Audio Lost After Resuming from Pause

Apologies if a ticket was already created for this ...

I've been using VLC Media Player on the same MacBook Pro since 2009—and Version 3.0.10 Vetinari (Intel 64bit) is the first and only one I've ever had an issue with. I want to downgrade so badly, if possible.

When pausing then resuming audio is completely lost, regardless of what I do with volume controls. Then I try to exit the program to restart it—and it does not fully close.

The only way to get through this is to force quit it then restart the program. It is no party.

Thank you for looking into this.