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I wonder if there's a significant alternative to the current audio system in Ubuntu 20.04 -- PulseAudio+ALSA are awful? For a year now, I've suffered with the m

I wonder if there's a significant alternative to the current audio system in Ubuntu 20.04 -- PulseAudio+ALSA are awful? For a year now, I've suffered with the most frustrating breakdowns getting sound to pump out of the right interface without causing my machine to burn 200 watts to "compute" something. I love Linux, I love Ubuntu, I use it everywhere, but this little daily-frustration quietly drives me back to my increasingly closed macbook.

cstrahan 5y ago
PipeWire looks like it's shaping up to be an excellent spiritual successor to (and unification of) both PulseAudio and JACK: https://pipewire.org/ https://pipewire.org/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire
- brnt 5y ago
  Is pipewire in Ubuntu 21.04? I think Fedora 34 has it.
  - e12e 5y ago
    Looks like screen/camera sharing: yes, audio: no https://lwn.net/Articles/849639/ https://lwn.net/Articles/849639/ Ed: or audio: yes? > Pipewire support is now enabled which restore working screen recording and allow better audio handling for sandboxed applications From release notes: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/19221 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/1... posted by @spivak in another comment.
- aliljet 5y ago
  This got me reading. I didn't realize how quickly this change to PulseAudio might be. It looks like Fedora 34 is actively moving to PipeWire as it's new default. I wonder what's preventing Ubuntu from making a bigger change. More downstream dependencies? https://wiki.debian.org/PipeWire https://wiki.debian.org/PipeWire
boomboomsubban 5y ago
My ten second search shows 20.04 is too old for Pipewire to work well, but it works on 20.10 and presumably 21.04. It supposedly fixes the CPU usage issue you have, so relief may be available.
onli 5y ago
If you don't use bluetooth headsets you could use raw ALSA. Pipewire is the more mainstream (but new) alternative, as Pulseaudio replacement.

cstrahan 5y ago

PipeWire looks like it's shaping up to be an excellent spiritual successor to (and unification of) both PulseAudio and JACK: https://pipewire.org/ https://pipewire.org/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire

brnt 5y ago
Is pipewire in Ubuntu 21.04? I think Fedora 34 has it.
- e12e 5y ago
  Looks like screen/camera sharing: yes, audio: no https://lwn.net/Articles/849639/ https://lwn.net/Articles/849639/ Ed: or audio: yes? > Pipewire support is now enabled which restore working screen recording and allow better audio handling for sandboxed applications From release notes: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/19221 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/1... posted by @spivak in another comment.
aliljet 5y ago
This got me reading. I didn't realize how quickly this change to PulseAudio might be. It looks like Fedora 34 is actively moving to PipeWire as it's new default. I wonder what's preventing Ubuntu from making a bigger change. More downstream dependencies? https://wiki.debian.org/PipeWire https://wiki.debian.org/PipeWire

boomboomsubban 5y ago

My ten second search shows 20.04 is too old for Pipewire to work well, but it works on 20.10 and presumably 21.04. It supposedly fixes the CPU usage issue you have, so relief may be available.

onli 5y ago

If you don't use bluetooth headsets you could use raw ALSA. Pipewire is the more mainstream (but new) alternative, as Pulseaudio replacement.