Comment 19 for bug 409819

There is a lot confusion between alsa mixer gui and pulse audio controls. I suggest a clear explanation of each and a warning that running both means of controlling audio together will result in unexpected events.

PulseAudio is dynamic and that should be explained clearly. For example, in the Applications tab nothing is seen until an application actually uses audio. So if you start Sound Recorder, the Application window in Volume Control does not show Sound Recorder running. However it does show as soon as a sound recording session starts.

There are still bugs in PulseAudio and others that might be called 'features':-

If you open Pulse Audio Sound Preferences (right click on speaker icon) or PulseAudio Volume Control (Applications>Sound&Video) and then open Sound Recorder you will get an error message and Sound Recorder will not open. Close Sound Preferences and/or Volume Control and Sound Recorder will open. You can then open Sound Preferences and Volume Control.

Default configuration setting Analog Stereo Output does not activate microphones. Default should be 'Analog Stereo Duplex' to enable both microphones and speakers.