audacity stops recording after about a second when using software play-through

I just checked, and it produces no output in the console when this occurs.

I have the exact same problem. Don't know how to tell what card I have but I think it uses the intel module also. Any help would be appreciated. I am on a Acer 5610z laptop.

Btw, everything was working fine until I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04. When I upgraded everything was slow but enabling UXA made it speed up. The only thing not working now is Audacity with software play-through. I can get it to sort of work by playing with the input and output devices in Audacity, but it stutters a lot like it is being slow.

I have tried compiling the latest Audacity CVS (its in my PPA), but the problem still occurs. There is also a forum topic on Audacity's forum about this, but there isn't any solution there. I tried this same thing (software playthrough) on a Windows Vista computer and the problem doesn't happen there, with the same version of Audacity.

this happens to me whether or not 'software playthrough' is enabled. also, the same behavior occurs when just monitoring the input. i.e. the monitor will show some activity and then stop responding--freeze.

is it the same bug? can you verify if recording works with software playthrough disabled? because it doesn't for me.

i have audacity 1.3.7-1~intrepid1~8.10prevu1 on ubuntu 8.10 2.6.27-14-generic x86_64

forcing the version back to 1.3.5-2 has gotten rid of the problem, and i am pleased to see that my theme settings from 1.3.7 have persisted!

The way I 'fixed' this bug, is to set the Default Sample Rate to 48000 Hz. Can you try that to see if it resolves the issue for you? If so, at least we know what's causing the problem.

Edit --> Preferences --> Quality --> Default Sample Rate --> 48000 Hz

I have been using 48000Hz. I have also tried a variety of other samplerates, and the problem remains.

I don't know if it is the same thing but when I try to record, the red line moves across to 1 second, maybe 2, and stops. I am new to Audacity (and to Linux, in fact) and what puzzled me was that, when I used it for the first time, 3 days ago, it worked fine - *.aup file, *.wav files both created and working. I am trying to record all my old cassettes, using a tape deck from about a million years ago (well, 39) using a 5 pin DIN socket. Turning off Firefox makes no difference and I have not tried a different sample rate, yet. How can I force the version back to 1.3.5.-2, please? I don't have it.

Two more questions: is it necessary to create a Project? The Audacity manual says yes but some material I obtained from Leeds University makes no mention of it. How do I save a Project, when the selection is greyed out?

I have the same problem. Audacity worked fine with Ubuntu 8.10.

I got tired of NO Audacity on my 9.04 AMD64 with dual quads, hurst linkage,
4 on the floor. So I did this and it works great so far!!!

I downloaded this from audacity site, an earlier build of 1.37 but it *says*
Stable 1.2.
removed Synaptic version of audacity 1.37xxx. This one stops recording after
a half-second.

Download Page for audacity_1.3.5-2+lenny1_amd64.deb on AMD64 machines List
of mirrors here <http://packages.debian.org/lenny/amd64/audacity/download>:
http://packages.debian.org/lenny/amd64/audacity/download

sudo dpkg -i dpkg -i audacity_1.3.5-2+lenny1_amd64.deb

IT WORKS GREAT!!! NO MORE WAIT!!!

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 1:38 PM, Sergio Ventura <email address hidden> wrote:

> I have the same problem. Audacity worked fine with Ubuntu 8.10.
>
> --
> audacity stops recording after about a second when using software
> play-through
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/355846
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “audacity” source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: audacity
>
> Using Audacity 1.3.7, when I attempt to record from my laptop (Dell Vostro
> 1500)'s audio in port while using Software Play-Through, the program stops
> recording. It does not lock up, because I can still stop it from recording
> by clicking the stop button. My laptop's audio device is a Sigmatel/IDT HD
> Audio Codec using the snd-hda-intel module.
>

I also have the problem. I am running 9.04 on an an Intel DG33FB motherboard. Records at 96Khz and 48Khz but will not record at sample rates of 44Khz or lower. Records for about a second and then stops. No errors, the cursor continues moving but nothing is recorded.

