XXHighEnd Model 0.9z (with the final frontier : a GUI)

[PeterSt]

(download is at the very bottom)

Again it took more time than ever before to finalize this upgrade, and without doubt it contains the most code changes ever. Also without doubt it theoretically will incur for quite some bugs, but we will try to get rid of them as soon as possible.
The 0.9z sequence of versions will lead to 1.00, which means that at least all the known bugs should be solved by then.

This is what is new or has been changed :

• Indeed and at last : a GUI which hopefully better justifies what's under the hood.
  
  Of course not everybody will be satisfied with it, but let's say it is better than nothing. It is not said it can't be improved further, but it would be fair to say that the time involved can hardly be justified, knowing what other more important things could be done in the mean time.
  The next few topics will show what's explicitly in there, besides the different looks.
  
  
• For the general approach it was taken that we should be dealing with a physical machine, rather than a piece of software. This hopefully improves a bit on the intuivity. In some areas people may appreciate things as childish, but those who really think so, please also think about whether it could have been better, taking into account everything. For example, don't think a control can be taken away from the main screen too quickly. Try to imagine others - especially those not familiar with the product yet - and how inconvenient it could become for them otherwise. And no, this is not about less is more, because all matters even if you think it doesn't.
  Ok, that's out.
  
  
• Each button it applies to, now has a "busy" indicator. This is a small yellow light in the right half of the button; When it lits, the task concerned is processing the command hence is not finished with it.
  
  
• Each button contains a red light at the left side, and when lit red indeed, it means it applies. Thus, when the Play button has its red light lit, playback should be going on. If the Stop button lits red, the Stop stage should be in order. And so on.
  
  
• Apart from the yellow lights in the buttons, there are 5 leds at the top of the screen and from left to right they may show yellow;
  When once of the leds shows yellow, it means a general task is processing or waiting.
  The leds are not dedicated to tasks, and the more tasks are currently being performed, the more leds will lit. Generally this goes from left to right, but when a first led becomes available so to speak, it goes dark, but can be occupied by another task later.
  These leds were created to let you know better that the command you give, is (still) processing. This by itself is useful for those who don't know if something happened, and click again (this often messing things up).
  Notice that processes may be there not covered for by the leds. But they will be incorporated over time (read : when found).
  
  
• For the digital part of things, there is input and output. Thus, the input (from the file) sample rate and bit depth is shown, and the output (after filtering / upsampling) is shown as well. The same accounts for the volume; the set volume is shown (input), and when the Normalized Volume is used, the actually used (output) volume is shown as well. Notice that the output part stays dark when the Normalized Volume is not used.
  
  
• Besides the Volume Slider, there's also a Volume Knob now. Both do the same thing, but the knob may feel more comfortable, and may show better the output set volume.
  Notice that the Volume Slider looks like redundant, and while it actually is, it seemed that there was no good possibility to show/use the Volume Notch buttons without the Slider. And yes, the green/red color on the Notch Buttons has gone. A solution is sought for that.
  
  
• The tabs for the different sections have gone. Instead, the middle pane can show different displays, actually coming down to the same as before, although not everything shows in the same display as before. A brief clue as to where is what now :
  - The Playlist Area shows by means of the left most button at the top of the middle pane.
  - The Settings Area shows by means of the middle button at the top of the middle pane.
  - The Info Area has been replaced with ToolTip text and shows by means of the rightmost button at the top of the middle pane.
  - The Quality Area has gone, but now shows up via a Quality Panel by means of the little button at the right side of the digital time counter at the bottom.
  - The Library Area shows up by means of the little button at the right from beforementioned button.
  - The Undemo Area shows up in the Quality Panel (see above) at the right side (with the little clock in it).
  - The Analisys Area (disabled anyway) shows up by means of the other button at the right side of the Quality Panel.
  
  
• When in Demo Mode, the text "Undemo" shows in the Volume Knob. Clicking that text will show the Undemo Area.
  
  
• While before this was a kind of out of control, the GUI now looks the same on Vista/W7(/W2008) as it does on XP.
  
  
• In the left border of the screen, 5 small buttons show (captioned with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), which are presets for the screen settings (only screen settings, thus not quality etc. settings);
  A 6th button under these 5 buttons, shows "U" and represents User Presets. When Active (red light), each of the presets can be used by setting your own, which is performed by means of pressing the button for at least 2 seconds. When let loose, a message "Settings saved" appears.
  Apart from the screen settings, the set size of both the Library Coverart and the Coverart in the Coverart (rightmost) pane are saved.
  
  Important : The first 3 System Presets ("U" button not active) are meant for :
  
  1 - Default System Setting for OS Font Size set to 100%;
  2 - Default System Setting for OS Font Size set to 125%;
  3 - Default System Setting for OS Font Size set to 150%.
  
