diff -up stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-stormbaancoureur/main.cxx.snd stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-stormbaancoureur/main.cxx
--- stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-stormbaancoureur/main.cxx.snd	2008-01-06 22:09:09.000000000 +0100
+++ stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-stormbaancoureur/main.cxx	2008-01-06 22:09:14.000000000 +0100
@@ -1300,7 +1300,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) 
   bool nosound = getenv("PLODE_NO_SOUND");
   if (!nosound)
   {
-    sengine = new SoundEngineAlsa(5000);
+    sengine = new SoundEngineAlsa(8000);
     if (!sengine->opened)
     {
       delete sengine;
diff -up stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-common/soundenginealsa.cxx.snd stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-common/soundenginealsa.cxx
--- stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-common/soundenginealsa.cxx.snd	2008-01-05 04:32:34.000000000 +0100
+++ stormbaancoureur-2.0.2/src-common/soundenginealsa.cxx	2008-01-06 22:09:00.000000000 +0100
@@ -195,12 +195,14 @@ float SoundEngineAlsa::Sustain(void)
   snd_pcm_sframes_t delay;
   int avail = snd_pcm_avail_update(handle);
   int rc = snd_pcm_delay(handle, &delay);
-  if (rc<0)
-    snd_strerror(rc);
   if (rc==-EPIPE)
     fprintf(stderr,"soundenginealsa.cxx: EPIPE\n");
-  else
+  else {
+    if (rc<0)
+      fprintf(stderr, "Unexpected error getting sound-delay: %s\n",
+        snd_strerror(rc));
     assert(!rc);
+  }
 
   // We can only trust pcm_delay if the state is running.
   snd_pcm_state_t pcm_state = snd_pcm_state(handle);