Applications which use microphone automatically change its volume setting

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

Hi, so I've been using Linux Mint for quite a while now and on my laptop and I've set microphone volume to 30% since 100% creates awful distortions. Whenever I log into Mint and check the mic settings, everything looks normal and that bar on the bottom is not moving since no app is using the mic, but when I launch anything which recquires microphone like Google Meet or any VoIP application, mic volume suddenly jumps to 100% and I have to manually reduce it to 30% to avoid distortions. Why do applications that use mic change its settings and how can I solve that? Here are two images in the attachment. The one with 30% volume is when I turn on the laptop, while the other with 100% is when I start using the microphone (which can be seen on the loudness bar on the bottom).

[MrEen]

Hi mihajlopetkovic2003,

I know that Zoom and Skype each have a setting for "Automatically adjust the microphone settings" that are enabled by default. You might want to look at the setttings for the apps you're using for the same sort of thing.

If that leads nowhere, install and run pavucontrol (PulseAudio Volume Control) and see if that helps get the settings to stick by making the changes on the Input Devices tab.

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

Hi Mr Een!
I'm already using pavu control, these are screenshots from it. It isn't just Skype or Zoom that are causing the issue due to their automatic volume adjustment, whenever I start using the microphone, gain just suddenly jumps to 100%. So if I start recording in Audacity, volume changes to 100%, it doesn't matter which app I open.

[MrEen]

Your images are from Cinnamon's Sound Settings, not pavucontrol. So was pavucontrol actually used?

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

Sorry, I didn't notice it was from Sound, not pavucontrol. Here are they:

Before opening any mic using app.

After opening any mic using app.

[MrEen]

Let's get a look at your sound setup with this command:

Code: Select all

curl https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/raw/master/src/utils/pa-info?inline=false | bash | nc termbin.com 9999

The last line of output will have a URL pointing to the info. Pasting that URL is all I need.

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

This is the result of the command:

Code: Select all

mihajlo@mihajlo-laptop:~$ curl https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/raw/master/src/utils/pa-info?inline=false | bash | nc termbin.com 9999
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  2093  100  2093    0     0   3704      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  3704
https://termbin.com/swbw

And this is my system. As you can see, I'm running LMDE 4 on Dell Latitude 7490 i7-8650U:

Code: Select all

mihajlo@mihajlo-laptop:~$ neofetch
`.-::---..                     mihajlo@mihajlo-laptop 
      .:++++ooooosssoo:.       ---------------------- 
    .+o++::.      `.:oos+.     OS: LMDE 4 (debbie) x86_64 
   :oo:.`             -+oo:    Host: Latitude 7490 
 `+o/`    .::::::-.    .++-`   Kernel: 4.19.0-16-amd64 
`/s/    .yyyyyyyyyyo:   +o-`   Uptime: 20 hours 
`so     .ss       ohyo` :s-:   Packages: 3511 (dpkg), 39 (flatpak), 8 (snap) 
`s/     .ss  h  m  myy/ /s``   Shell: bash 5.0.3 
`s:     `oo  s  m  Myy+-o:`    Resolution: 1920x1080 
`oo      :+sdoohyoydyso/.      DE: Cinnamon 4.8.6 
 :o.      .:////////++:        WM: Mutter (Muffin) 
 `/++        -:::::-           WM Theme: Mint-Y-Dark (Windows-10-Dark-master) 
  `++-                         Theme: Windows-10-Dark-master [GTK2/3] 
   `/+-                        Icons: Windows 10 Icons [GTK2/3] 
     .+/.                      Terminal: gnome-terminal 
       .:+-.                   CPU: Intel i7-8650U (8) @ 4.200GHz 
          `--.``               GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 
                               Memory: 8068MiB / 15913MiB 

[MrEen]

PulseEffects is causing this. Using pavucontrol's Input Devices tab to select the input that doesn't have PulseEffects in the name might fix this.

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

PulseEffects is causing this. Using pavucontrol's Input Devices tab to select the input that doesn't have PulseEffects in the name might fix this.

I don't use anything at input which has to do with PulseEffects.

[MrEen]

Okay, you might need to figure out how to disable PulseEffects, at least for testing. Here's why I said it's the cause:

Code: Select all

Source #1
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo

That's your built-in sound card. Notice it says SUSPENDED? Now look at this:

Code: Select all

Source #2
	State: RUNNING
	Name: PulseEffects_apps.monitor
	Description: Monitor of PulseEffects(apps)

That one shows RUNNING. I still highly suspect PE is the cause of your issue.

[mihajlopetkovic2003]

Okay, you might need to figure out how to disable PulseEffects, at least for testing. Here's why I said it's the cause:

Code: Select all

Source #1
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo

That's your built-in sound card. Notice it says SUSPENDED? Now look at this:

Code: Select all

Source #2
	State: RUNNING
	Name: PulseEffects_apps.monitor
	Description: Monitor of PulseEffects(apps)

That one shows RUNNING. I still highly suspect PE is the cause of your issue.

Ok, I'll try that tomorrow and post how it goes. Can I just kill PulseEffects in the terminal since I set it up to autostart on system boot-up?

[MrEen]

I don't use it, so can't honestly answer the best way to stop it. I suspect it might have multiple PID's. killall pulseeffects might work

[Moem]

As you can see, I'm running LMDE 4

But you posted in the Main Edition area, and LMDE is not Main Edition. So please keep that in mind. Thanks!

[mysterious10thletter]

Hi mihajlopetkovic2003,

I know that Zoom and Skype each have a setting for "Automatically adjust the microphone settings" that are enabled by default. You might want to look at the setttings for the apps you're using for the same sort of thing.

If that leads nowhere, install and run pavucontrol (PulseAudio Volume Control) and see if that helps get the settings to stick by making the changes on the Input Devices tab.

This worked for me! Thanks!