Problem with audio apps and mixer

[Alexander Best]

hi there,

i've never had a problem to adjust the volume with audio apps like mplayer or
mpd. recently however i'm experiencing this strange behaviour. the app's
volume doesn't match the volume that `mixer` reports. here's an example:

`mpc`:

J.R.R. Tolkien -
[playing] #2/19   1:54/3:06 (61%)
volume: 45%   repeat: off   random: off

`mixer`:

Mixer vol      is currently set to  40:40
Mixer pcm      is currently set to  70:70
Mixer speaker  is currently set to  75:75
Mixer line     is currently set to  75:75
Mixer mic      is currently set to   0:0
Mixer mix      is currently set to   0:0
Mixer rec      is currently set to   0:0
Recording source: mic

if i adjust the volume in mplayer or mpd the volume DOES get increased, but
the mixer settings don't change. after a song change or pausing a video
however the volume settings get reset to the previous settings. here's an
example:

[arundel at arundel - 02:51 pm] mpc
J.R.R. Tolkien -
[playing] #5/19   3:01/6:23 (47%)
volume: 45%   repeat: off   random: off
[arundel at arundel - 02:51 pm] mpc volume 60
J.R.R. Tolkien -
[playing] #5/19   3:05/6:23 (48%)
volume: 60%   repeat: off   random: off
[arundel at arundel - 02:51 pm] mixer
Mixer vol      is currently set to  40:40
Mixer pcm      is currently set to  70:70
Mixer speaker  is currently set to  75:75
Mixer line     is currently set to  75:75
Mixer mic      is currently set to   0:0
Mixer mix      is currently set to   0:0
Mixer rec      is currently set to   0:0
Recording source: mic
[arundel at arundel - 02:51 pm] mpc pause
J.R.R. Tolkien -
[paused]  #5/19   3:10/6:23 (50%)
volume: 70%   repeat: off   random: off
[arundel at arundel - 02:51 pm] mpc play
J.R.R. Tolkien -
[playing] #5/19   3:11/6:23 (50%)
volume: 45%   repeat: off   random: off

it seems the apps don't actually access /dev/mixer, but instead use an
internal volume setting. i had a look at /dev and this is the output of
`ls|grep mixer`:

mixer0
mixer1
mixer2

i thought maybe i need to create a symlink from mixer0 to mixer, but that
doesn't work:

ln: mixer: File exists

i haven't changed mplayer's of mpd's settings in years, so this seems to be a
freebsd problem.

i'm running r195247 (HEAD). this is the output of `cat /dev/sndstat`:

FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2009061500/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac0  [MPSAFE]
(1p:4v/1r:4v channels duplex default)
pcm1: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac0  [MPSAFE]
(1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)
pcm2: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac0  [MPSAFE]
(1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)

cheers.
alex