many proton games need PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60

i ended up opening /usr/bin/steam and appending:
export PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60
to the top of it so it's always using it. fixes crackly audio on a lot of games.

ok im trying that. i report back

Got no luck with that

Try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ-Ml78kiEE

nope didnt work

Low latency ALSA patch:
https://blog.thepoon.fr/osuLinuxAudioLatency/

nope i tried for a couple of hours now. not sure if its Steam OS causing the issue but even reinstalling didnt work

Had the same issue in Doom: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/396
Workaround for me was:

sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa
change: (Ctrl+W to search in nano)
load-module module-udev-detect
to:
load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0
save (Ctrl+O) (to exit: Ctrl+X)
killall pulseaudio
restart audio playing applications

Explanation of the tsched option: https://askubuntu.com/questions/371595/for-pulseaudio-what-does-tsched-do-and-what-are-the-defaults

Proper fix could be:
winetricks xact
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="xaudio2_7=n,b"
Which basically tells wine to use the Windows(?) audio dll it appears.
Had success with it for Squad: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamPlay/comments/9cuigr/downloadrun_windows_versions_using_proton/

Also mentioned here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/54

I'm using pulseaudio on top of jack on top of alsa and also experienced crackling in some games.

like GloriousEggroll suggested, "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC" fixed the issue for me.
Though I chose not to modify /usr/bin/steam but rather create a new file:

/usr/local/bin/steam

#!/bin/bash
export PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60
/usr/bin/steam

(don't forget to make that file executable)

Completely fixed crackled sound in "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux" with
$ PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=300 steam
(lesser values like =60 or =120) also had effect but with some crackles
System is rather old (C2D E8500 3.16GHZ/8GB DDR2/NVIDIA GT1030)
All other stuff (sample sizes, resampling rates in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf) had no effect at all.
Only PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC has finally helped.

Sorry, OS is Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, NVIDIA Drivers 415

like GloriousEggroll suggested, "PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC" fixed the issue for me.
Though I chose not to modify /usr/bin/steam but rather create a new file:
export PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60

60 is the sweet spot, I concur.

many proton games need PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60

i ended up opening /usr/bin/steam and appending:
export PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60
to the top of it so it's always using it. fixes crackly audio on a lot of games.

I'm on Ubuntu 16.04 and I've encountered this issue in 3 games: Red Alert 3 Uprising, Burnout Paradise and Doki Doki Literature Club. This fixed it.

Shouldn't this PULSE LATENCY fix be merged?

@Sharcoux No this doesn't apply well to every game.

Did someone notice some games where it actually worsen the sound instead of making it better?