Program Crash: Reports Nyquist Files Missing

[NorfolkGreg]

Hi,

I have been running Audacity 2.0.5 (the latest in the repository) without problems since moving to Linux Mint 17.3 (Mate Desktop) for 18 months ago. Then a fortnight ago I started getting problems. It is just possible that the problems coincided with a power cut that, although no other program seems to have been affected by that irregular shutdown.

The main symptom is that 9 times out of ten playback of a file occurs at "quadruple speed" with just "static" coming from the speakers. If I then attempt to stop play complete lockup of the program occurs, with the "Stop" button remaining depressed. An attempt to close the window causes a delay before a "Marco" dialogue appears:

===========
Audacity (Recovered) is not responding.

You may choose to wait a short while for it to continue or force the application to quit entirely.
===========

On relaunching the program the log will show:

Code: Select all

10:27:34: Audacity 2.0.5
10:27:35: Warning: Critical Nyquist files could not be found. Nyquist effects will not work.
10:27:37: Retrieving FFmpeg library version numbers:
10:27:37:    AVCodec version 0x362301 - 54.35.1 (built against 0x362300 - 54.35.0)
10:27:37:    AVFormat version 0x361404 - 54.20.4 (built against 0x361404 - 54.20.4)
10:27:37:    AVUtil version 0x340300 - 52.3.0 (built against 0x340300 - 52.3.0)

I have tried un-installing and reinstalling the program but that appears to leave certain settings in place as on re-installation it will offer to recover the last file loaded.

I guess that as a first step I need to reload the Nyquist files or at least point the program to them.
Where should they be?
How do I check the right location is being sought by Audacity?
What else might help to return the program to a working state?

[steve]

There's more than one problem here.

The locking up is most likely due to Audacity and PulseAudio not playing nicely together. The easiest "solution" ("workaround") for this is usually to bypass PulseAudio by setting Audacity to access the audio hardware directly through ALSA. To do that, select the "hw" options that correspond with the audio device that you wish to use in the recording and playback settings of the device toolbar.


The missing Nyquist files indicates that Audacity is not correctly installed. The files being referred to are part of the standard Audacity application. They should be installed in:
/usr/share/audacity/nyquist/

Do you recall if these effects were previously available:

Generate Menu:
Pluck
Risset Drum
Click Track

Effect Menu:
High Pass Filter
Low Pass Filter
Vocal Removal

Analyze Menu:
Silence Finder
Sound Finder

[NorfolkGreg]

I should probably add this further log file to provide more clues about the problem after attempting a recovery::

Code: Select all

14:01:32: Audacity 2.0.5
14:01:34: Warning: Critical Nyquist files could not be found. Nyquist effects will not work.
14:01:36: Retrieving FFmpeg library version numbers:
14:01:36:    AVCodec version 0x362301 - 54.35.1 (built against 0x362300 - 54.35.0)
14:01:36:    AVFormat version 0x361404 - 54.20.4 (built against 0x361404 - 54.20.4)
14:01:36:    AVUtil version 0x340300 - 52.3.0 (built against 0x340300 - 52.3.0)
14:01:41: Warning: Orphan block file: '/var/tmp/audacity-greg/project2027346503/e00/d00/e000097b.au'
14:01:41: Warning: Orphan block file: '/var/tmp/audacity-greg/project2027346503/e00/d00/e0000fe5.au'
14:01:41: Warning:    Project check ignored orphan block file(s). They will be deleted when project is saved.
14:01:41: Warning: Project check found file inconsistencies inspecting the loaded project data.

[steve]

"Orphan blockfiles" are common after a crash. They occur when there is audio data ("blockfiles") that are not in use by the project. This is a symptom rather than a cause.

[NorfolkGreg]

Thanks for the help, Steve.
My previous reply (with additional log file text) seemsto have been delayed by moderation and I'm not sure how it may help.

There's more than one problem here.

Oh dear!

The locking up is most likely due to Audacity and PulseAudio not playing nicely together. The easiest "solution" ("workaround") for this is usually to bypass PulseAudio by setting Audacity to access the audio hardware directly through ALSA. To do that, select the "hw" options that correspond with the audio device that you wish to use in the recording and playback settings of the device toolbar.

The point is they did play nicely together until a week or two back.
However, are you saying I should alter things from the options shown highlighted here:

screenshot373.png (45.85 KiB) Viewed 1741 times

screenshot374.png (199.63 KiB) Viewed 1741 times

The missing Nyquist files indicates that Audacity is not correctly installed. The files being referred to are part of the standard Audacity application. They should be installed in:
/usr/share/audacity/nyquist/

Something appears very wrong. (More likely in my Linux naivety I'm searching for the wrong thing!)
I can find no usr/share/audacity folder at all! The only audacity folders currently on my system with dates after adopting Linux are:
/usr/share/doc/audacity-data
/var/tmp/audacity-greg
/usr/share/doc/audacity
None of these appear to hold program files.
(earlier dated folders are all on my external drives holding old Windows-based backups). However it must be somewhere as Audacity still launches and runs - until it crashes.

Do you recall if these effects were previously available:

Generate Menu:
Pluck
Risset Drum
Click Track

Effect Menu:
High Pass Filter
Low Pass Filter
Vocal Removal

Analyze Menu:
Silence Finder
Sound Finder

Unfortunately not, but I strong suspect they did exist.

[steve]

However, are you saying I should alter things from the options shown highlighted here:

There should normally be a "(hw:0\0)" item in the playback settings (in the device toolbar), but you don't currently have that, probably because something else is still using the sound card. Try rebooting (or just log out and back in again) and then start Audacity. The most likely configuration for recording and playback on your system looks to be "HDA Intel ....(hw:0,0)".
The disadvantage of using the "hw" option is that you can only have one application accessing the sound card (Audacity), but the up-side is that Audacity should be much more stable.

None of these appear to hold program files.

Take a look in /usr/local/share/

[NorfolkGreg]

I've done a re-boot and now see this:

screenshot375.png (177.26 KiB) Viewed 1734 times

I did run Audacious a couple of times since the last reboot earlier in the day. Could that have grabbed the hw:0.0 ?
I've also been running a Jackie Lawson Advent Calendar recently, within Firefox. I believe that uses a lot of the dreaded flash.

I had already checked in usr/local/

screenshot377.png (75.61 KiB) Viewed 1734 times

It look remarkably empty.

I still have the missing Nyquist files, of course - and I've still no idea where Audacity is hiding!

[steve]

I have tried un-installing and reinstalling the program

How exactly are you doing that?

[NorfolkGreg]

I have tried un-installing and reinstalling the program

How exactly are you doing that?

Simply by using Mint's Software Manager.
Clearly, it doesn't do what I had hoped for!

Greg

[steve]

Try entering in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

which audacity

What does it say?