Not sure if this information is useful but... I continued to play with Audacity and Pulseaudio. I turned off "Software Playthrough" and that did not fix the problem. It still only worked at 96Khz and 48Khz. I installed "PulseAudio Device Chooser". I took a look at the sinks and sources, opened the volume meters but did not change any settings. When I went back to Audacity, it was now working, recording at any sample rate. So I turned "Software Playthrough" back on in Audacity and now nothing records. Cant record at any sample rate. I then turned off "Software Playthrough" again and now nothing records at any sample rate. Nothing plays either. So at this point it is broken completely.

After playing with the various settings here is how I got
it to work (more or less):

Applications-Sound & Video-Audacity
  Toolbar:
    Output Volume - max
    Input Volume - max, Capture:1
  Edit-Preferences-Audio I/O:
    Playback - (hw:0,0)
    Recording - (hw:0,2)
    Playthrough -
      Uncheck Overdub
      Uncheck Software Playthrough

Volume Icon-Volume Control
  Device: (ALSA Mixer)
  Playback:
    UnMute (and max volume) - Master, PCM, Front, Mic Boost
    Mute - Line-in, CD, Mic, PC Speaker
  Recording:
    Capture:
      Unmute Speaker
      Mute Mic
    Capture 1
      Mute Speaker
      Unmute Mic
    Switches:
      Check - Headphone
      Uncheck - IEC958, IEC958 Capture, IEC958 Default PCM
    Options:
      Channel Mode - 2ch
      Input Source - Line
      Input Source - Mic
    Sound Theme:
      Default

Other comments:
- Re-activating software playthrough works (sometimes). So I don't think this
  bug is specific to using software playthrough.
- Changing the input source on the audacity toolbar does not change
  the recording input.
- Changing the Volume Control options will change the recording input
  but it works intermittently. Sometimes the change happens and
  sometimes it does not.
- The output and input volume controls on Audacitys toolbar does not
  work (volume stays the same regardless of control setting)
- The PulseAudio Volume Meter does not work when Audacity is
  playing (works with other apps)
- Sample rates 96kHz, 48kHz, 44kHz work, 22kHz, 16kHz, 8kHz do not
  work (stops after 1 sec. recording).
- Sometimes all rates work but I was never able to constantly get it
  back to where all sample rates worked.

I am not using PulseAudio, but ALSA directly, and I still have the problem.

I'm having the same problem, without software playthrough enabled. It stops recording at about 0.2 seconds, but the bar keeps moving and the monitor keeps working. It works at 22050hz, but nothing higher (contrary to other reports that seem to have a minimum rather than a maximum).

I am a new Audacity user, and have similar recording problems. Ubuntu 9.04, Audacity 1.3., Athlon 1500+, Audigy sound card.

Many times, recording will stop after a fraction of a second, and sometimes a dialog box will pop up warning about latency problems (sorry, I can't reproduce it right now)

Many times, recording will also stop after several minutes.

Sometimes, recording will proceed for half an hour without trouble.

In all cases, the bar stops moving, but the record button stays pressed, and you may press "stop".

Karmic also effected with this problem but pulse audio had to be uninstalled to get sound working for me. using the lenny version of audacity mentioned in earlier posts allows recording to work.

with the pulse problems i've had my system isn't clean enough to confirm its a problem with audacity.

The system is an athlon 1600+ with 1 gb ram and ac97 codec.

After I set the "Latency Correction" in Audacity Preferences/Audio I/O to 0 milliseconds, I have had no further problems with recording.

Perhaps the problem is in the latency correction.

I have the same problem using Jaunty. I have tried all the suggestions and increasing the sample rate to 48khz does work. changing latency does have varying effects - higher latency recording stops altogether and lower latency results in no recording at all. This appears to only effect recording as loading audio files seems to be OK. I am new to audacity and am keen to see it work.

I could get this feature to work in Karmic by using (hw0,0) as my playback device. Sometimes the choice wouldn't be there and I would have to try restarting Audacity (while closing firefox and various programs).

In Lucid Lynx, no matter what I do.. I cannot get (hw0,0) to show up as an option on my playback devices in audacity.. and therefore I cannot get this feature to work.

On another note.. In Lucid Lynx, I can get software playthrough to work when I use PulseAudio to record and not ALSA. I do, however, have to manually select the record device in alsamixer because it is not listed in the gnome sound manager.

