Dolphin midi audio broken in latest dev build.

[Garo]

Hey everyone! I recently updated Dolphin to the latest dev build (5.0-18720) and it seems that this update has broken audio in many games that use midi tracks, like Mario Kart Double Dash for example. I have inserted an mp3 file in this post that should help you understand what I'm talking about. Also changed the audio backend did nothing to solve this issue.

The following audio clip is from the Opening Theme to Mario Kart Double Dash:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/832772034660270130/1078810999378948208/0224.mp3

[MayImilae]

Does this occur under DSP HLE and/or DSP LLE?

[Garo]

(02-25-2023, 11:34 AM)MayImilae Wrote: Does this occur under DSP HLE and/or DSP LLE?

It seems that using DSP LLE Recompiler and DSP LLE Interpreter fixed the issue. Using DSP HLE is what's causing the audio to become broken. For now I'll just stick to using DSP LLE Recompiler.

[MayImilae]

Well that's good, but that doesn't help us fix it!

Where did you encounter this in game?

[Garo]

(02-25-2023, 01:30 PM)MayImilae Wrote: Well that's good, but that doesn't help us fix it!

Where did you encounter this in game?

As soon I started up Mario Kart Double Dash all sounds were broken except for the FMV intro as that uses a pre-recorded audio track and not midi (at least I think so.) Also I launched up Wind Waker and had the same audio issues. The issue doesn't occur at a specific time, as soon as a game is started all midi music and sounds effects will break. I'm pretty sure it's only midi because I also launched up Alien Hominid and had no audio issues, as I'm pretty sure all the music and sound effects in that game don't use midi at all. For all games though there is always a slight humming noise in the background. Very strange.

[MayImilae]

Please post a screenshot of your audio settings page please.

Alien Hominid and basically all games use sampled music. What you are noticing is the different between the AX microcode and the Zelda Microcode. The zelda microcode is used in double dash and wind waker, but alien hominid (and 99% of games) use AX. It would appear your issue is isolated to the Zelda microcode. Here is the list of Zelda microcode games if you want to try any others you have - https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Category:Zelda_ucode_games

[Flax4]

I'm on build 5.0-18722 and I'm having the same issue with certain games. Super Mario Galaxy 1/2, Super Mario Sunshine, they all suffer from broken audio under HLE when launching either title.

Audio settings:

[MayImilae]

Can both of you bisect this to try to find the build that first breaks for you?

Basically, the process of bisecting is to have a version you know works, and a version you know doesn't work, and try the version in the middle. That way, you are reducing the possible versions you need to test by half every time. Repeat that a few times and you should have an exact version where Dolphin's behavior changed.

[Flax4]

Build 5.0-18720 is where it started for me. So a very recent build. Beta works just fine, I tried 5 builds compiled before 5.0-18720 and they worked just fine too.

[Garo]

(02-25-2023, 03:56 PM)MayImilae Wrote: Please post a screenshot of your audio settings page please.

Alien Hominid and basically all games use sampled music. What you are noticing is the different between the AX microcode and the Zelda Microcode. The zelda microcode is used in double dash and wind waker, but alien hominid (and 99% of games) use AX. It would appear your issue is isolated to the Zelda microcode. Here is the list of Zelda microcode games if you want to try any others you have - https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Category:Zelda_ucode_games

I tested out Super Mario Sunshine as according to that list that game also uses the Zelda Microcode, and I had the worst results out of Double Dash and Wind Waker. Basically if you're familiar with the sound the Wii makes when a game or homebrew app crashes that's exactly what I heard for the entire game. Below is a screenshot of my audio settings that cause the sound issues: