Mame64 - Win 10 - when audio rate is lowered, there's no audio

[bmuse]

Hi,

I wanted to lower the sample rate to try fixing audio skips/problems. I've tried all options -- 44.1, 22, 11. But when I change it to anything except 48000, no audio plays at all.

I've tried changing through the MAME UI, and by editing mame.ini -- same results, anything except 48000 and no sound.

Any ideas? Is this a known limitation?

Thanks very much!
B

[Thenasty]

dunno if this is what you changed it to and not 44.1, 22, 11 as you type it.
I lowered sample rate in some games and it works.
make sure your volume is ON/UP.

44100
22050
11025

[bmuse]

Hi, and thanks for the reply.

I abbreviated in the original question, a bit confusing.

Within the MAME UI, it's a selector with the values/options predefined. When I edited mame.ini, I used the values as you typed them.

So could it be that it affects some games but not others?  I tried many of the classics (Donkey Kong, Joust, Centipede, Mario Bros, Space Invaders, etc) and none of those had sound if the audio wasn't 48000. It seems like it affects all the games I normally play.

[Haze]

why are you lowering the audio rate in the first place?

if it's due to the myth that lower audio rate = better performance, don't, that hasn't been true for about 15 years.

[bmuse]

Hi Haze,

Actually, that is the reason. I'm trying to set up a fresh install with .177 (previously had .149 several years ago). When I load Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (hilarious to play), the audio stutters and skips even on the attract mode. ("Moo-oo-oo-oonwa-a-a-lke-e-er") And it affects gameplay as well, video skipping etc. Same with Donkey Kong; it's less of an impact, but still the music/sound skips often, sometimes the gameplay too.

The first entry on mamedev's wiki about performance suggests lowering the audio rate. So, based on the game tests and that suggestion, I was trying to lower the rate to see if it helped.

I know that CPU/RAM play a big part as well, especially with newer versions. I'm using a mini PC, so I know that's a factor too. It's a quad-core ATOM with Intel HD graphics and 4GB RAM. Version .149 ran fine on a much less powerful PC with half the RAM, so I guess I can fall back to that if all else fails.

Anyway, I can't test the audio theory since I get no sound at all on the lower rates. Hoping to solve that.

Thanks for the reply,
B

[Haze]

Hi Haze,

Actually, that is the reason. I'm trying to set up a fresh install with .177 (previously had .149 several years ago). When I load Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (hilarious to play), the audio stutters and skips even on the attract mode. ("Moo-oo-oo-oonwa-a-a-lke-e-er") And it affects gameplay as well, video skipping etc. Same with Donkey Kong; it's less of an impact, but still the music/sound skips often, sometimes the gameplay too.

The first entry on mamedev's wiki about performance suggests lowering the audio rate. So, based on the game tests and that suggestion, I was trying to lower the rate to see if it helped.

I know that CPU/RAM play a big part as well, especially with newer versions. I'm using a mini PC, so I know that's a factor too. It's a quad-core ATOM with Intel HD graphics and 4GB RAM. Version .149 ran fine on a much less powerful PC with half the RAM, so I guess I can fall back to that if all else fails.

Anyway, I can't test the audio theory since I get no sound at all on the lower rates. Hoping to solve that.

Thanks for the reply,
B

yeah, it's just going to be a case of that CPU not being good enough I imagine, the ATOM cpus are very, very weak, even much older CPUs outperform them at the same clock because they were built for low power use / low heat output, not performance.  I've seen a ~850Mhz P3 outperform a 1.something Ghz ATOM quite easily in some situations, emulation being one of them, they're simply not good chips.

hit F11, if it isn't running at 100% all the time then your audio is going to stutter, audio doesn't need to be enabled to see that.

installing DirectX9 (if it isn't already installed) and making sure your video card drivers are up to date might help, but really, the hardware you're trying to run it on isn't really hardware that I'd consider suitable for MAME, at least not a remotely recent version.

[bmuse]

Sigh, I know. I've just been in denial. (I mean, it's 64-bit quad-core! And 4K Intel HD! And 4GB DDR3 RAM! And... Atom.)

Thanks for the F11 tip, I'll try that, and test more games.

I may just fall back to .149 to be safe. I'm about 99.9% focused on 80s arcade classics, and those did well if I remember right, except for Tempest. I don't know if there's been drastic improvement in 2D sprite games in the more recent MAME versions that would make enough difference to switch?

Perhaps 64-bit .149 will be a sweet spot, if .177 is too taxing.

Meh, what's another few hours with EmuMovies anyway.

I appreciate the insight, and your time for the reply.