Audio glitch?

[haddockd]

The issue occurs during long playing times (1.5 hours or so) and it is generally a quick progression of static and once it apexes the audio generally adds an echo effect. It eventually goes away (and subsequently comes back again later). I have confirmed the audio issue all the way back to pre 3.0 on my system. I actually got it to happen with 2.0 using Resident Evil 4. It also occurs on 3.5 builds. I believe the last one I tested was 3.5-269.

I have tried everything I can think of with regard to setting combinations. I have even setup completely different OS installs. I have tried x64, x32 and even just the barebones drivers (and even tried them one at a time to ensure it wasnt one of them).

I dont know how it could be a driver issue because folks have experienced it on Win 7 and Linux as well with Nvidia and ATI cards: Intel and AMD processors too

It is also confirmed to happen with HLE and LLE: DirectSound, XAudio2 and OpenAL are all affected.

On top of that several of us have tested these machines with other emulators and they do not have static. Most notably PCSX2 as it uses XAudio2 I believe. But I have tested many other emus without issue. It seems to be specific to Dolphin. Perhaps there is a newly added or updated library required by Dolphin that is causing this?

[NaturalViolence]

jaddockd Wrote:with Nvidia and ATI cards: Intel and AMD processors too

AMD and Intel are cpu developers. CPUs don't have drivers. Nvidia and AMD are gpu developers. GPU drivers shouldn't affect audio issues. Some modern graphics cards include integrated audio chipsets and the driver installer for your graphics card installs drivers for these along with your GPU drivers but they are in fact separate drivers.

Quote:Perhaps there is a newly added or updated library required by Dolphin that is causing this?

Well have you been able to find a build that doesn't have this issue yet?

[haddockd]

(02-08-2013, 08:08 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: AMD and Intel are cpu developers. CPUs don't have drivers. Nvidia and AMD are gpu developers. GPU drivers shouldn't affect audio issues. Some modern graphics cards include integrated audio chipsets and the driver installer for your graphics card installs drivers for these along with your GPU drivers but they are in fact separate drivers.

Understood. I was unaware of that. Thank you for educating me

(02-08-2013, 08:08 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Well have you been able to find a build that doesn't have this issue yet?

No. I remember experiencing this quite a ways back (3.0 build 600 ish) but simply wrote it off because I was getting a new mobo and mine was failing. Looks like it wasn't the mobo

I have personally tried about 25 or so builds from 3.5-269 all the way back to 2.0 and the issue persists in all builds I have tried.

I have also eliminated the overclock on my GPU and CPU thinking that may have something to do with it and that did not solve the issue.

[isamu]

(12-30-2012, 10:54 PM)admin89 Wrote: Dolphin 3.5 came with the new AX-HLE
Unlike the old HLE . If your PC is not able to run a game full speed all the time , you will have audio glitch

Admin89, thank you for confirming this. This was something I suspected was happening whilst playing F-Zero GX on Game Cube. Every time my frame drops below 60, I get audio skips and stutters. A very jarring experience I don't suppose there is a way to get the devs to give us the option of using the old HLE in the latest builds of Dolphin, is there?

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(01-01-2013, 10:19 PM)DefenderX Wrote: Did u try XAudio2 and a different sample rate? What about LLE?

How do you change the sample rate in Dolphin? Don't see that option under the DSP menu

[LordVador]

(02-10-2013, 10:57 AM)isamu Wrote: I don't suppose there is a way to get the devs to give us the option of using the old HLE in the latest builds of Dolphin, is there?

There is not (or just use Dolphin 3.5). Try to use OpenAL. You might get a better result than with DSound/XAudio.

(02-10-2013, 10:57 AM)isamu Wrote: How do you change the sample rate in Dolphin? Don't see that option under the DSP menu

You can't in latest builds. But you can with Dolphin 3.5

[haddockd]

I realized I hadn't really done any testing with Wii games so I tried Mario Kart Wii and Kirby Return to Dreamland. The issue persists.

Someone already mentioned this but if you do a save state with the crap audio and then load that state (immediately or later) the audio goes back to normal. I can confirm this behavior. Why would loading a save state make the audio better if the original state had bad audio?

When the audio went all crazy, this line was in the log. Not sure if it helps but you never know:

54:23:078 Src\HW\EXI_DeviceIPL.cpp:297 N[OSREPORT]: arithmetic.h:627 Warning:FSqrt: Input is out of the domain.

I recorded the issue from Dolphin and attached the file here although the file has nothing but a solid beep in the audio. This is not what was happening in game: It was the static issue. http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1v2oq8bqqh93eh4

I also attached the save state if anyone cares (Kirby Return to Dreamland (USA) or SUKE01). I just used it because the version that I use doesn't seem to matter and it was what I had handy
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?j4obs3bjeiwzj5s

Just in case the exact build that I used is needed, I have uploaded it was well (I removed my LLE files so no worries there):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?rc89cv7u10wv4c9

VERY strange though: as I tried to record it with Fraps, the music fixed itself. When Fraps stopped, the audio would go bad again...this happened three times as I tried to record it 3 times. I wonder why that would be so? How could Fraps have an impact on the audio of Dolphin?

Thoughts?

[haddockd]

In addition to the above info, The newest issue (as of this writing) appears also to be related:

http://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=5998

It says:
To trigger the glitch, just play 6 - 10 turns on any Mario Party game. Somewhere in that time, music will stop, and then maybe 20ish turns in, voices will start to echo/double play. Along with that, there are various other problems in each game.

20 ish turns would be likely around 1-1.5 hours or so of playtime. This sounds like the exact same issue we are experiencing.

Also for good measure I tried the latest build today (3.5-397) and the issue is still present.

[haddockd]

I know I am double posting but has anyone given any thought as to why Fraps would cause the issue to disappear and then reappear when Fraps was no longer recording?

Also I am sure this is nothing, but Dolphin sees my CPU as something it isnt. Could that have something to do with it?

The i5-2500K does not have more than 1 "thread" per core from what I understand. It is just 4 cores, but Dolphin seems to think my CPU has 2 threads per core...

Sorry after more searching it appears this is a known issue...
http://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=5045

[haddockd]

After finally having more time to test, it appears that my above post was a fluke. I can no longer get Fraps to eliminate the static nor can I reproduce the save state fixing it either. (I cant get any save states to work at all...lucky me).

Anyone else testing this or any updates? Or am I the only one left with this issue?

Also another quick update:

I have tried Chrome and FF (youtube), WMP and VLC (movies) and all my other emulators and none have ANY sound issues at all. It really appears this is Dolphin specific.

[haddockd]

I read somewhere that wireless routers could interfere with HDMI signals and TV's so I checked into it and recorded just the audio from the PC and the issue persists so the issue isnt at the TV/cable level. I uploaded the audio snippet if anyone is interested in what it sounds like. It gets worse that that and the voices get desynched as well.

http://www.mediafire.com/?478jeql6yuhfy5a

I am going to try disabling my router's wireless capability to see if it has an effect on my hardware. Thinking about it, I did get it around the time I noticed the issue happening. Will update when I have time.