In case anyone is using Debian Testing/Unstable and experiencing audio issues, I thought I’d share this.
Until the bugs get fixed, there are two workarounds:
- Uninstall FluidSynth
- Add systemctl --user restart pipewireto your session startup; this eliminates the problem.
As I want FluidSynth, I went with the latter.
- Ubuntu had a general crackling issue introduced last year, an issue around a buffer size which I fixed by copying - /usr/share/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf- To ~/.config/pipewire - Uncomment - pulse.min.quantum = 128/48000- And increase to 512/48000. Restart. - systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse- Increase buffer until stuttering ends. Note this also introduces delay to audio. - Perhaps your issue is something similar? I wouldn’t blindly make these changes on your end, but maybe it’s something to search up on. - Tried that already. - Based on the report, this seems to be an actual bug - it was working fine for everyone before the update and only happens in the presence of FluidSynth. - Ubuntu probably hasn’t had this version of PipeWire yet. - My work around is working just fine for now, though. 
- This is what fixed my ubuntu audio stuttering too 
 


