[SB-XFi - Creative X-Fi, playback] Sound is distorted -- (Echo with garble)

Bug #778446 reported by humacyrnus
12
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
alsa-driver (Ubuntu)
Expired
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

This happens in many applications, but most often happens when using Orca Screen Reader. The sound will be fine for a moment then start echoing with distortion.

For instance, the "Welcome to Orca" will say: "We We Wefds Wefdsalcome t t t05432o O Ordsa ORcadsa ORca fssgdsgdfas", where random characters are the garble. It is important to note that this is compressed into near the original time-frame of the original sound, so it is near impossible to pick out what is being heard.

When this happens, although it seems certain conditions trigger it, it is system wide. Everything will have that horribly distorted echo.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.24+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 0: ctxfi [Front/WaveIn]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: night 16134 F.... alsamixer
                      night 16895 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: night 16895 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'XFi'/'Creative X-Fi 20K1 Unknown'
   Mixer name : '20K1'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 30
   Simple ctrls : 11
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xf7bfc000 irq 49'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100100'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Fri May 6 06:17:53 2011
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:XFi successful
Symptom_Card: HD48x0 audio - HDA ATI HDMI
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: Digital clip or distortion, or "overdriven" sound
Title: [SB-XFi - Creative X-Fi, playback] Sound is distorted
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-28 (7 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/13/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0401
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P5Q PRO TURBO
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.:bvr0401:bd04/13/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5QPROTURBO:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

Revision history for this message
humacyrnus (humacyrnus) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Luke Yelavich (themuso) wrote : Re: [Bug 778446] Re: [SB-XFi - Creative X-Fi, playback] Sound is distorted -- (Echo with garble)

Are you a regular user of gnome-orca, or does gnome-orca load when it is not needed?

If you are a gnome-orca user, do you have another sound device available? Unfortunately support for the SB X-Fi series of cards is not 100% complete in Linux, due to Creative not releasing much info in the way of specs.

Revision history for this message
DiegoRivera (diego-rivera) wrote :

I'm having the same problem with Natty, and the issue happens randomly. However, it is possible that while the issue is happening (i.e. playing a video), other applications are able to output sound correctly while the distorted audio is being played back (discovered this today).

I'll update with more information as I find it. Also, feel free to request information of me and I'll try to help provide it as best I can.

Revision history for this message
humacyrnus (humacyrnus) wrote :

I was able to get a recording of what it sounds like. . .

I was listening to The Surface of the Sun by John Murphy when it happened; it was loaded in the gnome media player. After it happened I loaded Orca and it was affected also.

I killed pulse audio and restarted the applications to fix it. . .

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in alsa-driver (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson) wrote :

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

Changed in alsa-driver (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in alsa-driver (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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