My Audio Feedback Thread

I endorse Angry_Rope's question. It's been 12 days since the issue was identified and no fix yet. I'm paying exclusively for the My Audio feature I can't use properly and it's incredibly frustrating for me.

Agree, I've used Roll 20 during a long time for free. So I'm very thankfull for all the team's work and the platform.  But, I would take a Plus account and I'm hesitating. Can we have an approximate niche before the audio repair ?

Hi, all. A quick update on the upload timeout issue: it's actively being worked on and is a high priority. I don't have an ETA, but it should be pretty quick, barring emergencies.

Joe, Your audio files are converted to .ogg when they are uploaded and for storage purposes, so they will not be lossless when streamed from Roll20. Although .flac files are supported, it's possible that your particular file is encoded in some manner that isn't fully supported. If you want to email your file to <a href="mailto:team@roll20.net" rel="nofollow">team@roll20.net</a> with ATTN: STEPHANIE in the subject, I can forward your file over to the devs to see if we can figure out what's going on with it. We are working on fixing that error message to be more useful soon. Joe said: I get this kind of error whenever I try to upload any unsupported file type such as .wav files but I also get this error trying to upload .flac files which are said to be supported (I use google chrome). I can upload .mp3 files and .ogg files just fine though, but I hope .flac starts uploading properly soon since mp3 and ogg are lossy and I want to use looped music losslessly.

Joe, even if flacs were supported without conversion I'd say save your storage space and use ogg or mp3.&nbsp; The loss in audio fidelity is minimal in most cases but, more importantly, you're going to be listening to music under all of your players' chatter, coughing, sneezing, chip-crunching, etc.&nbsp; It will never be a remotely hi-fi experience.

File sent. Also Jesse we don't use voice chat so that isn't a problem for us.

Hi, everyone! We just put out a hotfix that fixes the timeout issue. The uploader will now timeout after 3 minutes, which should be sufficient for most Internet connections (anything over 120 kB/s). The HTML-ified error message is still a known issue, which will be addressed next. (Corrected on Mar 13: should be 120 kiloBYTES/sec).

Still getting the 413 error code.&nbsp; This popped up in 2 minutes and 8 seconds.

Same for me. 200 Mbps upload speed but I'm still getting this timeout trying to upload a 5.9mb mp3.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Stephanie B. said: Hi, everyone! We just put out a hotfix that fixes the timeout issue. The uploader will now timeout after 3 minutes, which should be sufficient for most Internet connections (anything over 120 kb/s). The HTML-ified error message is still a known issue, which will be addressed next. Hi Stephanie, Is this change live? I just tried to upload my "Twin Elms.mp3" which is ~8.8MB in size, I still see the same issue. Tracking the upload bandwidth, the file is sent at ~500Kb/s but the progress bar still stops around the 4MB upload mark. My Test Case: 1) Drag and drop "Twin Elms.mp3" (8863 KB) 2) File Icon Appears with spinning circle icon for ~17 seconds, no data TX. 3) Cancel link becomes enabled progress bar starts to fill, data TX @500 kb/s for ~36 seconds. 4) Progress bar stalls, TX stops. 36 seconds of TX at ~500kb/s gives ~18000kb or 2.25MB Progress bar icon looks like below. Progress bar is ~46% filled, yet maths wise we've only TX'd ~25% of the data. &nbsp; Assuming 8863kB file becomes 9100kB with headers for transmission, that should be 9100x8/500 = 145.6 seconds of TX to upload the file. Just looking at your comment of 120kb/s and a 3m timeout. when does that kick in? Unless I'm misunderstanding something here. 120 kilobit transmission for 3 minutes is 21600 kilobits, so 2.7 Megabytes, which is well short of the 20 Megabyte file size limit. Surely to allow a 20 Megabyte file to upload at 120 kilobit/s you'd need a timeout in the order of: 20MB = 20480KB = 163840 kilobits @ a rate of 120 kilobits/s you'd need ~1365 seconds or ~23 minutes. Is there a confusion here about storage in Mega/Kilo bytes and transmission in kilo bits?

