Audacity playback at 5x speed

[RAaudacity]

I'm using audacity 2.1.2 with Ubuntu 15.10. I installed Audacity from a ppa, today.

It records streaming audio properly but the playback is about 5X the proper speed. I had the same problem with the prior version of audacity in Software Center, so I updated to this 2.1.2 version. Oddly, the prior version always played at a high speed - this version does too, but sometimes it will revert in the middle of a playback to the correct speed. I haven't messed with any of the settings on Audacity - it's running just as it installed.
How do I fix this?

[steve]

Is the pitch also very high (like playing a tape too fast) or is it just fast but at normal pitch?

[RAaudacity]

Is the pitch also very high (like playing a tape too fast) or is it just fast but at normal pitch?

Kind of high pitch, but not a screech sound. If the recorded material is exported and played on VLC, it plays as a normal recording.

[steve]

OK, so it's just a playback rate problem.
What is set as the "playback device" in the device toolbar and what other options are there?

[RAaudacity]

OK, so it's just a playback rate problem.
What is set as the "playback device" in the device toolbar and what other options are there?

Playback has 7 options:
4 of them refer to HDA Nvidia (vid card sound) which run at apparently correct speed, but don't result in sound coming through.
1 of them is a USB sound card I use for the mic, which runs at apparently correct speed, but no sound comes through.
1 of them is Pulse, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound.
1 of them is Default, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound.

Mostly, Pulse runs at 5x, sometimes in the middle of a playback it will change to correct speed.

[Gale Andrews]

Have you tried http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Linux_Issues#pulse?


Gale

[steve]

1 of them is Pulse, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound.

Where does it feed sound to? Where does the sound come out?

1 of them is Default, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound

"Pulse" is the default, so that's just the same output as selecting "Pulse".

[RAaudacity]

Have you tried http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Linux_Issues#pulse?

Gale

I'm using v 2.1.2.
Here's what I tried in changing /usr/share/applications/audacity.desktop :

was: Exec=env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 audacity %F

changed to: Exec=env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 audacity %F

With the change, playback doesn't run at 5x, it just quickly stops dead.

Below is the whole file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Audacity
Name[de]=Audacity
Name[ru]=Audacity
Name[uk]=Audacity
GenericName=Sound Editor
GenericName[de]=Audio-Editor
GenericName[ru]=Редактор звуковых файлов
GenericName[uk]=Редактор звукових файлів
Comment=Record and edit audio files
Comment[de]=Audio-Dateien aufnehmen und bearbeiten
Comment[ru]=Запись и редактирование звуковых файлов
Comment[uk]=Запис і редагування звукових файлів

Icon=audacity

Type=Application
Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;AudioVideoEditing;

Exec=env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 audacity %F
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
MimeType=application/x-audacity-project;audio/aac;audio/ac3;audio/mp4;audio/x-m$

[RAaudacity]

1 of them is Pulse, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound.

>Where does it feed sound to? Where does the sound come out?<

Well, it comes out of my speakers. If it wasn't running at 5x, I assume it would sound fine.

1 of them is Default, which plays at 5x, and does feed sound

<"Pulse" is the default, so that's just the same output as selecting "Pulse">

Good to know, but then why does Default show up as an option in the Audacity playback menu along w/ Pulse?

[steve]

Good to know, but then why does Default show up as an option in the Audacity playback menu along w/ Pulse?

Let me rephrase my comment:
On a standard Ubuntu installation, the default playback device is PulseAudio. On other systems it may be different.

Where does it feed sound to? Where does the sound come out?

Well, it comes out of my speakers

and how are the speakers connected to the computer?
I'm trying to work out if Pulse is using the HDA Nvidia device, the USB device, or something else.

Do you have PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol) installed?