recorded sound is SLOW

English Multimedia
1

Friends,
I have recently installed OpenSUSE 11.3.
I can play audio files, but there is a problem recording, namely the recording is way too slow.
This was tried 3 ways: in Audacity, in Skype (making a test call), and using the arecord command in a console, as root.
To make the playback sound normal, I tried taking the already-recorded file and speeding it up in Audacity. It was necessary to speed up the recording by 50%.
I’ve tried updating alsa and other suggestions which I could figure out, and run the scripts for diagnostic information.
BTW, I’m using a headset plugged in to standard 1/8 inch mic and speaker jacks, not a USB headset.
Thanks for your help!
BTitus

When I ran the script, it did not give a URL, so I followed the instructions to upload the info, to upload=true&script=true&cardin - Toshiba A75 soundcard problem - pUQYeFx0 - Pastebin.com

Output of other commands:

linux-c58e:/home/birney # rpm -qa ‘alsa’
alsa-1.0.23-69.1.i586
alsa-utils-1.0.23-25.1.i586
alsa-plugins-1.0.23-33.1.i586
alsa-driver-kmp-default-1.0.23.20100904_k2.6.34.0_12-1.1.i586
alsa-oss-1.0.17-53.1.i586
linux-c58e:/home/birney # rpm -qa ‘pulse’
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.21-10.1.1.i586
libpulse0-0.9.21-10.1.1.i586
libxine1-pulse-1.1.19-1.pm.44.3.i586
linux-c58e:/home/birney # rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.23-69.1.i586
linux-c58e:/home/birney # cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf

options snd slots=snd-atiixp

hB6S.XQXklyao6Z8:IXP150 AC’97 Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-atiixp
linux-c58e:/home/birney # ^C

options snd slots=snd-atiixp

hB6S.XQXklyao6Z8:IXP150 AC’97 Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-atiixp
linux-c58e:/home/birney/Desktop #

And in case it’s useful, here’s result of testing with arecord (before updating alsa):
arecord -vv -fdat foo.wav
Recording WAVE ‘foo.wav’ : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo
Plug PCM: Linear conversion PCM (S32_LE)
Its setup is:
stream : CAPTURE
access : RW_INTERLEAVED
format : S16_LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 48000
exact rate : 48000 (48000/1)
msbits : 16
buffer_size : 8192
period_size : 1024
period_time : 21333
tstamp_mode : NONE
period_step : 1
avail_min : 1024
period_event : 0
start_threshold : 1
stop_threshold : 8192
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1073741824
Slave: Direct Snoop PCM
Its setup is:
stream : CAPTURE
access : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
format : S32_LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 48000
exact rate : 48000 (48000/1)
msbits : 32
buffer_size : 8192
period_size : 1024
period_time : 21333
tstamp_mode : NONE
period_step : 1
avail_min : 1024
period_event : 0
start_threshold : 1
stop_threshold : 8192
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1073741824
Hardware PCM card 0 ‘ATI IXP’ device 0 subdevice 0
Its setup is:
stream : CAPTURE
access : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
format : S32_LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 48000
exact rate : 48000 (48000/1)
msbits : 32
buffer_size : 8192
period_size : 1024
period_time : 21333
tstamp_mode : ENABLE
period_step : 1
avail_min : 1024
period_event : 0
start_threshold : 1
stop_threshold : 1073741824
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1073741824
appl_ptr : 0
hw_ptr : 0

+ | 09%^C

Aborted by signal Interrupt…
linux-c58e:/home/birney/Desktop # aplay foo.wav
Playing WAVE ‘foo.wav’ : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo

2

CLARIFICATION:
The issue is only with recording. VLC plays my audio and video files with no problem. But recording a 10 second clip in Audacity or in a console with the ‘arecord’ command results in a file which is 15 seconds long, not 10 seconds long.
Likewise, when making a call to the Skype testing service, their recording comes through fine, but my test recording is slowed down.
Since I use VoIP (twinkle, google voice, skype), this makes SUSE unusable. Presumably the Enterprise Desktop has the same issue.

SOLUTION:
Since there were no replies to the post, I tried several other distributions. Most also had some issues, but Mandriva works! Perhaps the openSUSE configuration could even be fixed by comparing it with the Mandriva configuration.
Specifically, I installed Mandriva One 2010 Spring using the image mandriva-linux-one-2010-spring-KDE4-europe1-americas-cdrom-i586.iso
It was necessary to adjust the mixer, using the ‘alsamixer’ command in a console (not Kmix). After using function keys to choose the device, un-muting some channels and adjusting volume, the sound worked.
Was also necessary to select ‘alsa’ rather than OSS in some applications (Audacity or VLC, I forget which).
For Skype, Mandriva doesn’t have a packaged download, but the generic ‘static/dynamic’ download works fine: just extracted, put files in the suggested locations, and used chmod to make the binary executable. Skype dependencies (dbus, libasound2, Qt) were already included with Mandriva, though I had installed some Qt development tools.

So now I’m running Linux! Might try SUSE some time in the future, but probably not on my current hardware.

If anyone did ponder over my original post, then your time is much appreciated.