System audio recording is almost silent on Linux
Hi,
When I record a voice note with system audio turned on, the system audio comes out barely audible. Recordings with only the microphone are fine.
I think I found the cause. When recording starts, Capacities turns the volume of my output device's monitor source (the input it records system audio from) down from 100% to 8%. It happens within about 3 seconds of pressing record, and it lands on 8% every time. My microphone volume doesn't change. I checked PipeWire/WirePlumber and they aren't the ones doing it; there's no saved 8% value anywhere.
Starting Capacities with "--disable-features=WebRtcAllowInputVolumeAdjustment" seems to stop it. The monitor stayed at 100% during my last recording.
Setup:
- Capacities 1.71.12 desktop (AppImage), Ubuntu Linux, Wayland
- PipeWire 1.6.2
- Jabra Link 380 USB headset (default output and input)
- The diagnostics say the backend is electron-loopback (experimental) and helperAvailable: false
Could the app avoid changing input volume while it records system audio? Diagnostics log attached.
One related request: right now I can only pick the input device. System audio always comes from the default output, so at first I got silent recordings. My audio was playing through my headset, but the default output was still the laptop speakers. It would help a lot to be able to choose the output device to record from as well, next to the input.
Thanks!
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Thanks for the detailed diagnostics and the --disable-features=WebRtcAllowInputVolumeAdjustment workaround. Could you confirm whether the volume reduction also occurs with another output device or under X11, and attach a short affected recording if possible? Output-device selection is also noted as a separate improvement.
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Thanks! A short affected recording is attached (20 seconds, system audio barely audible).
https://limewire.com/d/uv9GG#5WFedr1O4C (I couldn't upload a file directly here)
It isn't tied to one output device. I also tested my laptop's built-in speakers, and the monitor volume dropped from 100% to 8% the same way. There's no X11 session on my machine, so I ran Capacities under XWayland (--ozone-platform=x11) instead. Same result, 100% down to 8%. Starting Capacities with --disable-features=WebRtcAllowInputVolumeAdjustment still stops it for me, so it looks like the app adjusts the input volume on the monitor source when system-audio recording starts.