Auto microphone selection and level setting

[kwatson512]

Hi. I can't get my Mint 14 Nadia 64-bit installation to set my microphone input level correctly without causing loud feedback. I can manually select different hardware and set levels with the Sound Settings, but I would like to eliminate the feedback while using a dock mike. Otherwise, sound is working fine for me. I'll include technical details below.

I'm using a Lenovo ThinkPad T430s in a docking station with a nice desk mike, M-Audio speakers, 24-inch monitor, and wireless keyboard and mouse. The default setting is that the dock mike is selected, and input volume is set at Unamplified. At that level, it is too low to be useful. But moving the slider up to about 10 or 15% causes feedback, and the signal (desired sound) level is still too low to be useful. The Hardware Profile selected is Analog Stereo Duplex.

If I select Internal Microphone and slide the input volume to 100%, I can work fine. Input is actually through the desk mike (I've tested it by switching it on and off), but the volume is much less sensitive, and there is no feedback.

The problem occurs after rebooting with that setup. The system defaults back to Dock Mike, but leaves the input volume set at 100%. If I haven't remembered to switch off my desk mike, feedback is horrible.

Is there any software that can eliminate the feedback (automatically realize that this is a duplex setup) and not feed dock mike signal through to the speakers? Alternatively, can I have the system default to Internal Microphone in sound settings?

I dual-boot with Windows 7 Professional, and do not have this problem on the Windows side. But I'm trying to transition completely to Mint and would like to solve this problem.

Thanks.

From lspci -v:

Code: Select all

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device 21fb
   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
   Memory at d2530000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
   Capabilities: <access denied>
   Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
   Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel


aplay -l:

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**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269VC Analog [ALC269VC Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0


[benchrest]

I think we have the same problem. I have a desktop running Nadia 14 Cinnamon I have added a Logitech C110 webcam with microphone. It is a USB device. In the input settings for sound I select the C110 microphone and that setting remains until I reboot, then it goes back to the original setting. I have to chage it every time I boot.