[NOT BUG] Lower volume after phone call

Support questions for Neutron Player only.
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travelbug
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Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:21 pm

[NOT BUG] Lower volume after phone call

Post by travelbug » Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:43 pm

I use Neutron player with my samsung galaxy s3. I love the app but my main issue is that that it lowers volume after a phone call. This doesn't seem to happen in every phone call, but it happens often enough to be a nuisance. I have to force close the app in order to get back to the original volume.
Note that this doesn't happen with my other audio players.
Please fix.

dmitrykos
Site Admin
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Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by dmitrykos » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:14 am

Hi!

To be able to fix the problem I need to reproduce it but so far did not succeed in reproducing it. The random nature of problem occurrence makes me think that it is more a problem of firmware than Neutron. Actually Neutron is not memorizing main volume setting and is using what OS provides, in your situation OS provides lower volume. Neutron is using MUSIC type of stream and thus it should not be affected by phone call because phone call is using VOICE type.

May be you are using some 3-rd party software which manages volumes? or custom ROM? Also when you see that volume is low and you enter to Neutron's UI is green volume slider also in low position, or it remains as it was?

Best regards,
Dmitry.

travelbug
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:21 pm

Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by travelbug » Tue Oct 16, 2012 10:34 am

Thanks for your reply Dmitry, I am using an international sgs3 on stock ics 4.0.4 rooted and on the siyah 1.5.2 custom kernel. I have set siyah audio settings to increase on board amp with flat / disabled eq and other effects. I am using Neutron for neon version, and have 64 bit, eq, dithering on.
The green volume / gain bar doesn't go down when volume lowers after a phone call. This doesn't seem to happen in other media players ie stock player, poweramp, sound Hound, musicxmatch.
So I don't think it is a system wide issue.

Edit :the issue also occurs in the non neon version.

dmitrykos
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Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by dmitrykos » Wed Oct 17, 2012 2:19 pm

> system wide issue

I am not sure because it is not reproducible on all my dev. devices. Other players are using built-in music player class of Android OS unlike Neutron which is decoding/rendering on its own and only outputs audio through AudioTrack class (in next versions will be through OpenSL ES). Neutron is using extremely minimal set of Android API and there is no mistake in stream opening code. I have not yet received similar reports yet of the same problem and thus suspect that with 99% probability it is due to custom kernel. As I have already mentioned all audio routing is done inside OS, player is not doing that and also not setting master volume, it has UI control but it is just proxy to using Android OS API.

If audio becomes low and you press hardware volume buttons on device outside of Neutron UI but when Neutron is playing are you able to reach max position on system UI volume slider witout reaching max gain of device? If so then it is 100% problem in custom ROM you are suing.

travelbug
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:21 pm

Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by travelbug » Wed Oct 17, 2012 2:58 pm

Hi, Neutrons max volume is the max volume of the system.
I'm thinking it could be a bad install and I'm planning to reinstall neutron again.
What is the correct procedure to do this?
Should I uninstall then install play store app then install neon version?
Or can I just uninstall then install the neon apk?
I'm careful of this uninstall reinstall thing because I've read that some people are getting activation errors.

dmitrykos
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Posts: 1914
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Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by dmitrykos » Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:11 pm

Installing just NEON version is ok, there is no need to overwrite any specific version.

> activation errors

You shall not afraid of this. Simply make sure Internet is active when you first start Neutron, because Internet is needed for Google Play app service which is communicating with Google servers. There wasn't any case ever when user lost license and etc.

travelbug
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:21 pm

Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by travelbug » Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:26 pm

I now understand why this is occurring.
Siyah kernel includes an app called st tweaks and one of the things it does is change audio hardware settings. One of its default values is a 3-4 db headphone gain.
It appears that neutron and st tweaks have the same 'priority' level in the sense that they seem to control the audio hardware at the same level.
So when another app like the phone or another music player uses the audio hardware, it uses the siyah amp settings. But when I play neutron player after using these other apps (that used the audio hardware), it seems like neutron loads before st tweaks can apply the proper amp settings.
This doesn't happen when I don't use other audio apps, and neutron plays at the proper gain set by st tweaks.
I think this doesn't happen with other audio apps because they are of lower 'priority' than st tweaks and will thus load after the amp has made its settings.

dmitrykos
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
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Re: Lower volume after phone call

Post by dmitrykos » Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:52 am

Thank you for the description. Yes, it looks like a conflict of apps. As to Neutron's priority, I am not sure about because no specific priority is requested by Neutron, there is only highest priority asked for media-button events handling but this is different area probably. Audio is opened as MUSIC/STREAM that is correct, so it also can't be a cause. Anyway I suppose implementation of st tweaks has to be improved because being in kernel it can act as system/kernel level app.

travelbug
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:21 pm

Re: Lower volume after phone call [NOT BUG]

Post by travelbug » Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:37 am

Yes st tweaks is a kernel level app and I was surprised that neutron seems to over ride it in the circumstances I mentioned. In a way, it shows how neutron has direct hardware control, which is probably why it sounds better than other players.
Unfortunately, st tweaks and siyah kernel for ICS is no longer in development as the author has moved on to perfecting his Jellybean version. I have not transitioned into Jellybean yet so I am 'stuck' using the ics version.
Siyah kernel and neutron still provides the best sound quality for the sgs3, and I think I will continue using both despite this nuisance (I won't call it a bug either).

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