Tag Archives: pulseaudio

No LFE (Low-Frequency Effects) in Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)

There is a new catch if you want to enable 5.1 surround sound in Ubuntu 9.04. First you need to follow the same steps like you did for Hardy Heron. There is an old post I wrote about it.
In this new version of PulseAudio they don’t synthesize an LFE signal anymore by default.
They introduced this new option called disable-lfe-remixing.

When upmixing or downmixing ignore LFE channels. When this option is on the output LFE channel will only get a signal when an input LFE channel is available as well. If no input LFE channel is available the output LFE channel will always be 0. If no output LFE channel is available the signal on the input LFE channel will be ignored. Defaults to “on”.

The solution to get you bass back is to set this option to no.
As a result, here are the steps you need to take:

Uncomment the line containing:

and replace '2' with '6' (if you have a 7.1 card, replace '2' with '8').
Next, set disable-lfe-remixing option to no

Restart your computer and you’re in business.
NOTE: Documentation for this article is taken from here and here.

PulseAudio and 5.1 surround sound on Hardy Heron

The new Ubuntu 8.04 look very good and has many improvements over the older releases. I will not discuss about them now. I’ll just stick on the new default sound server, PulseAudio that offers sophisticated mixing capabilities and network transparency.
The purpose of this post is to help other Ubuntu users to enable 5.1 surround sound on their computers, using PulseAudio (you must have a 5.1 capable sound card).
I have a Creative Labs SB Audigy sound card but I tested this solution on a Creative Labs SB Live!. The results were the same in both cases.
The solution is very simple. Run this in your terminal:

Uncomment the line containing:

and replace '2' with '6' (if you have a 7.1 card, replace '2' with '8')
Restart the window manager and enjoy the new sound!

My experience with Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Beta

After a few tests with the new beta from Ubuntu, I decided to write some of my thoughts about this release.
Please note that this is a BETA release, has many unresolved bugs and needs to be polished before the final release.
Overall, everything seems better. A new host-based firewall application, the new Vinagre VNC client, Firefox 3 Beta 4 replaces Firefox 2 as the default browser, PulseAudio is now enabled by default, PolicyKit is now integrated in the administrative user interfaces, linux kernel 2.6.24, Xorg 7.3, GNOME 2.22, a few new compiz plugins.
In my opinion, there is a downside in this release regarding the PulseAudio sound server. Some non-GNOME applications still need to be changed to output to pulse/esd by default and the volume control tools are not yet integrated. Users with Audigy1 sound cards will be suprised to find out that the 5.1 output is not so good as it was in ALSA. It will be very difficult for a beginner to configure by hand the audio for best results in sound quality.
Anyway, many of this bugs will be resolved until the final release. Can’t wait!