FAQ: Crackly Sound in Linux

[Aerdan]

Try any of the following:

• Try changing the Sampling Rate to 44100 or 48000 Hz.
• Try disabling ESD, ARTSd, JACKd, or any other sound daemon you may be running [see below for how to do this].
• If you are using Debian or Ubuntu, try installing libsdl1.2debian-all, then try the next option:

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  # Try this:
  SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa zsnes
  # If that doesn't work [e.g., you don't get any sound], try this:
  SDL_AUDIODRIVE=oss
  # If *that* doesn't work, talk to your system administrator.

• If you are using an onboard sound card, try installing an offboard sound card. If you are using a laptop, you're pretty much out of luck, sorry.

How to determine what sound daemon you're using
Run the following in a terminal [e.g., gnome-terminal, konsole, xfterm4, xfce4-terminal, Terminal, etc]:

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ps aux | grep esd
ps aux | grep artsd
ps aux | grep jackd

You're running a sound daemon if any of the above report output similar to this:

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aphrael  11714  0.0  1.0  15576  7908 ?        Ss    2006   0:00 /usr/bin/xfrun4 --daemon
aphrael  30153  0.0  0.1   2448   956 pts/3    R+   16:06   0:00 ps aux

You are not running a sound daemon if the output is something like this:

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aphrael  30159  0.0  0.0   2820   712 pts/3    R+   16:09   0:00 grep ps

You can use

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killall application_name_goes_here

to disable sound daemons.

[Twinxor]

Thanks for doing this FAQ -- it actually fixed my problem, while I was just confused by other threads on the matter. I'm a little embarrassed I didn't just change the sample rate while I was playing around with it.

[darweth]

I thought I'd inform the populace that on UBUNTU at least, libsdl1.2debian-oss is what is needed.

Installing installing libsdl1.2debian-all should work but does not.