Errors when using package

Error: The driver can't connect to the sound card

Exception in sound startup. Is the speaker connected? Have you configured ALSA? Can aplay play sound? Have a look at http://pr.willowgarage.com/wiki/sound_play/Troubleshooting Will retry in 5 seconds. Error message: No available audio device

Solution

• Is the sound device connected (if you are trying to use USB speakers, for example). Run "lsusb" to check the speaker.
• Is the sound device turned off in alsamixer? Use alsamixer to turn on all channels. Pressing 'm' mutes and unmutes a channel.

• Is the sound card configured correctly? (See Have you told ALSA which device to use? below.)

• Is the speaker disabled? The Logitech USB speaker can get in a mode where a red light shows on the speaker. In this mode the speaker is disabled, and ALSA may remember the fact that the speaker was disabled despite unplug/plug sequences. To fix this, use alsamixer, select the PCM control. Press m to enable/disable the speaker (the LED should turn red/blue). When the LED is blue, quit alsamixer and run:

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-util restart

The speaker should now default to the enabled state.

There is a red light on the speaker

See Error: The driver can't connect to the sound card.

Error: There are no error messages and no sound

Solution

• Is the volume set to zero or muted? Use alsamixer to check.

Error: Sound coming out of wrong device

Sound plays from the wrong audio device.

Solution:

• Have you told ALSA which device to use? To see which cards are installed:

  cat /proc/asound/cards

  To use card 1 by default:

  asoundconf set-default-card 1
  sudo cp ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf /etc/asound.conf

Error: There is no sound if the speaker is disconnected and reconnected

If the speaker is disconnected and then reconnected, soundplay_node.py will not play any sound, and will not report any error messages.

Solution: Due to limitations of pygame, soundplay_node.py cannot detect that the speaker was disconnected unless it is left idle for about ten to twenty seconds. If you disconnect and reconnect the speaker, you will have to either restart soundplay_node.py, or have it not play any sound for at least ten to twenty seconds.

Error: Speech synthesis does not work, but playing sounds works

Festival is not installed

• Saying "Hello world".
  sh: text2wave: not found

Festival has no voices installed

• Saying "Hello world".
  
  WARNING
  No default voice found in ("/usr/share/festival/voices/")
  either no voices unpacked or voice-path is wrong
  Scheme interpreter will work, but there is no voice to speak with.
  WARNING
  
  -=-=-=-=-=- EST Error -=-=-=-=-=-
  {FND} Feature Token_Method not defined
  
  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Solution:

• Install the festival and festvox-kallpc16k packages

  rosdep install sound_play

Error : Sound voulme is small

Solution:

• Use mixer program to change volumes

alsamixer

Other sources of help

• If these troubleshooting tips are not sufficient, you may be able to find an answer on the ALSA web page or the unofficial ALSA wiki. And please update the wiki or let us know when you find the solution.