XXHighEnd Model 0.9z-3 (New (SFS) Memory Management)

[PeterSt]

(Download it at the very bottom)

Expected SQ changes : all over.
For the better or for the worse, please let know what you think of it, but don't forget to mention the SFS.ini settings used (see below).
Notice that it is not "demanded" from you to explore the various combinations (you might get crazy) and that the current default in SFS.ini should be good to go.


Edit and imortant :
Do *NOT* create Galleries with this version; Some bugs were discoverd and they quite mangle your Galleries.

• Because people started to notice a difference in SQ between Split File Size (SFS) settings, various attempts have been made to eliminate this. However, since it remained unknown throughout this traject whether "eliminating differences" would result in "absolute better", the various attempts have all been made available for you to test;
  
  It is controlled by a now withgoing SFS.ini file with the following contents :
  11
  
  Possible Split File Size init values first position :
  
  0 = The old method from 0.9z-2 and earlier.
  1 = The new method from off 0.9z-3.
  2 = Another new method from off 0.9z-3.
  
  Possible Split File Size (SFS) init values second position :
  
  0 = No additional Memory Organization.
  1 = Special Memory Organization 99% sure eliminating perceived differences from SFS sizes. Takes longer for Playback starts !
  
  Special Memory Organization does *NOT* combine with Start Playback during Conversion (Settings Area). There is no check for this !
  
  Take care that the number (00, 01, 10, etc.) starts at the very first position in this file (SFS.ini).
  
  Both the two parameter positions have there own purpose and can be combined. The most "modern" (and adviced) situation will occur from "11" (this is the default), while as a next step the first parameter can be varied, leaving the second always to 1.
  Notice that theoretically the best SQ can be perceived from 00 (which is the pre-0.9z-3 situation, *but* you'd have to find the best SFS setting plus it may vary (for the best SQ) per file (track) length.
  
  
• As a result from the above, when the second parameter is set to 1, the SFS (Split File Size) can be much higher than before. Care has to be taken though that SQ not degrades when the SFS causes the memory to be neary full.
  Important : With the second parameter (see above) set to 1, you *must* have Virtual Memory switched On, or otherwise you will run out of memory along the way of playback; only when SFS is set so that the memory used it implies it is way under the max memory limit, Virtual Memory can be shut off.
  
  
• There's a new setting (Settings Area) "Do not Start Playback at all". If this is combined with "Copy to XX-drive by standard", and it mimics "you" copying the tracks (files) to the RAMDisk (assumed you use a RAMDisk) in advance of playback, and next select the tracks to play from there. When AutoHotkey has been setup properly, you can use Alt-P to start Playback.
  This is for Unattended Playback only.
  
  
• When the second SFS.ini parameter is set to 1, XXEngine3.exe (the general audio engine program, also for Engine#4) will check for OS resources in use dealing with memory management. The treshhold is 0.8% of the cpu cycles XXEngine3.exe uses herself) and when it is more, a message will appear asking you to continue or not. The message looks like : Attempts : 10 Current CPU% level of process : 82.48
  The "10" denotes that 10 attempts have been made to get things "right" but it couldn't succeed; When you continue (commence Playback), 82.48% of CPU cycles will keep on mangling with memory issues. The "10" also denotes that you can better give it up to make it work, which at this moment can not be guaranted for each OS environment (all OS versions deal differently with this). However, a lower SFS value may help ! But if it doesn't, there's not much more left than setting the second parameter to 0 in the SFS.ini file (Edit with NotePad).
  When Log Activities (Settings Area) is Active, the X3 log file (in the TemporaryData folder under your current XX folder) will show an entry similar to the message, and it may tell you that it took 2 attempts to get to a level of 0.031%.
  
  
• When an HCDC track is in order (and the Settings denote to decode it), the Wallpaper will now show the HDCD logo at the bottom.
  Notice that many (many !) bugs have been solved for HDCD Playback - if all is right all of them. You can now check whether HDCD is really playing via the Wallpaper logo, and if it is not correct, please report.
  
  
• The HDCD decoding abusively eliminated the multi-core conversions (from FLAC etc.), which now has been reinstalled. So, conversions should be faster (again) for multi core processors.
  
