1456 and beore - sound problems

[nynaevelan]

Hi:

I have had this problem with several builds and I am unable to figure out what is causing the problem, I have tried different output plugins but nothing fixes it. I didn't have this problem with MM3 so I cannot figure out what I need to do to stop it. When using MM3 when using other apps on my computer the sound would not stop and make strange noises while playing, but with MM4 it happens alot, especially if a track is switching to a new track while the computer is focused on another app. I am sure this is something related to my computer but since it happens on my work computer also I figured it had to be a setting since the two computers have different hardware. Is it possible to create a debug log for something like this and if not, any ideas what I should be looking for to change? I am not sure how to describe the problem, but it is like scratching on an old vinyl album, the track is not distinguishable and then it will continue to play normally.

Nyn

[rusty]

Hi Nyn,

Do the scratching sounds occur at the same point of each track? Or is it random? Is it specific to certain audio formats?

If it's always at the same point in a track, perhaps share one such track with us.

-Rusty

[nynaevelan]

Hi Rusty:

No it is not the same track and they are all mp3's, though I have not tried it with any video files. I think it has more to do with the computer sharing resources or something, I even tried to switch to the wasapi plugin and use exclusive mode but that doesn't help. I don't know if it is another program trying to use the sound card or if there are no resources left for the playing to continue normally. I can try reinstalling the debug version and creating a log but I don't know if that will capture the problem. It happens alot during regular playing but it seems to happen more often when a new track is starting and some other program is doing something.

Nyn

[rusty]

Hi Nyn,

No it is not the same track and they are all mp3's, though I have not tried it with any video files.

To be more specific: does it occur with all MP3s or only some of them. i.e. I'm wondering if it's related to either:
1) The mp3 files themselves
2) The mp3 input plugin (you can try the mad plugin instead).

-Rusty

[nynaevelan]

To be more specific: does it occur with all MP3s or only some of them. i.e. I'm wondering if it's related to either:
1) The mp3 files themselves

It happens randomly so I am not sure it is the files themselves, but I will keep my eye out to see if it recurs with the same tracks.

2) The mp3 input plugin (you can try the mad plugin instead).

-Rusty

These are all tracks are far as I can tell that were in my library prior to my conversion or the installation of the last few builds but again I will keep my eye out to see if it is occurring with files that have been added before or after I started using MM4.

Nyn

[BashOnABike]

Hi All,

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I have also been experiencing this problem for a while and have found a workaround:

It seems that the audio artifacts mostly when performing HDD-seek heavy tasks (Virus scan, writing CAD/SVG files, etc), which implies inadequate buffering. Sadly, the built-in input codecs don't seem to allow buffer setting alterations. However, enabling DSP causes a ~1 second instantaneous lag, which leads me to believe that it buffers ~1 second of decoded audio. Thus, with DSP enabled (at least on my machine) the artifacting/skipping problem seems to have disappeared, even at 100% CPU load.

Hope this helps! One could probably specify a custom DLL as the MP3 default, but DSP works for now.

-Liam

[NRGman]

I get the pop's and crackles when updating tags etc and this is with flac and wav. to stop this the whole track should be loaded into ram before pay starts so the hdd can seek/write and still play a track at the same time.