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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 Audio Not Working

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    audiousbamiberrypi400
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    • F
      fentimanj
      last edited by

      I have followed numerous tutorials (incl https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Sound-Issues/) and still am unable to get audio out of my external USB Audio interface when running games in Amiberry.
      In terminal, I can successfully run

      speaker-test -c2 -D plight:1,0
      

      This generates white noise through the headphone output

      In RetroPi, under sound settings I have the following:
      Audio Card = DEFAULT
      Audio Device = MASTER
      OMX Player Audio Device = ALSA: HW:1,0

      NB - System Volume is always at 0% and keeps resetting to that if I change it

      But when I load a game in Amiberry, there is no audio

      HELP!!!!

      Huge thanks in advance

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

        Please add some info about your setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.
        Did you disable the on-board audio on the Pi ?

        F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • F
          fentimanj @mitu
          last edited by

          @mitu
          Raspberry Pi 400 running RetroPi 4.7.15 (I think! Just ran an update)

          Powered via USB into powersupply

          USB Devices attached are a USB Audio Adapter bought from PiHut (https://thepihut.com/products/usb-audio-adapter-works-with-raspberry-pi)

          I have updated the /config.txt file with the following:
          #dtparam=audio=on
          dtparam=audio=off

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

            @fentimanj If the on-board audio was disabled, then the USB soundcard should be the only audio output and should be selected by default by any program that uses ALSA.

            Make sure you don't have any $HOME/.asoundrc file (remove the file if it exists) and try again to use Amiberry.
            For EmulationStation, the configuration should be similar to https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Sound-Issues/#step-3-choosing-the-audio-device-mixer. The Audio Card should be set to 'default' and the Audio Device to whatever amixer scontrols -D default reports.

            F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • F
              fentimanj @mitu
              last edited by fentimanj

              @mitu Thank you for this - it's really helpful

              When I execute: amixer scontrols -D default
              I get the following error: amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory

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

                @fentimanj said in USB Audio Not Working:

                When I execute: amixer scontrols -D default

                Can you run

                aplay -l
                aplay -L
                

                and post the output ?
                Did you follow the documentation on the Adafruit site and modified any config files after installing the USB sound card (e.g. modified /etc/asoundrc or alsa.conf) ?

                F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • F
                  fentimanj @mitu
                  last edited by

                  @mitu

                  I've checked and don't have either of those files in /etc.
                  And no, I didn't follow any Adafruit documentation when install

                  aplay -l

                  **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
                  card 1: Device [USB Audio Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
                    Subdevices: 1/1
                    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
                  

                  aplay -L

                  null
                      Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
                  default
                  output
                  sysdefault:CARD=Device
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Default Audio Device
                  front:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Front speakers
                  surround21:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
                  surround40:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
                  surround41:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
                  surround50:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
                  surround51:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
                  surround71:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
                  iec958:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
                  dmix:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Direct sample mixing device
                  dsnoop:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Direct sample snooping device
                  hw:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Direct hardware device without any conversions
                  plughw:CARD=Device,DEV=0
                      USB Audio Device, USB Audio
                      Hardware device with all software conversions
                  
                  
                  mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • mituM
                    mitu Global Moderator @fentimanj
                    last edited by

                    Based on this output, I think you'd need to set in EmulationStation the Audio Card to Device.

                    To get the name of the mixer (volume control), run

                    amixer scontrols -c Device
                    

                    and choose the 1st entry and set it as Audio Device. For instance, in my case, the USB audio card is named 'Controller':

                    amixer scontrols -c Controller
                    Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
                    Simple mixer control 'Headset',0
                    

                    I would use PCM as the AudioDevice settings in ~/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg:

                    <string name="AudioCard" value="Controller" />
                    <string name="AudioDevice" value="PCM" /> 
                    

                    This should fix the audio not working (or the volume slider rather) in EmulationStation.

                    For Amiberry, I'm not sure why it's not working - maybe it's trying to use the 'default' card and it's not working ?

                    Try following the advice here and create a /home/pi/.asoundrc file containing

                    defaults.pcm.!card 1
                    defaults.ctl.!card 1
                    
                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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