Pi 400 sound

One of the notable omissions from the Raspberry Pi 400 is an audio output jack. The expectation is that you’ll either get sound via HDMI, or use a USB sound dongle.

What approach to sound are Pi 400 owners using?

I use the HDMI to be be fair I haven’t used the jacks from the other Pi’s either

I was trying to get audio via the GPIO header as you can on the Pi Zero, or any other Pi for that matter, (I have a suitable board to provide a headphone jack), but it appears the GPIO module is broken on the Pi4/400 in this regard and attempting to change mode for GPIO pins doesn’t work.
I can do it from RaspberryPi OS, so the hardware definitely supports it.

Either you need a monitor with HDMI input and 3.5mm headphone output, or possibly this adapter here: https://thepihut.com/products/usb-audio-adapter-works-with-raspberry-pi … I ordered the adapter but haven’t received it yet so I don’t know if it will work with RISC OS.

No RPi 400 in my future then. I use headphones, and do not expect my DVI monitor to provide sound (and will not be so wasteful of resources to use a USB dongle for sound).

Hmmm… I can’t even hear any sound on my Pi 400…. it’s Risc OS 5.28, 16 Dec 2020 for Pi 400
I use an Hdmi monitor which has speakers… and works with everything else except Risc OS
so I tried the config.txt forcing sound to play over hdmi and a few other additions to the config.txt with no results…

In RiscOS sound setting it reports my controller is VCHIQ analogue/HDMI audio (no other options available)
The green volume bar goes up and down, and I can press mute…still no matter what I fiddle with in the Sound module I cannot get any sound… Any help / ideas really appreciated

ps…
I also tried to disable overscan (unsuccessfully)
my config.txt (which I edited on my Windows PC / because I couldn’t work out how to find it in RiscOS). Lastly I have no idea how all the [0d] got added nor know what they mean.

…..
[pi4][0d]
sdtv_mode=2[0d]
enable_gic=1[0d]
disable_overscan[0d]
hdmi_drive=2[0d]
hdmi_group=2[0d]
hdmi_mode=16[0d]
[0d]

Are you using the HDMI port nearest the power pocket? I believe this is the only one on RISC OS that has sound.

As for disabling overscan, I think the actual line you need is:

disable_overscan=1

To access config.txt on RISC OS, hold down Shift and double click on !Boot. This will reveal the internals of the application. In there is a special folder called Loader, which is mapped to the FAT partition you can easily see in Windows. Double click on that, and you should see several files, including one called config/txt. This is the file you’re looking for. Double click to load it and it should open in a text editor.

Thank you andym

I got the correct line to disable overscan just a minute before you replied… but many thx all the same
As for audio ; nothing…. correct… I am using the “wrong” hdmi out near the sd card… since when I use the other one, I get no picture…
Maybe it now expects to find my monitor on the hdmi out nearest the sd-card?
I would like to know what switch I could use to enable sound output to the hdmi I am using !
I also worked out shift – double click to open the config.txt… I had just forgotten…

I would really like to crack the no sound problem on my pi 400… thanks for your help

Okay I gave up trying to get sound on the hdmi I wanted….
So I re imaged the OS on my micro SD and started up again….
This time with the recommended hdmi out port…..
Indeed I get sound, and no overscan…. wow am I impressed by the speed of this OS and bootup time
My interest is Beebit emulator as I am doing research into Forth programming ; which works well enough

I see there are bigger Risc OS versions available for the Pi
What would a good one be that works on the Pi 400 ?

I can’t believe what a sleek success ; Pi 400 + Risc OS ; super !

The Pi-400 is indeed a good product. I love it I gave my Pi-4 away to a fellow Big Ben Club member

Roland – we are testing Pi400 support for RISC OS Direct literally as I type. The update has been going through beta testing this last week/ten-days. I expect it to ship this week, unless there’s a show-stopping bug.

The update fixes (AFAIK) all reported bugs/issues in Direct, updates software and adds support for Pi4/400. Ethernet is auto-configured and will detect whether it should use USB ethernet (Pi 3 and earlier) or hardware ethernet (4/400) on first boot.

It will be available as an update patch (with instructions) from RISC OS Developments, and we’re partnering again with WiFi Sheep to do a complete Pi4/400 disc image for those who would prefer a single-click download.

I believe it’ll do what you need :)

There may be another way to listen to audio when RISC OS gets Bluetooth support.

My pi400 runs Raspbian, not RISC OS, up to now I use the HDMI sound to my HANNS-G monitor which has an internal speaker. It is ok for beeps but no good enough for music.

So, I am trying to use connect via Bluetooth to a Google Home speaker, but so far no dice.

When it works Bluetooth is magic but mostly it is just a PITA.

Just to confirm what I wrote the other day, the Pi4/400 update for RISC OS Direct is now live (at long last) at http://www.riscosdev.com/direct

It also contains many software updates, bug fixes and general improvements to Direct.

Does the OS for the Pi 400 include USB Audio support? If so, using a USB DAC (and ADC) should be simple enough.

the Pi4/400 update for RISC OS Direct is now live (at long last) … It also contains many software updates, bug fixes and general improvements to Direct.

and, I am pleased to say, an updated (Oct 2020) User Manual.

Is there any way that the soundHal can be changed to make the sound work on the two HDMI ports so you can plug the cable into any HDMI port and get sound??

Has anyone managed to get sound working on the Pi 400? If so, how? I have so far failed to produce any sound whatsoever in RISC OS, despite trying both USB and HDMI (with the hardware working fine in Raspberry Pi OS).

I got sound on Pi-400 over HDMI and also with a HDMI-sound-splitter (on Risc Os for sure) both is working. (The same on Pi-4 and Pi-400).
Had to do so, because one of my monitors has no built in sound.

The one i used: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/4000385567223.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail

Was that straight out of the box, or did you have to do stuff?

Was straight out of the box: just “plug’n play”

Had just to plug in the HDMI-cable into the Pi-400 (shure i needed an adaptor from micro HDMI to normal HDMI).
The HDMI- cable from the monitor into the sound-splitter-box. And the audio-jack from the amplifier into the sound-splitter.
And that was it. Sound is working since then.

Important: I use the HDMI-port on the SD-card side, not the one on the power-plug side!

And my HDMI-cable goes to a DVI- input on my monitor (HDMI to DVI- adaptor)

Even with that strange combination, it works:

Sound on a separate amplifier and speakers. (2+1: 2 speakers and 1 subwoofer)

Display on a LG W2600H on DVI-port.
Screen-resolution is 1680 * 1050

Also do 1920 * 1080, but to dificult for my eyes to find the mouse… to small

@ Charlotte

Has anyone managed to get sound working on the Pi 400? If so, how?

My RPi400 sound is fine, I use it through the HDMI and from my monitor speakers. Which HDMI port are you using? Which Kernel are you using (I hope 5.29), what is your boot configuration and what do you load during your !Boot sequence?

Also what your Sound configuration shows you in !Configure?

BTW: I am using RO-Direct for Pi-4/400
Nothing changed on the original image (except copied it to a biger SD-card (created with ‘SystemDisc’))
But i did not change anything on the Bootloader-partition, or the settings or the configuration on the filecore-side (except to change the keyboard to german).

Checked now:
Sound-configuration shows:
Controller:
VCHIQ analogue/HDMI audio
Sound level is on 95%

System beep:
Hook on Beep when an error box opens
Voice:
WaveSynth-Beep

Quiet beep (it sounds loud )

I switched HDMI ports and now the sound works! There but for the grace of choosing-a-hole-to-stick-the-cable-in-at-random go I.