Behringer USB sound interface looses volume setting

[gusnan]

I have a USB Sound interface Behringer UMC204HD, and on every morning system startup I need to go to alsamixer, select the UMC204HD sound card and increase the volume. This sticks until reboot or user switch (logging in as another user on X), when it is down again (to 41 of 100, alsamixer also says -23dB gain) on Line A, Line B, "UMC204HD 192k Output Front" and "UMC204 192k Output Rear".

Does anybody else see this? And does anyone have a solution?

This is on Debian 12, standard kernel, standard Xfce install.:

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Linux debian-i7 6.1.0-12-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.52-1 (2023-09-07) x86_64 GNU/Linux

[peter_irich]

In any case, save desired configuration with "alsactl -store N -f my_asound.state" and restore it when login, man aslactl.

[gusnan]

Thanks! - that is indeed a good workaround. Now I just need to find out a good way to do this automatically on login

[gusnan]

And the diff on the configs for anybody interested:

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--- my_asound_low.state	2023-10-05 20:51:59.394607647 +0200
+++ my_asound.state	2023-10-05 20:34:23.012178920 +0200
@@ -52,10 +52,10 @@
 	control.5 {
 		iface MIXER
 		name 'UMC204HD 192k Output Playback Volume'
-		value.0 104
-		value.1 104
-		value.2 104
-		value.3 104
+		value.0 127
+		value.1 127
+		value.2 127
+		value.3 127
 		comment {
 			access 'read write'
 			type INTEGER
@@ -63,10 +63,10 @@
 			range '0 - 127'
 			dbmin -12700
 			dbmax 0
-			dbvalue.0 -2300
-			dbvalue.1 -2300
-			dbvalue.2 -2300
-			dbvalue.3 -2300
+			dbvalue.0 0
+			dbvalue.1 0
+			dbvalue.2 0
+			dbvalue.3 0
 		}
 	}
 	control.6 {

[None1975]

Thanks! - that is indeed a good workaround. Now I just need to find out a good way to do this automatically on login

Hello. Try using xfce auto starting mechanism.

[gusnan]

Thanks! - that is indeed a good workaround. Now I just need to find out a good way to do this automatically on login

Hello. Try using xfce auto starting mechanism.

Thanks - will that be able to handle running as root/using sudo? alsactl is unfortunately not runnable as a normal user.

[peter_irich]

No, call it with full path: /usr/sbin/alsactl. And it is possible to create desktop-file in ~/.config/autostart by hands.

[gusnan]

No, call it with full path: /usr/sbin/alsactl. And it is possible to create desktop-file in ~/.config/autostart by hands.

That won't work running without root/sudo:

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alsa-lib main.c:844:(execute_sequence) exec '/bin/rm -rf /var/lib/alsa/card0.conf.d' failed (exit code 1)

Also - this (if working) would solve the problem on login, but not when switching between users already logged in (using the Ctrl+Alt+F7/F8 maneuver). I do loose the volume when switching between users too, but it is a bit harder to pinpoint it in that case.

My workflow is switching the UMC204HD 192k to off in the pulseaudio Xfce panel plugin (in the configuration tab) before switching user, then actually switch user, and then switch it on in the Xfce plugin on the other user. (To actually have sound at all).

[gusnan]

Also - this wasn't necessary before the Bookworm upgrade (The part turning off the soundcard for the user switching from, and then turning it on for the user switching to was, but not setting the sound volume, this is new for Debian 12).

[peter_irich]

In UbuntuI I not need sudo to run alsactl, for example,

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/usr/sbin/alsactl dump-cfg

works from user.

[gusnan]

In UbuntuI I not need sudo to run alsactl, for example,

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/usr/sbin/alsactl dump-cfg

works from user.

Well, you don't need root/sudo for that in Debian either (which is the topic for this forum), but writing/changing config is a different thing from reading the config.

[peter_irich]

It is right use asound.state in own directory, for example,

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/usr/bin/alsactl store N -f ~/my_asound.state

[gusnan]

It is right use asound.state in own directory, for example,

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/usr/bin/alsactl store N -f ~/my_asound.state

Ah, alright, now I follow. Still, it needs to be writable by both users. (which of course is doable).

[gusnan]

And it still doesn't work - it's not the permissions of my local "my_asound.state" that is the problem (that is fixable), but the alsa config. See the result:

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alsa-lib main.c:844:(execute_sequence) exec '/bin/rm -rf /var/lib/alsa/card0.conf.d' failed (exit code 1)

[peter_irich]

You can directory accessed to both users and to save my_asound.conf in it. For example. /home/common.

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sudo mkdir /home/common
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /home/common
sudo chmod 775 /home/common

and to add both users in nogroup.

[gusnan]

You can directory accessed to both users and to save my_asound.conf in it. For example. /home/common.

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sudo mkdir /home/common
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /home/common
sudo chmod 775 /home/common

and to add both users in nogroup.

It isn't the permissions of the file (or the folder containing) my_asound.conf that is the problem, but files that alsa needs to access to change the config - look at the error message I posted:

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alsa-lib main.c:844:(execute_sequence) exec '/bin/rm -rf /var/lib/alsa/card0.conf.d' failed (exit code 1)

[CwF]

/var/lib/alsa/asound.state (or whatever file you specify with the -f flag)
is used to store current settings for your soundcards. The settings include
all the usual soundcard mixer settings. More importantly, alsactl is capa‐
ble of controlling other card-specific features that mixer apps usually
don't know about.

The configuration file is generated automatically by running alsactl store.
Editing the configuration file by hand may be necessary for some soundcard
features (e.g. enabling/disabling automatic mic gain, digital output, joy‐
stick/game ports, some future MIDI routing options, etc).

Am I to understand running alsactl once as root does not store the config and automagically restore it on next boot?

[peter_irich]

If both users must have rights to changing my_asound.conf, it must belong nobody:nogroup too and have rights 775.

[gusnan]

/var/lib/alsa/asound.state (or whatever file you specify with the -f flag)
is used to store current settings for your soundcards. The settings include
all the usual soundcard mixer settings. More importantly, alsactl is capa‐
ble of controlling other card-specific features that mixer apps usually
don't know about.

The configuration file is generated automatically by running alsactl store.
Editing the configuration file by hand may be necessary for some soundcard
features (e.g. enabling/disabling automatic mic gain, digital output, joy‐
stick/game ports, some future MIDI routing options, etc).

Am I to understand running alsactl once as root does not store the config and automagically restore it on next boot?

In my case? Yes. I just did that - alsactl store (with the volume increased) using sudo, reboot - volumes down again.

[CwF]

I haven't paid much attention to settings! and should have read you did that, sorry, I just remembered I may have some of those usb interfaces for some reason, I may find it and test at some point.

I quickly scanned the man pages and have not dug in. I was looking for mention of a user directory for settings and didn't see one.