Hi Jesse and Tim, Can you send me a copy of your audio file to <a href="mailto:team@roll20.net" rel="nofollow">team@roll20.net</a> with "ATTN:Stephanie" in the subject line? We'd like to figure out why you're getting a 413 error, and the devs suspect it has to do with the length of your audio file. Thanks! Jesse R. said: Still getting the 413 error code.&nbsp; This popped up in 2 minutes and 8 seconds.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hi, Dresdon, Sorry for the miscommunication-- that should have said 120 kB/s-- it's in kilobytes, not kilobits. In kilobits, it's 960 kilobits/sec. I've updated the comment above and will update the release notes as well. The timeout starts after the spinner stops and when the progress bar begins-- that's when the file is actually being transferred. Before that, the file is being processed locally. Just looking at your comment of 120kb/s and a 3m timeout. when does that kick in? Unless I'm misunderstanding something here. 120 kilobit transmission for 3 minutes is 21600 kilobits, so 2.7 Megabytes, which is well short of the 20 Megabyte file size limit. Surely to allow a 20 Megabyte file to upload at 120 kilobit/s you'd need a timeout in the order of: 20MB = 20480KB = 163840 kilobits @ a rate of 120 kilobits/s you'd need ~1365 seconds or ~23 minutes. Is there a confusion here about storage in Mega/Kilo bytes and transmission in kilo bits?

Ok, so that works, a timeout based on bottom speed of 960 kilobits comes out at 170 seconds, for the 20MB file so 10 seconds grace on the 3 mins. However, speaking for myself, I have a 500 kilobit upload, and around 5Mb download. So that means I'm only ever going to be able to upload a ~10.9MB file before I hit the timeout. Are those of us stuck with poor internet connections going to be screwed? Do you really need such a tight timeout on the upload? However, as I commented in the post earlier today, I'm not even getting that far. My upload is terminating after ~36s, again no error just progress stops and I can see the TX stops from my machine. It doesn't explain the mismatch of data sent vs the progress bar either. In 36s @ 500 kilobits I could only have TX'd 2250k of the 9100k file, yet the progress bar shows ~46% of 9100k which is around 4186k. So something else is clearly broken here. Stephanie B. said: Hi, Dresdon, Sorry for the miscommunication-- that should have said 120 kB/s-- it's in kilobytes, not kilobits. In kilobits, it's 960 kilobits/sec. I've updated the comment above and will update the release notes as well. The timeout starts after the spinner stops and when the progress bar begins-- that's when the file is actually being transferred. Before that, the file is being processed locally. Just looking at your comment of 120kb/s and a 3m timeout. when does that kick in? Unless I'm misunderstanding something here. 120 kilobit transmission for 3 minutes is 21600 kilobits, so 2.7 Megabytes, which is well short of the 20 Megabyte file size limit. Surely to allow a 20 Megabyte file to upload at 120 kilobit/s you'd need a timeout in the order of: 20MB = 20480KB = 163840 kilobits @ a rate of 120 kilobits/s you'd need ~1365 seconds or ~23 minutes. Is there a confusion here about storage in Mega/Kilo bytes and transmission in kilo bits?

I definitely agree, there's something else going on with your particular uploads, and possibly other users who have some similar scenario (maybe Internet speed, maybe something else). You've already gone above and beyond for us, but if you want to send another network log to <a href="mailto:team@roll20.net" rel="nofollow">team@roll20.net</a>, the dev would like to try and figure out what's going on with that. Dresdon said: However, as I commented in the post earlier today, I'm not even getting that far. My upload is terminating after ~36s, again no error just progress stops and I can see the TX stops from my machine. It doesn't explain the mismatch of data sent vs the progress bar either. In 36s @ 500 kilobits I could only have TX'd 2250k of the 9100k file, yet the progress bar shows ~46% of 9100k which is around 4186k. So something else is clearly broken here.

