For Windows, the Sound Blaster Command Center software allows you to switch between headset and speakers.
Is this also possible in Manjaro? I have not yet been able to find a way to do this, no matter which output I select, it is not possible to switch between headset and speakers. As a workaround, you always have to connect or disconnect the headset from the socket, depending on what you want to listen to.
To all Sound BlasterX G6 owners, how do you do this or do you need special software to make the switching work as it does under Windows? In other words, without having to constantly connect or disconnect the headset.
Creative Labs does not provide an official Linux driver. However, as the Sound BlasterX G6 is essentially a 2-channel USB DAC, the default Linux audio driver should support it. As with Mac systems, users will not have access to BlasterX Acoustic Engine and RGB features as these are only available on PC.
Creative don’t support Linux, so software support is limited
having said that, once i got my ZXR working, i actually think Linux sounds better
if the switching occurs automatically when you connect or disconnect the headphones, that’s your fix
make sure you’re feeding the G6 7.1 audio channels regardless of the final output from the device itself, otherwise any virtualisation probably wont sound very good - pretty sure Gnome defaults to 2 channels passed to hardware
the channels setting is under Settings → Sound then use the Configuration drop down menu
below is for a ZXR, but you get the idea
there’s one other thing you’ll want to do to
edit /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf as admin
scroll down a little way and you’ll find a line that starts with default.clock.allowed-rates
so it’s impossible to feed multichannel audio via Pipewire to ALSA, then out to an external device via USB unless ALSA recognises the hardware and uses specific drivers?
For this specific USB device, the Sound Blaster Command Center software on Windows supports virtual surround: surround channels are processed and down-mixed in software to create the perception that there are many more sources of sound than are actually present.
Linux audio driver snd-usb-audio supports most USB devices including OP’s device
Audio driver snd_hda_intel supports many internal audio devices including Sound Blaster ZxR card
Older Creative Labs sound cards that did not comply with Intel HDA standard needed hardware-specific drivers (snd_emu10k1 or snd_ca0106)
all Creative stuff is like this; receives multi-channel input; DSP applies HRTF’s and any other enabled processing; remixes to suite receiving audio equipment - in the case of headphones, 2 channels
i was just surprised you can’t ask Pipewire to output multi-channel audio to an external USB device
anyway, point being, Creative did release a software solution, but if someone’s got external DAC or internal PCIe card, it’ll be a hardware DSP that expects multi-channel input regardless of the final output; older devices (ZXR era) receive 5.1; newer stuff prefers 7.1
hope i’m not being a pain right now, but without multi-channel input hardware based DSP’s, especially ones applying HRTF’s, are crippled
and with Linux gaming gaining traction, i could imagine this kind thing becoming an issue
PipeWire can output multi-channel audio to an external multi-channel USB audio device
but multi-channel audio to a stereo USB audio device is unlikely to be possible or necessary
And Creative does not release information about their proprietary products. Linux developers have had Cease and Desist notices from Creative’s Lawyers in the past for trying to reverse-engineer better audio support
Linux software DSP works for any stereo audio device (internal or external) on any Distribution or Desktop Environment
For PipeWire, users can install easyeffects GUI and use zita-convolver
For games using OpenAL, if you use headphones you may get much better positional audio using OpenAL’s HRTF filters. To enable, create ~/.alsoftrc
hrtf = true
Alternatively, install openal-hrtfAUR from the AUR, and edit the options in /etc/openal/alsoftrc.conf.
PulseAudio has module module-virtual-surround-sink that uses Head Related Impulse Response files (HRTF is the Fourier transform of HRIR)
PulseAudio also has module-position-event-sounds for gaming
(this might be similar to Scout Mode on Creative hardware devices)
I don’t mind but @corun might not want to know about virtual surround or gaming audio.
If you want to discuss gaming audio, DSP or your PCI-E hardware further, it would be better to start a new topic.
That’s right, I’m only interested in the automatic switching from the stereo speakers to the headset and back again. Thanks for all the contributions anyway!