Seems jackd may be involved.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/jackd stop

Now working ok.

Same thing for me. I do not have jackd installed.
It's quite funny because on this new lucid install I couldn't believe it but monitoring worked without my tweaking anything! I was amazed, as my prior experiences with Audacity in linux have forced me (a very avid gnu/linux user) to record in windows.
Anyhow, I was shocked that monitoring worked.
Go figure that the basic record operation doesn't! ;0
I hit record, a track gets created, and it records for about 1/4 of a second then stops.
I can click the stop buttons, and the ui is otherwise responsive.
Baffled

I'm having the same issue on Lucid (10.04). Record stops after a second or so. I don't use PulseAudio (my ALSA configuration is quite big and I don't want to switch to PA, yet). Disabling 'software playthrough' helps but in my case I can't get any sound recording while recording.

I've get rid of the problem of no sound recording - I've choose invalid source for input. Now it records sound properly, but without disabled 'software playthrough' option as suggested in this bug report.
I've got no jackd or other sound server, pulseaudio removed, keept just ALSA.

Hi,

As suggested by others, I got rid of this bug in Kubuntu Karmic (Audacity 1.3.9, no PulseAudio, no Jackd) by changing the default sample frequency to 48 KHz in Preferences -> Quality.

In the beta version of Audacity, this only happens to me in overdub. In other words, I can record one track, but as soon as I start recording another one it doesn't work. I have to turn off overdub for it to work, but then I can't listen to the previous track while recording the new one.

I fixed this problem by setting both the playback and recording devices to the USB device that I'm using (as opposed to USB for input and computer for output), as suggested here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Troubleshooting_Recordings#Overdubbed_recording_drifts_out-of-sync.2C_or_produces_error_or_poor_quality.
However, when I recorded the second track it was all stuttered (you can even tell it's stuttered by looking at the waveform). I'm guessing that it's running out of memory or something, I'll have a play around

Ubuntu 10.04
Audacity 1.3.12

I also have the problem.
I on ubuntu 10.10 with audacity 1.3.13 alpha Nov 9 2010 (from pkg: 1.3.12+svn201011090133+r6466-0~maverick1).

i test ALL the suggestions, but nothing not work (the pkg for lenny of course work but is detour, it's not really fix it... and also it's very old audacity :)

and... It does not matter really what the sound card and all the technical stuff, the same problem it's at everyone...

And of course, i wait to fix this bug.
Guys, it's almost two years this bug exists...
(but me, the bug did not exist before i upgraded to 10:10, until then everything worked fine).

Hi all, again,

i installed again the ubuntu 10.10 (bugs, slow. etc... now is very fast :), and i install audacity (it's with default settings),
and now record works fine. -with the ver audacity: 1.3.12-7 (regular, now not from PPA).

i dont know what the fuck with this bug...

audacity 1.3.12.7-maverick, kernel 2.6.35-23-generic #40-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 17 22:14:33 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

For me, the behavior is erratic: sometimes I can record with playback for several tens of seconds, sometimes it stops almost immediately. I have tried changing the sample rate, latency settings and sound-activated-recording settings, but the behavior is still random. For some time I thought that maxing the CPU frequency (2.4 Ghz) helped a little, but that was probably just my imagination.

Does anybody know whether this problem is specific to Ubuntu?

This bug is probably not specific to Ubuntu.

I think I have identified where the problem lies: in the underrun handling of the playback stream. I don't know what causes the underrun, but the recovery mechanism does not have the desired effect, so both capture and playback remain frozen.

In the attached path, which is not of production quality, I call AlsaRestart when a playback underrun is detected. That seems to recover the situation without causing apparent problems but it is probably too blunt to be acceptable as a long-term solution. I am, after all, completely unfamiliar with alsa programming.

The patch also contains some output statements in the affected functions, producing the following console output:

playback xrun
capture xrun
AlsaRestart
playback xrun
capture xrun
AlsaRestart
playback xrun
capture xrun
AlsaRestart
[repeated]

Now I think I know why there are overruns and underruns: there is something wrong with the latencies.