I've sent you through two mails. Title:My Audio Feedback Thread - Wireshark, Uploaded MP3 from Dresdon Title:My Audio Feedback Thread - Dresdon Wireshark trace of same MP3 file uploading into mail The first one has the MP3 file for the Twin Elms and the trace of it uploading to Roll20 to the point of stalling. Notably the trace itself which obviously captures the traffic is only 2.33MB in size. The second mail captures the upload of the MP3 file into the first mail, this is a 10.5MB file. Maybe that can help your Dev in finding the point of failure. Let me know if there's any other logging that I can do to help you root cause this :) Stephanie B. said: I definitely agree, there's something else going on with your particular uploads, and possibly other users who have some similar scenario (maybe Internet speed, maybe something else). You've already gone above and beyond for us, but if you want to send another network log to <a href="mailto:team@roll20.net" rel="nofollow">team@roll20.net</a> , the dev would like to try and figure out what's going on with that. Dresdon said: However, as I commented in the post earlier today, I'm not even getting that far. My upload is terminating after ~36s, again no error just progress stops and I can see the TX stops from my machine. It doesn't explain the mismatch of data sent vs the progress bar either. In 36s @ 500 kilobits I could only have TX'd 2250k of the 9100k file, yet the progress bar shows ~46% of 9100k which is around 4186k. So something else is clearly broken here.

Thanks, Dresdon!&nbsp; I will pass both files along to the devs. Dresdon said: I've sent you through two mails. Title:My Audio Feedback Thread - Wireshark, Uploaded MP3 from Dresdon Title:My Audio Feedback Thread - Dresdon Wireshark trace of same MP3 file uploading into mail

Hi, Are there any plans for making "My audio" files available to all users with a search function (like the former Soundcloud / Fanburst tab) ? I'm sure it would help roll20 greatly reduce storage space consumption as right now, the same song could be uploaded hundreds of times. That would really help me as I've lost dozens of tracks in the process... Regards, Romain.

That almost certainly runs into and violates copyright laws.

Stephanie, thank you for your help and communication on these issues with MyAudio.&nbsp; I'm really enjoying the feature and am excited to see the full roll-out of the updated user interface when it arrives. Do you have any updates or insights on the issue where audio just stops playing in-game after a while?&nbsp; It continues to impact my games (and I don't seem to be the only one).&nbsp;&nbsp;

Rebecca W. said: Do you have any updates or insights on the issue where audio just stops playing in-game after a while?&nbsp; It continues to impact my games (and I don't seem to be the only one).&nbsp;&nbsp; Yep, same for me... :-)

Rebecca W. said: Stephanie, thank you for your help and communication on these issues with MyAudio.&nbsp; I'm really enjoying the feature and am excited to see the full roll-out of the updated user interface when it arrives. I would like to thank you and the team as well for your work and attention. I feel like this MyAudio feature is a great improvement of Roll20, and in time, it will surely be perfect! I think you mentioned earlier some improvements that are currently planned for the future. Among those, there was a fade in/out feature that would be much appreciated. I hope that all the issues will be fixed soon and I wish you all a great day!

I am happy to reveal that the hotfix did resolve the issue for me.

Did you guys change something? I found I am now able to upload tracks without them stalling and I haven't done anything different on my end, connection is still my crappy 5Mb down, 500Kb up.

Hi, everyone. We had a couple of fixes for MyAudio go out in yesterday's release . Notably: .wav files are now supported, and you should no longer get the big HTML error message-- those should now be more coherent. We've also improved the search function for Incompetech, Battlebards, and Tabletop Audio tracks, which should help in finding cool tracks from the built-in audio on Roll20. The top-level post has been updated to reflect these changes. We're still investigating the issue with audio stopping mid-game; it's very difficult to reproduce.

I can confirm both .wav files are working fine and the html error message is gone even when uploading unsupported file types, thanks roll20 team!

Stephanie B. said: &nbsp;We're still investigating the issue with audio stopping mid-game; it's very difficult to reproduce. Thanks Stephanie. I confirm that the problem "audio stopping" still exists.&nbsp;

I can also confirm it still happens.&nbsp; Wish I could give you a specific way to reproduce it -- I know it must be frustrating to know your users are experiencing a specific bug and not being able to even produce the bug (let alone figure out why it is happening).

