Audio cuts out for no reason

[conradcliff]

So, I've finally got this thing all configured. I have about 20 different items in the virtual console consisting of one show that has a short wave file and 4 short light sequences and then another 18 wav files that I have stored in another show called Sound FX.

Everything will be working fine via both the virtual console and the web interface when all of a sudden you just wont be able to hear any of the sound clips any more.
The show with the lighting sequences will still flash its lights but the sound clip will not play. When it reaches where the end of the sound clip should be the button will un-highlight whereas the button that correspond to sound clips only will remain highlighted indefinitely until you press them.
If I reboot everything works fine again for a couple minutes and it all starts over again.

Is there a specific log file that might be helpful in solving this issue?

I've attached the workspace

EDIT: Forgot to mention I wiped and reinstalled everything and still face the same issues

[mcallegari]

Does the same work on a PC ?

[conradcliff]

Just tested this extensively on the PC and it works perfectly. I can play every file at the same time over and over again with no problems.

[conradcliff]

Also, just transfered all the files into the sd card in the root folder and got the same result. They were running off the USB drive prior.

[mcallegari]

The Qt multimedia support on the Raspberry Pi is bad in general.

When I have some time, I'll try to reproduce your case and see if I find out what happens.

[conradcliff]

The Qt multimedia support on the Raspberry Pi is bad in general.

When I have some time, I'll try to reproduce your case and see if I find out what happens.

Thanks, if you want, I can send you the wav files as well.

[conradcliff]

Just converted a couple of them to mp3 with the same results

[conradcliff]

Just reinstalled using an external USB card reader as I read that using a SD card adapter can cause issues.

No change. Within one minute of playing audio files is stops playing any sound.

I'm going to create another simple show on the RPI with just one sound byte and see how many times it will play it before the audio crashes.

[conradcliff]

Created a new workspace and added the sound clips I wanted as functions (just learned I didn't need a show) and still have the same results.

[mcallegari]

Just tested a 3:11 MP3 at 256KBit and it played fine until the end. No issue whatsoever.
I'm on a RPi 3 with the 20160306 image.
It can't even be a CPU load problem cause mine stayed around 6-7%.

Now the reasons for your "cut" can be:
- you've place the audio function in a chaser, and forgot to set the correct duration (hold)
- your SD card has damaged sectors and files cannot be read properly

[conradcliff]

I should clarify a bit more, the files will never cut out mid file.
If the file is playing it will play all the way through.'=
But, at some point it will not play files any more until you reboot.
Another way to explain it is that QLC is capable of playing multiple files at once and I can be playing all the files simultaneously, continuously starting another file while there is one playing, but suddenly it will not allow you to play any more files though there still may be several playing; although once they end that is the last of the audio that it will output.
All that will happen is that the button you select will highlight and will not de-highlight until you click it again. So it might be a 3 second audio clip, If the audio has stopped outputting and you click the button then it will stay highlighted indefinitely past the 3 seconds where the file should have stopped playing leading me to believe that there is some sort of software glitch in QLC or that at least QLC is waiting for something in linux to tell it that the file has stopped but it is never getting the signal.

It's not a chaser issue as I stated earlier I have all the audio files loaded simply as functions and they will all play all the way through until the unit simply stops outputting audio.
I wouldn't think that it is a problem with the card as it will play all the files completely without issues until it simply decides to stop playing them.

[conradcliff]

How does QLC+ actually play the audio files?
Not knowing much about it I'll just spout out my thoughts. I assume it uses codecs within linux and the player itself is encoded into QLC+.
The next thing I want to try is installing some command line audio player and see if I get the same results. Maybe if it crashes at that point that I can assume I have some sort of hardware issue?

Really want to get to the bottom of this.

[ianjamespiano]

Hi!
I'm experiencing the same issue on Mac OS X El Capitain.
The audio just seems to randomly cut out. The lighting still works but audio doesn't work. The audio button lights but no sound.
Any fixes yet?
Thanks!

[conradcliff]

Interesting, so perhaps this issue isn't isolated only to the RPI..
Unfortunately no fixes yet but as far as I know this is the only thread concerning the topic so stay tuned.

[conradcliff]

Ok, would be nice if we could get a little help in here..

I installed CMUS https://cmus.github.io/ to see if the audio would crash with another application.

It does not crash with CMUS

While running CMUS I can access the web interface of QLC+ and play several files until it crashes.

At that point CMUS would no longer play any files and gave the error: Error: opening audio device: Device or resource busy

I fiddled around and installed something that allowed me to choose ALSA as the default driver (read things about OSS causing similar problems) and now CMUS will continue to play even after QLC crashes.

