[kde-freebsd] KDE4's multimedia subsystem won't handle sound device properly

[Conrad J. Sabatier]

I'm seeing a general problem in KDE 4's multimedia's subsystem's
handling of my sound card, where apps such as amarok-2.4.3 (amarok-kde4)
erroneously report:

Sound device HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #0 Analog (pcm) is not working,
falling back to default

(what exactly *is* this default, anyway?). 

When I try to configure sound inside amarok, the test sound plays fine
using PCM #0, but as soon as I actually try to use it outside of the
configuration dialog, another popup appears with the above message.

Meanwhile, sound is hideously garbled.  I can hear the file I'm trying
to play, but at the same time, I'm hearing something that sounds like
water sluicing through a drainpipe (I know, hardly a very technical
description, but that's what it sounds like, I swear).  :-)

$ uname -a
FreeBSD serene.no-ip.org 9.0-BETA1 FreeBSD 9.0-BETA1 #3: Sat Aug 20
15:25:34 CDT 2011 conrads at serene.no-ip.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/CUSTOM
amd64

$ cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 64bit 2009061500/amd64)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #0 Analog> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #1 Analog> (play/rec)
pcm2: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #2 Digital> (play)
pcm3: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #3 Digital> (play)

And from dmesg:

hdac0: HDA Codec #0: Realtek ALC888
pcm0: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm1: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm2: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm3: <HDA Realtek ALC888 PCM #3 Digital> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0

Sound works just fine under KDE 3 and any other environment.  Only KDE
4 is exhibiting this odd behavior.

Any suggestions?  I've already done a recursive rebuild/reinstall of
both amarok-kde4 and kde4, to no avail.

-- 
Conrad J. Sabatier
conrads at cox.net