  
• The HDCD decoding now "formally" supports mixed albums for HDCD Yes/No tracks. This implies that the "HDCD" tag in the XXAnalysis.dat file has been eliminated - hence is not used anymore. Please notice that your current entries are not used anymore either; they nothing, and they can stay as they are (wrong or right).
  But :
  Although these mixed albums are supported, the previous topic (multi core conversion) causes these albums (tracks in there) not to be recognized afterall because this "recognizing" happens once per album (or otherwise the multi core conversions can't work). It depends on the situation, but chances are fair that XXEngine3.exe will produce a "HDCD Decoding Problem" with such albums (which are the most rare anyway).
  
  
• There's a new setting (Settings Area - Normalize Volume section) "Use per Track" which -when Active- normalizes the volume at the track level;
  The volume of each track is still held against the "Set" Reference Volume (album), and the difference with the already known Normalized Volume (which operates at the album level) is that the track concerned is not made relative loud against its album. Thus, if the album which holds the tracks has softer and louder tracks (think classical), this is now *not* incorporated, and all tracks will play at the (around) same level. Is this useful ? not if that one album is played. But if a playlist comprises of random single tracks from various albums it may be a better thing to do (to your own judgement of course).
  It really comes "handy" as such when you realize that that the playlist with single (or maybe two) tracks from various albums noww don't need to normalize those albums themselves, so it really saves a lot of time (say, a factor of 10 when 10 tracks would be on an album for average).
  
  
• When an album (or individual track) is prepared for Normalized Volume, this is now visible at the yellow light which comes up in the "NormVol" button.
  
  
• When AI Filtering is applying the conversion concerned, this is now visible at the yellow light which comes up in the "AntiImage" button.
  
  
• Several new "protections" have been added to the In- and Outgoing rates (bit depth and sample rate).
  
  
• It is now possible to play a track (or several selected) via XXHighEnd by means of opening it/them from Explorer.
  Notice this is meant for Unattended Playback only !
  When Playback already is going on, the selected track(s) will simply be added to the list of tracks to play.
  When Playback *not* is going on but tracks exist in the Playlist Area, playback will start at the first track in there. However, with the remote command Ctrl-alt-c the Playlist Area can be cleared in advance. See below.
  
  
• A new shortcut Ctrl-Alt-c has been added for the Clear (Eject) button. Works also Unattendedly and may there be needed for clearing the Playlist in advance of opening (playing) tracks via Explorer.
  
  
• Similarly to the subject above, it is now possible to add tracks to an existing list in the Playlist Area;
  for Attended Playback this already could work, but more or less by accident, while now it is official and for Unattended Playback it is now also possible.
  For Attended : Just drag the tracks to add to whatever position after the track which is currently playing (but do that at least 14 seconds before the currently playing track comes to an end if it's right under that). Of course you don't need to drag and can use any means of adding tracks (but in that case they will be at the bottom, as alwats).
  For Unattended : The same as above (keep in the 14 seconds in mind !), and just select the first track you want to play next and click Play (never click Stop !). Notice that this means the currently pending list to play will be "reset", which happens under the hood.
  Theoretically it is possible to click Play on the currently playing track or even one which has already played, or, without stuffing in new tracks, just click on one further down the line and click Play on that one (which should skip the ones in between, but "silently"). These options/combinations were all not tested.
  Using Selections (from the total Playlist Area) will not work or will exhibit unexpected results.
  
  Please notice : It seems to be "possible" that the next track to play is not the one selected as described above, but the second to that. If this happens, and the track playing was not within the 14 second boundary - and if you can find a line in this, please let this now !
  
  
• For Unattended Playback the Volume can now be in/decreased by max 10x 1.5dB steps by means of the Remote Commands Alt-<number> followed by Alt-u or Alt-d. The <number> obviously is the number to in- or decrease, and 0 means 10 (steps of 1.5dB). Notice that 1 also is actively working, which can be used when by accident one of the number keys was pressed on the remote, while just Vol-Up was intended. Using the "1" resets this to 1 step.
  
  It is just as well possible to bring up XXHighEnd during Unattended Playback, slide the volume to anything you want (which then changes the volume indeed) and Quit XXHighEnd.
  
