Distorted Playback [#21330]

[Dynamic990]

Hello everyone!

I have recently upgraded from MMW 5.0.5.2695 to version 2004.0.0.3066 (without debug).

This version works fine for me so far. However, I have noticed that from time to time the music playback is very distorted. Unfortunately, I have not yet found a way to reproduce this reliably. However, I believe that this only happens when the progress bar is used to jump back and forth within the currently playing song.

With MMW I only use MP3 files with variable bitrate which I have created myself with LAME version 3.100.1 (-V0 setting) from the site rarewares.org. The playback runs via WASAPI in exclusive mode on a Behringer UMC 204 audio interface.

This problem did not occur under the last MMW 5 version in the same environment and with the same output settings.

A quick search here in the forum did not yield any results that exactly match the behaviour described above. Does anyone know this problem?

My next step will be to test the current version .3070_Debug and report back here.

Many thanks and best regards!
Christian

[Peke]

Hi,
Please record Distorted sound using phone or other device I am curious how it sounds?
I had issues on some sound cards with too low/high sample buffer introducing artifacts on output.

Also can you replicate same behavior without Exclusive playback mode?

EDIT: There is no point of using WASAPI exclusive mode paired with lossy MP3 playback eg. if you play DSD, ALAC, FLAC 24/192 or higher quality recordings/files and on high-end amp and speakers then I see the point otherwise I really do not see the point. Do not mind telling you that, but I have tested MM playback on 10 USD and 10k USB audio equipment and came to that conclusion for personal opinion.

[Lowlander]

Please see: https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... corrupted/

Does the same song always have this happen or is it truly random? Does disabling Play > Level Playback Volume help mitigate?

[Dynamic990]

Hello Peke, hello Lowlander!

Thank you for your reply.

Please record Distorted sound using phone or other device I am curious how it sounds?
I had issues on some sound cards with too low/high sample buffer introducing artifacts on output.

Ok, I'll try to record this

Also can you replicate same behavior without Exclusive playback mode?

I think so, but I'll have to test that again.

EDIT: There is no point of using WASAPI exclusive mode paired with lossy MP3 playback eg. if you play DSD, ALAC, FLAC 24/192 or higher quality recordings/files and on high-end amp and speakers then I see the point otherwise I really do not see the point. Do not mind telling you that, but I have tested MM playback on 10 USD and 10k USB audio equipment and came to that conclusion for personal opinion.

Yes, I also believe that the exclusive mode does not improve the sound, even with Lossless and so called HighRes formats I can't really notice any improvement with my equipment and/or my ears. However, I used to have problems with sounds from Windows or other applications during music playback. I was able to prevent this by using the exclusive mode and I'm using that mode ever since.

Please see: https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... corrupted/

I've already read that. I still have to test a few things from this article, e.g. using the ASIO or the DirectSound output plugin. I can almost certainly rule out a driver problem because the drivers have not changed for some time and other applications such as foobar2000 or Audacity work without any problems.

Does the same song always have this happen or is it truly random?

It happens on random songs and sometimes the same song is played back distorted and sometimes it is not.

Does disabling Play > Level Playback Volume help mitigate?

I still have to test that.

Best regards
Christian

[Dynamic990]

Hi Peke, Hi Lowlander!

I have now been able to reproduce the problem. It actually only occurs in WASAPI exclusive mode when using the search bar to jump back and forth in the track several times. Even deactivating the volume adjustment does not change the distortion.

In non-exclusive mode and with all other output plug-ins including the ASIO output plug-in, the problem does not occur in my tests.

With the following link you can download a short recording of the distortion.

https://c.gmx.net/@325168452803236957/r ... yOolfu167A

If you need the original track, please let me know. But I will have to send it to you by PM or via a support ticket to avoid a copyright problem.

Many thanks and best regards
Christian

[Peke]

Hi,
That is exactly what I was saying output buffer got cluttered and you get artifacts. This is not MM issue only I had occassional issues with almost every application when it starts to happen. I even bought DIfferent sound card to resolve that and it did not helped and after some time, driver reinstallations and temperring with advanced settings issue vanished. For friend of mine we found out that replacing System Memory (RAM Sticks) fixed the issue, but it was not an issue for me. Once a frequency of GPU introduced artifacts on Higher quality settings (24/192 and 32/384) and we changed GPU (ASUS nVidia 2080 -> MSI nVidia 2080) to resolve issues. It is most likely some hardware <-> OS driver incompatibility issue (at least it was in all of my cases) where it happened only in WASAPI Exclusive mode.

