vertical barcade based around a Dell 2007FP 1600x1200 LCD & Raspberry Pi Zero W

              E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • E
                ericball @ericball
                last edited by

                I was able to get my USB headset to work.

                First I changed from mame4all-pi on RetroPie 4.5 to lr-mame2000 on RetroPie 4.7.1 because I learned mame4all-pi doesn't have an option to rotate the display and my objective is to play classic vertical arcade games on a vertical (rotated) monitor.

                Second I created /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf (using sudo vi) containing:
                options snd_usb_audio index=0
                options snd_bcm2835 index=1
                options snd slots=snd_usb_audio,snd_bcm2835
                (leaving dtparam=audio=on in /boot/config.txt)

                This reorders the "cards" so the USB headset is card 0, hdmi is card 1 and PWM is card 2. What I found is dtparam=audio=off still configured the USB headset as card 1 for whatever reason and I didn't get audio. After reordering it worked without any other modifications (although ES gives an error about unable to set volume, which is probably just a minor configuration tweak).

                Working towards a vertical barcade based around a Dell 2007FP 1600x1200 LCD & Raspberry Pi Zero W

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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