How do I install the Audio Artifacts Debug skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add kunitoki/audio-artifacts-debug in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Audio Artifacts Debug safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Audio Artifacts Debug?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Audio Artifacts Debug free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Audio Artifacts Debug?

kunitoki (@kunitoki) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Audio Artifacts Debug by kunitoki — Agent Skill

Name: Audio Artifacts Debug
Author: kunitoki

Audio Artifacts Debug

Systematic checklist for diagnosing audio artifacts. Use when the user describes a sound quality problem — clicks, pops, crackling, silence, DC offset, aliasing, phase issues, or latency problems. Trigger on phrases like "why do I hear clicks?", "my output has DC offset", "there's aliasing in my oscillator", "phase is wrong in mono", "dropout when CPU spikes". Pairs with audio-dsp-review (realtime safety) and audio-numerics-review (numeric correctness) — use those to fix once the cause is found.

kunitoki cc2c455 2 files · 12.7 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Audio Artifacts Debug

Audio artifacts have diagnostic signatures — match the symptom to the root cause before touching code.

Step 1 — Characterize the artifact

Ask these questions before reading any code.

Artifact type	Questions to ask
Clicks / pops	Regular or random? On buffer boundaries? At note on/off? After channel strip toggle?
Crackling / distortion	Constant or load-dependent? Does it correlate with signal level? Worse on silent decay?
Silence / dropout	Immediate or gradual? Only under load? After a specific number of voices? Recovers?
DC offset	Constant or drift? Present from first sample? Appears only after long silence?
Aliasing	Audible as high-frequency mirror tones? Pitch-dependent? Present at all sample rates?
Phase issues	Stereo image collapse in mono? Comb filtering? Only on parallel paths or mid-side?
Latency	DAW reports wrong delay compensation? Wet/dry misaligned? Only at certain buffer sizes?

Step 2 — Narrow to root cause

Symptom	Likely cause	Skill / check to apply
Click at fixed buffer-length intervals	Buffer boundary discontinuity — uninitialized tail, missing sample-accurate fade	`audio-dsp-review`: check process entry/exit
Click correlates with xrun log	CPU overload — audio thread missed deadline	`audio-dsp-review`: scan for allocations, locks, I/O
Crackling scales with signal amplitude	Clipping or fixed-point overflow	`audio-numerics-review`: overflow, Q-format multiply
Crackling on silent decay	Denormal floats — FTZ absent	`audio-numerics-review`: denormal section
Dropout / silence under load	xrun, NaN propagation, or buffer too small for latency	`audio-dsp-review` + `audio-numerics-review`: NaN guards
Silence after large value	NaN propagated from unclamped `sqrt` / division	`audio-numerics-review`: NaN / Inf section
DC offset from first sample	Uninitialized filter state or delay line	`audio-numerics-review`: precision loss / state init
DC offset after long silence	FTZ leaving near-zero state; missing high-pass	`audio-numerics-review`: denormal / FTZ section
Aliasing pitch-tracks with note	Oscillator not bandlimited; no anti-alias before downsampling	`audio-numerics-review`: check sample-rate handling
Stereo collapses to mono	Unmatched processing on L/R; phase inversion	`audio-dsp-review`: check parallel path symmetry
Comb filtering on mono	Latency mismatch on parallel paths	Plugin reports incorrect `getLatencySamples()`
Latency wrong at buffer-size change	Plugin caches latency at init only; not updated on reconfigure	`audio-dsp-review`: check `prepareToPlay` reset

Step 3 — Structured diagnosis report

## Audio Artifact Diagnosis: `[file / symptom]`

### Artifact characterization
Type: [clicks | crackling | silence | DC | aliasing | phase | latency]
Observed: [when / under what conditions]
Reproducible: [always | intermittent | load-dependent]

### Root cause hypothesis
Likely cause: [one sentence]
Evidence: [what in the code supports this]
Skill to apply: [audio-dsp-review | audio-numerics-review | both]

### Specific checks to run
1. [file:line] — [what to inspect]
2. ...

### Recommended fix
[Concrete action — no placeholder text]

For artifact-specific diagnostic questions and check-by-check references see references/artifact-patterns.md.