Try to find best settings for you eg. something Like I did in MM and windows preventing it to use Exclusive mode, but you cen test with exclusive ON too.

[Dynamic990]

Hi Peke,

Thank you for your comments.

This is all very interesting, but I do not think any of this applies to my problem or solves it.

I did a very simple test by copying the WASAPI output plug-in (out_WASAPI.dll) from version 5.0.5.2695 into the plug-in directory of version 2024.0.0.3070. And lo and behold, no more problems.

I think that some change in the output plug-in is causing my problem. It seems that the plug-ins are different as the newer one is slightly larger. I will continue to use the old plug-in for the time being. Perhaps there will be a bug fix at some point.

Best regards
Christian

[Peke]

Hi Peke,

Thank you for your comments.

This is all very interesting, but I do not think any of this applies to my problem or solves it.

I did a very simple test by copying the WASAPI output plug-in (out_WASAPI.dll) from version 5.0.5.2695 into the plug-in directory of version 2024.0.0.3070. And lo and behold, no more problems.

I think that some change in the output plug-in is causing my problem. It seems that the plug-ins are different as the newer one is slightly larger. I will continue to use the old plug-in for the time being. Perhaps there will be a bug fix at some point.

Best regards
Christian

Yeah, I totally agree and that is why we need to get to bottom of it.
Can I ask you please to do two full debug logs based on steps from https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86643 , but one using 3070 (with original DLL) and one using 2695 DLL so that we can compare what the heck is going on. I really really wish that I am completely wrong because if I am wrong then it will get fixed.

Neither me or @MiPi can't replicate in MM only. @MiPi from what he told me and how I understood, he can't replicate at all and I can replicate only when whole windows sound sounds like your sample (even worse) where I just change buffer from 512 to 256 (or via verso) and all gets back to normal. Grrrrrr.

[MiPi]

Please add it to new support ticket, so we can cooperate and find the cause, thanks.
Also note, that even old DLL has to be from debug version of the application, so it will generate debug messages. Then generate log from the steps, which lead to the bug. And then the same steps with old plugin. Thank you very much.

[Dynamic990]

Please add it to new support ticket, so we can cooperate and find the cause, thanks.
Also note, that even old DLL has to be from debug version of the application, so it will generate debug messages. Then generate log from the steps, which lead to the bug. And then the same steps with old plugin. Thank you very much.

Hi Mipi,

OK, but where do I find a debug version of Mediamonkey 5.0.
5.2695.

Best regards
Christian

[rusty]

Hi Christian,

MMW5 debug is at: https://www.mediamonkey.com/sw/MediaMonkey_Debug.exe (MMW 2024 debugs are published with each new pre-release build).

Instructions for generating a debug log with each of the two versions of MMW:
- Download the DbgView application from: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysi ... s/bb896647
- Run DbgView
- Run MediaMonkey and replicate the bug with a small set of Tracks (limit activity to the bug-inducing behavior). You'll see logs being generated in DbgView
- Close MMW (if possible)
- Save the log messages from DbgView to a file, compress it (ZIP, RAR) and send it to us. If the file is too large ( > 2MB) then upload the file to a free file hosting service (e.g. DropBox, ufile.io, MediaFire, ...) and share a link to the file using our helpdesk.

Thanks again!

-Rusty

[Peke]

OK, but where do I find a debug version of Mediamonkey 5.0.5.2695.

at https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... 42#p518442

[rusty]

Hi Christian,

We're getting ready for a new RC. Any chance you can send the debug logs via the helpdesk?

Thanks!

-Rusty

[Dynamic990]

Hi Christian,

We're getting ready for a new RC. Any chance you can send the debug logs via the helpdesk?

Thanks!

-Rusty

Hi Rusty,

I have just opened a ticket with the ticket #7922 and attached the log files.

Please excuse the delay, but I had to take care of an urgent family matter today.

Best regards
Christian

[rusty]

Thanks so much! We've sent you a possible fix (you'll see it when you log into the helpdesk).

Let us know if it works--thanks!

-Rusty