17 Jun
2022
17 Jun
'22
7:02 p.m.
Okay, this may or may not be off-topic, don't have a clue whether it was
really a TDE problem, or a system issue, or that another desktop (xfce) was
interfering with Trinity. Or it could be my own dumb blind luck that things
seem normal again. [fingers crossed]
The original thread, for anybody who wishes to be reminded, followed from this
heading:"video sound not working", started on 6 May 2022.
The thing is, I don't think that I did anything which ought to have affected
EVERYTHING in this manner. The story is longer than I tell here, but I will
give what I guess to be the main points.
I got a couple new audio mixing and recording toys in the past few months. I
have had a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 audio interface maybe two months ago, and
played round with that. Typically, when I have clicked to monitor my
instrument sound, no other sound will work simultaneously with my system.
Either I choose to listen to my instrument play through the speakers (or
through the Scarlett interface using headphones), or I can listen to online
radio (using qmmp), or I can listen to my music files (using audacious), or I
can watch a video (for which I was using vlc). I could not play music on
audacious, for example, and play along on my instrument through the Scarlett
interface.
If anybody recalls, the sound on smplayer had stopped working for me
altogether, and nothing seemed to change it. (All other video programs,
except kaffeine-trinity, also stopped playing sound.)
Now I have got two new items for the family: (1) a Vox MV50 AC 50-watt Hybrid
Tube Head (which I generally use as a pre-amp), running through a 50w Cube
Street EX amp; and (2) a Vox StompLab IIG Modeling Effects Pedal, which I put
in front of the pre-amp, so that I can get a range of effects, mainly
old-school tube-amp type effects. (The pre-amp is actually a mini-tube amp,
for anybody who cares, and who wants to do something similar. It is a 50w
mini-amp, which can be used directly with headphones or for recording, or can
be used as a pre-amp; or, if I play out in a club, can be plugged directly
into the house sound system, or into the sound board, so that they don't have
to bother round with trying to mike my amp. Saves a lot of bother, and
instead of lugging round a big amp, this is about the h/w dimensions of the
average smartphone nowadays, only 2x or 3x the thickness, or depth.)
I played round with these things last night, but didn't make any changes to my
system while doing it.
Later that night, I returned to vlc, which I haven't touched for a couple
weeks because it started giving me problems. At first, it would not stay on
top of the display, then it wouldn't load at all. And as for smplayer, it
hasn't worked at all, and I haven't touched it since that thread mentioned
above. Sound was working for vlc, but for none of my other video programs;
like smplayer, they would play only video, if they played at all, but no
sound. Now vlc wasn't working, and that wouldn't do.
So I went into my settings, nothing seemed different, then I got into my
config files, specifically in /home/<USER>/.config/vlc. It looked like last
changes were recent, though I didn't recall making changes. So I renamed this
vlc config folder, saved it, and then replaced it with an older copy of the
same that I had saved from my previous system (my old desktop, which is now
in storage).
Simple as that, presto! everything works. Not only does vlc work, sound and
all, but so does smplayer and other video players. Moreover, my Scarlett
audio interface, which before would take over the sound system, now will play
nicely along side other audio and video programs, though I can't figure out
why. This makes it nice for playing music on, say, audacious, or online radio
on qmmp, or even to play music videos, and then using the Scarlett interface
either to play over headphones or to play over my amp, so that I can play
along with the music, whatever randomly comes up, in my practice.
Apologies for length, but I wanted to be sure to include all the details, just
in case. The salient points are: I added new devices, but these shouldn't
have affected my sound system, as nothing was changed. I replaced the config
folder for vlc, and I could see how that ought to make a difference for vlc;
but now smplayer also works just fine, though nothing was changed. And last,
I can play different audio programs (or the sound on video programs)
simultaneously, if I wish, while using my recording hardware.
None of this makes sense to me. I am glad it's working, but sometimes I also
like to know why, rather than thanking the Goddess and crossing my fingers in
hopes that the same problems don't return.
Anybody have a clue what happened, and why?
Bill