volume mixer error

hughp

everytime my sound settings are headphones default card and alsa the volume resets to 0 after changing but i get volume in games.

mitu

Please add some info about your setup, as requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

What is your exact question for the topic ?

hughp

@mitu a raspberry pi with a logitechis21 set of speakers and sub my question is how to get the volume slider unstuck it resets to 0 but i get volume in game i need help getting the slider unstuck

Retrodade

@hughp I have had this issue many times with newer retro pie.
I never could fix it, hope yours gets solved
With HDMI new seemed fine, but I use the headphone jack with speakers, only solution for me was stick with older retro pie.
it's not a solution, I know
hopefully your post will shed some light on this headphone jack no sound issue

hughp

@Retrodade i have sound in games =just the volume slider is stuck so i have to use the controls inside the machine

mitu

@hughp You've provided almost no information from the list in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first. What Pi model ? What RetroPie version and how did you install it ? Your speakers - how are they connected to the Pi ?

hughp

@mitu raspberry pi 4 retropie 4.8 used raspberry pi installer speakers use headphonejack

Arrafart

Hi, I have the same issue.
Plus, I have this error while loading each game.

Orange Pi zero 2w 4gb, Dietpi OS.

Oct 23 19:58:42 lvl0: VolumeControl::init() - Failed to find mixer elements!

mitu

@Arrafart said in volume mixer error:

Hi, I have the same issue.

Post the settings for audio that you have in EmulationStation (Card and Device). What version of DietPi ? Are you using PulseAudio/PipeWire for audio ? Is the audio working when you start a game/emulator ?

Please run the following commands and post the output:

amixer
aplay -l
aplay -L

Arrafart

@mitu Hi Mitu, thank you for the response!

I am running Dietpi OS v9.8.0 Armv8 Debian GNU/Linux 12 Bookworm
Device model : Orange Pi Zero 2W (aarch64)

Pulseaudio is installed, I've read elsewhere that it should connect to Alsa.?

I do have sound through HDMI output, no matter what settings in ES.
ES, Retroarch and Mupen64plus are fully functional, apart from the error.

Extra info, proper hardware/software setup for the sound on Orange Pi Zero 2w might be incomplete. If so, and this is an OS issue, i'll move back to the Dietpi forum :)

Hope this will already help identifying the issue:

dietpi@DietPi:~$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 26213 [40%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 26213 [40%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
Front Left: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
Front Right: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
dietpi@DietPi:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: audiocodec [audiocodec], device 0: CDC PCM Codec-0 [CDC PCM Codec-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: ahubi2s0 [ahubi2s0], device 0: ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0 [ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: HDMI [HDMI], device 0: ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 [ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
dietpi@DietPi:~$ aplay -L
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
lavrate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Libav/FFmpeg Library
samplerate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
Open Sound System
pulse
PulseAudio Sound Server
speex
Plugin using Speex DSP (resample, agc, denoise, echo, dereverb)
upmix
Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
default
Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
hw:CARD=audiocodec,DEV=0
audiocodec, CDC PCM Codec-0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=audiocodec,DEV=0
audiocodec, CDC PCM Codec-0
Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=audiocodec
audiocodec, CDC PCM Codec-0
Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=audiocodec,DEV=0
audiocodec, CDC PCM Codec-0
Direct sample mixing device
usbstream:CARD=audiocodec
audiocodec
USB Stream Output
hw:CARD=ahubi2s0,DEV=0
ahubi2s0, ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=ahubi2s0,DEV=0
ahubi2s0, ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0
Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=ahubi2s0
ahubi2s0, ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0
Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=ahubi2s0,DEV=0
ahubi2s0, ahub_plat-snd-soc-dummy-dai snd-soc-dummy-dai-0
Direct sample mixing device
usbstream:CARD=ahubi2s0
ahubi2s0
USB Stream Output
hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
HDMI, ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
HDMI, ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0
Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=HDMI
HDMI, ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0
Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
HDMI, ahub_plat-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0
Direct sample mixing device
usbstream:CARD=HDMI
HDMI
USB Stream Output

Arrafart

I was trying every setting yesterday and gave up. I gave up when it was set to: Default/Master

I logged in to double check and... No more error.

mitu

@Arrafart said in volume mixer error:

dietpi@DietPi:~$ amixer
> Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 26213 [40%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 26213 [40%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
Front Left: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
Front Right: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
...

Since the default Mixer control for the default audio card is named Master , this is what you should set as Audio Device. As it turns out, you already found this is the working option.

Arrafart

@mitu thank you for clarifying. If needed on a different device, I now know how to check it and replicate.

hughp

@Arrafart i have this issue still and i need help its a black rasp pie 4 4gb running retro pie

Arrafart

@hughp for me it was finding the correct setting. Default/Master
Try to replicate what @mitu said above. I was lucky to reboot with the correct setting by accident.

~~I believe a reboot will be necessary ater each time you check it, but not sure.~~

Again, I was lucky and Mitu was right the day after.

mitu

@Arrafart said in volume mixer error:

I believe a reboot will be necessary ater each time you check it, but not sure.

No, a reboot is not necessary.

hughp

@mitu what do i need to do to fix my issue

mitu

@hughp Change the Audio settings for Card in EmulationStation to Headphones ?

hughp

@mitu its on headphones

mitu

@hughp No idea then. If the audio works in games, then the default device is set to headphone/analog on the system.

Please run the following commands and post the output:

amixer
aplay -l