Pine Phone Pro audio on phone calls: discussion, support and tips
#31
(10-10-2023, 12:22 PM)DominiqueM Wrote: To the «guy who just wants to hear his wife when she calls». This is what is called telephone. We all hope to see the PinePhone Pro becoming a real telephone. Nobody objected to your proposal. So please do and keep us informed.

I did use few weekends to dive in to this and find out something - in overall I am more lost than in the beginning because my changes should not work so the issue lays somewhere lower than ucm confs.
https://gitlab.com/pine64-org/pine64-als...requests/9

Not sure does it work with Mobian but it works with pmos, arch and Manjaro - if you use pulseaudio (not pipewire-pulse and wireplumber)
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#32
I upgraded to the latest Mobian (mobian-pinephonepro-phosh-20231015) today.

I am running Biktorgj's custom firmware.

Being able to consistently have phone conversations is a top priority.

I use a headset to eliminate the possibility of audio bleed/echo from the Internal Earpiece due to overly sensitive microphone (I have no idea how to control the sensitivity).
I use a hardwired headset because bluetooth has not worked on previous versions of Mobian.


The call quality is working as desired, but it did not work at first and I'm not sure what I changed to make it work.

/usr/share/alsa/ucm2/RockChip/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf (formerly /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/PinePhonePro/VoiceCall.conf):

                cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 20"
                cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 20"
                ...
                cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"



I test the setup by calling my voicemail, recording a greeting, reviewing it and deleting it.
This seems like the most accurate way to hear what my outgoing audio sounds like without involving another caller.

The first time I did this after the upgrade, there was background noise behind my voice.

Changing volume values in Settings > Sound made no difference to the outcome of the recording.


I know I at least re-plugged the headset after that, otherwise I am not sure what I changed, but the next time I tried it, there was no background noise in the recording.

It still worked after a suspend, and it worked when I received an incoming call during a suspend, so I am satisfied for the moment.
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#33
New insight:

I have to change Settings > Sound > Input > Input Volume twice.


1. Change Input Volume.
2. Quit Settings.
3. Launch Settings.
4. Check Sound > Input > Input Volume - It reflects the previous value, not my change.
5. Change Input Volume.
6. Quit Settings.
7. Launch Settings.
8. Check Sound > Input > Input Volume - Now it reflects my change.

Now when I run the test again, I get different audio output.
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#34
I spoke too soon.
As alaraajavamma has stated, short and long suspends may lead to different results.
In that case, what is the definition of a short suspend?

I am certain that I received more than one successful phone call when waking from suspend, but yesterday I had my FIRST EVER experience where I could not hear anything on the other end.
All volume controls are maxed out when this happens, so there is no chance to fix it in-call.

So my current working theory is that, along the lines of alaraajavamma's assertions, once the phone has a long suspend, the audio routing works properly, rendering my volume settings in VoiceCall.conf way too low to hear anything.

Based on successfully received calls, I would say a long suspend could be 30+ minutes.
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#35
(10-18-2023, 11:39 AM)grinzie Wrote: I spoke too soon.
As alaraajavamma has stated, short and long suspends may lead to different results.
In that case, what is the definition of a short suspend?

I am certain that I received more than one successful phone call when waking from suspend, but yesterday I had my FIRST EVER experience where I could not hear anything on the other end.
All volume controls are maxed out when this happens, so there is no chance to fix it in-call.

So my current working theory is that, along the lines of alaraajavamma's assertions, once the phone has a long suspend, the audio routing works properly, rendering my volume settings in VoiceCall.conf way too low to hear anything.

Based on successfully received calls, I would say a long suspend could be 30+ minutes.

Hi grinzie and thanks for your report.

afaik wired headset microphone is not affected "incoming call while suspended will destroy mic" -issue. So yes you can temporary make PPP usable if you use wired headset with microphone.
This issue is not for incoming sound -> you should hear the other person just fine.
The microphone part is really easy to reproduce and the suspend time does not matter* - PPP's microphone will be "broken" after every incoming phone call while PPP is suspended.

*From time to time the microphone will be just 40% lower and sometimes 80% - but still so much lower that it makes impossible to use PPP as a phone.

So it was most likely something else what did happened to you - maybe some part of callaudio routing did not notice that you have wired headset plugged in?
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#36
(10-10-2023, 01:14 PM)alaraajavamma Wrote:
(10-10-2023, 12:22 PM)DominiqueM Wrote: To the «guy who just wants to hear his wife when she calls». This is what is called telephone. We all hope to see the PinePhone Pro becoming a real telephone. Nobody objected to your proposal. So please do and keep us informed.

