Hey wait,

The problem is gone. All the crackling, the stuttering, and the clipping is gone.

But it also happened yesterday, and the problem just came back without any apparent reason.

What's wrong?

Maybe it is related to Winamp itself, try some other program and see if the crackling disappears. I had to dump Winamp completely when I moved to Windows 7 because of multiple unexplainable audio problems it gave me.

I have foobar2000, but it uses its own Soundfont engine instead of BASSMIDI driver.

foobar2000's soundfont engine plays the MIDI file flawlessly, but it is not apple-to-apple comparison, since with BASSMIDI (and Timidity++, by the way) we can use more than one Soundfont at a time (Soundfont at the bottom overrides Soundfont a the top), while with foobar, you can only use one Soundfont at a time.

I also have SynthFont, which can play the MIDI songs free of the sound problem. But it's kinda annoying since I have to change the MIDI output on track-by-track basis instead of changing it for the entire song. Also, I noticed there are tracks where I cannot change its MIDI output. For example, when playing TIE Fighter title song, I cannot change track #6 (Preset 63: Synth Brass 2) to anything but SynthFont internal synthesizer.

It should be noted that TWSYNTH (Timidity++ synthesizer driver) doesn't suffer from the same problem when playing from WinAmp, but it has other problem, namely....

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Doesn't mean to necro an old thread, but still.... […]
Show full quote

Galve2000 wrote:

if i chose the 1st one (Roldand-MT32), the game takes about 15 minutes to load. I had actually thought that DosBox was not responding when i first tried this, and i thought I closed out the program and opened another dosbox session choosing "General MIDI" audio this time..

while playing my second dosbox session, i suddenly heard the into music from the Roland MT-32" audio session of dosbox!

other (newer) sierra games don't take quite THAT long to boot using "Roldand MT-32" audio, but they definately take more than a minute or two.

Doesn't mean to necro an old thread, but still....

I also have problem with TWSYNTH (Timidity++ Windows MIDI driver), DOSBOX, and games that use MT-32/LAPC. Whenever I run a game that use Roland from DOSBOX, with TWSYNTH as Windows MIDI driver, the game doesn't respond at all. I thought the game (or DOSBOX) crashes, but after reading your post, it seems I experience similar problem - although I don't bother to wait for about 15 minutes. I think the wait time will be longer in my case, because I'm mostly using an Intel Atom netbook for my primary DOSBOX platform.

I also have Roland Virtual Sound Canvas, and when I'm using Roland VSC as Windows MIDI drivers, games that use MT-32/LAPC run without problem. Of course, the instrument doesn't sound as accurate as when using Munt. But the point line is: the problem only exists when using TWSYNTH as MIDI driver.

Recently, I tried BASSMIDIDRV as Windows MIDI driver, and games that use MT-32/LAPC can run - unlike TWSYNTH. Of course, the instruments don't sound right, but that's another thing. Well, maybe they will sound right with MT-32 SoundFont.

It seems TWSYNTH is the only SoundFont-based Windows MIDI driver that has problems with games that use Roland MT-32/LAPC, or am I wrong?

If you use the following plugin in Foobar, you can make .SFLIST files which allows you to use more then one soundfont http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_midi. And some help with those .SFLIST files http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php … showtopic=93626

Aideka wrote:

If you use the following plugin in Foobar, you can make .SFLIST files which allows you to use more then one soundfont http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_midi. And some help with those .SFLIST files http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php … showtopic=93626

I have tried foobar with .sflist file, and it works flawlessly without any sound problems at all. 😀

However, foobar uses its own BASSMIDI implementation instead of Windows MIDI driver, doesn't it? As such, despite its flawlessness, it won't be used by DOSBOX. DOSBOX will use BASSMIDI Windows MIDI driver instead of foobar MIDI plugin.

I have tried BASSMIDI Windows driver with DOSBOX. I was trying Azrael's Tear with CPU cycle maxed. The frame rate is choppy as hell despite my Core i5 CPU. What is the ideal CPU to run SVGA 3D Games smoothly in DOSBOX anyway?

Fortunately the sound problem is less severe than on WinAmp. There are still occasional cracks or stutters, but they only happen when I interact with the game (press buttons, move my character, etc), and it doesn't always happen. And even when it does, the intensity is far less severe than WinAmp.

However, I'd like to eliminate this sound problem at all. What should I do? How about referring to older version of BASSMIDI driver? Would it help?

Your problem sounds pretty weird to me, I used to run DosBox and Bassmidi driver on a Athlon64 3800+ and never had problems with stuttering or audio. Does your sound driver let you adjust the sound buffer? I had to do that when I played some games on my core2duo. Not DosBox games mind you, but still, if you have the option, change it a bit higher.

Aideka wrote:

Your problem sounds pretty weird to me, I used to run DosBox and Bassmidi driver on a Athlon64 3800+ and never had problems with stuttering or audio. Does your sound driver let you adjust the sound buffer? I had to do that when I played some games on my core2duo. Not DosBox games mind you, but still, if you have the option, change it a bit higher.

Where do I change the buffer size? In Control Panel's audio property, there is only the option to change sound acceleration level - you know, the usual. I have wrestled with that too, by the way, and no dice.

Unfortunately I was unable to find anything on how to increase the buffer on Realtek drivers, but I happened to find a guide for sound problems on Windows 7 http://www.native-instruments.com/knowledge/q … udio+Processing

From what I read from that guide, there may well be something to help you out, or maybe help you diagnose where the root of the problem really lies.
I also found some forum posts where people were discussing audio problems with Windows 7 and Realtek hardware, unfortunately I do not have the link but it seems that for some people Windows 7 and Realtek just don't mix well.

I turned out Sound Acceleration at Control Panel => Sound and Audio Devices, and the clipping and crackling are replaced by skipping and stuttering.

Still no dice.

Aideka wrote:

Unfortunately I was unable to find anything on how to increase the buffer on Realtek drivers, but I happened to find a guide for sound problems on Windows 7 http://www.native-instruments.com/knowledge/q … udio+Processing

From what I read from that guide, there may well be something to help you out, or maybe help you diagnose where the root of the problem really lies.
I also found some forum posts where people were discussing audio problems with Windows 7 and Realtek hardware, unfortunately I do not have the link but it seems that for some people Windows 7 and Realtek just don't mix well.

Thanks! I'm actually using Windows XP, but maybe some of the points can be applicable.