XXHighEnd

Hi Peter,

Afther some heavy testing yesterday, you released today a new version XX 0.9 d.

This morning i have installed the player in Vista Business edition. Afther the demo screen it was up and running. With engine#1 i have got no sound. The progression indicator is running. With Engine #2 running, all seems to work ok, inclusive sound.

Engine #3 is special. Afther starting to play music, it seems to be working ok. But when i activate another button eg <stop>, the sound "hangs" . It repeats the last seconds of a the music. Even when i stop XXHighEnd, i can hear the music. When i start the software again i get error messages "Device can not allowcated..."and "Engine #3 did not start in the expected time.." And i still can hear the repeating music. Afther an reboot of the system, all starts over again. It works until i touch a button.

One thing I have done is to download the last vista drivers for mine Realtek 883 onboard soundship. But that gave no solution. Testing with an other player, works ok. Ending the music is a real ending.

Do you have a solution for me?

Regards,

Johan


 

Hi Johan,

To me this looks like a clear case of your Realtec ALC883 HD Audio (sound chip) driver being "out of order". :yes:
I know this has been your own assumption, and I know you already spent much time on it. But let me to explain what happens, so we maybe can solve this problem :

Note : "hanging of the sound" in this case means "the last part of the buffer sent to tha DAC keeps on repeating". tadadadadadadada  :(

When you say "when I activate a button", in the case that the sound starts hanging you will have used a button that just stops the Engine. This can be seen by the XXEngine3.exe which would disappear from the processes in Task Manager. For instance, using the Playlist Load button, or the Clear button will not cause this to happen (this just does not stop the sound).

When Engine#3 stops feeding the soundcard (which comes first in your SPDIF case opposed to the DAC), it disconnects from the soundcard (sound chip), and it must be released for the matter of "giving it back to the system" and freeing the Exclusive Mode which is at order here (Engine#3). Now, here it goes wrong, and the soundcard does not stop.

The sole FACT that XXEngine3.exe disappears from the process list (hence it really has gone), just *proves* that it is not any software re-feeding this (last) buffer over and over again. What would happen though, is that the soundcard keeps on cycling through its own buffer, over and over releasing the sound data. Together with the process it's still in use exclusively, and there is no way you can stop it until a next reboot, UNLESS (I think) you tell it that other sound processes can interrupt it (second checkbox (uncheck) in the Advanced tab of the Device's properties). BUT, you really shouldn't do this, because then an "you've got mail" beep, will interrupt (abort) music playing. So I'm just explaining things here.

Possibly there are two solutions :

1. Try to find an external soundcard which really is better in about all cases.
2. I could try to interrupt / end / kill / abort / whatever the soundcard when Engine# is ordered to quit.

The last option obviously is the most frienddly for you, but possibly not the best assuming that you want the best soundquality which from theory can't come from the internal sound chip. Even when it's only passing through SPDIF !!!
If - and only if we choose for this second option, it can be a longthreaded process, because it would be me trying somthing in the program, you trying whether it helped or not. For this matter, note that all what should be done to kill the soundcard's process is already in there, but I wouldn't be me to find another way. Those ways just would be, say, illegal and without real logic, and that is exactly why it might take long to get there. And, even without guarantee obviously.

At writing this, I just thought of another option (in the "illegal" area :yes:) : you could try what happens if you remove the power from the DAC. You can try this when it's looping, and you can try it during normal playback. Possibly none of them helps, and probably when done during playback you receive the same thing : it starts to loop (but how to hear that ? switch on the DAC again, hehe).

The results from the last suggestion above migh bring me what can be done about it (for insiders : like throwing the same exception you receive at shutting of the power of the DAC, *if* that helps of course).

When you are going to try it, do not forget to post the error message you'll receive, with which I can only hope it is not "XXHighEnd does not work anymore". But if so, I can do something about *that*.

Lastly, when you have laying around another soundcard (and the cheapest might be better than the soundchip you're using now), maybe try that first as a solution. Take care -when you are going to buy a 10 euro sound card- that it comes with Vista drivers.

I really hope you can make something of this.
Peter

This is a more nasty one for figuring out what could be the matter.
The most easy for me is saying that again this is caused by your soundchip driver, but I sue won't be easy on myself (oh, I think this is the cause anyway) ...

Okay ... a bit of thinking brings me to this :yes: :


Actually this information is of the most importance, because it tells that the sound internally really is playing. For that matter : the playposition pointer with Engine#1 is getting its info (position) from the buffer itself (I implemented this with Engine#1 only, so far). So actually the solution to this could be very easy : did you perhaps choose another sounddevice than the Primary Sounddevice ?!
Note that XX remembers this from earlier sessions, and also that you should see it chosen in the combobox for it. BUT :
Don't get tricked by what you see just the same from Engine#2 and Engine#3, just because I did not bother (or did I ?) to "hard coded" tell there that the Primary Device us used really. Uhhm ... *If* I did bother indeed, it would show the Primary Device really, which then would be different from what you see displayed with Engine#1.

Now, I am just assuming that I'm right on this, and the only thing you ought to know further, is that this "other" device which would be running really internally, does not map to your SPDIF output. So, *or* choose the Primary Device for Engine#1 (that would be the first one listed under "Primary Device" really), or get the mappings right.
To make it extra clear : whatever is shown for Engine#2 and #3, the only device which *can* be used really, is the Primary Device. So remember, no matter what XX shows, and no matter what you select (but I'm fairly sure by now there's error messages for this built in).

?

Hi Peter,


..............yes thats the sound!

Is there an explination why I can't get these problems with engine#1 and #2?

Johan

That's because #3 accesses the soundcard in a very different way. Also : a NEW way, looking at driver makers. So it must be supported properly.

More technical : in the end it's not the soundard itself being "in use" for Exclusive Mode, and it still is the OS arranging for it. But it will be the driver talking back to the OS what the current status of the "soundcard environment" is.

Btw note that I tried to ask the MS people whether a signed driver would guarantee that these things are arranged for correctly, just because I already have some hunches it is not so. I never got the answer to that ... which for me is an answer -> something s*cks in that area.
I also know why (I think) -> in the RTM version of Vista, this Exclusive Mode thing officially isn't supported yet, although nobody and nothing tells so. But I know. In the end no problem because it "just" ;) can be done. However, the driver siging program (which just *is* a program and automated process really) will not sufficiently anticipate on it. Well, that's my presumption so I must be careful. Also remember, I have a laptop HD Audio whatever signed soundchip/driver myself, which just can't do the job (won't allow Exclusive Mode at all -> yours might allow it halfly :().

JohanZ,

I've had no problems with my Soundblaster X-FI Platinum card using any of the engines with Vista Business.  The real test will be when I try my USB DAC. 

Hi Mercman,

Thanks for your reaction!

In a attemp to Un-demo XX on the Vista PC by placing the old activation file back in de XX directory and after a re-install of Realtek drivers (I did both things without testing  :oops: ) the problem of....
 seems to be solved....... :teasing:

All buttons can now be activated without "tadadadadadadada"!

Johan

GREAT !

 :biglol: