Winamp issues

[jyeh74]

I have version 5.35 of Winamp and I noticed that it changes the volume itself. When listening to mp3's, sometimes it randomly increases the volume. Anyone have this issue or know how to solve it?

[Ai Haibara]

Under Options > Preferences > General Preferences > Playback, do you have Use Replay Gain checked/on?

Also, do you have the equalizer active?

[jyeh74]

Use Replay is NOT checked.
EQ is active.

[Ai Haibara]

It does sound like Winamp or a plugin is trying to dynamically change the volume, or perhaps normalize it, during playback.

What happens if you turn the EQ off and play? Have you installed any plugins recently, or before you noticed the change - especially any DSP or output plugins?

[jyeh74]

No plug-ins. Just version 5.35
If I turn of EQ, same thing. It happens randomly. I don't know what's wrong.

[dcsos]

Sticky scroll wheel on the mouse?
The wheel controls Volume

[jyeh74]

weird thing is, I'm not even using the mouse. Just playing winamp and letting it run.

[Ai Haibara]

The only other thing that comes to (my mind, anyway) is to experiment with the Volume Control options in the DirectSound and waveOut output plugins. (In DirectSound output, it's under the Other tab.) Also, it might not hurt to experiment with the Use Replay Gain options, too. Maybe something was enabled, somewhere, and Winamp just doesn't realize it.

[jyeh74]

how do i get to the DirectSound output plugin? Is it through Winamp?

[Ai Haibara]

In Winamp's Preferences, go to Plugins > Output in the left window frame. Then, highlight DirectSound output... (the "..." is because whatever you have after "DirectSound output" may be different than mine. Shouldn't make a difference, though.), then click the Configure button.

Note, also, that the default waveOut output plugin can also be configured here, and any other plugins you have installed that might be affecting Winamp's output may also be here as well. Others may be in the DSP plugin section... do you have any DSP plugins installed?

[jyeh74]

Allow hardware configuration is checked.

DEVICE INFO:
Certified: yes, emulated: no
Supports sample rates from 100 Hz to 192000 Hz (continuous)
Hardware memory: N/A
Hardware mixing: supported, 32 free streams (33 max)
Speaker setup: stereo

[jyeh74]

The only DSP plguin I have is
Nullsoft Signal Processing Studio DSP v0.38

For Output I have:
Nullsoft Diskwriter Plug-in v2.12
DirectSound Output v2.47
waveOut Output v2.11

[jyeh74]

So uninstalled winamp and re-installed it thinking it would get rid of the problem. But now it runs, just without sound. Am I suppose to install another driver? I don't recall having to do this before.

I have RealTek AC97 Audio installed, sound card is fine, sound card drivers fine, audio isn't on mute. What could be the problem. Was working fine before........

[Ai Haibara]

In the Output plugins (DirectSound output and waveOut output), did you happen to change the output devices? Winamp doesn't delete the user configurations/information when you uninstall it, if I remember correctly.

What output devices are the plugins set to? In the DirectSound output plugin, the device field is the first dropdown in the Device tab. (On the system I'm using at the minute, it's set to Primary Sound Driver. (It's using a RealTek setup as well, but I'm too lazy to check which. ))
In the waveOut output plugin, it should have a Device: dropdown at the top of the settings window. (On this system, it's set to Microsoft Sound Mapper.)

(Edit: Oops, almost forgot. When you go into Winamp's preferences, and check the plugins under Plug-ins > Output, make sure either DirectSound output or waveOut output are highlighted. Winamp will use the highlighted plugin for output... so if you have Nullsoft Disk Writer highlighted, for example, it won't play audio through the speakers, but will instead write it to disk.)

Though, if you have roughly the same device choices I do, you shouldn't really be able to 'disable' the sound in Winamp. So, I'm not entirely sure why you wouldn't be able to hear sound from Winamp after a reinstall.

[jyeh74]

sound is back.,...not sure why. But it still increases the sound and decreases it randomly. In the output, I have Direct Sound output v2.47 highlighted, although waveOut output v2.11 is also available, as well as Null-Disk Writer plug-in v2.12. I have it on Direct Sound output.

Not sure why.

[jyeh74]

Under the Direct Sound, I went to configure and discovered that it was set as the "Primary Sound Driver" under "device" so I rest all and it went to "SiS 7012 Wave" - which I beleive is my sound card. You think that had something to do with it?

"Allow harware acceleration" is checked.
"Create primary buffer" is NOT checked.
Buffering length is 2000ms.
Default fade length is 333ms.

[Ai Haibara]

Probably not. I'd still tend to think something else is attempting to normalize or auto-adjust the volume levels during playback (as long as it's not happening anywhere else. Also, you might attempt to play the same audio files in a different player, to see if it happens anywhere else.)

What happens if you switch from the DirectSound to waveOut output plugin? Plus, they've just released a new version of WinAmp, so you can also try that. Not sure if it'll make much of a difference, though.

[jyeh74]

yah i did get the newest version of winamp. I think Direct Sound is default? I dont even know how to select waveout plugin?

[jyeh74]

i tried using windows media player version 10 and it happens sometimes too. Weird thing is that this happened on my other laptop. No association with the desktop that was running winamp.

[Ai Haibara]

To select the plugin you want WinAmp to use for output, go to Preferences > Plug-ins > Output and highlight (click once on) the output plugin you want to use.

Does it happen consistently with certain files, or randomly with all files? Odd that it wouldn't be more consistent, as it does still sound to me like something attempting to auto-normalize the volume.

[aedipuss]

check your hearing aid battery??? winamp and wmp work fine.

[jyeh74]

it happens randomly. and yes i have perfect hearing smartass

[Ai Haibara]

If it's also happening (randomly) in WMP, does it happen with the same, or different files? Also, do you notice it happening at any other time and with any other programs, including games (or anything else that plays audio)?

I'm beginning to wonder if it might be the sound drivers, or if you've got some other process in memory trying to do something to the sound output (or otherwise eating up resources ) Does your laptop also use the same sound setup/drivers?