Is the audio stopping problem more likely to occur after a certain length of time?&nbsp; Do you notice it more in larger groups of players?

Yes to both for me.&nbsp; More players = more likely to stop.&nbsp; The longer I'm playing (even solo when I'm just setting things up or testing a playlist) the more likely it is to hiccup and stop.

Playing looped music for a little while gradually caused considerable lag. The lag went away when I stopped the music. I am using .wav files.

Exactly same issue with me. I can play perhaps 6-10 music and after it stops.

Joe said: Playing looped music for a little while gradually caused considerable lag. The lag went away when I stopped the music. I am using .wav files. That happens to me as well (except the music just stops rather than lagging), but I'm not using .wav files.&nbsp; I'm using .ogg files that I've cleaned up in Audacity before uploading, so there's no meta-data and the files are relatively trim.&nbsp; So I don't think it's the file type.&nbsp; It happens faster / worse when there are more users on my game, which to me suggests it has something to do with how roll20 streams or buffers the music and how that is interacting with the various connections of the different players (myself included).

Precision: This, for my part, sounds from Incompetech or Battlebard ...

A Roll20 rep has previously said in this thread that no matter what format you upload your files in, they are all converted to ogg format for storage on Roll20.&nbsp; It is doubtful that file type has any bearing on the intermittent music player issue. It would be helpful to know if the music stutter issue is only occurring with uploaded music files or if it's happening with sounds from the other built-in providers as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Rebecca W. said: Joe said: Playing looped music for a little while gradually caused considerable lag. The lag went away when I stopped the music. I am using .wav files. That happens to me as well (except the music just stops rather than lagging), but I'm not using .wav files.&nbsp; I'm using .ogg files that I've cleaned up in Audacity before uploading, so there's no meta-data and the files are relatively trim.&nbsp; So I don't think it's the file type.&nbsp; It happens faster / worse when there are more users on my game, which to me suggests it has something to do with how roll20 streams or buffers the music and how that is interacting with the various connections of the different players (myself included). I also use Audacity to make my music files optimal and it is how i turned it into a .wav file from .mp3 but I do agree it could be Roll20 itself because sometimes I lag when not playing any music or having character sheets open or anything. Of course, my kind of lag is the freeze-up kind for a moment. Jesse R. said: A Roll20 rep has previously said in this thread that no matter what format you upload your files in, they are all converted to ogg format for storage on Roll20.&nbsp; It is doubtful that file type has any bearing on the intermittent music player issue. It would be helpful to know if the music stutter issue is only occurring with uploaded music files or if it's happening with sounds from the other built-in providers as well.&nbsp;&nbsp; I suppose this might explain why my .wav files are still a bit lossless, but they are a lot more lossless than actual .mp3 and .ogg files despite that. Also I use only uploaded music. A friend of mine who runs a D&amp;D campaign uses provided music though and I don't recall any problems with that (he is also a free user if that matters any).

I'm currently wondering if the provided music sources are handled differently than the uploaded music.&nbsp; For example, instead of streaming to the player through Roll20, is provided music just sent to the music player as an url and streamed directly from the original provider's host?&nbsp; If so, and if we have few/no reports of provided music stopping or lagging, then we could focus debugging efforts on Roll20's streaming servers.

Hi, Jesse. The music from the 3rd party providers is streamed from Roll20's servers. Thanks for helping troubleshoot for us!&nbsp; Jesse R. said: I'm currently wondering if the provided music sources are handled differently than the uploaded music.&nbsp; For example, instead of streaming to the player through Roll20, is provided music just sent to the music player as an url and streamed directly from the original provider's host?&nbsp; If so, and if we have few/no reports of provided music stopping or lagging, then we could focus debugging efforts on Roll20's streaming servers.

THANKS ROLL20 TEAM (Roll20 avoided shady music sites and baseless copyright bs with this one weird trick)

For my part, I've only had the audio freeze on uploaded files.&nbsp; Music that I've added from Incompetech generally streams fine.

