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>Have you tried recording with ffmpeg Just tried ffmpeg -f pulse -i default output.wav No issues observed. >Although isn't that resetting the rate back to 96

>Have you tried recording with ffmpeg Just tried ffmpeg -f pulse -i default output.wav No issues observed. >Although isn't that resetting the rate back to 96000 when you want it to be 44100? Yeah, I just noticed that too. I inherited 96000 since before I resorted to using 44100, so... It just works, too lazy to change it. As for alsa without pulse, I tried using ardour with jack year or two ago, and no issues either. arecord --device=default --format=S32_LE -r44100 -c2 -t raw | aplay -r44100 -c2 --format=S32_LE --device=default - works too. So it's either software, or something else in your system is affecting it. As someone said in this thread, debugging such an issue could get very arcane.

nickjj 8y ago
Could you try ffmpeg using aac instead of wave? I think it would involve adding only `-c:a aac` to the command. I'm curious now. Did you ever notice any type of pops and cracks during normal system usage? Not even recording. Just going to Youtube or any page that happens to interface with your sound card. pavucontrol was notoriously bad for triggering it. It sounds like you have a very clean connection.
- nullifidian 8y ago
  >Could you try ffmpeg using aac instead of wave? I think it would involve adding only `-c:a aac` to the command. ffmpeg -f pulse -i default -c:a aac -strict -2 output2.m4a ffmpeg -f alsa -i default -c:a aac -strict -2 output2.m4a no issues. alsa one through pulse too of course. -strict -2 is because distro's ffmpeg is old. >Did you ever notice any type of pops and cracks during normal system usage? Not even recording. If I remember correctly, yes. When I had crack/pop issue playing youtube videos or music I would occasionally hear this. But again, it fixed itself. My general advice is to not use Debian unstable, and if you want a stable working enviroment avoid rolling release distros generally. When I tried living with Debian unstable 10+ years ago someting would constantly break on a apt-get upgrade. Not sure how it is now.
  - nickjj 8y ago
    Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it. I'm assuming you're recording at least 2 minutes worth of audio in each of these tests? Although in your case it really sounds like the only thing you did was set 44100 and are using Ubuntu instead of Debian. I mainly went for unstable to get more up to date packages, and didn't want to mess around with adding a billion PPAs with Ubuntu or compile from source for everything, but maybe I will give Ubuntu a shot the next time around. I did install apt-listbugs and yeah it was scary. I didn't notice anything specifically audio related but seeing multiple critical / severe bugs like "may cause machine to lock" isn't what you want to see heh. By the way, how sturdy is your Scarlett's USB connection in the back? Do you hear distortion and cracks if you touch it with headphones on? You don't need to wiggle it hard. Just basically touching it with the lightest amount of force possible within reason. Also, does your motherboard happen to have an ALC892 based sound card as its built in sound device?
    - nullifidian 8y ago
      >I'm assuming you're recording at least 2 minutes worth of audio in each of these tests? Occasionally I record hours of audio with Audacity without an issue, and don't hear any cracks pops, when I listen to it, and I certainly would have noticed absent words. So I'm pretty sure the issue is either not present or extremely rare. You can hear for yourself http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=08701491608992765221 http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=08701491608992765221 Sorry, it requires amplification, and I clean in the background. >Do you hear distortion and cracks if you touch it with headphones on? Since I don't hear anything wrong with audio, I assume it's pretty sturdy. But I'm pretty sure your issues are not caused by the connection. Digital stuff either works or not. Around the time it fixed itself I bought a new power supply. But I don't remember if it affected anything. I higly doubt it. What I remember distinctly is how I was amazed at the lack of latency/delay in Audacity after an upgrade to 16.04 from 14.04. >Ubuntu or compile from source for everything You can just try installing a different distro onto a spare drive to test if the issue goes away. As for compiling everything from source -- how many super fresh dependencies do you really need for development 5? 10? IMHO it's reasonably tolerable with manually built libraries in a custom prefix. And programming languages have their own package managers pip, cargo etc.

nickjj 8y ago

Could you try ffmpeg using aac instead of wave? I think it would involve adding only `-c:a aac` to the command. I'm curious now. Did you ever notice any type of pops and cracks during normal system usage? Not even recording. Just going to Youtube or any page that happens to interface with your sound card. pavucontrol was notoriously bad for triggering it. It sounds like you have a very clean connection.

nullifidian 8y ago
>Could you try ffmpeg using aac instead of wave? I think it would involve adding only `-c:a aac` to the command. ffmpeg -f pulse -i default -c:a aac -strict -2 output2.m4a ffmpeg -f alsa -i default -c:a aac -strict -2 output2.m4a no issues. alsa one through pulse too of course. -strict -2 is because distro's ffmpeg is old. >Did you ever notice any type of pops and cracks during normal system usage? Not even recording. If I remember correctly, yes. When I had crack/pop issue playing youtube videos or music I would occasionally hear this. But again, it fixed itself. My general advice is to not use Debian unstable, and if you want a stable working enviroment avoid rolling release distros generally. When I tried living with Debian unstable 10+ years ago someting would constantly break on a apt-get upgrade. Not sure how it is now.
- nickjj 8y ago
  Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it. I'm assuming you're recording at least 2 minutes worth of audio in each of these tests? Although in your case it really sounds like the only thing you did was set 44100 and are using Ubuntu instead of Debian. I mainly went for unstable to get more up to date packages, and didn't want to mess around with adding a billion PPAs with Ubuntu or compile from source for everything, but maybe I will give Ubuntu a shot the next time around. I did install apt-listbugs and yeah it was scary. I didn't notice anything specifically audio related but seeing multiple critical / severe bugs like "may cause machine to lock" isn't what you want to see heh. By the way, how sturdy is your Scarlett's USB connection in the back? Do you hear distortion and cracks if you touch it with headphones on? You don't need to wiggle it hard. Just basically touching it with the lightest amount of force possible within reason. Also, does your motherboard happen to have an ALC892 based sound card as its built in sound device?
  - nullifidian 8y ago
    >I'm assuming you're recording at least 2 minutes worth of audio in each of these tests? Occasionally I record hours of audio with Audacity without an issue, and don't hear any cracks pops, when I listen to it, and I certainly would have noticed absent words. So I'm pretty sure the issue is either not present or extremely rare. You can hear for yourself http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=08701491608992765221 http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=08701491608992765221 Sorry, it requires amplification, and I clean in the background. >Do you hear distortion and cracks if you touch it with headphones on? Since I don't hear anything wrong with audio, I assume it's pretty sturdy. But I'm pretty sure your issues are not caused by the connection. Digital stuff either works or not. Around the time it fixed itself I bought a new power supply. But I don't remember if it affected anything. I higly doubt it. What I remember distinctly is how I was amazed at the lack of latency/delay in Audacity after an upgrade to 16.04 from 14.04. >Ubuntu or compile from source for everything You can just try installing a different distro onto a spare drive to test if the issue goes away. As for compiling everything from source -- how many super fresh dependencies do you really need for development 5? 10? IMHO it's reasonably tolerable with manually built libraries in a custom prefix. And programming languages have their own package managers pip, cargo etc.