Output levels distorted after restarting audacity

[BlueRain508]

Here's the problem. See how the waveform has a "notch" in it where it briefly goes to the centre line. I've highlighted one, and there is another one visible a little earlier.

firsttrack000.png

Those notches should not be there. The strange thing is that they occur at exact intervals of 128 samples.
I doubt that this is an Audacity problem. It looks more like a problem with the audio device drivers.

Try running this command in a terminal window. It will record 6 seconds of audio (starting when you press "Enter") from the default device (should be your mic). By default it will save the file to your home folder:

Code: Select all

arecord -d 6 -f S16_LE -t wav -c 1 test.wav

If for some reason it does not return to the normal terminal prompt after 6 seconds, press Ctrl+C to abort.
Try that and see if the "distortion" problem occurs there.

Yeah, I see what you're talking about. That's really strange. I tried doing the test sample and the distortion is still there. It's like a crackling sound or something. I tried reinstalling alsa, that didn't change anything. On bass and treble in Audacity, I disabled level control and turned the bass way down and that seemed to make it better, but it didn't go away.

[steve]

I tried doing the test sample and the distortion is still there.

Was that with "arecord"? If so, could you post that recording so I can see if the notches are "exactly" the same as you get with Audacity.