Re: Espeak Server Likes PulseAudio?

[Christopher Chaltain <chaltain@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Actually, I had trouble with eSpeak when it was compiled to run with 
PortAudio, which I thought was the default. I recompiled it to use it's 
runtime mode, which uses PulseAudio if it's present and PortAudio 
otherwise. This eliminated the problems I was having with eSpeak and 
Emacspeak. I didn't feel this was a PulseAudio issue but rather a 
PortAudio or eSpeak issue.

On 04/07/2013 02:16 AM, Steve Holmes wrote:
> Yeah, tell me about PulseAudio and its antics.  I would love to nuke
> pulse here but I want to be able to use gnome here too and you know
> now that gnome requires pulse to do anything with sound.  I finally
> got pulse's configuration to allow native ALSA and pulse to co-exist
> but I'm still trying to smooth espeak out.  I rebuilt espeak to use
> ALSA (portaudio) exclusively but now I seem to lose speech
> periodically and have to use emacspeak's c-e c-s command to restart
> speech.  Not sure what's up there but might have to go back to using
> pulse on this one.  speakup seems to be flawless with its espeakup
> module.
>
> On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 07:34:48AM -0700, T.V. Raman wrote:
> > Jason, You have articulated part of the issue correctly. The
> > other reason why the pulseaudio / alsa combination gives such
> > vastly varying results is that the layering is complex;  See
> > Tim's earlier note.  If you have pulseaudio on a system, do an
> > aplay -v of a .wav file and look at the output -- you'll see the
> > audio buffers getting routed through multiple layers.  Now,
> > depending on the soundcard and the memory buffer size it needs,
> > sample conversions ... this can  go horribly wrong when you
> > generate a lot of rapid audio requests -- something that happens
> > with emacspeak a lot if you perform actions that both produce
> > speech and a rapid sequence of auditory icons.  For the record,
> > the first thing I did on my work machines after upgrading to
> > Precise was to nuke pulseaudio -- that is getting harder and
> > harder to do --
> > > > > > > "Jason" == Jason White <jason@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> >      Jason> Tim Cross <theophilusx@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >      >> Note that there should be no problems with alsa and
> >      >> pulseaudio. Pulseaudio is not a replacement for alsa. It
> >      >> is another abstraction layer on top of it and pulseaudio
> >      >> needs alsa
> >      Jason>
> >      Jason> Part of the problem might be that PulseAudio holds
> >      Jason> devices open even when not in use, so that
> >      Jason> applications which access the Alsa layer directly fail
> >      Jason> to open audio devices.
> >      Jason>
> >      Jason> As I remember, there is a way to configure PulseAudio
> >      Jason> to relinquish devices temporarily that aren't being
> >      Jason> used by applications.
> >      Jason>
> >      Jason> With apologies in advance if I am wrong in the above -
> >      Jason> it's a while since I read about these issues.
> >      Jason>
> >      Jason> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >      Jason> To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your
> >      Jason> address on the emacspeak list send mail to
> >      Jason> "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a subject of
> >      Jason> "unsubscribe" or "help".
> >
> > --
> > Best Regards,
> > --raman
> >
> > --
> > Best Regards,
> > --raman
> >
> > --
> > Best Regards,
> > --raman
> >
> >
> > On 3/29/13, Jason White <jason@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > Tim Cross <theophilusx@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Note that there should be no problems with alsa and pulseaudio.
> > > > Pulseaudio
> > > > is not a replacement for alsa. It is another abstraction layer on top of
> > > > it
> > > > and pulseaudio needs alsa
> > >
> > > Part of the problem might be that PulseAudio holds devices open even when
> > > not
> > > in use, so that applications which access the Alsa layer directly fail to
> > > open
> > > audio devices.
> > >
> > > As I remember, there is a way to configure PulseAudio to relinquish devices
> > > temporarily that aren't being used by applications.
> > >
> > > With apologies in advance if I am wrong in the above - it's a while since I
> > > read about these issues.
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your address on the
> > > emacspeak list send mail to "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a
> > > subject of "unsubscribe" or "help".
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your address on the
> > emacspeak list send mail to "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a
> > subject of "unsubscribe" or "help".
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your address on the
> emacspeak list send mail to "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a
> subject of "unsubscribe" or "help".

--
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail

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