EasyEffects - PulseEffects for PipeWire - TUXEDO Computers

Loudspeakers in notebooks are subject to some limitations and therefore often do not deliver the optimal sound output. As we already explained in the article How to improve the sound output of notebook speakers, the sound can be significantly improved with the PulseEffects application.

EasyEffects

This article describes the installation of EasyEffects, the new implementation of PulseEffects for the upcoming standard sound server PipeWire. Those who are already working with PipeWire — it is already standard with Fedora 34 — have been left out in the cold with PulseEffects, as the software is limited to working with PulseAudio. This is now changing with the introduction of EasyEffects, the implementation that again only works with PipeWire, but not with PulseAudio, which is currently still considered the standard. PulseEffects will remain for the time being, as it will still take years until most distributions have switched to PipeWire, if they do so at all.

Ubuntu stays with PulseAudio for now

Ubuntu stays with PulseAudio as sound server for now and probably also with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Since Ubuntu 21.04, PipeWire is installed by default, but not configured and thus without function. In addition, the PipeWire version currently offered in the official Ubuntu repositories is too old. You need at least PipeWire 0.3.36. This version is offered as an unofficial PPA and installed as follows: 

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pipewire-debian/pipewire-upstream

sudo apt install pipewire gstreamer1.0-pipewire, libspa-0.2-bluetooth, libspa-0.2-jackAfter that, it is time to activate PipeWire and replace PulseAudio. This process is described in the Debian Wiki. The final step is a command that informs you whether the activation was successful:

pactl info | grep '^Server Name'The output, depending on your version should be something like:

Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 0.3.48)If the output remains empty, the conversion did not work, and you should check the procedure again. The graphical design of EasyEffects hardly differs from PulseEffects and for the operation and the use of presets you can orientate yourself on the article "Improving sound output on notebooks" linked above.

For users of the GNOME Shell there is an extension by the name of EasyEffects Preset Selector, that allows you to view and select the presets you want directly in the GNOME Shell status bar without opening the EasyEffects app or typing commands in the terminal.

The extension works with installations of EasyEffects from the repository or as flatpak.