Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[Ian B]

Hi Ralph,

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I've got a problem in Tracktion if the J2 GUI is left open and I press play in T2. The output is distorted and jittery (it sounds as tho' it's just the kicks that are affected, and it happens on every kit, inc all the J1 kits)

Close/hide the GUI and everything is fine.

Btw, thanks for the FLS fix, that one had me scratching my head last night.

Ian

[pethu]

I have something similar going on in T3 (Win/XP). It happens frequently, but starts only (I think) when the drum brain is working / timeline is updating, and mainly when repositioning in the song using cursor transport or markers. CPU meter is nowhere near full at any time.

It sounds like it kicks the sound buffering out of gear (or something similar). The resulting sound is much like if you have the latency set a bit too low when playing a very demanding synth, but I tried upping the latency a bit, and the results were exactly the same.

Restarting the ASIO device temporarily clears the problem, but it will reoccur in the same session and in the same manner.

I've still to try a radical buffer increase, though, and changing the ASIO mode from direct to, er, not-so-direct in T.

[pethu]

OK, I have done some more testing: The problem seems directly related to GUI updates -- the more updates going on in the JS2 GUI, the greater the effect / chance of occuring. The distortion always triggers and recurs at the start of bars, nowhere else. Sometimes it happens at each and every bar change, sometimes a few bars go by without anything audibly wrong.

The drum brain, latency, and ASIO mode (direct or not) seems to have have nothing to do with it, with the probable expception that a working brain increases the chances of it happening.

I couldn't trigger the problem when switching to realtime priority mode inside Tracktion 3, but then the computer locks up every time I try to click on a part name in the arranger -- so my experiments in this mode have been rather limited.

I also tried putting the priority "above normal" in the task manager, but that does not help.

So far, the best way to replicate the phenomenon seems to be to start Tracktion, load an edit with a JS2 instance in it (already loaded with a song) and simply start playing with the JS2 GUI visible -- from the beginning or from the middle of the song doesn't matter, the problem starts directly.

[pethu]

BTW, some system specs:

Tracktion 3.0.2.6
Windows XP SP2
Single-core CPU: AMD 64 3500+, 2GB RAM
Focusrite Saffire LE

[heyjohn]

I've seen something similar with Tracktion 2 and JS2 on a far wimpier hardware config (Athlon XP 2200 or so, IIRC, with 3GB RAM and XP Home). Wasn't quite sure what was causing the problem, since I'd been playing with Cakewalk HS 6 XP and other plugins, and this was the first time I'd used the system for a while. (HS6 seems to want more CPU than this box has, and/or the firewire drivers do.)

I'd been running with 6ms latency (ouch), and increased it to 12ms (double ouch), and that seemed to help. But I also noticed graphical glitches and occasional (far more rare at 12ms) audio problems when the brain was flashing/composing with the GUI open.

I haven't diagnosed things further yet, as I was just looking through all the cool new features last night -- as well as contemplating a new Core2Duo-3GHz system If it helps, I'm using a Mackie Onyx with firewire card for my audio interface, with a pile of USB devices present as well.

I can add more info as time permits, and as I learn what all the expected behaviors and features are... I kept trying to click on the style/drummer names to change them, rather than the drop-down arrow, for instance... oops So, I'd best learn my way around and cut down the number of variables to fill in some more useful details...

[Ralph [RZ]]

Can you guys send me your rzdlog.txt file from your Jamstix2 folder?
Also, what video cards do you have.

Finally, can you repeat the problem and have the task manager open while T2/3 is playing and note the maximum CPU usage for Tracktion in the task manager at or around the time of a glitch.

Thanks!
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[pethu]

More info: Up til now, I just ran JS2 alone. I've now tried MIDI-only out to Battery 3 plus another instrument on another track, and it's the whole Tracktion audio engine that glitches in sync with the JS2 GUI updates.

The log file is in the mail. JS2-only session. CPU spikes at the time were around 20%. Latency set to a whopping 20ms. Wifi was disabled, as was most unneccessary processes thanks to EndItAll2...

Video card: Bog-standard GeForce 6800, ForceWare 91.47 drivers.

[pethu]

I have to qualify that statement about latency having nothing to do with it: I'm back to 6ms now, and the glitches are definitely much worse at lower latencies; but the problem occurs as often at 20ms as it does at 6...

[Ralph [RZ]]

Does 2.0.2 run any better for you?
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[pethu]

[pethu]

Nothing changes using 2.0.2...

For good measure, I also tried sub-hosting JS2 in the VST version of energyXT. Logically enough, no better luck there!

I'll try it on my laptop next -- today or tomorrow.

[Ian B]

Hi Ralph,

Still got the same problem with v2.0.2 and 2.0.4.

My system specs

P4 2.0 (yeah, I know it's the suggested minimum)
1GB ram
RAGE 128 Pro Ulra GL graphics (very old and basic, but it works fine)
Audiophile 2496 (driver version 5.10.00.5057) buffer size 384 samples=8ms at 44.1KHz
XP Home SP2

I'll mail the log file later.

Incidentally, I tried rendering a 8 bar loop and it was perfect, no sign of any glitches, even tho' they were there on 'normal' play in T3.

Ian

[pethu]

Good morning! Back to the wonderful world of musical software...

It seems my Focusrite Saffire ASIO drivers really aggravate this problem. I've now switched to ASIO4ALL drivers instead, and so far things are much better. With realtime(ish) latency (8 ms), I now only get occasional hiccups and small pops where the audio went "brrrt" before.

The audio drivers / interface are not the root cause, however: The nature of the problem remains the same, even when using ASIO4ALL with my Audigy SE PCI card, and also when switching to DirectSound.

Report from a laptop installation will follow during the day.

[pethu]

Interesting...!

I have installed JS2 on my laptop, and under the same circumstances used on my desktop machine, it works almost flawlessly. Both with onboard AC97 audio via ASIO4ALL, and with the Saffire - even with the original Focusrite drivers that were so dreadful on the desktop.

Maybe there are one or two tiny clicks in the sound, which still seem to occur at bar changeovers. However, I doubt there's many who would jump up and shout "bug!" because of them, if they didn't have the same previous experiences as I (me? Myself? Nevermind).

More and more, it looks like some problem with the Tracktion/JUCE / Jamstix 2 / Graphics card combo to me. Especially considering how much worse the problem became when I tried the latest ForceWare drivers (although there have been plenty of "general duds" from nVidia on the driver front).

Not to forget, I have shedloads of plugs that work perfectly well in this environment. Then again, perhaps none other has a more busy interface than Jamstix when running.

[pethu]

...And before you ask , I have tried disabling various graphics hardware acceleration features using dxdiag - no change.