Pine Phone Pro audio on phone calls: discussion, support and tips

[mikehenson]

2023 Dec 11 - Danctnix Arch with Phosh [SOVLED]

I did an update "sudo pacman -Syu" and people told me my phone calls sound like I am on a freight train.

BEFORE update 
 /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf
  cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 160"
  cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 160"

AFTER update to fix voice calls
 /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf
  cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 0"
  cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 0"


*I use the internal speaker, not the "speaker" button*

EDIT: 2024 Aug 02
/usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 1"
cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 1"
...
cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"
cset "name='IN2 Boost' 0"
cset "name='IN3 Boost' 0"

I always use a headset (3.5mm headphones with microphone).

EDIT: 2024 Aug 25
==danctnix pine64-alsa-ucm==
#Source: https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pi...nephonepro

Code:

cd /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/master/PKGBUILDS/pine64/alsa-ucm-pinephonepro/VoiceCall.conf
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/master/PKGBUILDS/pine64/alsa-ucm-pinephonepro/PinePhonePro.conf
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/master/PKGBUILDS/pine64/alsa-ucm-pinephonepro/HiFi.conf

==Other Caller hears an echo (PRO)==
sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf
#Set
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 1"
...
cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"
cset "name='IN2 Boost' 0"
...
cset "name='Class D SPK Ratio Control' 5"

This makes both calls with and without a headset work great!

[alaraajavamma]

Yes after megis 6.5something things have changed and audio is routing differently.

What mikehenson wrote is correct answer for a super dirty nearly usable workaround. It is still best option what you can do easily...

Fun thing is that when you set:
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 0"
(in /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf)
You are settings the microphone to 0 - so it should be completely silent.
While it sill too loud (you can use it yes but the receiver will definately hear you because it really is loud)

For eveyrones information this does not actually do anything:
  cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 0"
You can put any value you want there but it does not do anything in voice calls

[apink]

I have recently installed the newest (12/22) edge version of pmOS and the mic is no longer working on phone calls. Calls were working fine for roughly the last year. I am wondering what has changed. It would be nice to know how megi's new kernel has changed the audio routing. My audio does not sound like a freight train. It is simply quiet. Sounds like this is different from what is being described by mikehenson.

edit: My ADC Capture Volume is set to 160 in /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf.

[lightwo]

I outlined my experience in a different thread as I thought I was doing something wrong.

The TL;DR is that on Danctnix Arch linux-megi-6.7.7 with GNOME Calls, I couldn't seem to adjust any of the values to make the mic not sound overblown, everything on 0.

[Rednoise]

running kali, no sound phone or media unless i send to bluetooth earpieces, but no sound from phone even through the headset. Havent had time to reallydig into it, but saw an article suggesting uninstall & purge pulse-audio install alsa, then reinstall just the pulse-audio apt package. will see if i can find thst again

[wadu]

Over the last week I have run both pmOS with sxmo  and the most recent mobian.  With both I am able to hear audio from the incoming call reasonably. 

With mobian (mobian-phosh-20221204) I am able to get outgoing sound to work if I use a headset with a microphone.  When I use  mobian without a headset, the sound level from the ppp mic is not high enough for outgoing sound even though the level in settings for the microphone under "phone mode" is at 100%.

With pmOS (20221125-1409-postmarketOS-edge-sxmo-de-sway) the outgoing sound is dominated by white-noise-ish static.  This is the case for me both with a headset microphone and with the ppp microphone.  The mics will pick up some signal from voice, but it is not usable for communication.

I have the community-developed modem firmware installed.

Could you provide advice on improving outgoing sound quality with pmOS (sxmo) and Mobian? I'm facing low microphone volume on Mobian without a headset and white noise issues on pmOS, even after installing community-developed modem firmware.

[P. Siera]

This is an invitation for people to report on their experience getting audio to work on the pine phone pro during phone calls.   Please let us know the following:

  1.  Are you able to get audio to work during phone calls?
  2.  If not, what are the specific problems you are having?
  3.  If so:
         a.  what operating system are you using?
         b.  what updates/tweeks need to take place after installing the OS in order for audio to work?

1. No. Even other audio.
2. No audio at all.
3 a. PostmarketOS
   b. I don't no.

[dchang0]

This is an invitation for people to report on their experience getting audio to work on the pine phone pro during phone calls.   Please let us know the following:

  1.  Are you able to get audio to work during phone calls?
  2.  If not, what are the specific problems you are having?
  3.  If so:
         a.  what operating system are you using?
         b.  what updates/tweeks need to take place after installing the OS in order for audio to work?

I'm really late to this discussion, but here's a quick summary of my experiences after flashing various OSes and modem firmwares:

1) Yes, audio is working during calls...
2) but sound quality is poor.
3)
a. I am using PostmarketOS with SXMO (latest build). I tried a bunch of different modem firmwares (all stock Quectel) while using Mobian bookworm with Phosh. Since I was never able to get the call audio reliable under Mobian bookworm or trixie, I started to try other OS images and chose PostmarketOS with SXMO because at least the call audio seems reliable (meaning that the modem wakes up from suspend in time to answer calls, all calls connect, and audio is available on all calls). Note that I was not able to get PostmarketOS with Phosh to ever boot fully--it would start to boot but fail to mount the root partition.
b. I have not tweaked anything yet, but would love to do so to clean up the sound quality.

NOTE: I am currently running the official Quectel stock firmware+ADSP image: EG25GGBR07A08M2G_30.204.30.204

I obtained this by contacting Quectel tech support directly and asking them to email it to me directly. It's easy to request. However, I probably painted myself into the corner where if I switch to any Biktorgj's custom firmware, I'll get the corrupt EFS area. That said, I am not particularly bothered by any of the modem's behaviors right now, so I may just stick with the official Quectel firmware.

[biketool]

I am running Mobian Trixie on my PPpro and the phone has been reliable for months. I think it helps that I am running the alternate modem firmware which really helps everything. https://themodemdistro.com (PPpro users, this website has the verified fix if your modem wont boot after you change/upgrade firmware it also has recommendations to tweak the audio quality ALSA levels))
I still get complaints about audio quality form people talking to me but I feel like the audio I am hearing is fine from my PPpro.