Bad SL Sound Quality

Ever since the last upgrade I am getting a crackly static noise from all SL sounds including music streams, gestures and the bagpipes. It used to happen once in awhile and a relog would fix it but now nothing fixes it. I know it's not my PC because I have a nice sound system and everything else sounds great, except for SL.

Does anyone have a cure for this? Thanks.

Not sure if this is a related problem or simply some feature that I don't understand, but my music setting (the little slider at the bottom of the screen) shuts itself off every so often. I'll notice that some sim has been awfully quiet for a few minutes, glance down, and the music is off. I'll click it back on, everything will be fine... and then I go through the whole cycle again.

Would welcome some enlightenment on what is "normal" for music inworld.

I don't know the cure I'm afraid, but i have the same problem.

Sometimes it's so bad i turn the volume down completely.

Outside SL sounds and music work perfectly.

Also Audigy 2 soundcard here.

I can't help you but i'm getting the same problem, and only since the last upgrade.

Infact I getting better sound quility. I have upgraded to a 512 gtx 7900 and I have even better sound then ever...... Get a new graohic card.

I had alot of sound issues while using onboard sound. Switched to a sound card and it fixed all 5 of my sound issues in SL. Turned out not enough cash provided by onboard.

Hi,
I have already made a post regarding lagg in sl and how to live with it, but this sounds just like more of the same issue.

Basically, SL treats textures differently now in an attempt to reduce the lag and load on the systems, as the programme expands dynamically. This requires you to carryout maintenance on your system and adjust your settings.

Clear the junk from your hard disc, use a registry cleaner, clear the SL cache and cold reboot your PC straight after. Set your bandwidth to 2/3rd's of your connection speed (check out Bandwidth Test (music streams aren't streamed within SL, but seperately!, give them both room). Install SL on a different HD to your OS (if possible, and partitioned HD's don't count). Make sure you have your cache ingame set to max, assuming you really do have at least twice that amount of free continous (defraged) space available?

As always, more ram.. more ram.. more ram (rushes out and increases his shares in ram companies)

Check the 'quality' settings in Audio & Movie tab in preferences, setting it too high has little effect in quality, so be conservative and realistic.

Hope this helps?

The thing that gets me is it Always worked fine using these exact settings on my computer before the last client upgrade.

i.e., before upgrade everything was fine, installed new client choppy sound. cold reboot, choppy sound.

Hi,
Assuming you are using a router, and that you do not have a fixed IP from your ISP, try unplugging the router/modem device from the mains supply, wait at least 10 seconds, then plug back in and wait for everything to reconnect.

What that will do is refresh your connection to the ISP server and place you on the most clear server available and dynamically refresh/reset your IP. I personally do this weekly, but your ISP may have more users, so experiment.

The very dymanics of the Internet and its connections, if everyone was to have a unique IP, the Internet would have failed years ago. To get round this, ISP's use Contention Ratios, they create internal server mapping (much like Mac addresses/Connection Sharing) that allow many users to utilise a single IP address. These are dynamically asigned eachtime you connect. Should the server you are using become congested, you will suffer degrading.

One other peice of information which is quite hard to gain, is the Contention Ratios of your connection. Most ISP's do not publish this because we can all do simple math. They may offer you a 2mb bandwidth connection, and if the Contention ratio is 50:1, then you have potentially a 50th of the total bandwidth, in reality, the bandwidth is based on a first come first served basis, so if little Johnny down the road who shares your bandwidth is busy downloading MP3's, you will experience a degrading of your service. ISP's do not throttle individual connections.

Hello,

I too have this same sound issue... it's almost as if everything echo's and SL is experiencing a severe reverb issue. I don't have many issues with lag, just the sound. Hope this get's corrected in the next update, everyone file a bug report - that's what the lindens told me to do.

Kirk

Have you guys tried installing the latest version of DirectX?

Also check that the setting in the sound profile hasn't changed to a different source.

I, too had the same problem with my music for 6 months until I found a workaround for it. On the SL icon under Properties, I changed the compatability to Windows NT, even though I run Windows XP.

I have no idea why this works, but my sound has been perfect ever since. No more static, choppy sound. You may want to give it a try.

I have the same problem, wich I got after the latest upgrade...sigh.

I tried everything and finally contacted LL support and they said my sound card driver needed updating so I did that and guess what? It worked! Yay!

Same problem after last patch or two. Updated sound driver may have worked. Still testing as it was sporadic.

My gear:
Via Chipset / Realtek AC'97 Driver for audio
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false