A lot of people seem to be experiencing issues with ALSA apps (like Flash) on PulseAudio-enabled systems. Common issues include programs locking/"hogging" the ALSA sound device (prevents other apps from mixing and using the audio device) and also apps trying to use the ALSA software mixer (dmix).

Some time ago, Mandriva decided to install the PulseAudio sound server by default in its distribution. Personally I did not really like the decision to activate PulseAudio by default in all desktop environments: I have been using Alsa with great satisfaction now for years, and I did not have any problem with that, so having to depend on yet another service did seem overkill to me. Nevertheless, I let PulseAudio be activated on my system too, in order to help as much as possible with bug hunting.

The Developers and MOTUs for Ubuntu have seen fit to add PulseAudio to the audio stack. And I do mean add it to the stack. It sits on top of Alsa and attempts to manage the way people use their audio. And yes, it sits on top of Alsa, not replaces it.

The sound scheme in Jaunty has some important changes that you need to be aware of. Alsa 1.0.18 and Pulseaudio 0.9.14 are implemented in Jaunty. The new ALSA provides more support and greater functionality for more sound devices than previous versions. Pulseaudio 0.9.14 does some of the same on the sound server side.

I couldn't get PulseAudio to work on one of my computers no matter what I do. But removing PulseAudio can be tricky and besides, there is a very easy way to "fix" it (if you're using GStreamer as a backend for music and videos). This is very useful for applications which use GStreamer but do not let you select the sound output module like: Rhythmbox, Totem and so on.

That’s a very common question as of lately, and somehow I feel like most people who haven’t dealt with ALSA in the past would find it very difficult to properly answer to it. Even myself I would have ignored one particular issue till last night, when I hit another reason why I want to keep PulseAudio.

Oh the fun! I removed package pulseaudio from my system this morning and reverted to alsa, thinking this would fix my sound lag problems on Doom 3 and Quake 4.

One PulseAudio bug I had in Ubuntu 9.10 and now 10.04 is that below a certain volume level, I get no sound at all. Once I raise the volume past that level sound works but the lowest volume is louder than I sometimes want. Fortunately there's a workaround available in PulseAudio for this bug.

One of the great new features in Fedora 8 is the inclusion of the PulseAudio sound server. PulseAudio allows multiple streams of audio to be played at once, eliminating the worry of having your sound card locked up by another running program. There's also a handy volume control applet that will let you set the volume of each audio stream independently. That's right folks, listen to your MP3s, watch (and listen!) to a YouTube video, and voice chat with your IM buddies, all at the same time and with independent control over each program's volume. Setting up PulseAudio is very easy. Read on for instructions.