Sound crackling

[PaulyQ]

"CCS64, MAME, bsnes, Magic Engine, Speculator, etc etc." - less resource and CPU hungry, WinUAE uses far more CPU overhead compared to the above (with the exception of some of the bigger more technical games in MAME)

Am I missing something or did I miss your PC specs? Would be handy to know.

I'm running a AMD64 3500+ with an ATi 2600HD xt (both overclocked) and rarely have any speed issues or major sound lag

[plasmatron]

Originally Posted by PaulyQ

"CCS64, MAME, bsnes, Magic Engine, Speculator, etc etc." - less resource and CPU hungry, WinUAE uses far more CPU overhead compared to the above (with the exception of some of the bigger more technical games in MAME)

Am I missing something or did I miss your PC specs? Would be handy to know.

I'm running a AMD64 3500+ with an ATi 2600HD xt (both overclocked) and rarely have any speed issues or major sound lag

I`m running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ with Nvidia 9600GT.
think the hardware icould handle this:-)

@lesta_smsc
Sounds interesting. Will try. Thanxx m8

[plasmatron]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Any possibility this is due the Windows version you're using... e.g. tried running under compatibility mode. Also, I'm not sure if this is the same with WinUAE, but very occasionally there are problems arising from multi-core CPUs. Would be worth trying to go to MSCONFIG (then inside go to Boot > Advanced options > number of processors = 1) or similar and try again - this was the case for me with another piece of software where I had similar issues, but not saying this will work but worth trying.

Changed the number of processors from 1 to 2 but nothing changes on the problem

[plasmatron]

Tell you what... Tried latest beta (250 b 16) and its running fine again.
dont know whats wrong with my 2.4.1?

[mike4466]

It's not winuae.
I had the same problem with crackling,cutting out etc on my speakers and it took ages to cure it.
Go to your speaker "volume control" settings in the menu and turn it down to halfway leave the wave,sw synth and cd at full volume.
On certain emulators it can automatically turn these volume settings in the menu up or down,so remember to adjust them back to the way you last set them once you have finished with an emulator.
Sometimes it can make things worse installing the latest sound drivers so install older versions instead.
Try enabling or disabling both direct draw and direct 3d acceleration.
When you disable both direct draw and direct 3d acceleration close the window then go back to the direct x settings again and it might say "direct 3D acceleration not available" when it should say "disabled" this can make your sound faulty and it will cause the sound to quickly cut out every few seconds,so to temporary fix this situation leave the direct x window on when disabling both direct draw and direct 3d acceleration and they will both stay disabled.
This fault with direct x not disabling direct 3d acceleration and showing "not available" causes the sound to quickly cut out every few seconds and happens only on emulators such as mame for me and only on certain older versions.
So its the speaker volume control settings in the menu im sure that's caused the crackling problems for me and since adjusting my speakers settings to halfway in the menu they have not crackled since.
Hope this helps.

[plasmatron]

Sorry to disapoint you but its not fixrd with latest beta. First thought it is:-(

@mike4466
Will try your advice, hope I can follow all your steps:-)

[plasmatron]

@@mike4466
Can you explain in short and easy words what I have to do, to follow your advice?
Step by step please.

[Toni Wilen]

I still blame buggy bios or AMD X2 QueryPerformanceCounter bug/side effect.

It was supposedly fixed in Vista but there are posts on gaming related forums that says "usepmtimer" fix (which is unfortunately more complex on Visa and later than on XP) helps with some random glitches on games.

[plasmatron]

This is a realy sad day for me...

[Kitty]

Long Shot, set priority to high in winuae settings.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

I still blame buggy bios or AMD X2 QueryPerformanceCounter bug/side effect.

It was supposedly fixed in Vista but there are posts on gaming related forums that says "usepmtimer" fix (which is unfortunately more complex on Visa and later than on XP) helps with some random glitches on games.

Helllo toni, ok, i have the same prloblem here the sound is crackling on some games, but not all. Its like the sound buffer is getting filled and once done it is like it s overflowed and the crackling begins. Even with buffer at 8, it happens. I have a top range soundcard so this can t be really explained
Note i use the very latest beta, and there is 2 others bugs i will report tonight, one aboit memory which is strange, i lose all available ram and winuae crsh with guru and the othr is related to fullscreen display with scanlines i get a strange effect on.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Helllo toni, ok, i have the same prloblem here the sound is crackling on some games, but not all.

Not same problem. Read again. EDIT: This is about problem that is not configuration specific and only happens after 10mins or more.

[mike4466]

I Have uploaded videos to show you how to do it.
Just click on start button at the bottom which the video's dont show.
Also at the very end of the cutting out sound video make sure you click on the minus symbol not the cross one on the direct x diagnostic window so it goes to the taskbar at the bottom or it won't work.
Also worth mentioning if you get blurry graphics on some emulators disabling or enabling both direct draw & direct 3d acceleration will cure it.

[plasmatron]

Where can I view the video m8?

[plasmatron]

@dlfrsilver
I discovered now that it can also happen right on start up ot the emulator.
I also discovered that not every game has heavy sound problems.
There are some where it is more intense than others.
Think it depends on the player routinge the game is using???
On Ben Daglish soundtracks for example the crackling is very heavy.
Strange I know but that is like it is here atm...

[mike4466]

Originally Posted by plasmatron

Where can I view the video m8?

I have uploaded them to the zone "faulty sound cures"

[plasmatron]

Thanxx for your efforts m8, Since options are totaly different under win7, it took me some time ro figure em out. But I`m affraid its still crackling badly.

[mike4466]

Strange as it may seem have you tried reinstalling/updating your graphic drivers because they are connected with sound through direct x diagnostic tool display as was the case with me when i properly disabled direct draw & direct 3d acceleration.
When that direct 3d acceleration "not available" appeared whats shown in my video the sound cuts out every few seconds and happens only on certain older versions of mame and this does not happen at all in any of my 30 different emulators for 30 different computers.
So when i disable both the direct draw & direct 3d acceleration and make them stay disabled by keeping the window open the sound problem goes away in mame completely and in this video of mine its under the "display" tab in direct x diagnostic tool,so its proof that the "display" is connected to the sound in direct x diagnostic tool window.
So if that don't work try neatening your wires up behind your pc and moving your monitor away from other monitors if you have them because they can interfere with sound as well as your graphics.
It could be a diode,capacitor or dry joint thats connected with the sound in the pcb board thats overheating thats why it starts crackling after 10 minutes use,so a trip to the pc repair shop is the final option and they will get out the multi meter and see if the correct voltages etc are going through each component.
You got to be patient with these things as it took weeks for me to find out what the cause of my sound problems were.
so persistance pays off in end i say.

[plasmatron]

I can now defo say, that latest public winuae causes the issues!
I was smart enough to try an older allready installed version today.
And the snd%meter is constandly blinking in blue and good numbers.
On the latest winuae it is struggeling and flickering from red to yellow and sometimes blue. The meter is going crazy but in the old one its all good.
So 2.3.1 is working flawless here in the sound departmend

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by plasmatron

And the snd%meter is constandly blinking in blue and good numbers.

I don't think older version actually fixed anything if you get blue flickering..

Blue is also bad, especially if you get it with high buffer sizes. (Blue = buffer would overflow = slow down emulation until there is more space. This does not cause sound glitches.)