I did use few weekends to dive in to this and find out something - in overall I am more lost than in the beginning because my changes should not work so the issue lays somewhere lower than ucm confs.
https://gitlab.com/pine64-org/pine64-als...requests/9

Not sure does it work with Mobian but it works with pmos, arch and Manjaro - if you use pulseaudio (not pipewire-pulse and wireplumber)
On Sunday 22nd, I did update&&upgrade Mobian on my PinePhone Pro and tried your VoiceCall.conf. Was just loud noise in my case. Tried 
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"
and it was usable. 
I had other upgrades since and as a result, today, no sound at all at both sides in a voice call. I rewrote my changes, but still no sound. I am lost.
By the way, is it possible to write alsa options in /etc or in ~/./local (where exactly, under what name?) to avoid loosing improvements on a upgrade?
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#37
Quote:On Sunday 22nd, I did update&&upgrade Mobian on my PinePhone Pro and tried your VoiceCall.conf. Was just loud noise in my case. Tried 
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"
and it was usable. 
I had other upgrades since and as a result, today, no sound at all at both sides in a voice call. I rewrote my changes, but still no sound. I am lost.
By the way, is it possible to write alsa options in /etc or in ~/./local (where exactly, under what name?) to avoid loosing improvements on a upgrade?

I remember going through many of these same issues.  I now run pmOS edge with the open source modem firmware and have good phone connections.  While I don't remember all of the specifics, so I can't help you with your specific VoiceCall.conf settings, I can tell you that there are fairly active discussions in the chat rooms that I have found to be helpful.  I have used the matrix channel.

- Discord: channel #pinephone under https://discord.gg/pine64
- Matrix: https://app.element.io/#/room/#pinephone:matrix.org
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#38
(10-24-2023, 05:00 PM)apink Wrote:
Quote:On Sunday 22nd, I did update&&upgrade Mobian on my PinePhone Pro and tried your VoiceCall.conf. Was just loud noise in my case. Tried 
cset "name='ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='Mono ADC Capture Volume' 80"
cset "name='IN1 Boost' 0"
and it was usable. 
I had other upgrades since and as a result, today, no sound at all at both sides in a voice call. I rewrote my changes, but still no sound. I am lost.
By the way, is it possible to write alsa options in /etc or in ~/./local (where exactly, under what name?) to avoid loosing improvements on a upgrade?

I remember going through many of these same issues.  I now run pmOS edge with the open source modem firmware and have good phone connections.  While I don't remember all of the specifics, so I can't help you with your specific VoiceCall.conf settings, I can tell you that there are fairly active discussions in the chat rooms that I have found to be helpful.  I have used the matrix channel.

- Discord: channel #pinephone under https://discord.gg/pine64
- Matrix: https://app.element.io/#/room/#pinephone:matrix.org

I like this thread because it is specifically about voice calls with PP Pro. The room #pinephone:matrix is a mess about everything PP and PPP.
I did try again with Volume 80, 80 but Boost 4 and the sound of the call was really good both ways. Next call… no sound at all, both sides. There is obviously a serious problem other than VoiceCall.conf. If pmOS works with some firmware, I really do not understand why other distributions could not do the same. I cannot understand how after many years it is still nearly impossible to use the PP Pro as a phone.
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#39
(11-03-2023, 02:03 PM)DominiqueM Wrote: I like this thread because it is specifically about voice calls with PP Pro. The room #pinephone:matrix is a mess about everything PP and PPP.
I did try again with Volume 80, 80 but Boost 4 and the sound of the call was really good both ways. Next call… no sound at all, both sides. There is obviously a serious problem other than VoiceCall.conf. If pmOS works with some firmware, I really do not understand why other distributions could not do the same. I cannot understand how after many years it is still nearly impossible to use the PP Pro as a phone.

I agree that the matrix channel is a little overwhelming.  I have a hard time searching for information there.  However when I ask a question there, it is often answered fairly quickly with useful info.

Wish I could help with the cross-distribution communications.  Linux.  What are you going to do?  I have learned over two decades of using linux that sometimes it takes lots of digging to get things to work, especially as new devices are developed.  Overall I am pretty happy with the PPP, though I am not a power user.  I just want text and calls that don't go through Apple or Android. I appreciate all the work that has gone into it and understand that people are doing this all on the side.
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#40
(11-03-2023, 10:14 PM)apink Wrote:
(11-03-2023, 02:03 PM)DominiqueM Wrote: I like this thread because it is specifically about voice calls with PP Pro. The room #pinephone:matrix is a mess about everything PP and PPP.
I did try again with Volume 80, 80 but Boost 4 and the sound of the call was really good both ways. Next call… no sound at all, both sides. There is obviously a serious problem other than VoiceCall.conf. If pmOS works with some firmware, I really do not understand why other distributions could not do the same. I cannot understand how after many years it is still nearly impossible to use the PP Pro as a phone.

I agree that the matrix channel is a little overwhelming.  I have a hard time searching for information there.  However when I ask a question there, it is often answered fairly quickly with useful info.

Wish I could help with the cross-distribution communications.  Linux.  What are you going to do?  I have learned over two decades of using linux that sometimes it takes lots of digging to get things to work, especially as new devices are developed.  Overall I am pretty happy with the PPP, though I am not a power user.  I just want text and calls that don't go through Apple or Android.  I appreciate all the work that has gone into it and understand that people are doing this all on the side.

Not that I'm particularly a "fan" of it being a Dinosaur n all, but I do wonder why there isn't a dedicated PinePhonePro Matrix Channel Now ? Noting the substantial hardware / software difference ? (I do appreciate "developer" convenience however I'd think it useful for self help / punters ?)
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