  However, it seems sheer impossible to make this completely right because of anomalies in the OS combined with the development environment. So, what you should do is startup XXHighEnd in either of the preferred font size modes, click on the 1, 2 or 3 System Preset in order, and next drag the leftmost splitter bar to the left, against the coverart picture in the left pane. Now make the User Presets active, and save the current setting in one of the User Presets. Notice though that this step is not really necessary (because the system will remember your setting anyway), but at least you will now have some departure point when you start dragging around with things and can't get it back to normal. Thus, just click that preset, and you will be back to normal.
  
  
• The Double and Quattro checkboxes from before, have been replaced with the slider you seen in beteen the input and output sample rates. Setting 1 means 1x, setting 2 means 2x, setting 3 means 4x, 4 means 8x and 5 means 16x. *What* it is you perform e.g. 4x, is determined by the buttons above it which a.o. comprise of Linear, Anti Image and Arc Prediction filtereing. Choose none of these, and there will be the "just 4x" and no Upsampling.
  
  
• As implied by beforementioned slider, there's now 8x (Octo) Arc Prediction Upsampling as well as 16x (Double Octo) Arc Prediction Upsampling, and only that ! (thus, not with Anti Image and not with Linear). Notice that the number of doubling the slider can reach is determined by the DAC Is setting. Thus, when e.g. that denotes 24/192, the slider won't go further than 4x.
  Side note : The both buttons in the Settings Area "DAC is Phasure 384" and "DAC is Phasure 768" don't do a thing for you.
  
  
• When a file is detected as HDCD encoded, this now will be decoded, and the HDCD logo will show above the digital time counter.
  Notice : This has not been tested on Cue Files. Furthermore, when it is about a native .WAV file and "Copy to XX drive" is not active, the HDCD decoded file will not be cached. In other words, e.g. pressing Pause during playback of such a file, followed by Play, must re-decode the file.
  
  
• The ever existing bug has been solved about using Next during Unattended Playback, that restarting the currently playing track. This appeared to happen when a selection of tracks was being played, and a next track in the Playlist Area (opposed to the playing one) not being selected.
  
  
• Because of diacretical characters not being accepted by the FLAC converter at one site (as far as known), the input to FLAC files now occurs with DOS 8.3 short names. Notice this solves the problem, but not the cause - which so far is a mystery.
  
  
• Volume Normalization is now supported for Hires files as well.
  
  
• Kernel Streaming Special Mode has been changed, so even lower internal latencies are possible. Also, it will be much easier to find (Q1) settings which work without distortion.
  Sound Quality for KS Special Mode *will* have changed !! Please let know what you think about it (oh, you will )
  
  
• Some things have changed for the Remote Control Commands, please see the new XX.ahk file for that. Some changes are about the same hot key, but addressing the button differently (because its name changed); it is not sure whether this needs changes in your application. Please have a look at it, and make your intermediate software consistent to it, where needed.
  
  
• When a ToolTip is asked for, the text of it will be copied to the Info Area. Notice this area can be reached via the button at the top with the question mark. So, unlike the ToolTip itself, the text will remain in the Info Area until it is overwritten with a next ToolTip; it allows you to conveniently read the text, especially when it is a longer text.
  Note 1 : Even if the ToolTips are not shown (the Show ToolTips button in the Settings Area), the text will be copied to the Info Area.
  Note 2 : It is not possibly anymore to see the HotKeys by means of the small dashes under the letters from a button description (the descriptions just are not there anymore). However, the HotKeys will show in the Info Area on the first line of the ToolTip text. Also keep in mind that not all HotKeys show in XX.ahk, because the HotKeys in use for Attended only don't show in there anyway !
  
  
• Continuing the before topic, all of the "Areas" (like Library Area) now can be accessed by means of a HotKey.
  
  
• A-B Playback has been restored. Besides, it now -more conveniently- uses two buttons. One for the A point and one for B point.
  
  
• A new digital time counter (already referred to a couple of time to in the above) now nicely shows the running time of a track. It also shows the starting point of a track (after dragging the still available button at the time bar, or after pause), and it shows the countdown when starting is delayed.
  Notice the delay is maximized to 59 seconds now, and controlled by the small track bar under the digital time.
  
  
• The track data previously in the Info Area, is now available in the Quality Panel (see above for that). But, the data concerned is better actualized, and now also contains a HDCD field. Notice that for proper actualization of track data, you must click on the track (or it must play).
  
  
• Before, when a Gallery Entry was to be deleted because the original wasn't there anymore, an error telling that the original couldn't be found, prevented the deletion of that Gallery Entry. Quite inconvenient ! The same with deleting a track from the Playlist Area. Both problems are solved.
  
  
• It turned out that changing the Digital Volume during Attended Playback made use of some old more slow code. Now the same code is used as with Unattended (effecting the changed volume within the second).
  
  
• During the time the Normalized Volume is calculated, the led in the "Normalize Volume" button (normally red) becomes yellow.
  
  
• Kind of important : While so far we could manage without really installing anything (Registry stuff), now it takes two OCX files to be registered. Two subsequent messages at the first startup of 0.9z will tell you so. Notice they can be unregistered manually only. When you want to do that (hence get rid of XXHighEnd in the first place) do this, and to it *before* you throw out your XX folder :
  
  - Open a command window (cmd.exe from the Startbutton - Run). Then go to your XX folder (CD \yourXXFolder) and in there, type these two lines :
  regsvr32/u isanaloglibrary.ocx
  regsvr32/u isdigitallibrary.ocx
  
  Both commands should be followed by a message that the Unregistring has succeeded.
  
