Mic Volume (Gain) randomly changes

On every linux distro I've ever used my mic will randomly change the gain value for some reason. Is there any way get the slider to NEVER move? This doens't happen on windows so it wouldn't make sense for it to be a hardware issue. It's the Razer Serien V2 Pro
43 Replies
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
I'm under the impression that discord (vesktop) is moving my gain meter. I turned it off and now it's not doing it anymore, however I would like no program to EVER touch my PC wide gain level because that's actually insane and should not be a feature
clerian
clerian3w ago
Voice chat software, even on Windows, that have automatic mic level adjustments do so at the system level. Discord and Teams (and Skype before it) all behave this way. It's not exclusive to Linux.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
Hmmmm The problem here is that sometimes when discord closes and leaves my mic gain at 20%, OBS and Audacity don't turn it back up to a level where I'd be audible correctly, which was never a problem on windows I'll verify my info on windows in a bit
clerian
clerian3w ago
It's possible you have the feature disabled on Windows version of Discord. Whenever I realize it's on, I disable it immediately for that very reason.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
I always assume programs just adjust my db in program when they did their stuff and not mess with system wide audio
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Wild question. Vesktop or equibop?
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
vesktop
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Because discord proper obeys not touching the mic Vesktop and Equibop don't It's something to do with a webrtc flag in the electron.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
Huh
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
I have tried fruitlessly for DAYS to get vesktop and equibop to not touch my mic and they just won't stop.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
I'm just surprised ANY program is allowed to do that at all
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
It's webrtc I think. It has an autogain. And if it thinks your mic is peaking, if it just THINKS IT IS. It lowers it. There's supposed to be a way to lock it with a pipewire config but I couldn't manage it. It was setting up a rule specifically for equibop or vesktop to only have read permissions for the mic. But I couldn't figure it out
clerian
clerian3w ago
When did Discord stop messing with system mic volume? I remember having to disable that specifically because it was messing with my audio in the exact way it was for Paris.
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
I don't know when but discord recently just stopped messing with my mic when I told it not to. But vesktop and equibop continue to do so. Probably because of electron.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
Webapps and their consequences will stain humanity for all time Just like appimages
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
But there should be a way to setup pipewire to only give read permission to certain apps...but I couldn't figure it out and discord worked well enough on its own now. I'd try the webrtc flag, but I have no idea how to get into chrome flags in an electron app It's something like WebRTC AGC
iMightBeSpyduck
There is way with wireplumber config file to prevent application from changing permission. I don't think you ca make it globally otherwise you would not be abble to change settings yorself https://pipewire.pages.freedesktop.org/wireplumber/daemon/configuration/access.html#rules
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Yeah that's it. The problem is knowin which damn rule filter to setup Since if I recall vesktop and equibop just show up as like "chromium-input" or similar
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
But I never got the rule to work. But I'll try again myself now that I have better docs (thank you duck) Since my mic SCREAMS "Peaking" to webrtc. So I can reproduce it just by talking Not even yelling, just talking. So when I get off work I'll try to see if I can get vesktop to behave using these In the meantime if you need mic you can fallback to the discord client which doesn't as eagerly modify the mic input volume anymore.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
thank
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
(Or if you get it working yourself Paris please let me know)
clerian
clerian3w ago
I've been using Legcord, and that also doesn't appear to affect the microphone gain.
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
How well does that work? It allow good screen sharing and stuff? Cause with vesktop's slow updates and equibop having borderline malware plugins I'd prefer checking a third.
clerian
clerian3w ago
I haven't tried screen sharing with it before, but the thing that sold me on it was that they wrote a wrapper around the entirety of discord to stabilize the plugin apis and theming capabilities.
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
I'll give it a shot because why not.
clerian
clerian3w ago
I've been using the barebones version that is just shelter (the wrapper), but you can use it with a few other flavors of custom discord, as well.
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Honestly I just want to slap discord so they fix their crap on their end. Cause I believe the web client is the source of woes for vesktop and equibop They are based on it instead of the client.
clerian
clerian3w ago
Is there any third party client that isn't a wrapper for the web client?
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
I don't think so Well no I think there's like two but they lack 90% functionality because of it
clerian
clerian3w ago
I know it's probably not the case, but sometimes it feels like discord intentionally breaks stuff specifically to screw over the third party clients.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
No
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
GitHub
GitHub - Discord-Client-Encyclopedia-Management/Discord3rdparties: ...
A non-exhaustive collection of third-party clients and mods for Discord. - Discord-Client-Encyclopedia-Management/Discord3rdparties
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
There are non electron apps but they still all wrap the web client
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Which inherently brings them the same issues u.u
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
In one way or another
clerian
clerian3w ago
Looks like there are a few reimplementations for linux at the bottom that are in active development, but there are caveats to a lot of them, haha.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
If you open all of them they all say web client lmao
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
The caveat is they still use the web client for API calls I think and the rest not being webclient means they can't really do jack all
clerian
clerian3w ago
Yeah, the ones I'm looking at use the web api, but are not using the web client, and thus cannot do things like... voice chat.
PΛRΙS :3
PΛRΙS :3OP3w ago
FinnFann
FinnFann3w ago
Yeah like that one gtk client I think? It can access chat. That's it. Can't even use most of the chat features

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