USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

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EvenSteven
 
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USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by EvenSteven »

>>> Hello, World!

I have been using my Raspberry Pi 3 for just over a year and have been running Raspbian and RetroPie on it successfully. I have recently purchased, assembled, and begun using the PiGRRL Zero from the kit https://www.adafruit.com/product/3161, and it’s been great (this is my first Adafruit project and first forum post)! However, the USB Audio Adapter https://www.adafruit.com/product/1475 is not working properly and this tutorial https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-audio-ca ... erry-pi%20’s steps do not return the expected results. The PiGRRL is running a manually tweaked image of RetroPie 4.2 (the latest version), with a USB hub inserted into the single USB port for use of my keyboards (full size Logitech and wireless https://www.adafruit.com/product/922 (although a slightly different model (sorry for the nested parens :) ))), WiFi adapter, and thumb drive for ROM transfer. I have tried removing the USB hub temporarily to see if that was causing the issue, but it did not help. In both configurations, the red LED lights and faint dithering noise can be heard through headphones, but there is no audio from the software itself. Neither dmesg | grep cm109, dmesg | grep Headphone, or dmesg | grep C-Media return anything, and scrolling through the dmesg output did not reveal any information about a specific chipset, although dmesg and lsusb contain lines acknowledging that it has been detected; lsusb’s output reads

Code: Select all

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1b3f:2008 Generalplus Technology Inc.
Bus 001 Device Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0
 root hub
when only the audio adapter is plugged directly into the PiGRRL. Also, there is no file in /etc/ named asound.conf as the tutorial https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-audio-ca ... lsa-config suggests there is, which I suspect is due to the lack of an on-board audio output to begin with on the Zero. In the end, however, I am a relative Linux noob, so it may be something as simple as a permissions issue or a typo somewhere. I hope this can be resolved.

Thanks,
Steven!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

As a sanity check, try using the preconfigured OS image we have in the PiGrrl Zero tutorial:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-zero/software

That already has sound configured, and you should be able to get the output running with the steps here, assuming the adapter is working:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-zero/ ... io-adapter

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EvenSteven
 
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Re: USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by EvenSteven »

I have flashed the preconfigured image to a spare SD card, and the audio now functions as expected, so the adapter certainly works. However, I have custom-tweaked settings and ROMS already loaded to my other image, so I would really like to get it functioning there. If the audio functions here, is there a way to set up identical software tweaks elsewhere, since they're essentially the same OS?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Okay, at least we know the hardware works. That's a big step in the right direction.

On the system configuration side, see what's in /etc/asound.conf in the preconfigured image, and try copying those values over to your existing OS. As another sanity check, is the system you want to keep based on Raspbian Jessie or Raspbian Wheezy?

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EvenSteven
 
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Re: USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by EvenSteven »

Thanks! It seems that copying asound.conf did it! Preconfigured asound.conf had the following contents:

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pcm.!default  {
 type hw card 1
}
ctl.!default {
 type hw card 1
}
Creating a new file at /etc/asound.conf and copying in the above code forced RetroPie to output to the adapter, fixing the audio. However, each time a game is opened, about a second before the "Press a button to configure" menu appears and the game begins, white text is displayed briefly on a black screen reading:

Code: Select all

lv10:   VolumeControl::init() - Failed to find mixer elements!
Is this important? Is there an easy fix?

Thanks again,
Steven

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: USB Audio Adapter Not Functioning With PiGRRL Zero

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The emulator might not have found the correct pieces yet..

Try adjusting the sound levels as described here:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-zero/ ... io-adapter

See if that makes it settle down.

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