URGENT: "Error !" Playing multiple linked (surround) cues

[Cyclone__]

Hi all,

Am getting an error when playing multiple linked cues that are 6mono WAV's played back to create a surround effect. There is one of these that runs for about 2 mins constantly, and 3 other surround effects that play over the top (also 6mono WAV linked cues). The Tech rehearsal was fine, but I encountered a slight error during the dress, and tonight, the first night the error came back.
The first cue carried on playing, but when I tried to play the second surround cue over the top it stuttered, wouldn't ESC out of it, and then skipped it and jumped to the next cue it could load which was 2 cues ahead of where it should have been! Consequently playing the wrong cue at the wrong time.

The other surround effects also wouldn't load and the Status column was highlighted in red and showed "Error !". Hovering the mouse over the cue shows the location of the cuefile, and "Memory Error". I couldn't find anything in the Help file and no other similar posts on here.

Please help, I have another show tomorrow night!!!
The machine is a 2.1GHz, 2GB RAM, Win XP SP2, nothing but Windows my MOTU drivers, an EMU driver (though hardware not used for this show), and VNC (remote user software) loaded on to it!

I managed to get back to the normal cue list after I exited the program and re-started but obviously lost the cues that should have been playing during that scene.

Many thanks
Tom

[Mike Daniell]

Firstly, to fix the stuttering make sure you have the SCS Internal Mixer disabled. See the forum posting Fixing stuttering or skipping audio for more info.

Secondly, "Memory Error" means the BASS audio library has reported "There is insufficient memory". My guess is that in your Audio File cues or sub-cues you have selected 'Pre-Load Whole File'. I suggest you clear that checkbox on all your Audio File cues/sub-cues. If you have a lot of cues then feel free to email me your cue file (the .scs file) and I'll clear those settings en masse and email it back to you.

[Cyclone__]

Cheers Mike!

Internal Mixer is disabled.

You are correct in your assumption that the cues are set to Pre-Load...
The problem that I was finding was that the cues were taking longer to trigger when Pre-Load wasn't selected, so I've basically set all multi-channel cues to 'Pre-Load'. I'll email the showfile to you anyway to see what you think...

Many thanks once again for your swift response!! Sooooo much appreciated! You just don't get this service with other products!
Tom

[Mike Daniell]

The problem that I was finding was that the cues were taking longer to trigger when Pre-Load wasn't selected, so I've basically set all multi-channel cues to 'Pre-Load'.

If this is occurring with the Internal Mixer disabled then there's one more option you can change. Under General Options / Permanent Options on the General tab there is a field labelled 'Max. No. of Audio Files to Pre-Open'. The default value is 5 but you can set it to any value between 5 and 50. So increase the value but DO NOT do this until you have cleared all the 'pre-load' checkboxes or you will definitely run out of memory! What you increase the value to depends on how you run your cues (eg how many cues are run back-to-back) and how much memory you have. With 2GB and XP you should have a fair bit of memory to work with so I suggest you increase the value to 20.

The reason for this recommendation is that if cues are taking some time to trigger then SCS may be opening the file(s) when you activate the cue instead of pre-opening the files.

Note the 'Pre-Open' is not the same as 'Pre-Load'. 'Pre-Open' opens a file and buffers up to 5 seconds of data so it is ready for instant playback. 'Pre-Load' opens the files and buffers the entire file.

[Cyclone__]

Secondly, "Memory Error" means the BASS audio library has reported "There is insufficient memory".

So is this error related to how much RAM you have installed, the ammount of buffer you have available, or limitations of the BASS library? Basically, why does it occur?!

Also, slightly off topic... would any of this explain why on some outputs I can occasionally hear a digital buzzing, like a light electric razor type buzz, when a cue is playing? Before you all jump on the 'earth loops' train - when I move the software level fader down to -inf and back up for that output, the noise stops.

[Mike Daniell]

Secondly, "Memory Error" means the BASS audio library has reported "There is insufficient memory".

So is this error related to how much RAM you have installed, the ammount of buffer you have available, or limitations of the BASS library? Basically, why does it occur?!

I'll change the message "Memory Error" to "Insufficient Memory", because from the BASS documentation that is always the meaning of this error. It can occur if the BASS audio library cannot find a contiguous block of memory of the required size to buffer a complete file. This could be due to memory fragmentation, which I guess could occur as you close files that have been pre-loaded, and then try to open larger files. By clearing the 'Pre-Load Whole File' checkboxes you should not get this problem. I'm considering removing the 'Pre-Load Whole File' option as it was added to try to fix skipping and stuttering problems, but this is now adequately addressed by just disabling the SCS internal mixer. btw, the internal mixer is now disabled by default, but that default only applies to new SCS installations.

[Cyclone__]

Sorted!
With a fair bit of help from Mike!

So for other forum users:
SCS was running running multiple surround (mono WAV's linked as sub-) cues at the same time, one of which looped, and the message ERROR! appeared and those cues wouldn't load, so SCS just skipped them.

The issue was how I had set the 'default devices for a new cue' options, and then not removed the devices not needed for the individual linked cues. This meant that for every cue or sub-cue I had created, the file was actually playing through all 6 devices regardless of where the level fader was and whether they should have been heard through those devices.
eg. So I had cue "A.1 (Front Left)" playing through FOH L at 0dB, and FOH R, C, Sub, Rear L, and Rear R, levels all right down at -inf. As Mike pointed out, for each sub-cue I was asking SCS to play 6 filestreams (only one of which would be heard, and the other 5 would all be at -inf). Which meant that for all of cue A, which comprised of 6 sub-cues (A.1 FOH L, A.2 FOH R, A.3 Centre, A.4 Subs, A.5 Rear L, A.6 Rear R) I would in fact be asking the computer to play 6 filestreams per sub cue, multiplied by the 6 sub-cues which made up the cue - a total of 36 filestreams for one cue!

This was compounded by the fact that in the show the scene went as follows: (note Cue A runs until it says stop)
Cue A (surround cue @ 36 streams) (runs continuously)
Cue B (surround cue @ 36 streams) (10 secs) then after a minute
Cue C (surround cue @ 36 streams) (10 secs) then after 30 secs
STOP Cue A for song
Cue A (surround cue @ 36 streams) (runs continuously but this time looped after 3 mins)
Cue C (surround cue @ 36 streams) (10 secs)
Cue D (stereo cue @ 6 streams) (3 secs)
Cue A loop point imminent!
Cue C (surround cue @ 36 streams) with Cue E (stereo cue @ 6 streams)

At the worst possible point SCS was dealing with 36 + 36 + 6 = 78 (plus whatever overheads the looping of Cue A demanded, and the 15 cues loaded on HotKeys), of file streams playing at the same time!
I suppose it's no wonder the computer fell over and had trouble playing the cues while buffering the next set of cues!

I have learnt my lesson from this and in the future, and although I think I will still keep the default devices for new cues set to all devices, if a cue is definately not going to be needed to be played through a device, I will remove that device (set to blank) from the drop-down box in the Cue level section of the Cue editor so it greys out that level fader.

Hope this helps others?!
Tom