The attached patch disables the special handling of the playthrough case and uses the user-settable latency for both capture and playback. The patch also contains a few diagnostic output statements that print out the suggested latencies (ignored) and the latency set in the preferences, which are the ones used.

On my machine, the patch produces the following console output:
default playback latency: 0,011610
suggested playback latency: 0,100000
default capture latency: 0,046440
suggested capture latency: 0,100000

This patch solves the problem for me, but of course I have only tested on my platform (64-bit Linux).

1. After applying my patch, I have experimented with different latency settings, and I find that 32 ms is about the lowest that works on my machine, without xrun recovery.

2. Although my second patch largely removes the source of overruns and underruns, the first patch is still necessary to cover the case when the user presses the left or right arrow while recording with play-through (or during playback, if the latency is very low); without the first patch the recording (and playback) stops, with the patch it will continue after recovery. However, I think that should actually be a separate bug.

@Per, thanks for the analysis, sounds interesting!

@Bdrung, would you mind bringing this upstream for discussion? I'm quite busy currently.

@David: you're welcome! Interesting indeed. Looks like there is some sort of consensus on the Audacity forums that software play-through just cannot work under Linux. Hope that can change now.

Re my experiments with different latencies: if the CPU load is sufficiently high, the latency needs to be increased substantially if xruns are to be avoided. With Audacity recording with play-through and an Audacity build running at the same time, 150 ms seems to be more reliable. I think that's reason enough to let the user decide what latency to use.

I posted to the Audacity forum and got some interesting feedback:
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=14014&sid=f29a500ddd4aee4cad4084becaa2fb6e&start=10

Apparently, the problem is partially fixed on the trunk, i.e., the xrun-recovery code has been improved so that recording will not stop. However, the underlying latency problem has not been fixed, so there is a risk of defects in the recorded audio.

In the thread, I learnt how to configure loopback using the PulseAudio tools. User-interface-wise that was not a pleasant experience, but now I know that it is possible. However, unless Ubuntu makes an effort to make PulseAudio easier to configure, software playthrough in Audacity is a necessity.

Thanks Per for bringing this issue to upstream. Is it correct that this bug will be fixed in the next upstream release? Is there something left to do for me?

> Thanks Per for bringing this issue to upstream. Is it correct that
> this bug will be fixed in the next upstream release?

It depends on how you look at it. As things stand today, it seems that
the xrun recovery problem is fixed on the trunk. However, the cause of
the xruns has not been addressed (i.e., too strict latency settings), so
there may be defects in the recorded audio even though the recording
will no longer be aborted.

I have not yet received any feedback from the Audacity developers on the
latency issue, but personally I do not consider the bug fixed as long as
there are xruns.

> Is there something left to do for me?

Perhaps not directly. It would be a good thing though if you could make
PulseAudio loopback easily discoverable in Ubuntu.

> It would be a good thing though if you could make PulseAudio loopback easily discoverable in Ubuntu.

Are you looking for having the functionality in gnome-volume-control, so you don't have to install pavucontrol to record from a monitoring source?

David Henningsson wrote:
> Are you looking for having the functionality in gnome-volume-control, so
> you don't have to install pavucontrol to record from a monitoring
> source?

Well, something like that. The applets and utilities supplied by
pavucontrol are arcane and not in the least task-oriented, so something
more user-friendly is definitely needed.

Incidentally, yesterday I did some recording from TV. At first I tried
to re-enable PA loopback but when that just didn't work I had to resort
to my patched Audacity with software playthrough. The experience really
made me miss loopback, because I could only listen to the source while
actually recording. Now I'm starting to see why software playthrough is
considered a hack.

Running Ubuntu 13.04 AMD Athlon II X2 64 bit os, 4gigs of RAM, Audacity 2.03. When imorting a tape, Audacity would stop recording at diferent points on the tape. I was using the playthtough feature and noticed an unusual sounding noise, hi pitched , like a digital tone and recording then stoped. I changed the default sample frequency to 48 KHz in Preferences -> Quality like John Ainsworth (kajaja) did and that seems to have worked. I will find out after playback if I hear the noise, however for me that will not be a big issue.