Broken sounds in Skype

[Nicholas Shatokhin]

When skype notify something and play sound (for i.e., contact became online or send me message, or calling), it sounds with wheezing. In another programs all OK. If I playing this wav files all is OK too.

robotex@robotex-laptop:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 13.04
Release: 13.04

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

I don't think this is an issue in Unity, but more likely Skype (or possibly sound). Invalidating the unity bug and opening a Skype task instead.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Paolo Pisati (p-pisati)]

which version of skype were you running?

[Nicholas Shatokhin (robotex)]

4.1

[Paolo Pisati (p-pisati)]

there's a new version available, can you try that one?

[flag@luxor ~]$ dpkg -l | grep -i skype
ii skype 4.2.0.11-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 amd64 client for Skype VOIP and instant messaging service
ii skype-bin 4.2.0.11-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 i386 client for Skype VOIP and instant messaging service - binary files

here are more info: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/05/skype-for-linux-4-2-released

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hi, I've backported a fix which might or might not help this problem, I'm not sure. I've put it up at https://launchpad.net/~diwic/+archive/pulseaudio-testing where it's currently waiting to build. Can you please try it (ensure that you're running pulseaudio version "1:3.0-0ubuntu6.1~diwicppa" ) and see if it helps? Thanks!

[Oleg German (oleg-german)]

1:3.0-0ubuntu6.1~diwicppa
skype is now completely silent

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

I'm seeing Skype sound problems in saucy.

The notification sounds sometimes work (without sounding quite right), but often just cause a continuous buzz that doesn't go away until I kill Skype.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@Andrew, hi, the skype developers are working on it, and provided the below workaround. Start skype from a terminal, like this:

PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50 skype

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hmm, actually, if you use the latest version from the partner archive, 4.2.0.11-0ubuntu0.12.04.2, that now includes the workaround above.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Fri, Aug 02, 2013 at 02:35:43PM -0000, David Henningsson wrote:
> @Andrew, hi, the skype developers are working on it, and provided the
> below workaround. Start skype from a terminal, like this:

> PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50 skype

This workaround should already be present in the archive for all releases.

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

That's the version I have.

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

I can confirm that the environment variable does the job though.

Thanks for the info.

[Gianfranco Costamagna (costamagnagianfranco)]

The latest skype from ubuntu should already have this fix.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/4.2.0.11-0ubuntu0.12.04.2

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

dpkg -l skype | cat
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-=========================================-==========================================-============-====================================================================================
ii skype 4.2.0.11-0ubuntu0.12.04.2 amd64 client for Skype VOIP and instant messaging service

[Alexandros Frantzis (afrantzis)]

Note that this workaround was added to the .desktop file in the ubuntu skype package, which means it's only applied if you start skype through a GUI that uses desktop files. The workaround (PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50) needs to be manually applied in other cases, e.g., if running skype from the command line.

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

On 12/10/13 18:45, Alexandros Frantzis wrote:
> Note that this workaround was added to the .desktop file in the ubuntu
> skype package, which means it's only applied if you start skype through
> a GUI that uses desktop files. The workaround (PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50)
> needs to be manually applied in other cases, e.g., if running skype from
> the command line.

Apparently that includes starting Skype via the Startup Applications
tool. :(

I've not noticed the sound problem recently, however.

Andrew

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

I don't understand why this bug wasn't fixed by renaming /usr/bin/skype to /usr/bin/skype.real, and having a script /usr/bin/skype which simply runs:

#!/bin/bash
PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 exec -a /usr/bin/skype /usr/bin/skype.real "$@"

? (I fixed this bug for myself with a similar script in ~/bin.) But anyway, only fixing the desktop file doesn't really count as a fix.

[Andrei Karpenko (andy-karpenko)]

I'm using 4.2.0.11 and I have this buzzing problem. Interestingly, if you kill skype and then restart it you will not be able to hear anything coming from Skype - it just turns silent

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

This is still an issue in Trusty. The "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50" workaround is working.
Why is this set to Fix Released? Please set it back to Confirmed!

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

> This is still an issue in Trusty. The "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50" workaround is working.
> Why is this set to Fix Released? Please set it back to Confirmed!

We fixed a bug in PulseAudio, and that caused this bug in Skype to appear. We don't know why, and cannot fix Skype, since it is closed source. :-(

Therefore I'd say the proper value here is "invalid" because it is not a PulseAudio bug, it's a Skype bug.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

David: Can you set the Skype package back to Confirmed then?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

 > David: Can you set the Skype package back to Confirmed then?

The "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50" workaround is already deployed according to comment #11, so I think that's fix released enough for me?

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

I don't know but the bug is still present in trusty. Why won't it get Fix Released then?

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

If I just start skype the sound is broken. If I start it like "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=50 skype" then sound is working. So this is definitely not "Fix Released"...

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

IIUC, it was fixed by adding the environment variable workaround to the .desktop file.

If you start Skype from the dash/menu all should be well. If you start it from the command line then you're on your own.

This is not ideal.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

I start Sykpe from the Launcher and the sound is broken. If I start it from the command line with the latency workaround then all is fine.

[Seven Roots (sevenroots)]

Running Ubuntu Studio 14.04 - Trusty with Skype Version 4.2.0.13 and still experience the hellish buzz when skype plays notification sounds. Hoping for a permanent fix.
(Thanks for the script Reuben T. - you da man!)

[Andrew Stubbs (ams-codesourcery)]

Did you install Skype from the Ubuntu repository ("partners"?), or from the Skype website?