Is there a audio equalizer that actually works?

[reconditedave]

I have a bluetooth speaker, which normally works great, but by default it sounds terrible using Linux Mint.

There are a bunch of sites, like this one: http://askubuntu.com/questions/72679/is ... -equalizer that detail how to install the pulseaudio equalizer.

This is the one I used:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer

I can then select an audio profile that enhances the bass and treble and viola, I am getting great sound out of the speaker.

That is, until I reboot and Linux Mint no longer sees *any* sound devices. Before pulseaudio-equalizer was installed I had HDMI and S/PDIF (by default), then using the Bluetooth tool, I added my speaker.

After, I when I open my sound settings I see this:


There appears to be no way to add in the sound devices afterwards, and removing pulseaudio-equalizer did not go well.

So I had to reinstall Linux Mint - which I probably had to do anyway since I have been upgrading for the past few versions, so a clean install sounded like a good idea. Just for giggles, I decided to do the same pulseaudio-equalizer install on a *clean* 18.1 installation.

I got exactly the same problem.

After install #2, the question is now, what audio equalizer can I install that will not destroy sound capabilities under Linux Mint?

[o-l-d]

After installing PulseAudio Equalizer open System Settings> Multimedia> and click on Audio and Video to the left. When the options open click on "LADSPA Plugin Multiband EQ on Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" and click the Prefer button at the bottom. Do this for all sections for Audio that you wish to use the equalizer and PulseAudio Equalizer will automatically load when you start programs using audio that you have set it as the "preferred audio plugin". If you don't it will fall back to the default audio settings but you can load PulseAudio Equalizer at anytime you chose to by starting it from Multimedia in Menu/Launcher. I have been using it for years now and understand that it can be somewhat confusing at first.

[reconditedave]

This is a Linux Mint Forum. There is no System Settings > Multimedia

Screenshot.png

[reconditedave]

BTW: Anyone else having problems with pulseaudio, and finding there is NO sound after a you restart, there is a simple fix. Run this command:

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rm -rf ~/.config/pulse

reboot, and you are good to go.

If you ever open the pulseaudio mixer, you will have to blow away the pulse directory again.

[jsb]

FWIW, the installation worked fine for me. Just as the OP, I did:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer

Mint 18.1 XFCE 64 bit

Also installed and worked on laptop running 17.? XFCE 64 bit

[Flemur]

There's also

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libasound2-plugin-equal

"equalizer plugin for ALSA"

Set it with alsamixer(gui) or, far better, qasmixer.

[Penn]

Perhaps the bluetooth element is adding a wrinkle I'm not familiar with but I know there is one aspect many people, myself included, overlook at first. The box for "Keep settings" needs to be check for your current settings to survive a reboot.

As for removing it, if you just remove "pulseaudio-equalizer" you are only removing the GUI tool. What the GUI controls is one part of the Swh-plugins so if you uninstall the GUI tool and don't remove the "Keep settings" checkbox you will need to remove the plugins also.

There's also

Code: Select all

libasound2-plugin-equal

"equalizer plugin for ALSA"

Set it with alsamixer(gui) or, far better, qasmixer.

Flemur, I have tried that approach on 17, 17.2 and LMDE2 and it has never worked. I have seen the EQ in qasmixer only once before but adjusting it did nothing and the other times it just wasn't there. Is there something I might have missed or is it possible that some hardware just doesn't get along with it? I know I never spent more than 5 minutes trying to get it to work since I've known about the Swh-plugins version since my first ever Linux install so I'm thinking it may be me.

[Hoser Rob]

I'm not so sure EQ is the problem or solution. Can you try going to Sound Settings and enabling A2DP?

[rodna]

Perhaps the bluetooth element is adding a wrinkle I'm not familiar with but I know there is one aspect many people, myself included, overlook at first. The box for "Keep settings" needs to be check for your current settings to survive a reboot.

