hi all,
i’ve been getting some comments that my mic is quiet so before i go looking for a new one, i thought i’d check to see if this could be solved with software. i don’t have an amp or anything for my mic and to my knowledge it shouldn’t need one, but it is pretty old now and i forgot what actual product it is.
i’m on arch using kde with pipewire. i am already using kde’s (or maybe something else does this idk) feature to raise maximum volume to 150% in the audio volume window, but this will turn itself off at unpredictable intervals and is also seemingly not always enough.
so i ask - is it possible to set some setting or use some linux audio magic to raise my mic output volume? and in the same vein of changing/setting audio levels, is it possible to configure the volume level on my system to not go above a certain level - as in all audio above x level is clamped back down to x?
full transparency edit - not 10 minutes after hitting the post button i found the volume knob on my mic that i swear to god was hiding so well and was definitely not just right there the whole time and definitely not accidently turned way down. still would like an answer to the second question though lmao
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Alsamixer has a curses ui and can be used, set the audio to the desired level and enter ‘sudo alsactl store’ to save your audio levels. This affects all your input and outputs so adjust your speakers volume there then save it along with your mic.
I’ll stick with alsa almost purely for the mixer. Such a handy and slick little tool.
Regarding the second point: applications change it. It’s really annoying. I think Discord and Zoom both do it.
If you’re using pulse you can use a cli called pactl to manipulate your audio devices pretty much however you want
You can also use it to change your current audio device which is one of the major sticking points for not going back to windows for me, hitting a button on my keyboard to toggle between speaker and headphones is unbelievably satisfying
