'Master' needs to be exchanged with 'PCM' in order for volume hotkeys to work

Could you attach the output of
lpsci -v

An alsa-driver issue, not alsa-utils. Pending the bug reporter's lspci -v and /proc/asound/cards output, probably need to pass an additional quirk parameter to modprobe.

As requested. Also here is: /proc/asound/cards

ralf@ubuntu:/proc/asound$ more /proc/asound/cards
0 [V8237 ]: VIA8237 - VIA 8237
                     VIA 8237 with CMI9761 at 0xdc00, irq 217

This is Bug 22876, isn't it?

No, this is not precisely #22876, which is more specific to GNOME. This one heals with the hardware specifically and requires a model quirk to be passed to modprobe.

Hmm...you may need to use the pcm plugin 'softvol'.

@Phil Housley.

The solution for Bug 22876 would also work for me. But it would still be hack. The mixer that is called the master-volume does *nothing*. Not even if I mute it.

The only way to control all the volume is using the PCM mixer. (although I'm not sure that also controls things like cd-player or line-in which I don't use). Which is fine, except now, i can't use my hotkeys to change the volume, or to mute at all: since they are hard-wired to control the master-volume.

The master-mixer never worked anywhere for me: including using Knoppix, Ubuntu and DSL. So it shouldn't be gnome-specific.

I'm going to track down that softvol-plugin now. If it works I'll let it know here. In that case you might want to enable that plugin by default for this branch of VIA-soundcards.

Is this symptom still valid in 6.06.1? If so, please attach the output from ``lspci -nv''.

This sympton is still valid. The master volume is totally ignored (including wether it is muted or not). I have to change the PCM slider.

Which means that the default settings in Ubuntu do not work for my setup. Volume applet still needs to point to the PCM and I had to connect the volume-keys on my keyboard using the gconf-editor.

I've done a "sudo lspci -nv > lspci.txt" and attached the generated lspci.txt file. I hope it helps.

I can manage, but if you need any more information or specific tests, please let me now. If this gets fixed before Edgy it might prevent some bad review and some dissapointed new linux users :-)

I'm using the most up to date Edgy and it is still valid. The bug-status says 'needs info'. What type of info do you need? The output of lspci.txt with edgy is added once again to this message. If you need me to test/try/do whatever, please tell me.

In the mean time, does any one know a possible workaround. I need the volume+up/volume+down and mute keys to control the pcm channel instead of the master. The master channel seems to be totally ignored. So what would work for me is something that makes the gnome-desktop perform the correct action, or something that sort of virtualizes the master volume.

According to this thread I found, the alsa developpers do not consider it a bug:

Found at: http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/8/10/84
I've cut and paste the relevant part here:

(quote)

>[1.] One line summary of the problem:
> While using snd_via82xx the PCM volume is not responding to changing
> Master Volume.
>
> [2.] Full description of the problem/report:
> The issue is quite simple, but I am suspecting the driver to be the
> cause (?). The
> sound for my chip works perfectly fine, but somehow the PCM volume
> works only for
> DSP. The Master Volume works only for the remaining sources (Line in,
> CD in).

It's no bug. The ac97 codec chip on your board has really no volume
control.

The PCM volume is an alternative volume control using DXS control in
the via823x control chip.

Takashi
(end quote)

In other words, Master controls Line-In & CD, whereas PCM controls the audio-output. Which is the same behavior I've experienced. It's just the way the hardware works.

So I suppose this bug should actually be assigned to another package! Which package is responsible for assigning volume-up/down to the multimedia keys?

The .asoundrc file which i cut & paste below this comment seems to do the trick for me. I can't confirm wether or not Master now also controls the cd and line-in volume, but at least it controls the PCM.

Its from: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=cmipci
I've changed control { name "SoftMaster" to "Master" } from what they specify.

It's a big hack and I have little to no clue why it works or what it doet, but it does the trick :-) Yeah!

One note: muting the master volume control does not mute the pcm unfortunately. So if anyone understands what this .asoundrc file format is about and knows how to tweak this, i would like to hear it!

====================

pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,1"
    }
    control {
        name "Master"
    }
}

pcm.dsp0 {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "softvol"
  slave.channels 6
  route_policy duplicate
}

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "softvol"
  slave.channels 6
  route_policy duplicate
}

Possible same problem:

$ tail -2 /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Mixers:
0: Analog Devices AD1981

The bug currently says 'needs info' .. what type of info is needed?

My soundcard does _not_ have a master. Only a PCM and Line-In volume. The perfect solution would be to have a virtual-master-mixer that changes both.

But even a setup, where the master would just use the PCM would be a much better situation than the current one.

Can this be fixed now? Its a simple -if this is the soundcard- then use this type of alsa-config ..

I've just noticed I can now change the mixer the multimedia-keys use. (Feisty ;-)

This makes this bug even lower priority. It would off course be great if this would be set to PCM by default when this type of soundcard is detected, but at least there is an easy workaround for the multimedia-keys now.