Audio cue didn't play
Audio cue didn't play
Hi Mike,
Yesterday I upgraded to the latest version 11.5.2.1 32 bit on a 64 bit pc. I believe the previous version was 11.4.2.3 but not sure. (professional licence).
At rehearsal last night a manually operated audio cue of about 4 seconds duration was triggered but no audio was outputted. The cue showed as being completed and the cue list proceeded as normal. I believe that the file was in the ready state, it was well down in the list, unfortunately the screen was not being observed at the exact time the cue was triggered and it happened quick anyway.
This only happened once to the one cue and the same file played fine multiple times when tested later. Not had this happen before after using Showcue many times.
The production goes live on Thursday and obviously I don't want this to re-occur. Should I jump back to a previous version in the interim to be on the safe side, if so which one? I am not happy to keep the latest version running and use diagnostics in case it happens again live. For this production I am only using audio and midi control cues, nothing fancy at all.
Would appreciate an early reply.
regards
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre WA.
Yesterday I upgraded to the latest version 11.5.2.1 32 bit on a 64 bit pc. I believe the previous version was 11.4.2.3 but not sure. (professional licence).
At rehearsal last night a manually operated audio cue of about 4 seconds duration was triggered but no audio was outputted. The cue showed as being completed and the cue list proceeded as normal. I believe that the file was in the ready state, it was well down in the list, unfortunately the screen was not being observed at the exact time the cue was triggered and it happened quick anyway.
This only happened once to the one cue and the same file played fine multiple times when tested later. Not had this happen before after using Showcue many times.
The production goes live on Thursday and obviously I don't want this to re-occur. Should I jump back to a previous version in the interim to be on the safe side, if so which one? I am not happy to keep the latest version running and use diagnostics in case it happens again live. For this production I am only using audio and midi control cues, nothing fancy at all.
Would appreciate an early reply.
regards
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre WA.
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
According to our log, the previous version you downloaded was 11.4.2.3, so it may be safer to revert to that version. However, I can't think of any reason for the audio not playing, but if you could email me a diagnostic file and let me know which cue didn't play then I'll have a look at possibly related cues and settings. Creating the diagnostic file from SCS 11.5.2.1 would be preferable, but if you've already rolled back to 11.4.2.3 then a diagnostic file from the version will be OK. You can create the diagnostic file by selecting 'Create Diagnostic File' from the drop-down menu displayed when you click the Help button in the main window. The file will be saved in a folder named "SCS Diagnostics" under "Documents" or "My Documents".
Re: Audio cue didn't play
Thanks for the reply Mike.
I remembered that I was running a tracing version before upgrading to the current.
You got me to run a tracing version after I encountered some problems with the space bar, post "False Triggers" on 11th April refers. I think the tracing version was 11.5.0 (or an early version of it) which you had put in the space bar fix. I started using it at that time before its official release. I didn't have any more triggering problems after that.
We arranged that by email, but I don't now have a copy of it.
Can you confirm that is the case, I think it would be best to revert to 11.5.0.
thanks
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre.
I remembered that I was running a tracing version before upgrading to the current.
You got me to run a tracing version after I encountered some problems with the space bar, post "False Triggers" on 11th April refers. I think the tracing version was 11.5.0 (or an early version of it) which you had put in the space bar fix. I started using it at that time before its official release. I didn't have any more triggering problems after that.
We arranged that by email, but I don't now have a copy of it.
Can you confirm that is the case, I think it would be best to revert to 11.5.0.
thanks
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre.
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
Yes, Geoff, it was SCS 11.5.0. That version is still available in the download archive.
Re: Audio cue didn't play
Thanks Mike for your always prompt reply.
I will create a diagnostic file before changing the software and email it to you.
regards
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre
I will create a diagnostic file before changing the software and email it to you.
regards
Geoff Holt
Garrick Theatre
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
I too witnessed something similar yesterday when mentoring a new sound operative at our theatre for a show next week. We have just installed the 64 bit version of 11.5.2.1 on a Toshiba PC running Windows 8.1. Output is to two pairs of channels on a USB connected Behringer FCA610. Unfortunately I was out of the room when the fault first occurred so don't know the precise sequence of events leading up to it. Initially it seemed to affect only one pair of channels but eventually the cues associated with the other pair were affected too. In each case the cue on the main SCS cue page was showing as playing but the track marker was not advancing and no sound could be heard. Nor did the audio tracks play in the Editor. Surprisingly, stopping and restarting SCS did not fix the problem and we had to reboot the PC. We had been running SCS for several hours before the problem arose and were using the Directsound Audio driver.
