Sporadic audio stutter [Incl. video]

[Reisal]

I am trying to figure out why I am getting sporadic audio stutter every now and then and am trying to figure out why and how to stop it for good.

So far as I've heard this in Skulltag but will have to test for GZDoom and ZDoom so I can narrow down this if possible.

It is heard right after I exit the rooms with the heaps of ammo. Around 0:15.

Specs are:

AM2 3600+ 1.9 Ghz
4 GB RAM
Soundblaster Audigy
Radeon HD 3850 512MB
Windows 7 Home Premium

Any help on stopping it would be greatly appreciated.

[Edward850]

That is more then just audio stopping. Skulltag outright stalls for a moment.

[DoomUK]

Mr. Chris said:

Soundblaster Audigy

Don't know whether this is applicable to your situation and maybe I'm just unlucky, but I've had nothing but bad experiences with the two Audigy cards that I've owned in the past. Audio stuttering, drivers and software seemingly uninstalling themselves causing countless reinstalls of the drivers and associated software. Since switching to integrated audio I've never looked back, despite the loss of a little audio quality when everything was working ok.

But yeah, it looks like you're also experiencing video stuttering and not just problems with sound.

[Maes]

Mr. Chris said:

Soundblaster Audigy

And theeeeeere's your killer (probably).

I'll be "nice" and say that it depends on the exact model of Audigy. The most "half assed" ones without HW acceleration (e.g. Audigy 2 SE, Live! 24-bit etc.) are, ironically, the most robust, while the ones with the fancy DSP/EMU chips had notoriously badly written and even damaging drivers, leading to data corruption and losses.

Seriously, if you're using it for the supposed "hardware acceleration", don't bother: it's minimal and more than cancelled out by the general brokenness and bad PCI bus mastering behaviour. If it's a low-end Audigy, you don't even get that, but you do get the broken Creative Labs drivers nonetheless.

Most acceleration features are useless or disabled under the Vista/7 NEW and ENHANCED audio model anyway.

[Reisal]

DoomUK said:

Don't know whether this is applicable to your situation and maybe I'm just unlucky, but I've had nothing but bad experiences with the two Audigy cards that I've owned in the past. Audio stuttering, drivers and software seemingly uninstalling themselves causing countless reinstalls of the drivers and associated software. Since switching to integrated audio I've never looked back, despite the loss of a little audio quality when everything was working ok.

But yeah, it looks like you're also experiencing video stuttering and not just problems with sound.

The thing is I don't experience video or even audio stutter in any other video game on my system as far as I've noticed.

Maes said:

And theeeeeere's your killer (probably).

I'll be "nice" and say that it depends on the exact model of Audigy. The most "half assed" ones without HW acceleration (e.g. Audigy 2 SE, Live! 24-bit etc.) are, ironically, the most robust, while the ones with the fancy DSP/EMU chips had notoriously badly written and even damaging drivers, leading to data corruption and losses.

Seriously, if you're using it for the supposed "hardware acceleration", don't bother: it's minimal and more than cancelled out by the general brokenness and bad PCI bus mastering behaviour. If it's a low-end Audigy, you don't even get that, but you do get the broken Creative Labs drivers nonetheless.

Most acceleration features are useless or disabled under the Vista/7 NEW and ENHANCED audio model anyway.

I think I have an Audigy Gamer, which came with a full copy of Deus Ex GOTY edition if that helps. Not sure if it has hardware acceleration.

For some reason I don't get audio stuttering when recording to D and not the G drive (Fraps is on C and Doom is on E)

[DaniJ]

How do your partitions map to physical drives and how are they connected to your system?

You mentioned this doesn't occur when you are recording to D - is this a general issue that occurs even when not recording video, or just when recording?

[StevieWolfe]

Its not your soundcard. It sounds like your CPU, you best replace it soon. I know it sounds like the audio, but whats going on is that there's some kind of malfunction with your CPU and its affecting the entire board. Every time the audio stuttered, your whole system stalled.

Eventually, it'll get to the point that my old PC did where it just locks up for about three seconds do the same thing the audio in your vid does, and then just crash completely. That's not good at all and can cause major HDD issues.

[printz]

^^^ That's scary.

[Lila Feuer]

For your sake, check the card first as potentially pointed out, if thats not the case, then onto plan B. Good luck.

[hawkwind]

I've had an Audigy 2 Value now for quite a few years problem free.

[Maes]

@StevieCybernetik: a modern CPU's malfunction would have much more noticeable and dramatic consequences all around, not only when activating a specific device.

On the converse, especially since you're getting stuttering only when recording to a specific drive, could you post more details over the type of the drive, controller/interface and a IRQ/DMA list of your system?

Soundblaster Audigys were notorious for causing data corruption in particular with VIA chipsets, and generally exhibiting poor PCI bus mastering, causing clashes and IRQ/DMA channel collisions and an effect called "Hiss, crackle and pop". If your card is using a shared IRQ, try to force changing it (this might mean moving it to another slot).

Also, get this tool: DCP latency checker and see if PCI bus latency gets in the yellow or red zone when playing/recording sound, and then with the card entirely disabled or removed.

[Retog]

The sound card will clash with the midi file.