  

Notice : Above list will not be complete. Please ask when you wonder whether a certain issue has been solved or not !



Currently known issues :

• When XXHighEnd is active and Explorer or Internet Explorer (and maybe other browsers) is started, and error follows from XXHighEnd. This error can just be ignored.
  
  
• The Embedded Explorer doesn't show the nodes unless hovered with the mouse (because of black on black). No big deal, bit still strange.
  In the mean time, when XXHighEnd is brought up during (or auto - after Unattended playback), the nodes show as XP style nodes.
  
  
• Some of the scrollbars don't allow scrolling as far down as should. That is, the scroll (square) button just doesn't allow it.
  
  
• When scrolling by means of dragging the scroll button, going outside of the scrollbar area will loose the focus (earlier than before) and scrolling stops. Also, at loosing the focus, something else will get it, and, for example, when the mouse pointer leaves the scrollbar at the inside of the Playlist Area, the system will start dragging a file inside of the Playlist (you will see a small square indicating that).
  
  
• It may occur on XP that at the first startup of 0.9z, the system asks to perform one of the internal routines ("Are you sure to perform this ... etc"), but answering Yes doesn't do a thing. Just cancel this, and startup will continue.
  At this moment is it not know what will happen with such a routine when it, later, is needed for real;
  If you are experiencing problems in this area, please let it know.
  
  
• If two subsequent attempts are taken to "Set" an album for the Normalized Volume (standard), the second one will create the same data as the first one.
  Restarting XXHighEnd should solve that for now.
  
  
• The Progress Bar (the green one, at the bottom when active) as used for certain activities, is not visible anymore in all situations.
  
  
• Important : It can happen that at the startup of XXHighEnd the GUI stays away, and at subsequent clicks on the taskbar icon you can see it disappears to the left, and comes back from there (towards the taskbar). Somehow this extra happens at the second startup after the very first after the upgrade.
  When that happens, close XXHighEnd (cross away from the taskbar icon) and rety. It may take some attempts, but eventually it will be ok.
  Everything and all had been done to find what causes this, to no avail thus far.
  
  
• Please keep in mind that at this time no special effords have been undertaken to subsequently in- or decrease the volume several times before the first actually comes through. This means that or a message "Something wrong at Remote Command" will appear at some stage, or that the sound will starve into crackling (nothing for your windows to worry about). The underlaying cause is the resources which are eaten by the low level latency playback, but, something *can* be done about it. It just didn't happen at this time. Remedy : wait until a first Volume Change comes through, and only after that apply a second.
  
  
• Because of all the GUI stuff, it appears that for example XP with a 1GHz PIII really is too slow to imply fast startup times. Playback may be ok, but the slowness of starting up really kills.
  
  

The usual repeat from earlier Release Notes :

Very important : Only when AutoHotkey has been installed, and is at least working to the extend XXHighEnd can be startup with a hotkey (default is Alt-X), it is allowed to tick the checkbox "Stop Services" in the Settings Area, and use Unattended Playback mode (checkbox at the bottom of the main screen). For AutoHotkey See AutoHotkey Install. When this is not done, hence XXHighEnd can not be brought up with a hotkey, at Unattended Payback - no desktop icons will be visible, no Taskbar will be there, no Startbutton will be around ... nothing. You might, however, may be able to use the "Windows" key which will bring up the Start Menu and find something in there to find your ways again. So, be careful, or maybe you will not be able to do anything, except for listening out the playlist concerned, and wait until that finishes and XXHighEnd will popup automatically, which by itself will bring back everything.
A reboot is a solution as well.

This all sounds more dangerously than it really is, and with the hotkeys available there is really nothing to fear.
And remember the objective : better Sound Quality.

Edit : More serious issues with this version :

- Engine#3 does not work. So for now use devices prefixed with KS: only ! (= Engine#4). See below XXEngine3-09-zb which solves this. Unzip this over the normal XXHighEnd-09-z install.
- When Arc Prediction is used, but Peak Extension is left off, at a next startup of XXHighEnd Arc Prediction is not active (see the red light in the button).
- HDCD decoded material will only play with 24/44.1 output, no matter upsampling has been chosen.
- Anti Imaging filtering/upsampling does not decode HDCD (and doesn't recognize it, seen by the not showing of the HDCD logo).

- As it appears, in this production version most of the ToolTips don't work; Extra inconvenient with the new GUI. Apologizes for this ! Also see 0.9z No ToolTips for a solution, sort of.
- For new users and to XXHighEnd new machines, over this version 0.9za can be copied. This is *necessary* because otherwise the helper programs can't run. This can be found here : http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1265.msg11418#msg11418

Above is solved by installing the zecond zip (XXHighEnd-09-zb) over the first. So, both must be installed, first 0.9z then 0.9zb !