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Old 06-09-2004, 09:55 PM   #1
SolarBear
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XMMS : distorted sound


Hi all. I finally decided to get serious about Linux so I'm converting my machine to Slackware once and for all.

So after solving a few problems (getting USB mouse to work, no sound, non-working hardmodem, unable to mount my NTFS partition) I'm getting one I'm not able to solve by myself : the sound quality.

I'm using xmms v. 1.2.8 that comes installed with Slackware 9.1, if that's important.

Quality is non-existent. 256 kbps encoded MP3 files sound like 64 kbps (or worse!) on my old Windows.

What could be wrong ? Drivers ? xmms itself ? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Old 06-09-2004, 10:05 PM   #2
ringwraith
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You can try playing around with some of the settings in xmms to see if that helps or ....

First I would try playing with another app. I would try mpg321, it is a cmd line tool. See how that is. If it is bad then we know probably a card/driver problem. What type sound card do you have? Also verify, are you using alsa. If so I assume you ran alsaconf.

Just remembered something else, not running kde by chance?

Last edited by ringwraith; 06-09-2004 at 10:17 PM.
 
Old 06-09-2004, 10:13 PM   #3
Schrambo
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it may be a good idea to check your volume settings everywhere. Generally the rule of thumb is to have the software volume control down low and try and just use the volume control at the speaker source, either it be a AV reciever / amp or inbuilt volume control in the speakers themselfs. So check to see if the volume levels in XMMS and Gnome volume control (assuming that your using gnome) and see how that goes.
 
Old 06-09-2004, 10:24 PM   #4
SolarBear
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Quote:
Originally posted by ringwraith
You can try playing around with some of the settings in xmms to see if that helps or ....

First I would try playing with another app. I would try mpg321, it is a cmd line tool. See how that is. If it is bad then we know probably a card/driver problem. What type sound card do you have? Also verify, are you using alsa. If so I assume you ran alsaconf.

Just remembered something else, not running kde by chance?
1° I've already tinkered with XMMS' settings, but to no avail.

2° mpg321... *notes*. I will look into that but since I'm on 56k and I have a ton of things to download... *longs for cable*

3° I'm running alsa, yep, but I did not know of alsaconf. I had only adjusted volume with alsamixer. I'll run that ASAP.

4° Yes, running KDE... is that bad ? If it is, no sweat, I'm still undecided between KDE, Gnome or whatever else I could find.

EDIT : well... seems like alsaconf was the answer ! Thanks a bunch !

Last edited by SolarBear; 06-09-2004 at 10:28 PM.
 
Old 06-09-2004, 10:29 PM   #5
ringwraith
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mpg321 is an audio player. type mpg321 /path/to/file

I don't use kde but I do know that there is a problem with sound. Something to do with arts. You might start up in gnome and try it also from there.
 
Old 06-09-2004, 11:18 PM   #6
AlanL
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I had the same problem with xmms. How new is your
computer? I fixed my problem by installing i686
version of xmms. Try LinuxPackages web site.
 
Old 06-10-2004, 01:04 AM   #7
khtse
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I'm having similar problems as well...
whenever i play an audio file, it starts off with a bunch of noise before gradually (after a few seconds) converging and playing the correct music. at first, i thought it was arts, so i upgraded to alsa, but the problem still exists....

i'm on KDE/Slack 9.1.....

i also upgraded the kernel to 2.6 but still the same.....

it's not a huge problem, just annoying for my ears whenever i play mp3s......
 
Old 06-10-2004, 09:48 AM   #8
SolarBear
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Quote:
Originally posted by AlanL
I had the same problem with xmms. How new is your
computer? I fixed my problem by installing i686
version of xmms. Try LinuxPackages web site.
Pretty recent : bought it last december. P4 2.6 GHz with onboard sound (will need to address that, though).

I'll try using Gnome to see if I hear any difference.
 
Old 06-10-2004, 10:51 AM   #9
94gsr
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tweaking the input master and wave volume in kmix totally fixed the problem for me.

it's a shame this was even a problem to begin with. =\
 
  


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