No idea where to go from here.

[conradcliff]

Is there ANYTHING else I can do to troubleshoot???

Is there a specific log file I can send???

Can I get a little help on this???

[mcallegari]

First, there's no need to write 3 question marks, since you won't have a better chance to get help.
Breathe and stay calm.

I tried to help, but you didn't describe the issue you're having properly, then I didn't have the chance to do more tests.

So, once again, please explain precisely what's the problem, share a workspace to reproduce it and intruct us exactly with the steps that we need to take to see what you see.
Otherwise, excuse me, but I won't invest my limited time hunting ghosts.

[conradcliff]

I honestly don't know how to describe it any clearer than what I already have.
I have tried to be as detailed as possible and I have already shared the workspace.
It has been weeks now with very little help after the detailed posts.
I will copy and post everything back into this post to make it easier to access.

Pertinent posts I've made concerning the details of the problem with my trouble
shooting attempts:
OP:
Everything will be working fine via both the virtual console and the web interface when all of a sudden you just wont be able to hear any of the sound clips any more.
The show with the lighting sequences will still flash its lights but the sound clip will not play. When it reaches where the end of the sound clip should be the button will un-highlight whereas the button that correspond to sound clips only will remain highlighted indefinitely until you press them.
If I reboot everything works fine again for a couple minutes and it all starts over again.

Is there a specific log file that might be helpful in solving this issue?

I've attached the workspace

EDIT: Forgot to mention I wiped and reinstalled everything and still face the same issues
(there is a workspace in the OP)

Next:
Also, just transfered all the files into the sd card in the root folder and got the same result. They were running off the USB drive prior.

Next:
Just converted a couple of them to mp3 with the same results

Next:
Just reinstalled using an external USB card reader as I read that using a SD card adapter can cause issues.
No change. Within one minute of playing audio files is stops playing any sound.
I'm going to create another simple show on the RPI with just one sound byte and see how many times it will play it before the audio crashes.

Next:
Created a new workspace and added the sound clips I wanted as functions (just learned I didn't need a show) and still have the same results.

Next:
I should clarify a bit more, the files will never cut out mid file.
If the file is playing it will play all the way through.'=
But, at some point it will not play files any more until you reboot.
Another way to explain it is that QLC is capable of playing multiple files at once and I can be playing all the files simultaneously, continuously starting another file while there is one playing, but suddenly it will not allow you to play any more files though there still may be several playing; although once they end that is the last of the audio that it will output.
All that will happen is that the button you select will highlight and will not de-highlight until you click it again. So it might be a 3 second audio clip, If the audio has stopped outputting and you click the button then it will stay highlighted indefinitely past the 3 seconds where the file should have stopped playing leading me to believe that there is some sort of software glitch in QLC or that at least QLC is waiting for something in linux to tell it that the file has stopped but it is never getting the signal.

It's not a chaser issue as I stated earlier I have all the audio files loaded simply as functions and they will all play all the way through until the unit simply stops outputting audio.
I wouldn't think that it is a problem with the card as it will play all the files completely without issues until it simply decides to stop playing them.

Next:
I installed CMUS https://cmus.github.io/ to see if the audio would crash with another application.
It does not crash with CMUS
While running CMUS I can access the web interface of QLC+ and play several files until it crashes.
At that point CMUS would no longer play any files and gave the error: Error: opening audio device: Device or resource busy
I fiddled around and installed something that allowed me to choose ALSA as the default driver (read things about OSS causing similar problems) and now CMUS will continue to play even after QLC crashes.
No idea where to go from here.

Again, I really don't know how to be any clearer than I already have been.
The following is a link to a google drive folder containing all the wav files along with a simple workspace (just to reiterate, I shared a workspace in the op and offered to send these files already):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6cfM ... ENKRDdxNjg

If there is something more specific hat is needed I'm happy to give it but I don't know what that might be.

Thanks for the help.

[mcallegari]

Alright, I've downloaded everything, transferred to the Pi and saw some errors.
Basically I played everything once and then they don't play a second time.
I also got some buffer underrun errors with the dr who theme.
No interruption in the middle of a file though.

Now I have a debug error message that I can investigate on.

In any case, I saw those wave files are encoded using 32bit float samples. That's kind of useless and 16bit would work well.
Normally 44.1Khz and 16 bit stereo are the standard encoding parameters (e.g CD quality).

[conradcliff]

Ok, cool. I'll see about converting the files. I meant to meantion that the theme doesn't play correctly and wasn't sure why.
Thanks for your help!