Audio skips or stutters in Lucid

[gruntlips_]

Hi,

Installed 10.04 on my serval and everything seems to work great, except for one thing - audio stuttering.

Again, this is the same problem I had in 9.10 and I have it again in 10.04. When I play mp3 files or video in banshee, rhythmbox, mplayer, or vlc the sound skips/stutters randomly during the song (every 30 sec to 1 minute). I haven't noticed any spikes in memory usage during playback when the stuttering occurred and my total system memory being used was pretty reasonable (<20%) during the time when bashee was doing this. I installed the following codecs and programs after the 10.04 install:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu restricted extras
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
sudo apt-get install mplayer smplayer
sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-pulse

The stuttering started right away after a fresh install of 10.04 and has persisted since. When I had this probkem in 9.10, I removed pulse audio by following the instructions from vortex pusher http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1368141&page=2 (below). If I do this the stuttering stops, suggesting pulse audio is the source of the problem.

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-alsa gnome-alsamixer
sudo apt-get purge gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio vlc-plugin-pulse pulseaudio

However, I don't like this solution for a few reasons. 1) Pulse is part of ubnuntu, canonical clearly does not seem like it is getting rid of it, and it seems reasonable that I should be able to make my OS work correctly, especially on a fresh install. 2) Pulse is nicely integrated with my desktop allowing me to easily control volume using the fn keys and other sound aspects from the applet on the top panel. This works out of the box and I like this. It is convenient and user-friendly. When I removed pulseadio in 9.10, I installed the ALSA mixer applet but it was clunky and annoying in comparison. 3) Sounds simply sounds better with pulse (minus the stuttering). It is louder, richer, and fuller. I don't have to screw around with command line settings for gain etc. 4) Skype video cam works out of the box with 10.04 with the default pulse audio settings. I don't have to mess with anything to make it go. For me, that is huge, and I don't want to push over the apple cart. 5) After removing pulse audio in 9.10, my top panel developed some random annoying behavior such as moving around the applets every time I booted up or not loading the networks applet at all unless I logged out and logged back in.

I have read about tweaking the default-fragments and default-fragment-size-msec default values in the file /etc/pulse/daemon.conf at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...se+audio+guide. I have experimented with different values and this seems to reduce the stuttering somewhat, but not eliminate it. The guide suggests values are sound card specific. Which brings me to my question for the past 6 months:

### How can I fix this audio stuttering while keeping pulse intact? ###

I am hoping someone from system76 might know of a solution or at least help me troubleshoot. I emailed the system76 tech support after posting this issue here previously but haven't heard anything. I am wondering if the issue involves some way my serval sound card, an HDA Intel Realtek ALC268, is interacting with pulse and if system76 has encountered this before.

I don't want this to be perceived as a rant but audio functioning correctly is a big deal, and is something, at this stage in ubuntu's development, should simply just work (with minor tweaking, of course [*grin*]).

Any suggestions on how I can fix this?

I appreciate it!

- Chris

My specs:
10.04
Serval System76 laptop (serp4)
Core2 Duo 2.5o GHz
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
HDA Intel Realtek ALC268
4GB ram

[Wheel_nut]

I have the same symptoms on a ThinkPad X21 with a clean installation of Lucid 10.04.

Audio stutters with ALL sound including the start-up tune.

[gruntlips_]

Wheel_nut, I feel your pain.

[Wheel_nut]

Hi Gruntlips, I wish I could understand the techspeak enough to try one of the options you have described.

I hope there is an update to fix this soon.

Would a downgrade to a previous release .... or a previous Kernel fix this more easily?

[gruntlips_]

I am not sure if that would help since I don't know what is causing this. I had this problem in 9.10 and 10.04 so it is not specific to lucid. Maybe there is a way to configure pulse that I am just not doing correctly.

- Chris

[bandersen]

bump, same!

[isantop]

gruntlips_:
Are you getting a skipping-type error, like a skipping CD, or is it more like a pop? Also, can you hear it happening all the time, or only during playback? Does it change with different volume levels, or is it always constant?

[gruntlips_]

Skipping sound, not popping. It happens during audio playback on any of the music players, video playback on mplayer or vlc, within firefox, while watching youtube for instance, in skype (I think), and also during startup sometimes. It does not happen all the time, but only during playback. It is intermittent and the frequency of the stuttering is not constant. It occurs at all volume levels with the skipping being louder at higher volume. Do you have a similar problem?

- Chris

[bandersen]

i have had the exact same problem for a while BUMPBUMP

[gruntlips_]

Thomasaaron, I know you are always swamped but I was hoping you might have some advice for fixing this audio problem. It is not as though there is a lack of "solutions" floating around here on the forums, but there does not appear to be any kind of consensus and many involve beheading pulse in some fashion or another. Have you guys noticed this issue on system76 computers?

Thanks! I feel like if I can figure this audio problem out then 10.04 on my serval will simply rock.

- Chris