As for removing it, if you just remove "pulseaudio-equalizer" you are only removing the GUI tool. What the GUI controls is one part of the Swh-plugins so if you uninstall the GUI tool and don't remove the "Keep settings" checkbox you will need to remove the plugins also.

There's also

Code: Select all

libasound2-plugin-equal

"equalizer plugin for ALSA"

Set it with alsamixer(gui) or, far better, qasmixer.

Flemur, I have tried that approach on 17, 17.2 and LMDE2 and it has never worked. I have seen the EQ in qasmixer only once before but adjusting it did nothing and the other times it just wasn't there. Is there something I might have missed or is it possible that some hardware just doesn't get along with it? I know I never spent more than 5 minutes trying to get it to work since I've known about the Swh-plugins version since my first ever Linux install so I'm thinking it may be me.

Same problem here. It shows up in qasmixer but doesn't work(doesn't change the sound at all).

[o-l-d]

This is in Linux Mint 18.1 KDE. From menu I select Settings > System Settings> Multimedia >Audio and Sound. I installed PulseAudio Equalizer in 18 and have just installed the point update to 18.1 without making any other changes to the system settings. I have the equalizer in my list of Start at Start Up and sometimes forget that it is even loaded. It just works that well for me.

[loxaxs]

I successfully installed pulseeffects on Ubuntu 17.10 from the source today (2017-10-27). Repository: https://github.com/wwmm/pulseeffects Installation from source: https://github.com/wwmm/pulseeffects/wi ... rom-Source

The utility works ok. Modifying some parameters can cause it to crash. For what I've been able to see at moment, pulse-audio always resumes working normally upon pulseeffect exit.

I particularly like pulseeffect equalizer including input and output volume control. The frequencies of the equalizer can be arbitrarily set. The effect range of each frequency bar can be set as well using the "Quality factor": A higher quality factor means an effect on a narrower range of frequencies, while a lower quality factor means an effect on a wider range of frequencies.

Overall, I warmly recommend pulseeffects.

I hope that it will be made available as a service in the future. I'd also like to be able to use it as a desktop applet.

[Hoser Rob]

I've been reading about this on ubuntu and mint and other Linux support sites for years. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a reliable system wide EQ available unfortunately.

The fact that it always seems to require a ppa to install it is a clue that it's unreliable.

Fortunately for me, I go in the opposite direction and almost never use EQ.

[rishiddh]

I'm not so sure EQ is the problem or solution. Can you try going to Sound Settings and enabling A2DP?

This worked for me. Thank you Hoser Rob.

[kevanf1]

This problem/bug seems to be a long standing one Is there any resolution on the horizon? Pulse Audio Equalizer worked great in Mint 17. I finally upgraded to Mint 19.2 a few days ago by running fresh install on a new hard drive. Pulse Audio Equalizer simply does not work. It does not even show up in the Sound and Video section in the main menu. Yet, when I check Synaptic it tells me it is installed??? Clearly something is missing in 19.2 that was in 17.

Finally, has anybody found a working software equalizer for Mint 19.2?

[Stefano_IT]

I would also like to know.
Recently I had a problem and had to reinstall Mint, I tried the new 19.2 first but I went back to the old 18.3 just for the equalizer, in the new version it doesn't appear in the menu just like you say.

On two different computers I installed the equalizer with the following commands:

udo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer

I do not have the competence to understand if the problem is in the PPA not updated for the new version.
The difference with and without equalizer is very strong.
I wonder if this problem will be solved in the future, given that in two years the 18.3 version will be discontinued.

[Flemur]

I've been reading about this on ubuntu and mint and other Linux support sites for years. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a reliable system wide EQ available unfortunately.

The fact that it always seems to require a ppa to install it is a clue that it's unreliable.

Fortunately for me, I go in the opposite direction and almost never use EQ.

Linux audio is horrible.

