Not sure which version of RetroPie are you using (version 4.4 is too old to support the PI4), but out of the box I think HDMI sound should work using the 4.7.1 image.

Make sure that in the Audio settings in the RetroPie system you choose HDMI as output, then in ES the settings should be:
AUDIO CARD: Default
AUDIO DEVICE: HDMI

For OMX audio output, just use ALSA and it should work.

I found an easy way to do this.

I just needed something like a Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound Processor.

One can find that on Ebay currently for $10.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272275549904

I successfully replaced the line

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

in my config.txt file with

dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d

and now everything works perfectly! Thanks for the help @mitu

@technicaljunky It's not a problem if PulseAudio is present - the only issue for you seems to be EmulationStation's audio settings, which should be solvable with the correct configuration.

@mitu Thank you! Very simple solution, and it works perfectly! I didn't realize you could add scripts in there.

I still get the fun "failed to find mixer element" when I run the script, run a rom, or shutdown the system, but I'm not too worried about that. At least the audio works in both configurations now.

@gazbusola

My issue clearly had to do with pulseaudio, which I have no use for (at least for now!) on my current Raspberry Setup.

Your issue might have to do with the different HDMI modes. Have you looked into the config file for all the HDMI settings?

@Paxi said in RetroPie on Ubuntu Mate 20.4.01 HDMI sound issue:

there is only a 32bit version available.

RetroPie has only experimental support for 64 bit on the Pi, using the Raspberry OS 64 bit beta version.

Isn't there anything more I could try, specifically in RetroArch/Pie config?

You can try to disable PulseAudio and make sure RetroArch uses ALSA.

hdmi_safe=1 is equivalent to:

hdmi_force_hotplug=1 hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080 config_hdmi_boost=4 hdmi_group=2 hdmi_mode=4 disable_overscan=0 overscan_left=24 overscan_right=24 overscan_top=24 overscan_bottom=24

You can add

hdmi_force_hotplug=1 hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080 config_hdmi_boost=4 hdmi_group=2 hdmi_mode=4 disable_overscan=1

instead of hdmi_safe=1.

I wonder if any "good brand" TV of that time has also this problem ?

Telefunken used to be good, they sold the name, its not really telefunken anymore.
DGM is a total unknown brand.

I wonder if any LG TV has audio problems.

I couldn't get speaker-test to work, or aplay. alsamixer had volume.

I ended up just re-imaging the SD card with a fresh copy of RetroPie. This fixed my issue. All ROMs I've played have had appropriate audio.

@mitu thank you. That was the issue. I knew it was something easy. Thanks for the support!

@ahndrooan You can edit the topic title - there's no 'solved' checkbox :).

@TheBossT said in Retropie 4.4 HDMI Problem: Garbled Sound When Playing ANY Console/Emulator:

Also if anyone can maybe give some alternatives to bluetooth audio as the lag ain't great, that will be greatly appreticated!

There aren't many solutions out there and it seems this solution not only breaks other audio outputs but also is unusable due to the lag. I'm almost certain the Pi dosen't have enough horsepower to emulate games and stream bluetooth audio, as per the tutorial above I have completely removed it and I recommend that you should too. Let me know how you get on and if you find an alternative that doesn't stutter.

Thanks for answering, check that other users had the same problem, so check my settings thoroughly:
thanks to this help guide:
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Sound-Issues/
This step solved the problem for me:

USING THE BUILT-IN HDMI AUDIO
If you have a standard RPi and want to send audio over the HDMI connector then it should just work. In some instances though, you will need to manually modify the raspberry pi boot config file (sudo nano/boot/config.txt) and ADD the following lines to those already there:

# forces HDMI mode hdmi_drive=2 # Setting hdmi_force_hotplug to 1 pretends that the HDMI hotplug signal is asserted, so it appears that a HDMI display is attached. In other words, HDMI output mode will be used, even if no HDMI monitor is detected. hdmi_force_hotplug=1 # Pretends all audio formats are supported by display, allowing passthrough of DTS/AC even when not reported as supported. # May not be needed for all HDMI devices hdmi_force_edid_audio=1

Once you've made the change, save the file, restart your Raspberry Pi, and move onto Step 2.

Yes, the problem with lr-mame2000 is that is not compatible with all games. :(

In any case I will try to configure the gpicase controller searching in the config files for mame4all

I ended up just going back to the 3.5mm jack for audio in my cabinet. Based on the linked article, I just made sure I had the following settings in my config.txt:

disable_audio_dither=1
audio_pwm_mode=2

For some reason my pwm_mode was set to 0 in my config and changing that to 2 resolved all my issues with the 3.5mm jack.

Unfortunately, I was never able to get the crackle / hiss / static noise issue resolved when sending audio out HDMI to my HDMI to VGA adapter.

@griffon I hear you. Others have reported similar or related issues, and I have a similar problem on my TV as well, whereby sometimes the audio won't play until I change channels and then come back to the HDMI input on my Toshiba LCD TV.

Clumsy HDMI handshake implementations is my best guess.

@bytethis right, and I changed the source of course to see the video. But it didn't work until I changed the pi from the HDMI2 on the back of my TV to the HDMI1.

Boom, plenty of sound.

Very happy!

Thanks again,
Paul