[arch-general] ~2 sec delay for Sound events in TDE - need help solving

[David C. Rankin]

Guys,

  I have TDE building on fully updated Arch, but I'm trying to track down a 1-2
second delay I'm getting with sound events. This doesn't just affect the latest
TDE, but also began to effect older installs a few months back. I have the
default sound config presently. I have the following packages installed:

alsa-lib 1.0.25-1
alsa-plugins 1.0.25-2
alsa-tools 1.0.25-1
alsa-utils 1.0.25-3
alsaplayer 0.99.81-4
libpulse 2.0-2
pulseaudio 2.0-2
pulseaudio-alsa 2-1

  The mixer in TDE uses pulse with only a single record and playback volume
adjustment. I have experimented with different /etc/asound.conf settings and
differing settings in ~/.pulse (via the alsa, pulse & sound wiki pages), but
have always found that the defaults work just about as good as anything.

  For some unknown reason, I get a slight delay between the triggering of a
sound event and the actual sound. I understand this is due to different software
wanting to control the hardware at the same time from the thread about skype
audio from last week. What I need to know is whether anyone on the list has
experienced this scenario before and has perhaps found a solution. I have the
system hardware listed below. Let me know if you have any pointers or solutions.
Thanks.

Sound system hardware:

14:20 supersff:~> cat /proc/asound/pcm
00-00: Intel ICH : Intel ICH6 : playback 1 : capture 1
00-01: Intel ICH - MIC ADC : Intel ICH6 - MIC ADC : capture 1
00-02: Intel ICH - MIC2 ADC : Intel ICH6 - MIC2 ADC : capture 1
00-03: Intel ICH - ADC2 : Intel ICH6 - ADC2 : capture 1
00-04: Intel ICH - IEC958 : Intel ICH6 - IEC958 : playback 1

14:45 supersff:~> aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICH6 [Intel ICH6], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH6]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH6 [Intel ICH6], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel ICH6 - IEC958]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

14:46 supersff:~> aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
default
    Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)
sysdefault:CARD=ICH6
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
iec958:CARD=ICH6,DEV=0
    Intel ICH6, Intel ICH6 - IEC958
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.