http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15559
--- Comment #19 from Arkadiusz Piekarz piekarzarkadiusz@gmail.com 2008-10-28 13:53:37 --- The PulseAudio is causing the problems, not Alsa!
I've stumbled upon this site https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/280534/ where you can clearly see people are experiencing sound problems in many applications, not only Wine. This particular comment - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/280534/comments/2... - gave me some hints what to do. I've terminated/killed PulseAudio (/usr/bin/pulseaudio -D --log-target=syslog). Then I tested games on Steam with OSS and with Alsa - no crackling, no stuttering :-)
The only thing you have to remember is only one application can play sound at any given time. Especially, you have to disable sound driver in Winecfg before you launch Steam, then enable sound after it loads and play any game.
Wine 1.1.7, Ubuntu 8.10, Metacity, Alsa 1.0.17, PulseAudio 0.9.10. Tested with Team Fortress 2 and Everyday Shooter.
BTW I thought PulseAudio would be fixed in Ubuntu 8.10 :-/