...on via chipset audio (but not soundblaster?!)... reverting to 3.4.1 caused the problem to go away. lspci: 3.4.3 problem system audio: 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60) 3.4.3 no problem system audio: 00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI (rev 04)
That's a feature... :P Sorry, you need to go upstream with this or wait for KDE 4.0 to see the stupid thing die. Meanwhile, feel free to set USE="-arts" ;)
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 131456 ***