---name: audio-artifacts-debugdescription: Systematic checklist for diagnosing audio artifacts. Use when the user describes a sound quality problem — clicks, pops, crackling, silence, DC offset, aliasing, phase issues, or latency problems. Trigger on phrases like "why do I hear clicks?", "my output has DC offset", "there's aliasing in my oscillator", "phase is wrong in mono", "dropout when CPU spikes". Pairs with audio-dsp-review (realtime safety) and audio-numerics-review (numeric correctness) — use those to fix once the cause is found.---# Audio Artifacts DebugAudio artifacts have diagnostic signatures — match the symptom to the root cause before touching code.## Step 1 — Characterize the artifactAsk these questions before reading any code.| Artifact type | Questions to ask ||---------------|-----------------|| **Clicks / pops** | Regular or random? On buffer boundaries? At note on/off? After channel strip toggle? || **Crackling / distortion** | Constant or load-dependent? Does it correlate with signal level? Worse on silent decay? || **Silence / dropout** | Immediate or gradual? Only under load? After a specific number of voices? Recovers? || **DC offset** | Constant or drift? Present from first sample? Appears only after long silence? || **Aliasing** | Audible as high-frequency mirror tones? Pitch-dependent? Present at all sample rates? || **Phase issues** | Stereo image collapse in mono? Comb filtering? Only on parallel paths or mid-side? || **Latency** | DAW reports wrong delay compensation? Wet/dry misaligned? Only at certain buffer sizes? |## Step 2 — Narrow to root cause| Symptom | Likely cause | Skill / check to apply ||---------|-------------|----------------------|| Click at fixed buffer-length intervals | Buffer boundary discontinuity — uninitialized tail, missing sample-accurate fade | `audio-dsp-review`: check process entry/exit || Click correlates with xrun log | CPU overload — audio thread missed deadline | `audio-dsp-review`: scan for allocations, locks, I/O || Crackling scales with signal amplitude | Clipping or fixed-point overflow | `audio-numerics-review`: overflow, Q-format multiply || Crackling on silent decay | Denormal floats — FTZ absent | `audio-numerics-review`: denormal section || Dropout / silence under load | xrun, NaN propagation, or buffer too small for latency | `audio-dsp-review` + `audio-numerics-review`: NaN guards || Silence after large value | NaN propagated from unclamped `sqrt` / division | `audio-numerics-review`: NaN / Inf section || DC offset from first sample | Uninitialized filter state or delay line | `audio-numerics-review`: precision loss / state init || DC offset after long silence | FTZ leaving near-zero state; missing high-pass | `audio-numerics-review`: denormal / FTZ section || Aliasing pitch-tracks with note | Oscillator not bandlimited; no anti-alias before downsampling | `audio-numerics-review`: check sample-rate handling || Stereo collapses to mono | Unmatched processing on L/R; phase inversion | `audio-dsp-review`: check parallel path symmetry || Comb filtering on mono | Latency mismatch on parallel paths | Plugin reports incorrect `getLatencySamples()` || Latency wrong at buffer-size change | Plugin caches latency at init only; not updated on reconfigure | `audio-dsp-review`: check `prepareToPlay` reset |## Step 3 — Structured diagnosis report```## Audio Artifact Diagnosis: `[file / symptom]`### Artifact characterizationType: [clicks | crackling | silence | DC | aliasing | phase | latency]Observed: [when / under what conditions]Reproducible: [always | intermittent | load-dependent]### Root cause hypothesisLikely cause: [one sentence]Evidence: [what in the code supports this]Skill to apply: [audio-dsp-review | audio-numerics-review | both]### Specific checks to run1. [file:line] — [what to inspect]2. ...### Recommended fix[Concrete action — no placeholder text]```For artifact-specific diagnostic questions and check-by-check references see`references/artifact-patterns.md`.

Frequently asked questions

Audio Artifacts Debug

File contents

Audio Artifacts Debug

Step 1 — Characterize the artifact

Step 2 — Narrow to root cause

Step 3 — Structured diagnosis report

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Audio Artifacts Debug skill?

What does the Audio Artifacts Debug skill do?

Is Audio Artifacts Debug safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Audio Artifacts Debug?

Is Audio Artifacts Debug free to use?

Who published Audio Artifacts Debug?