How to stabilize youtube audio volume fluctuations on Ubuntu 26.04 with PipeWire

Support and Help
1

Ubuntu Version

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable)

GNOME

Problem Description

Trying to listen to any sound under ubuntu with any browser like firefox, vivaldi e.t.c and this sound to be unstable: for no reason, while listening to music, the sound becoming either higher or lower.

Relevant System Information

pipewire
Compiled with libpipewire 1.6.2
Linked with libpipewire 1.6.2
wireplumber
Compiled with libwireplumber 0.5.13
Linked with libwireplumber 0.5.13

Realtek ALC888 → audio codec
HDA Intel MID → driver
snd_hda_intel → kernel driver
PipeWire 1.6.2, WirePlumber 1.6.2 → software

Error Messages / Logs

no error messages

What I’ve Tried

Million things that I cannot write down. Among others I have added many different files under:
~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d
to no avail.

My tail:
I keep my fingers crossed due to the fact that this problem is not 26.04 only. It had been bothering me for a lot of time now, I do not remember how many versions of ubuntu back. Maybe at the advent of pipewire… I had asked even at ubuntu forums back then.

Solution:

  1. disable hardware mixer and let PipeWire do software mixing due to the fact that my sound card is old and it doesn’t cooperate well with new software
    mkdir -p ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d

cat > ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/51-alc888-soft-mixer.conf <<‘EOF’
monitor.alsa.rules = [
{
matches = [
{
device.name = “alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0”
}
]
actions = {
update-props = {
api.alsa.soft-mixer = true
}
}
}
]
EOF

  1. systemctl --user restart wireplumber
    AND restart computer

  2. optional: add volume flow extension to vivaldi brower that most checking took place

It’s the second day that seems that is working. Hope it helps someone that might face the same issue.

In case it doesn’t work just erase the file:
rm ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/51-alc888-soft-mixer.conf
and restart computer.

edit: fixed code format

Regards!

2 Likes
Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 963
2

Hello,

yesterday there was a decision that pipewire and all its libraries should take an update and that resulted in the distortion I was facing above. With distortion I mean only the ups and downs of volume without having any other issue. The sound is clear all the time, yet it is not stable.

I removed the vivaldi extension and I did the following:

gedit ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/52-alc888-no-mixer-path.conf

And added there:

monitor.alsa.rules = [
  {
    matches = [
      {
        device.name = "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0"
      }
    ]
    actions = {
      update-props = {
        api.alsa.disable-mixer-path = true
      }
    }
  }
]

It seems that it is working again. Time will tell.

Regards!

2 Likes
3

Hello,

I have updated my system in the meantime to ubuntu 26.10 beta. I removed the files in question above to see if the problem will vanish on its own. This didn’t work. As a result, experimenting a little bit more, I have come up with the following solution:

folder: ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d

file: 51-alc888.conf

content:

monitor.alsa.rules = [
  {
    matches = [
      {
        device.name = "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0"
      }
    ]
    actions = {
      update-props = {
        api.alsa.soft-mixer = true
        api.alsa.disable-mixer-path = true
      }
    }
  }
]

Regards!

1 Like
4

That sounds like hardware (kernel driver) problem. Using software mixer works around it. Did it work with previous kernel versions?

1 Like
5

Hello,

I do not remember for how many versions of ubuntu, set aside kernel versions, this thing showed up. I think going from alsa to pipewire. I do not know if it is kernel related…

Regards!

1 Like
6

Hello there, quick question. Isn’t your solution hardware-specific? If that’s the case, maybe adding this to the title could help others in the future. Just an idea.

7

Hello,

the solution seems to bypass the hardware issue by using coding. I do not intervene with the kernel. I think that the issue might be kernel related. I’m not sure. I’m still experimenting to see if this solves the problem, because e.g. updates to pipewire made the original solutions fail.

Regards!

1 Like