  
• The title of the XXHighEnd Form now shows the location where XXHighEnd was started from (to avoid confusion at playing from RAMDisk etc.).
  
  
• A new Device Buffer Size of 3072 has been added.
  
  
• When Unattended Playback is attempted in such a state that the Desktop and everything will disappear - while AutoHotkey not is running, a message now informs so, allowing you to bail out before it is "too late";
  When you want to continue without AutoHotkey (hence arranged for something else which keeps you in control), the file AutoHotkeyMessage.tst can be removed (or renamed) from your current XX folder, and the message won't appear again.
  
  
• If all is right, the error message about "An uncaptured exception has occurred" (similar) has been solved. This error occurred from the impossible communication between any Explorer Instance and the Embedded Explorer when the latter ran in "XP mode" (hence without the Vista Theme).
  Please let know if it still occurs.
  
  
• Sound stopping 10-20 seconds before the end (Attended or Unattended) should definitely be solved now.
  
  
• The Windows Context Menus (e.g. rightclick on an Embedded Explorer Item) have received a different (background) color, so they are better readable now.
  
  
• ChangeWP could run into a loop (or very long-lasting process) with some "album structures". This has been solved now.
  
  
• The Wallpaper now also shows the bumber of tracks on an album, besides the currently playing one.
  Notice that this is not consistent over the various means an album can have receives its track numbers. It can say something like 10/03 or the other way around 03-10, both meaning "3rd out of 10". Also, it is very well possible that the currently playing track number is not visible, while the total is. This often goes along with track numbers not being visible (on the mirror back of the album) in the first place. For the future to solve.
  
  
• The Progress Bar wasn't visible anymore (at activities concerned) in the latest versions. It's reinstalled.
  
  
• A-B playback has been made more decent and operates in full again (it didn't anymore).
  Notice that it can be used for letting each track in the Playlist Area play for the denoted number of seconds by means of making End at Track active at the same time A-B is active.
  Setting A-B now is somewhat more friendly, by means of allowing both A and B to be zero which selects the whole track (which is often what you'd want).
  
  
• The workout of Multi Volume albums at stuffing them into Galleries has been improved extensively;
  While before an album named "CD1" - "CD2" (etc.) could appear as the Album Name put in Nice Stuff (by means of the Remote) now the proper Album Name is applied.
  The same has been applied to the title of the Wallpaper.
  
  
• "Find more Albums from Artist" has been reincarnated (didn't work anymore for a long time due to Amazon technical changes).
  
  
• Music paths can now be Mass Renamed by means of the new "Mass Rename Original Paths" option in the Context Menu on the Library Area Coverart, and it can be done by means of a Naming Scheme which can be given. In the Settings Area your default Naming Scheme can be registered (Data Locations section).
  
  
  
  
  Optionally the year of release can be obtained from Amazon, but notice that this doesn't work well for CD albums which were only recently put to CD, while e.g. a vinyl version was released 30 years ago (the CD release date will be reported by Amazon).
  It is the strong advise that paths are renamed piece by piece, although "doing them all" is just allowed. Please note that you can't hold your humble developer responseable for messing up your folder structure, which just may happen because of *your* unexpected (strange ) structure. So, be careful !!
  
  Important : Just before submitting this version it appeared that this Rename function does not properly work through the connected Galleries. IOW, for now only use this when no Galleries have been drawn from the paths concerned !
  
  
• The Context Menu of the Embedded Explorer (rightclick on an item of E.E.) has been extended with three new options :
  
  Expand to Music folders
  When this is used on an item (node/folder) the whole folder is expanded up to but not including the folder where the music sits. So, it shows all your albums from the particular node (but also the Artists if they are in a separate folder).
  Since this counts the albums similarly to the (now) former "Count Albums" function, the latter has been dropped.
  
  Expand to Artist folders
  
  This is a rather powerful function, because it opens the selected node/folder "intelligently" up to the Artist level when you have separate folders for artist like :
  \Jazz\Ahmad Jamal\
  \Jazz\Al Di Meola\
  
  
  
  
  This allows you to select the Artist (or main group, see picture) more easily while otherwise you'd have to open en close nodes endlessly.
  If you organized everything in a complete flat fashion this function won't help you much because there's nothing to collapse or open except the music folder itself.
  Note : the earlier mentioned Mass Rename function can help you to reorganize from flat (like Deep Pruple - Strombringer) to more hierachical (Deep Purple\Stormbringer).
  
