Stuttering, plays alternating left and right, out of sync

[martinu]

Audacity 1.2.6 on Windows XP Pro SP2, Celeron 1.6 with Realtek HD sound on motherboard

When I play back some WAV files (stereo, 44 kHz, 16 bit (although reported as 32 bit float)) it plays a bit of one channel for a second or so, then a bit of the other channel for the same period of time, in a stuttering manner. The sound that is played back gets further and further out of sync with the cursor on the waveform display (the cursor finishes and theres still sound playing). The left and right VU meters show alternating level on left and right, to match what I'm hearing. Some WAV files of the same spec play fine.

I've tried changing Edit | Preferences | Audio I/O | Output device from MS Sound Mapper to Realtek HD Audio but it makes no difference. Other sound players such as CoolEdit and Windows Media Player play the same WAV files perfectly.

[Gale Andrews]

Audacity reports the files as 32 bit because by default it decompresses them to that resolution. If your current default device is Realtek, then MS SoundMapper also gives you the Realtek device.

I presume you are playing these files one at a time in Audacity, or are you mixing them? Mixing long tracks is quite demanding for machines. Please see this article on our Wiki and see if it helps.

Gale