Uploaded music stops repeating itself and never starts playing again on the same session unless I reload. This happens per music file, files that successfully played previously still play (with no delay, possibly cached on browser). Rate is about 2~3 files per 3 hours session on a frequent switch of about one file per 10~20 minutes. It is client session based, i.e. I had two firefox tabs, one as DM and one as a player. When it froze on DM it would still play on the player tab and vice versa, no correlation. If this cannot be fixed I would recommend an internal cache clearing button or a way to reload only the jukebox without having to reload the entire game. To recreate this I would recommend the devs play for 3-4 hours with constant BGM switching on consumer PCs. Please do something about this asap as it is taking away value from your Pro membership.

I'm just on a free account but I try to upload a little 99 KB .mp3 and I get an eternal spinner.&nbsp; Any idea why? Thanks for this feature, BTW!&nbsp; Looks like I came in a the perfect time to start a new campaign.

This incredibly frustrating bug is still happening to my group. Everyone in my game is experiencing either intermittent audio, or a complete lack thereof. This occurs with uploaded music, tabletop audio tracks, everything. I've had them clear their cache, restart, try new browsers. Nothing is solving it. It really is ruining the immersion of my game. Please make this a priority fix. Roll20 is where I want to continue playing my games. I don't want to have to browse for alternative solutions.&nbsp;

Until the problem is identified and fixed, you may consider using <a href="https://www.watch2gether.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.watch2gether.com/</a> or similar web-based services if music is crucial to your immersion.&nbsp; If you use Discord, the Fredboat and Rhythm bots are also both good options. The only Roll20 alternative out there at the moment doesn't support music or sound at all.

ブラザーシャープ said: Uploaded music stops repeating itself and never starts playing again on the same session unless I reload. This happens per music file, files that successfully played previously still play (with no delay, possibly cached on browser). Rate is about 2~3 files per 3 hours session on a frequent switch of about one file per 10~20 minutes. It is client session based, i.e. I had two firefox tabs, one as DM and one as a player. When it froze on DM it would still play on the player tab and vice versa, no correlation. If this cannot be fixed I would recommend an internal cache clearing button or a way to reload only the jukebox without having to reload the entire game. To recreate this I would recommend the devs play for 3-4 hours with constant BGM switching on consumer PCs. Please do something about this asap as it is taking away value from your Pro membership. This is absolutely true. This jukebox problem is stalking my game for a month now.

The bar uploads for me - but after it gets to 100% I get this message.

As someone who has supported Roll20 for some time now, since soundcloud was still offering support for Roll20 Music, I understand that there are issues when it comes to inter-company relations, especially with regard to entertainment That being said, the fact that MyAudio uses up your storage from your Quota is total BS. I will look past many of Roll20's issues, but the fact of the matter is that you simply cannot have a compelling Campaign with only 10 songs to choose from. It's already annoying enough to have to upload the audio from our computers, but this totally discourages new users from joining in to DM. I understand that a quota is necessary, but to tack it onto an already rather small quota is ridiculous and getting on my, and many others nerves. Have a Nice day, and as i dont want to get banned for no reason, please improve your mediocre at best audio system.

DragonKingNate said: That being said, the fact that MyAudio uses up your storage from your Quota is total BS. I will look past many of Roll20's issues, but the fact of the matter is that you simply cannot have a compelling Campaign with only 10 songs to choose from. It's already annoying enough to have to upload the audio from our computers, but this totally discourages new users from joining in to DM. I understand that a quota is necessary, but to tack it onto an already rather small quota is ridiculous and getting on my, and many others nerves. Is six gigs not enough space for you, as a Pro subscriber?

Gen Kitty said: Is six gigs not enough space for you, as a Pro subscriber? Im talking about free GMing here bud. I literally mentioned it in the section you quoted.

Giving away free music storage space is one of the reasons Fanburst went belly up and we find ourselves in this position now...&nbsp; Music is optional and there are other free methods to sync music between friends remotely if someone is doesn't want a subscription.&nbsp; Watch2gether.com, for example.&nbsp; Or various Discord bots.&nbsp;

Are there ANY updates on the issue of sound dropping out mid-game?&nbsp; Or are we waiting for the full release of the re-vamped audio system to address the bug?