  Close to folder
  
  This is another means of closing a node; below it was used on Rap & Hip-Hop and while when that node would normally close down completely when the arrow left to the node is clicked, now it shows its immediate children. Also compare with the previous picture.
  
  
  
  
  All 'n all these functions were made for those who ultimately make nice hierarchies of things which becomes quite unmanageable because of the depth. Hopefully this helps with this way of working.
  
  
• The Library button moved from the bottom (back) to the top again. It feels more logical to have it there.
  It also feels less convenient to have it at such a large distance from the Eject/Load buttons, so maybe it will change again.
  With it, the Clear Cache button moved from the Library Pane to the always visible pane at the bottom.
  
  
• AI filtering always preprocessed a smaller file part to start playback earlier than officially needed to convert the complete track. This has been dropped now, because it implied too many complexities in combination with other stuff.
  An important argument for this decision is that we more and more tend towards a completely stand alone playback means (nothing interfering) which is the opposite of starting playback while some conversion is going on (which would be the case here).
  
  
• At looking for album data on Amazon, the Artist/Album now can be entered by yourself (the by XXHighEnd proposed name can be overridden).
  
  
• It appeared that searching for tracks with time length (longer or shorter than) didn't work anymore. Solved.
  
  
• The Clear Cache button (the small one with the "x", now on the always visible bottom pane) now clears everything and all - also the files in the Intermediate Files (See Settings Area) folder. This should guarantee that no anomalies occur at the playback of the same tracks with a different setting, although all was done to avoid these anomalies. But *if* they perceivedly happen, use this button to be sure to have "old stuff" out of the way.
  Notice though that this button is (now) even more useful for keeping clean our RAMDisk as much as possible. So, with a large number of tracks to load (for Unattended) it may be good habit to use this button in advance of it.
  
  
• Tracks with track numbers of 1, 2, 3, ... 10, 11 (instead of 01, 02, 03, ... 10, 11) are properly sorted in the Playlist Area (and on the Wallpaper) now.
  Before they sorted as 1, 11, 2, 3.
  
  
• Importantish : Take care that you don't have either "Is Phasure NOS1 384" or "Is Phasure NOS1 768" (Settings Area) active, because they now actively work and *will* exhibit wrong sound when active without the Phasure NOS1 DAC.
  
  
• 24/44.1 files could exhibit a tick right before playback started. This is solved now.
  Notice : People reported more "ticks" in other situations; an overhaul has been taken place and quite some situations have been found where all was not 100% correct, so these perceived ticks maybe are solved now too (they couldn't be mimiced here); Please report if you still perceive ticks (at the start of playback, or at track part boundaries) and try to describe accurately when this happens and how it sounds. Thanks !
  
  
• The context menu on the Library Area Coverart (rightclick on it) now has a main entry "Locations", while the three before existing Location functions now are under this new main one. In there a new function is obtained "Show Original Location in Embedded Explorer";
  Although nice by itself, the power of this becomes visible when you want to apply a function on a Gallery Location which only is allowed on an Original Location (the new Mass Rename Original Paths (see above) would be an example of this). The convenient trick here is to obtain the Original Location in teh Embedded Explorer, go to the root of whatever it is that appears (you didn't know it), click on that root, click search to activate the list in the Library Area (if not automatically performed, see the counter in the Library Pane at the bottom running or not), and find yourself in the Library of the Original Location. Now you can go ahead with that function only allowed on Original Location Items ...
  
  
• As it appeared, albums without track numbers were sorted for their tracks on the Wallpaper. The result ? all tracks not in their proper sequence (but on alphabet of their names) while they actually were quite allright. This has been solved.
  
  

Known more major Issues with this version :

- Scrollbar in the Settings Area doesn't work (Vista only ?); clicking under (or above) the scroll block currently is the best option to get somewhere.
- The Wallpapet (Coverart) often doesn't show in time (but this is Vista ?), or shows inconsistent Coverart with OSD Text (even on the Coverart itself).
- Randomize functions are still not working (old issue though).



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.