[BUG] dmic recording volume is too low

[pma1]

Describe the bug
The dmic volume is too low even the max volume of input/output is set.

To Reproduce
Set the max volume in gnome-setting.
$ arecord -f cd b.wav

Reproduction Rate
100%

Expected behavior
Clear audio recording.

Impact
It's barely to hear the dmic.

Environment
1)
* Kernel: 6.12 9f16d5e6f2206 (linux/master) Merge tag 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/virt/kvm/kvm
* SOF: db771bf v2.11.x: add new 2.11.2 topology2 production binaries

2. Name of the topology file
   • Topology: intel/sof-ipc4-tplg/sof-lnl-rt713-l0-rt1318-l1-2ch.tplg
3. Name of the platform(s) on which the bug is observed.
   • Platform: ThinkPad X1G13 Intel CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 258V

Screenshots or console output
x1g13-mic-low-dmesg.txt

[lgirdwood]

@pma1 its worth opening up alsamixer here and trying to adjust the gains as this gain may not be mapped into the sound control panel.
@bardliao any comments ?

[pma1]

screenshot of alsamixer, the caputure volume is max.

[bardliao]

This is PCH DMIC. @pma1 Can you share the result of amixer -c0 contents?
And try amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture Volume' 45

[pma1]

$ amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture Volume' 45
numid=40,iface=MIXER,name='Dmic0 Capture Volume'
; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=45,step=0
: values=45,45
| dBscale-min=-90.00dB,step=2.00dB,mute=1

After set command above, the volume is still the same low as before.

output of amixer -c0 contents:
amixer-contents.txt

[bardliao]

@pma1 The mixer setting looks good to me. Can you share the captured wav file? Can you try different formats? Like -fS16_LE -c2 -r48000, -fS24_LE -c2 -r48000, -fS32_LE -c2 -r48000. @singalsu Could it be an DMIC0 Capture IIR Eq issue?

[pma1]

arecord-16-24-32.tar.gz

arecord file attached, thanks.

[bardliao]

@pma1 Can you try arecord -Dhw:0,10 -fS32_LE -r48000 -c2 file.wav?

[pma1]

The volume is as low as before.

[singalsu]

We are in progress of adding DRC and other capture pre-processing. I'll do a pull request to enable it on this topology. It will boost the capture level.

[singalsu]

@pma1 Are you able to replace the topology (keep a backup if this fails) with this from my test build? Please unzip it since GH does not allow .tplg attachment. If the installed topology is with different file name with compression, move it so there's no lottery for which topology gets loaded.

sof-lnl-rt713-l0-rt1318-l1-2ch.zip

Then you need to find the control for DRC from "alsamixer -c0" and enable it with key m. You can also enable the TDFB beam for beamformer and set the beam angle to 0 degrees with cursor up/down keys. There's only single angle in the blob so there won't be a steerable beam but future topologies may have it, so it doesn't hurt to set it too.

[singalsu]

Once the controls are set, they should persists if you keep using same topology. You can also set the controls from command line, e.g.

amixer -c0 controls | grep Dmic0
amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture DRC switch' on
amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture TDFB beam switch' on
amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture TDFB angle set enum' 0
amixer -c0 cset name='Dmic0 Capture Volume' 100%

[singalsu]

@pma1 @bardliao It is possible to get even more gain with custom DRC and IIR blobs but I'd not do it with generic topologies but instead with UCM2 runtime rules with matched DMI ID. We have already a framework to control SOF for playback with sof-hda-generic (see https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/tree/master/ucm2/blobs/sof) and such should be added capture also and other PC platforms with SDW codec.