Bluetooth Speaker error 4.4

[tyreal90]

Hello all,

I am using retropie 4.4 on a raspberry pi 3b in a Pigrrl 2.0 build from adafruit. I have done the tutorial that was posted (link below) Started at step 4 because I read that retropie already has the bluez installed.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/12920/tutorial-bluetooth-audio-on-latest-retropie

My Bluetooth headset connects but I get the error message "volume control - failed to find mixer elements" This pushes my volume control to default at 0 and will not let me play with sound.

Has anyone else connected Bluetooth headphones to the current retropie version? If so, how were you able to get it to work?

Thank you so much ahead of time.

[mitu]

You can try replicating the setub from https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Sound-Issues/#usb-audio for choosing the BT audio card as your 1st card instead of the built-in audio chip. Just ignore the lsusb commands

[tyreal90]

Hey Mitu,

That worked like a charm!!! I will update this post with a list of the steps I took for posterity in a bit! Thank you so much!!!

I also had to disable the wifi to get clean sound. Now we are golden.

[tyreal90]

Here are the steps I used to make a pair of JVC Bluetooth headphones with my Pigrrl 2.0 project.

Most of this was provided by Dawidekziaja I just changed it where I had to use a different method or added a step.

First run sudo update/ sudo upgrade

1. run sudo nano /etc/rc.local
   Before the line that says exit, add a line and type sudo bluealsa &
   ctrl+o
   ctrl+x
   reboot
2. run sudo bluetoothctl (connecting using the retropie bluetooth caused me some issues)
   Then type:
   power on
   scan on
   Find the mac address of your audio device, write it down for later.
   trust xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
   pair xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
   connect xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

Download asound.conf using this template https://www.dropbox.com/s/kotq703r6hso9r5/asound.conf
sudo nano /etc/asound.conf
I uploaded it to the Pi using FileZilla and used the "mv" command to place it in /etc - you can either change the file using nano or on a computer like I did

Replace xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx with your MAC address and A description of your device with a description of your device and paste into your terminal, replacing all contents that were already there.
ctrl+o
ctrl+x
I created .asoundrc by using nano. Sudo nano

defaults.bluealsa.interface "hci0"
defaults.bluealsa.device "XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"
defaults.bluealsa.profile "a2dp"

". Replace xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx with your MAC"

ctrl-x
y

then type: ~/.asoundrc

reboot

4. Type sudo nano and create the following file

   options snd_usb_audio index=0
   options snd_bcm2835 index=1
   options snd slots=snd-usb-audio,snd-bcm2835

save it as /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

In retropie select the config and click bluetooth.
Now select "Connect Now to all registered devices."
DO NOT PAIR THE AUDIO DEVICE IN RETROPIE

Turn off the devices Wifi - I found that this made sound terrible for some reason. cvdrf

Go back to retropie and test audio. It should work! If it doesn't, but your device is connected, reboot your bluetooth audio device and try this step again.
Feel free to reply with any issues.