cues lagging or repeating

singingdog · Post by **singingdog** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:51 am

Hey folks, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced Q's lagging or looping (not intentionally) while they are playing. EG. a Q that is a voice- over is running and suddenly two words begin to rpt. over and over until the all stop or Esc. buttons are pressed. I am currently working in a University theatre equipped with a very suitable IBM desktop and an Maudio Audiophile firewire card. I have never experienced this problem before with SCS- it also happens very randomly so it's hard to predict what it might be. Is it the card perhaps? Mike any thoughts. -Mike Doherty

ChrisW · Post by **ChrisW** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:34 am

Hi, I have just registered to make a post independently on exactly the same subject.
I've been rehearsing a show for a couple of months using SCS with no problem at all. Last week we ran the actual performances and each night I was getting the odd cue that appeared to 'stutter'. The file would start to play when triggered then sort of stutter. The fault was annoyingly intermittent. At first I thought it was a fault in the wav file, so I tested the file. When I found it was okay I cleared the cue completely and reloaded it. I then tested the cue before, the show and it played fine. Unfortunately mid-show the stutter fault re-occurred. After the show I re-tried the cue and frustratingly it played fine. This wasn't just on one sound file. It happened on a couple each night. What I don't understand is that using exactly the same set up, I never experienced anything like this problem in rehearsals (although pre-show I had just upgraded to the latest SCS version?).
Chris Welton

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:35 pm

I thought this problem had been resolved - I presume you're both using 8.3.5 or later? I'll investigate this further, but meanwhile check the settings you have on the View / Options / Audio Driver tab. If you just have the default settings I suggest you set the pre-buffer length to 1500 milliseconds and the playback buffer length also to 1500 milliseconds.

With good sound cards the "Use Software Mixer instead of Hardware Mixer" checkbox should be cleared.

ChrisW · Post by **ChrisW** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:38 am

Hi Mike,

I was actually still using 8.3.4 and had already increased the pre-buffer to 1000 milliseconds.

I've been meaning to let you know that when I upgraded to SCS 8.3.4 from 8.3.3 my Creative Soundblaster Audigy II soundcard wasn't happy at all (deafening white noise type interference) and I had to re-check 'Use Software Mixer' box (using 8.3.3 I had unchecked this). However, other than this, with the 'Use Software Mixer' box checked, everything seemed to work okay before I experienced the odd 'stutter'.

I will upgrade now to the latest version - see what happens with the 'Use Software Mixer' option and the Audigy card (I'll let you know) and increase the pre-buffer length. But the 'stutter' error I was experiencing was unpredictable in occurence, so I'll just have to wait to see if this cures it.

Regards
Chris

ChrisW · Post by **ChrisW** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:47 am

Sorry Mike.....dyslexic confusion on version numbers in my last post. I have been using 8.4.3 (latest version) and the issue I described (soundcard not happy when 'use software mixer' box cleared) occurred having upgraded from the initially installed version - 8.4.0

Chris

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:06 pm

Could you try installing this file: www.soundcuesystem.com/test/scsupdate844.zip (824Kb)? This is basically 8.4.3 but with the versions of the audio library dll's as issued in 8.4.0.

Warning! Please note that installing this SCS update will replace bass.dll version 2.2.0.2 with version 2.2.0.0, and basswma.dll version 2.2.0.5 with version 2.2.0.0. These dll's are installed in the same directory as SoundCueSystem.exe.

Please advise if this fixes the hardware mixer problem and/or the lagging/repeating problem.

ChrisW · Post by **ChrisW** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:01 am

Didn't make a difference Mike. This version again appears to work okay with the 'Use Software Mixer' box checked. Once unchecked you just get a blast of distorted noise from the Audigy card as if the input volume to the soundcard is off the scale. (I tried reducing the volume right down in SCS, but you just get a lower volume distorted output).

(This issue may of course have nothing to do with the stuttering problem experienced. As I can't get the stuttering fault to reoccurr, upping the pre-buffer may have solved this)

Chris

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:17 pm

Did SCS 8.4.0 play that audio file OK thru the Audigy, regardless of the setting of the 'Use Software Mixer' checkbox? What's the format of the audio file (eg WAV 16-bit stereo, etc).

ChrisW · Post by **ChrisW** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:04 pm

I can't double check whether SCS 8.4.0 did play exactly the the same files through the Audigy regardless of the setting of the 'Use Software Mixer' checkbox, because since upgrading I no longer have that version to test.

However before Christmas when I was running the channel test on the Audigy for you whilst using 8.4.0 I recall that I was definitely unchecking and re-checking the 'Use Software Mixer' checkbox and did not experience this playback problem. It only seemed to start when I upgraded to 8.4.3

Having said that, to complicate things further, I've just run another test with SCS 8.4.4 with three different file formats and discovered that the distortion problem with the 'Use Software Mixer' checkbox unchecked only occurs with Wav files (Windows PCM 44100 Hz 16 bit stereo) and MP3 files. Windows WMA files (44100 16 bit stereo 192 kbps) work regardless of the setting of the 'Use Software Mixer' checkbox.

I'm now doubting myself and wondering if I was using WMA files with SCS 8.4.0 and that's why I wasn't getting a problem, and it was only when I started using WAVs andf MP3s through the Audigy that the problem occurred.

singingdog · Post by **singingdog** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:54 am

Hey Mike, Just to let you know that so far (knock on wood) those changes you suggested have taken care of the problem as it existed with the IBM and the Maudio firewire audiophile. Currently in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada Theatre New Brunswick- the last regional touring theatre co. in Canada, Theatre St. Thomas, Theatre UNB, Ship's Co. Theatre and Dal theatre are now all users of your software- I won't do a show without it! -Mike Doherty

Badwolf · Post by **Badwolf** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:50 am

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I am having the same problems with SCS10. Is this a known bug and if so if I update is there a fix, or is it a problem with my SCS10 settings? Tried setting up as per previous advice but no joy. Maybe the virtual memory or similar on the PC needs attention. The machine is 18 months old running Win 7 (don't know at the moment which release).

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:11 am

I'm not aware of any current issue like this so I suggest you upgrade to the latest version of SCS 11. In the unlikely event that you do still have this problem then I'll be in a position to help sort it out.

Show Cue System