Arch Linux

Demon

Member

From: Republic of Srpska, BA

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 246

[SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

Hi folks, I have a problem which needs to be fixed urgently. I've installed Skype from multilib repo. Audio output is fine, but input is terrible. A person to whom I speak hears a distorted sound, with a lot of noise and tickling. Pulseaudio is configured with sampling rate of 48000, I've also edited asound.rc according to instructions. There's one thing though: if I plug in external microphone, the sound is somewhat OK, but when using built-in microphone (which is a must), the described problem happens. This is only with Skype: a sound recorded with "arecord" is just fine.

I've tried everything I could, but If someone knows a hack or something, please, respond, it's quite urgent. I don't want to restore sound system back to alsa, pulseaudio works great on this laptop, it's just the Skype that gives me problems.

Any further information required I'll be happy to post here.

Mod note: title edited, don't use words like 'Urgent', see: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … ow_to_Post

Last edited by Demon (2010-10-25 19:24:18)

mangust

Member

From: nomad

Registered: 2010-09-18

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

Have you tried to call different persons? Maybe it isn't  your problem, but that person (connection, or something else). Also, try to adjust you mixer settings. I'm using skype with alsa, and have no problems though. If you still have this problem, try running skype from command line to see the messages.

Last edited by mangust (2010-10-25 13:40:17)

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"I hate computers, why didn't I become a street musician?" - phrakture

thibdb13

Member

From: Mechelen - Belgium

Registered: 2005-10-11

Posts: 114

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

or you can try ekiga

Demon

Member

From: Republic of Srpska, BA

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 246

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

mangust, thanks, the problem is mine, for sure. I've played with alsamixer, but no use. I'll try to run Skype from command line, thanks, but I doubt I will see anything useful.

thibdb13, your advice doesn't help me at all.

KimTjik

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 715

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

I don't really use Skype, but I recently tried to get it working on my current computer, and it behaves similar to what you describe. It's a Skype-only-issue, since input works perfectly well in other applications, like Audacity. It sounds like I'm so pissed I'm on the brink to pass out.

Internal sound device is recognized as: HDA ATI SB VT2020.

Demon

Member

From: Republic of Srpska, BA

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 246

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

Exactly here, HDA ATI SB:

[goran@goran ~]$ arecord -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
front:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, STAC92xx Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers

Goddamn, I guess I'll have to uninstall pulseaudio and try with plain alsa...

KimTjik

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 715

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

I forgot to tell that I'm using plain alsa, nothing else.

Demon

Member

From: Republic of Srpska, BA

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 246

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

Solved in two ways!

1st: download and install older version of Skype, 2.1.0.47 which works just fine: http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-2.1.0.47.tar.bz2

2nd: install lib32-pulseaudio. This solves all of this alsa sh*t problems, and gives just "PulseAudio server (local)" in the list of devices.

I would go for the second solution.

Cheers to all!

KimTjik

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 715

Re: [SOLVED] Skype problem with sound input

Thanks for your testing! Just for the sake of it I built a package of the same Skype version you rolled back to, and now sound work flawless.

A day in life of proprietary software.