No sound in games using sound card

hhcasey

I'm trying to install an IQaudio DAC PRO card in my arcade.
I'm only getting sound when the video snap comes up.
Once I start the game, there is no sound.
aplay -L shows the IQaudIODAC is installed.

I get the error message:
AudioManager Error - Unable to open SDL audio : ALSA: Couldn't open audio device: No such file or directory

Anyone know what I might have missed?

I have done the following based on the card's instructions and the RetroPie Documentation:

edited the /boot/config.txt with:
added dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus
disabled onboard sound with #dtparam-audio=on
enabled hardware interface with dtparam=i2s=on

I also made the following changes in the EmulationStation sound settings

audio card set to sysdefault (from aplay -L)
audio device set to digital (from amixer scontrrols -D sysdefault)
omx player audio set to ALSA:HW:0,0

Pi Model: 3B+
Power Supply: Canakit
RetroPie Version: 4.8.2
Built From: Premade from Raspberry Pi Imager
USB Devices: Ultimarc I-PAC Ultimate I/O
Sound hat: IQaudio DAC PRO

mitu

disabled onboard sound with #dtparam-audio=on

If this is not a typo, the correct option is

#dtparam=audio=on

Have you tried using default instead of sysdefault ? Does speaker-test (without any parameters) work ?

Please post the output of aplay -l and aplay -L.

hhcasey

Yes, the #dtparam was a typo.
default gives me no sound in snaps or the game.
speaker-test

speaker-test 1.1.8

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000HZ,S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

It generates no sounds.

aplay -1

pi@retropie:/boot $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: IQaudIODAC [IQaudIODAC], device 0: IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 [IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

aplay -L

pi@retropie:/boot $ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default
output
sysdefault:CARD=IQaudIODAC
    IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
    Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
    IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
    IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
    IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
    IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
    Hardware device with all software conversions

mitu

Try creating a $HOME/.asoundrc file, with the following contents:


pcm.!default {
        type hw
        card 0
}

ctl.!default {
        type hw
        card 0
}

This will make the sound card be default (not only sysdefault) and should help with games and EmulationStation. speaker-test should also work after this change. In EmulationStation change the Audio Card to default and the Audio Device to Digital.

hhcasey

We're getting closer.

Here's what was in the .asoundrc file:

pcm.!default {
type asym
playback.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "output"
}
capture.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "input"
}
}
pcm.output {
type hw
card 1
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
}

I saved this file as a backup and created a new file exactly as you recommended and changed the settings in Emulation Station.

I get sound on both the snaps and the games but the sound is no better.

The speaker-test gives me this:

pi@retropie:~ $ speaker-test

speaker-test 1.1.8

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Channels count (1) not available for playbacks: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument

and, I'm still getting the error:

AudioManager Error - Unable to open SDL audio: ALSA: Couldn't open audio device: Device or resource busy

The new aplay -l and aplay-L looks like this:

pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: IQaudIODAC [IQaudIODAC], device 0: IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 [IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -L
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default
sysdefault:CARD=IQaudIODAC
IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=IQaudIODAC,DEV=0
IQaudIODAC, IQaudIO DAC HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0
Hardware device with all software conversions
pi@retropie:~ $

mitu

The previous .asoundrc looks more elaborate than what I posted, you can re-use it by changing the index of the default card to 0 :

pcm.!default {
type asym
playback.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "output"
}
capture.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "input"
}
}
pcm.output {
type hw
card 0
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
}

It may behave better. As for the error appearing in ES, my guess is that the mixer's name (Audio Device) is wrong. Run

amixer scontents

and look at the names of the controls. You can also run alsamixer and see what's the name of the mixer that's shown in the upper left corner.
Make sure that you set Audio Device in EmulationStation to the same value. If you option list for Audio Device doesn't have it, then you can edit $HOME/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg and add it manually - it should be used by EmulationStation and should get rid of the warnings in the log.

hhcasey

I'm not sure how to add the name manually.
The name from alsamixer is IQaudIODAC.

Here's the es_settings.cfg file I have.

mitu

@hhcasey said in No sound in games using sound card:

I'm not sure how to add the name manually.

If you're at the command line, you can use the nano text editor to edit the file. Just type

nano $HOME/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg

and modify the line where AudioDevice is set. Make sure EmulationStation is stopped. You can also edit the file by opening it over file shares from the network, it should be accessible at \\retropie\configs\all\emulationstation.

The name from alsamixer is IQaudIODAC.

Are you sure this isn't the name of the card ? For instance, the alsamixer output below show the card name is bcm2835 ALSA and the mixer name is PCM.

hhcasey

Getting closer...

You're right about the the mixer name. It's "DSP Program".
I changed it in the cfg file and in EmulationStation sound settings.
I have sound in games but not in the snaps now.

I've also picked up a new error message:

VolumeControl::getVolume() - Failed to get volume range!
AudioManager Error - Unable to open SDL audio: ALSA: Couldn't open audio device: Device or resource busy

mitu

@hhcasey Please run the command I mentioned earlier and post the output:

amixer scontents

hhcasey

pi@retropie:~ $ amixer scontents

Simple mixer control 'DSP Program',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'FIR interpolation with de-emphasis' 'Low latency IIR with de-emphasis'                 'High attenuation with de-emphasis' 'Fixed process flow' 'Ringing-less low late                ncy FIR'
  Item0: 'FIR interpolation with de-emphasis'
Simple mixer control 'Analogue',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 1
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Analogue Playback Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 1
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [on]
  Front Right: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Mono',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Time Left',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '21ms' '106ms' '213ms' '533ms' '1.07s' '2.13s' '5.33s' '10.66s'
  Item0: '21ms'
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Time Right',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '21ms' '106ms' '213ms' '533ms' '1.07s' '2.13s' '5.33s' '10.66s'
  Item0: '21ms'
Simple mixer control 'Clock Missing Period',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1s' '2s' '3s' '4s' '5s' '6s' '7s' '8s'
  Item0: '1s'
Simple mixer control 'Deemphasis',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 207
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock DAC',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 40
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock DSP',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 40
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock PLL',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 20
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Emergency Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Emergency Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '4dB/step'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '1dB/step'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Up Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Up Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '1dB/step'

mitu

Looking at what mixer controls are available, I'd say you need to use Analogue as the mixer name.
Exit EmulationStation and update es_settings.cfg and set AudioDevice:

..
<string name="AudioDevice" value="Analogue" />
..

Then see if audio is working in EmulationStation.

hhcasey

That did it. I have sound in the snaps and in the games.
I'm still getting this error:

AudioManager Error - Unable to open SDL audio: ALSA: Couldn't open audio device: Device or resource busy

If everything is working though, I guess I'll ignore it.

I still have laggy sound in Golden Tee 2K and a couple of others.
I assume it's the 3B+ struggling.
Would overclocking it a help with the lagging?

mitu

@hhcasey said in No sound in games using sound card:

Would overclocking it a help with the lagging?

Not for Golden Tee.. Glad you fixed your sound, write down the config files somewhere just in case you need to re-install.

hhcasey

I'll backup the chip tomorrow and save the configuration to my desktop PC.

Thanks for the help.