I’m running Audacity 2.0.3 on Xubuntu 13.10. I recorded a number of projects in Audacity back in October, with no problems; playback worked fine, everything was as expected. However, I have just tried to play some of them again, and the playback speed is enormously too fast. I haven’t changed any settings that I know of (although I think I would have been running 13.04 when I recorded them). I have tried adjusting the “play at speed” slider from its current position, slightly below the halfway mark, and it seems to work, but even the slowest possible speed is so fast that all I hear is a high-pitched squeal / clicking noise. I tried recording a new project, and although the recording seemed to be OK, playback was still having the same issues. Also, if I stop playback before the end of the file, Audacity freezes. I’m using ALSA as my audio host, not OSS, and I’ve tried all my output devices - two HDMI options, which appear to play back normally but produce no sound, and “pulse” and “default”, which both have the speed issue.
As I said before, I haven’t changed any settings since the last time I used it without any problems, so I assume this is either a change in Audacity or an incompatibility with something which has been updated in Xubuntu. I can’t see anything in the known issues or the bug-tracker which seems to correspond.
It’ll be a “sound system” issue rather than an “Audacity” issue. There’s a lot of things that could cause to problem, so we’ll need to try and narrow it down.
If you open Audacity, generate a tone (“Generate menu”) and then play back, does the problem occur? (by default a 30 second tone is generated at 440 Hz)
When you say “enormously too fast” can you quantify that. If the problem occurred with the generated tone, how long does it take to play the 30 second tone.
Does it also play at higher pitch as well as too fast (check with some music that plays correctly in other media players.
How do you normally listen to music on your computer? Do you plug headphones into the headphone socket on the computer?
Please select in Audacity “Help > Audio device info”. When the information appears (could take a few seconds), copy and paste the full contents into your reply.
Yes, the same thing happened with a generated tone. Playback lasted roughly three seconds. I tried playing another audio file, as you suggested; it doesn’t sound high-pitched so much as it does like static on the radio - crackling.
I normally listen to sound through speakers. Other audio on the computer is sounding fine - soundtracks on flash games, MP3s played in totem, YouTube videos.
This is weird, your “HDA Intel PCH: ALC662” device is reported as having no output channels
What sort of computer is this? Is it a laptop or an “all in one” PC?
How are the speakers connected? Are they built in?
Does your computer have a headphone socket? If it does, does it work properly?
Yes, sorry, into a green socket with the same kind of plug as regular headphones (“mini-jack”?). I also have USB headphones, which again have always been fine.
Plug in the headphones, then open Audacity (headphones connected first).
In the device toolbar playback settings there should be a new USB option that corresponds to the USB headphones. Select that and try playing something. What happens?
I notice this thread seems to have died a couple of months ago. But I’m also suffering the exact same symptoms…
To summarise:
all playback is way too fast and sounds terrible – it’s not high-pitched that I can tell, it sounds like the sound is being skipped over, as dragging the play position in a media player
playing a generated 30 second tone takes approx 2 seconds to complete
I am using ALSA, with either “default” or “pulse” selected as output device
recording from pulse works fine
I use Debian sid/unstable on amd64, audacity package version is 2.0.6-2
Some other things I have noticed that may or may not be related/relevant:
If I change the playback device from “pulse” to “default”, I sometimes get correct playback for one play only, then back to fast, skippy audio.
The device toolbar contains no dropdown widgets whatsoever, only the two icons (I can provide a screenshot).
If I stop playback, audacity freezes until I kill it. If I allow playback to complete, it doesn’t.
ALSA plugin container appears in pavucontrol playback tab only briefly, but disappears before playback completes
Do you want the complete stderr output? Because there’s quite a bit more.
It may also be worth noting that, like the previous poster, I also have two audio devices: the built-in audio on my motherboard, and a USB headset (which I’m using for playback).
What could be going wrong? (I’m a developer, so don’t be shy of techy-talk!)
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM sysdefault
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM sysdefault
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM front
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround21
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround21
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround40
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround41
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround50
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround51
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround71
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM iec958
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM spdif
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM spdif
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.modem
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.modem
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.phoneline
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.phoneline
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4260:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4739:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM dmix
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
Expression 'stream->capture.pcm' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 4594
21:08:17: Debug: DirManager: Created new instance.
Expression 'ret' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 1736
Expression 'AlsaOpen( &alsaApi->baseHostApiRep, params, streamDir, &self->pcm )' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 1904
Expression 'PaAlsaStreamComponent_Initialize( &self->capture, alsaApi, inParams, StreamDirection_In, NULL != callback )' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 2171
Expression 'PaAlsaStream_Initialize( stream, alsaHostApi, inputParameters, outputParameters, sampleRate, framesPerBuffer, callback, streamFlags, userData )' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 2840
21:08:18: Debug: PortAudio stream error creating device list: ALSA:Logitech USB Headset: Audio (hw:1,0): Device unavailable
Looks like your computer sound system is faulty.
Which Linux distribution are you using and which version?
Anything special about your hardware?
Do you know what sort of sound card you have?
82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller, Intel Corporation (driver=snd_hda_intel)
Logitech USB Headset (driver=usbhid)
I’m using pavucontrol to set ALSA capture to the Logitech USB headset. I had previously set the ALSA playback to be the Logitech USB headset, too. But I’ve just tried it again and I no longer have the option to select a play back device per application! I wonder if that’s related?..
Are you aware that Audacity can only be selected in pavucontrol while the audio is active? (for Audacity to be available as a recording device Audacity must have an active audio input port, which means that it must either be recording, or paused recording, or the recording meter activated).
Yes, but a strange thing happens there… When I hit play on a recording (taken with the same headset) it takes a couple of seconds to play back very quickly, but the entry in pavucontrol appears and disappears in a fraction of a second – it’s a mere flash on the screen!
Following some advice I found here, I tried running audacity with pasuspender and was then able to select the headset mic and headphones manually in preferences. And it worked. Restarting audacity without pasuspender, though, worked OK up until I opened preferences and saved the device selection there (which was “default”), whereupon it stopped working again.
Running audacity like this “env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 audacity”, as suggested on your wiki, didn’t help. It just caused audacity to freeze for a minute when every playback was attempted.
One other thing I’ve noticed is that, when it’s broken, playback does work very occasionally – like, one time in 30. It even once played back too quickly and then, half way through, began playing normally! Something very odd is going on. If you’ve got any idea for things I could try, or information I could gather that might be helpful, let me know!
“Default” is pulse. You don’t have to use pulse. Choose the (hw) playback device in Audacity instead. Because you are now trying to access the audio device directly through ALSA, if any other application is accessing the device then Audacity won’t be able to use that device. Also this denies exclusive access of a device to PulseAudio, so other applications using PulseAudio will not be able to use that device.
Try other numbers such as 50.
Also the “Audio to buffer” setting in Audacity’s Recording Preferences may affect how PULSE_LATENCY behaves. If you changed “Audio to buffer” try changing it back to the default 100 ms before experimenting with PULSE_LATENCY.
Why is that?