Ubuntu – Logitech Microphone (AK5370) inaudible volume

microphonesound

I bought this microphone from Amazon last week. It's detected just fine in 12.10. I can see it in the sound preferences. The problem is that the volume is so low as to be inaudible, even when turned up to maximum in this dialog. It is working, as I can see that the meter responds to noise, but it's just too low.

alsamixer's control is the same, so that doesn't help. I tried messing around in pulseaudio too, but to no avail.

In lsusb it's Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0556:0001 Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd AK5370 I/F A/D Converter.

Best Answer

So your microphone doesn't work?

Let's go through the troubleshooting steps to diagnose the problem.

  1. Test the microphone in another Environment.

    • If you have a dual boot setup, test the mic in the other OS that is installed.
    • Try a live disc from a different distribution.
      -- If neither of these tests result in a functional microphone it is possible that either the mic is malfunctioning, or the physical port on your machine is faulty.

  2. Test on another physical machine

    • If the mic is not functional on a different machine it is likely that the microphone is faulty.

  3. Test other microphones in your machine.

    • If a known-to-be-working microphone doesn't work, chances are that either the physical port on your machine is faulty, or there is a problem with PulseAudio / ALSA.

If after testing the physical hardware you determine that all works as expected, but you still don't have a functional microphone it might be possible that either PulseAudio or ALSA need additional configuration.

PulseAudio
Make sure the input device you want to use is properly selected in pavucontrol. The Recording tab will show the active input device. The Input tab will allow you to select which input Port to use and to adjust the gain. Values over 100% are permitted. Additional configuration is available with the pacmd tool.

ALSA
Adjustments to devices can be made with amixer from the terminal. Ensure that devices are not muted. You are able to set device volumes there as well.

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