EasyEffects Inputs do not work with pavucontrol running #2954
Comments
|
Okay, I'm pretty sure I know why you're confused. Short answer: it's not broken, there simply isn't any application requesting audio to be recorded. (you can click the little microphone -> speaker icon in the bottom right of the effects tab on the input page to do a test) Long answer: The plugin pipeline (including the spectrum display) is only "active" when there is audio actually being played / recorded. If no application is playing or recording, then there is no data moving through easyeffects to be displayed. The confusion comes from the fact that easyeffects is very transparent, so a user might not realize that easyeffects is just a "middleman", and doesn't operate at any lower of a level than a regular application. In OP's scenario, they expect the input effects pipeline to be active simply because it is visible to them in the GUI and their microphone is not muted. However, easyeffects won't display anything until an application actually requests audio from their input device. This behavior is not necessarily intuitive from a non-technical perspective, causing the OP's confusion. The solution, IMO, is to add another option similar to the "monitor input" button, that captures input and sends it to a null sink; to allow the pipeline to be active without sending audio out. This could be made more magic by, for example, automatically null sinking the input if the "Input" page is open and no applications are recording. Something to think about. I might experiment with something during the week if I have time. |
I think this has the potential to cause undesirable side effects if not done carefully. In most cases the user only wants the processed mic output to be linked to the soundcard for testing purposes. Once things are as desired they probably won't want the processed mic audio going directly to the soundcard even if the window is opened. We could disable the whole thing as asson as something is recording from the mic. But we will probably also have to make sure this does not conflict with the button that allows manual control of the mic monitoring. I don't know... It makes sense in situations like this one but once the user understands how things work it feels like a feature that will get in the way. |
|
@wwmm I agree that a "magic" solution might be technically precarious, but I still think that the ability to "activate" the input pipeline without causing audio output is useful for setups where feedback is possible. I realize that muting the system volume, then clicking the monitor button accomplishes this, however I still think it would be nice to offer this as a feature. Maybe the monitor button could be made two-stage, or have a mutually exclusive neighbor button that does the null sink input. I also just now noticed that the monitor button does not have a tool tip. As it's an icon only button, I feel it should have one. I'll make a pull request with a tool tip for it if you want. |
It is fine to add a tooltip. |
Null sink input? . In my mind the whole process would be just an automation of what the monitor button already does. |
|
I should clarify: the new button would behave exactly the same as the monitor button ( |
But then won't the user be confused by the fact they won't be listening to anything and think something is broken? |
|
I had completely skipped over that while thinking of how to solve the problem... Maybe the best solution is just to add something to the FAQ? |
It happens 😄
I think this definitely should be clarified in the FAQ or the manual. But if the user does not think about reading them the problem remains... I am not sure about what would be a good solution. Throwing a popup or a dialog about this in the user face every time would also be very annoying... |
EasyEffects Version
Flatpak 7.1.4
What package are you using?
Flatpak (Flathub)
Distribution
Arch Linux
Describe the bug
The Microphone input is not recognized unless you have pavucontrol open. Also no item show up in the inputs window but I can see the visualization of the input and plugins work.
Current packages installed in Arch:
gst-plugin-pipewire
pipewire
pipewire-alsa
pipewire-jack
pipewire-media-session
pipewire-pulse
Expected Behavior
Would expect there to be an input shown in the window (I think, I don't know what it is supposed to look like as this is the first time I have used easyeffects). Also would expect it to function without having a second application open.
Debug Log
Debug Log
Additional Information
No response
The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered: