External USB Headset Missing Alsamixer Controls; Extremely Loud

[irondeau]

Hello! I recently installed the i3 edition of Manjaro to my new computer. I’m trying to set up my Razer Kraken Tournament Edition headset with alsa which is connected to my desktop computer via USB. It may be important to note that this headset has an external USB audio controller, and I’m unsure if it requires proprietary audio drivers. (I think only the more advanced surround sound features are provided by the Windows driver.) I’ve added a short configuration to the ~/.asoundrc file to set the default card to device 2, the headset.

# ~/.asoundrc
defaults.pcm.card 2
defaults.ctl.card 2

When I open up alsamixer, I can see two PCM devices and another mixer labeled “Auto Gain Control”. However, all three mixer bars do not appear; I can only see the number “00” and the name of each mixer. Here is a screenshot since it’s difficult to describe.

https://ibb.co/yB9hmfk

It seems like alsa has recognized my device, but I am unable to change the volume. When I go to play any audio, the volume is unbearably loud. Below is some additional diagnostic info that may be of use for solving this puzzle.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 12: HDMI 6 [HDMI 6]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Controller [Razer USB Audio Controller], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Controller [Razer USB Audio Controller], device 1: USB Audio [USB Audio #1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ amixer -c 2
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',1
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Gain Control',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headset',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 35
  Front Left: Capture 30 [86%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 30 [86%] [0.00dB] [on]

Note: It seems from this last command that there should be another volume mixer in alsamixer labeled “Headset”, no?

I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions you might have

[nikgnomic]

alsamixer screenshot is only showing Playback controls for headset

Use F4 to show Capture controls or F5 to show All controls
or this command to open alsamixer showing all controls

alsamixer --card=2 --view all

---

This headset has an analog volume control and mute in the headset cable that should work without additional software or the USB dongle

But Archiwiki has a suggestion of how to add a software volume control in ALSA ~/.asoundrc configuration to deal with low output volume
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture/Troubleshooting/Low Sound Volume - ArchWiki
values for min_dB and max_dB could be adjusted to reduce audio level

[irondeau]

Thank you! This was the solution to my problem. I skipped past that debug section of the Arch Wiki because I wasn’t having a low sound volume problem, but I hadn’t thought about adding a software volume control. I’ll add a copy of my final configuration below:

# ~/.asoundrc
defaults.pcm.card 2
defaults.ctl.card 2

pcm.!default {
	type plug
	slave.pcm "softvol"
}

pcm.softvol {
	type softvol
	slave {
		pcm "dmix"
	}
	control {
		name "Pre-Amp"
		card 2
	}
	min_dB -64.0
	max_dB -16.0
	resolution 36
}