Anyway, for the alsa EQ plugin (libasound2-plugin-equal) in this old thread, FWFW:
viewtopic.php?t=232388
read this: /usr/share/doc/libasound2-plugin-equal/README

I just installed libasound2-plugin-equal on Mint 18.3 and it doesn't do anything; I'm not going to mess with those instructions because the EQ in foobar works on the rare occasions I want an EQ - and without editing weird files!

[Flemur]

I've been reading about this on ubuntu and mint and other Linux support sites for years. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a reliable system wide EQ available unfortunately.

The fact that it always seems to require a ppa to install it is a clue that it's unreliable.

Fortunately for me, I go in the opposite direction and almost never use EQ.

Linux audio is horrible.

Anyway, for the alsa EQ plugin (libasound2-plugin-equal) in this old thread, FWFW:
viewtopic.php?t=232388
read this: /usr/share/doc/libasound2-plugin-equal/README

I just installed libasound2-plugin-equal on Mint 18.3 (Edit: same result on Mint 19.2) and it doesn't do anything; I'm not going to mess with those instructions because the EQ in foobar works on the rare occasions I want an EQ - and without editing weird files!

[DAMIEN1307]

i have the actual "pulseaudio-equalizer_2.7.0.2-5_webupd8_xenial0_all.deb" package in my files to share with anyone that is disatisfied with the so-called updated version in the repositories which just doesnt work right and doesnt seem to allow for "presets"...of course you will need to "ignore" updates to the LADSPA pulseaudio equalizer...the "zenial" version also works on "bionic" in LM 19XX series, as well as Peppermint 9, Pep 9 respin, and Peppermint 10 as i have all these versions and it works fine on all...i havent found a way to be able to just present the entire pkg download to the forums for any and all to use, but if PM is used to contact me with an email address, i will send it via that address and promptly delete email information...(im hoping this is not a violation of forum rules to offer this)...if so, just delete my post since i wish not to be in violation...DAMIEN

PS...be aware before trying to install this .deb pkg, you must first delete the "equalizer" that is present in "synaptic package manager" first, before you can install this.

NOTE...this version used to be found on line and downloaded from the web...it no longer exists but i saved the .deb download pkg. hence the reason why i would need an email address to drag and drop it into an email to send to anyone that needs it...it works fantastically.

[MrEen]

i have the actual "pulseaudio-equalizer_2.7.0.2-5_webupd8_xenial0_all.deb" package in my files to share with anyone that is disatisfied with the so-called updated version in the repositories which just doesnt work right and doesnt seem to allow for "presets"...of course you will need to "ignore" updates to the LADSPA pulseaudio equalizer...the "zenial" version also works on "bionic" in LM 19XX series, as well as Peppermint 9, Pep 9 respin, and Peppermint 10 as i have all these versions and it works fine on all...i havent found a way to be able to just present the entire pkg download to the forums for any and all to use, but if PM is used to contact me with an email address, i will send it via that address and promptly delete email information...(im hoping this is not a violation of forum rules to offer this)...if so, just delete my post since i wish not to be in violation...DAMIEN

PS...be aware before trying to install this .deb pkg, you must first delete the "equalizer" that is present in "synaptic package manager" first, before you can install this.

NOTE...this version used to be found on line and downloaded from the web...it no longer exists but i saved the .deb download pkg. hence the reason why i would need an email address to drag and drop it into an email to send to anyone that needs it...it works fantastically.

According to this page, the file is still on the PPA, but I don't know how it could be downloaded as there's no distinction in the naming of the SIX xenial versions all numbered the same. Do you have any idea which one your copy might correlate to? The dates range from 2016-03-08 to 2019-06-14. I also noticed on the list of packages at the top of the page it says "fixed pulseaudio-equalizer" and I actually checked for that name as well (thank goodness for alphabetization,) but no such file.

[MrEen]

For those mentioning there's no Menu entry, try running qpaeq in the terminal.

Also, PulseEffects seems to get pretty good reviews. On my 18.3 system it is only available as a Flatpak. I assume the same for 19.x versions, but am not sure.