Audio Debugging Quick Reference

Quick reference for debugging MusicEditor audio timing issues.

Audio Timing Checklist

Before investigating audio issues, verify these values are correct:

Metric	Expected Value	Tolerance
APU cycle rate	1,024,000 Hz	+/- 1%
DSP sample rate	32,040 Hz	+/- 0.5%
Samples per NTSC frame	533-534	+/- 2
APU/Master clock ratio	0.0478	exact
Resampling	32040 Hz → 48000 Hz	enabled
Frame timing	60.0988 Hz (NTSC)	exact

Running Audio Tests

# Build with ROM tests enabled
cmake --preset mac-dbg \
  -DYAZE_ENABLE_ROM_TESTS=ON \
  -DYAZE_TEST_ROM_VANILLA_PATH=~/roms/alttp_vanilla.sfc

cmake --build --preset mac-dbg

# Run all audio tests
ctest --test-dir build -L audio -V

# Run specific test with verbose output
YAZE_TEST_ROM_VANILLA=~/roms/alttp_vanilla.sfc ./build/bin/Debug/yaze_test_rom_dependent \
  --gtest_filter="*AudioTiming*" 2>&1 | tee audio_debug.log

# Generate timing report
./build/bin/Debug/yaze_test_rom_dependent \
  --gtest_filter="*GenerateTimingReport*"

Key Log Categories

Enable these categories for audio debugging:

APU - APU cycle execution
APU_TIMING - Cycle rate diagnostics
DSP_TIMING - Sample generation rates
MusicPlayer - Playback control
AudioBackend - Audio device/resampling

Common Issues and Fixes

1.5x Speed Bug

Symptom: Audio plays too fast, sounds pitched up Cause: Missing or incorrect resampling from 32040 Hz to 48000 Hz Fix: Verify SetAudioStreamResampling(true, 32040, 2) is called before playback

Chipmunk Effect

Symptom: Audio sounds very high-pitched and fast Cause: Sample rate mismatch - feeding 32kHz data to 48kHz device without resampling Fix: Enable SDL AudioStream resampling or fix sample rate configuration

Stuttering/Choppy Audio

Symptom: Audio breaks up or skips Cause: Buffer underrun - not generating samples fast enough Fix: Check frame timing in MusicPlayer::Update(), increase buffer prime size

Pitch Drift Over Time

Symptom: Audio gradually goes out of tune Cause: Floating-point accumulation error in cycle calculation Fix: Use fixed-point ratio in APU::RunCycles() (already implemented)

Critical Code Paths

File	Function	Purpose
`apu.cc:88-224`	`RunCycles()`	APU/Master clock sync
`apu.cc:226-251`	`Cycle()`	DSP tick every 32 cycles
`dsp.cc:142-182`	`Cycle()`	Sample generation
`dsp.cc:720-846`	`GetSamples()`	Resampling output
`music_player.cc:75-156`	`Update()`	Frame timing
`music_player.cc:164-236`	`EnsureAudioReady()`	Audio init
`audio_backend.cc:359-406`	`SetAudioStreamResampling()`	32kHz→48kHz

Timing Constants

From apu.cc:

// APU/Master fixed-point ratio (no floating-point drift)
constexpr uint64_t kApuCyclesNumerator = 32040 * 32;      // 1,025,280
constexpr uint64_t kApuCyclesDenominator = 1364 * 262 * 60;  // 21,437,280

// APU cycles per master cycle ≈ 0.0478
// DSP cycles every 32 APU cycles
// Native sample rate: 32040 Hz
// Samples per NTSC frame: 32040 / 60.0988 ≈ 533

Debug Build Flags

Start yaze with debug flags for audio investigation:

./yaze --debug --log_file=audio_debug.log \
  --rom_file=roms/alttp_vanilla.sfc --editor=Music

Test Output Files

Tests write diagnostic files to /tmp/:

audio_timing_report.txt - Full timing metrics
audio_timing_drift.txt - Per-second data (CSV format)

Parse CSV data for analysis:

# Show timing ratios over time
awk -F, 'NR>1 {print $1, $4, $5}' /tmp/audio_timing_drift.txt

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