Hot Key problem in 10.6.3

[d_korman]

Mike,

I've just come across what is, for me, a serious problem with Hot Keys in 10.6.3 (compared to SCS9) - in fact it renders it unusable.

IN SCS9, I can attach a short effect, such as a gun shot or a door knock, to a hot key and play it multiple time in very rapid succession, for example to produce different machine gun bursts, or patterns of knocks. SCS9 responds instantly to the hot key and each time I hit it it replays the the file from he start, regardless of whether the previous play has completed. It also does not update the display each time.

with SCS 10, I cannot generally re-trigger a hot-key at all until the previous activation has completed. Mostly the second hit is ignored, but occasionally it plays a fraction of the file, sometimes at the end of the running one and sometime during it. Also there is a significant delay between hitting a hot key and playing the file, which does not happen in SCS9. SCS10 also updates the screen everytime the hot key is played - the hot key cue is inserted at the top of th elist whilst it is playing and then removed - surely this is not needed and loads the CPU, which might be part of the delay problem?

Thanks,

Dave

PS: I've tried turning off the internal SCS mixer, changing buffer times, double-click time - none of these make any different. What I did notice is that I cannot re-fire the hot key reliably until the display has updated after the file has finished playing.

[Mike Daniell]

Dave,

Please try this with SCS 10.7.0 RC2, available from the Members' Download page. There is a particular performance improvement included regarding cue start times, and I also fixed a hotkey cue issue. Let me know how you get on.

[d_korman]

Mike,

Ok tried that - not any better and in one way worse in that I got it to freeze by hitting the key very fast. I can trigger the hot key two or three times but it does no immediately re-start the cue, which is what SCS9 does. If I hit the key four or more times in quick succession, then either nothing further happens, or the whole program freezes solid.

The key thing here is that when the hot key is hit a second time whilst the effect is still playing, in needs to immediately jump back to the start of the cue, not wait until it finished playing. That is what SCS9 does - I can fire the hot key 5 or more times a second - as fast as I can hit the key, in fact indefinitely with no delay, no stuttering etc.

There is still a noticeable delay between hitting the key and the cue playing

System is 2.66GHz Pentium 4 with 1Gb RAM running windows 2000 SP4 fully patched. Nothing else is running.

[Mike Daniell]

OK, I found a significant difference between SCS 9 and SCS 10 in the Hotkey Reset coding. Please try SCS 10.7.0 RC3, which I've just uploaded to the Members' Download page. For the best result for this kind of rapid-fire cue, select the option to NOT use the SCS internal mixer. With or without using the internal mixer, you should find RC3 better than previous SCS 10 versions.

[d_korman]

Mike,

No joy I'm afraid - if I try to retrigger before the cue has stopped playing and the display has changed back to beige from green then it may, or may not, play some, or all, of the cue again, with c c c clicks, popp p s etc - the behaviour is totally different from SCS9

I'm just trying to do something like Knock knocky knock knock knock knock

I need to be able to do an infinite and random number of different know patterns - the whole idea being that the talent know there is going to be some sort of knock, but they don't know what and have to ad-lib the reaction - this is for Pantomime, etc.

[Mike Daniell]

Is that with the Audio Driver option selected to NOT use the SCS internal mixer?

[Mike Daniell]

Dave,

Please note that emails you get from the Forum advising you of updates to a 'watched' topic are being bounced with the message: "72.14.213.27 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist."

[d_korman]

Ooops! Tried again not using the SCS mixer. It's a bit better, but there is still far too much delay between hitting the key and the effect resetting and playing so you cannot get a reliable rhythm and it still clicks when the cue repositions - againb. no such problems in 9 at all.

re the e-mails - that's an out of date e-mail address, I'll change it once i've sorted out what my password is!

[d_korman]

Traces and audio file e-mailed as requested

[d_korman]

The problem is back in 10.7.2 I'm afraid - and it's very easy to lock the program with far fewer rapid hot-leys than before.

[Mike Daniell]

Seems odd. The code in 10.7.2 for hot key processing is the same as the code in 10.7.0, which was changed after investigating the issue you reported in 10.6.3.

Do you definitely have the SCS Audio Driver option set for 'Do NOT use SCS internal mixer'?

[d_korman]

Hi Mike,

Actually I had that thought after I made the post but was not able to check at that time. I definately had that set before the upgrade, and I assume that the upgrade would not change any of my settings (it shouldn't!!)? I'll check this evening and report back.

Thanks,

Dave

[Mike Daniell]

I assume that the upgrade would not change any of my settings (it shouldn't!!)?

Correct - unless you uninstalled the previous version before installing the new version. Uninstalling wipes out SCS entries in the Windows Registry, which means any 'Options' you previously saved would be lost.

[d_korman]

I installed it directly over the top of 10.7.0

Dave

[Mike Daniell]

That's the correct approach which should therefore retain your Options.