I am trying to recreate the problem on my own PC so that I can provide you with some diagnostics Mike but so far without success. However, I think that I have seen this happen once before about a year ago on an earlier version (11.4.2?) and other colleagues of mine have also reported similar experiences in the past. If this is related to a Windows driver issue, the odd thing in my view is that SCS shows the track as playing yet does not advance the track marker. Presumably there is feedback from the driver to SCS to tell it whereabouts in the track it is.
I am trying to recreate the problem on my own PC so that I can provide you with some diagnostics Mike but so far without success. However, I think that I have seen this happen once before about a year ago on an earlier version (11.4.2?) and other colleagues of mine have also reported similar experiences in the past. If this is related to a Windows driver issue, the odd thing in my view is that SCS shows the track as playing yet does not advance the track marker. Presumably there is feedback from the driver to SCS to tell it whereabouts in the track it is.
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
That's correct. SCS calls a function in the relevant audio library (BASS or SM-S) to determine the current playback position in the file. So if there's any delay caused by lower level drivers this should get passed all the way up to SCS.Stuart Barry wrote:... the odd thing in my view is that SCS shows the track as playing yet does not advance the track marker. Presumably there is feedback from the driver to SCS to tell it whereabouts in the track it is.
I had an issue with a particular laptop that I had to use for a recent production. From memory I think this laptop was using Windows 7. What would happen is that the first audio file played after booting up the machine would take 20 - 30 seconds before it started playing. This only occurred with the first audio file played after boot-up, so I always turned on the laptop well before each performance, and then ran a test audio cue to get past this strange initialization issue.
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
Mike Daniell wrote;
Sadly Mike this wasn't the case with us. We had already been playing cues for several hours when the fault occurred. Fortunately it has't happened again since but, with our show coming up next week, I am still slightly nervous about it.This only occurred with the first audio file played after boot-up
Re: Audio cue didn't play
Two things come to mind in relation to this thread. Back last December when people were reporting problems due to a stalled ASIO driver, corrected by restarting SCS, Mike introduced a method of reactivating it in SCS 11.4.2. Could this code have been lost in later updates?
The USB Behringer problem suggests possibly an issue mentioned in the same thread, where Windows power management allows USB hubs to be switched off to save power when inactive, which can be changed in Device Manager, but that wouldn't be progressive, i.e. some channels affected before others.
The USB Behringer problem suggests possibly an issue mentioned in the same thread, where Windows power management allows USB hubs to be switched off to save power when inactive, which can be changed in Device Manager, but that wouldn't be progressive, i.e. some channels affected before others.
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Re: Audio cue didn't play
The code is partially still in place. SCS continually checks if the ASIO callback procedure is taking more than 1 second to complete and if so then a warning message is displayed in the status line of the main SCS window. However, the subsequent auto-restarting of the ASIO driver was actually removed (bypassed) in 11.4.2 as it was deemed unnecessary due to the inclusion of code in SCS that prevents the computer going into sleep mode. But note that the warning message code is still in place, so if ASIO stalls for any reason then that warning message should appear.jmgordon wrote:Two things come to mind in relation to this thread. Back last December when people were reporting problems due to a stalled ASIO driver, corrected by restarting SCS, Mike introduced a method of reactivating it in SCS 11.4.2. Could this code have been lost in later updates?
That's a good suggestion. Here's a helpful article I found in the 'Help Desk Geek' website: Prevent Windows from Turning Off USB Devices.jmgordon wrote:The USB Behringer problem suggests possibly an issue mentioned in the same thread, where Windows power management allows USB hubs to be switched off to save power when inactive, which can be changed in Device Manager, but that wouldn't be progressive, i.e. some channels affected before others.