Some ALSA applications play bad sound

[Oyvind Eriksen]

Some applications using ALSA plays bad sound. One is WINE applications. Winecfg test sound is distorted (sounds awful). Spotify running WINE plays songs way too fast. A flash based program play distorted sound. The common thing for all of them is that under Applications in Sound settings it says alsa-plugin and it flashes very rapidly between "No application is currently playing" and alsa-plugin. It almost looks like flickering. I've testet a normal wave file using aplay and that was okey, no problems.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2: oeriksen 3299 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: oeriksen 3299 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: oeriksen 3299 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xfa400000 irq 60'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC892'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0892,10438410,00100302'
   Controls : 41
   Simple ctrls : 20
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Socialize'/'Creative Labs VF0640 Live! Cam Socialize at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, high speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB041e:4083'
   Controls : 2
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
   Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
   Capture channels: Mono
   Limits: Capture 0 - 48
   Mono: Capture 45 [94%] [18.00dB] [on]
Card2.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:2 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xfa080000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 16 HDMI/DP'
   Components : 'HDA:10de0016,10de0101,00100100'
   Controls : 24
   Simple ctrls : 4
Date: Wed May 9 22:41:04 2012
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_Jack: Green Line Out, Rear
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: None of the above
Title: [System Product Name, Realtek ALC892, Green Line Out, Rear] Playback problem
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-03-02 (68 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/16/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 2302
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P8P67 REV 3.1
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr2302:bd02/16/2012:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnP8P67REV3.1:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[agw3 (ag-agw3)]

I've been experimenting, and this workaround works for me.

1. Open Sound via System Settings/Sound
2. Select Analog Output
3. Change mode to another choice
4. Change back if necessary

Seems to need to be reset periodically, especially when running flash videos from Chrome.

[Oyvind Eriksen (i-oyvind)]

The workaround from agw3 seems to work for me as well.

[Luke Schlather (luke2760)]

 I'm trying to run an app under Wine which had really distorted/echoey sound. Toggling the configuration profile in Pulseaudio did fix it... not sure if what I saw is a separate bug.

[Tom Hanson (aporcupine)]

agw3's work-around doesn't work for me as there appears to be only one output.

[jorritlinnert (jorrit-linnert)]

I've got the same bug with this controller:
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
aka
Realtek ALC1200

The workaround mentioned by agw3 works for me (thanks!) , but I'd love to see this resolved.

[Tomasz Kuczak (tomasz-ks9)]

I was experiencing too fast sound before in some wine apps and when using skype (although new skype's version switched to pulseaudio and that fixed the issue). Recently, after a long break, I discovered it again when using skype on wine. It is quite unusual, though, because sometimes it works correctly and sometimes not. In the middle of a call I can experience a sudden change to fast sound. It looks like the bug can be minimalised or even disappears when using this command to start an application:

"PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 name_of_your_app"

For example to start audacity I type:

"PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 audacity"

My OS: Ubuntu 14.10
Pulseaudio version: 4.0

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) reached end-of-life on April 28, 2017.
And Ubuntu 14.10 (utopic) reached end-of-life on July 23, 2015.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test.

[Valentin Leclere (vlec)]

Same bug here on a 16.04, agw3's workaround doesn't fix the issue for me.
It occurs when my browser (firefox 53.0.2 64b) display a google research with google translate content.

The way I fix it is:
pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload
It's a bit annoying, I would like to fix it permanently.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]