My Receptor locked-up last night

[toddg7777]

Last night I was jamming with my band. My Receptor was on for about 90 minutes and connected to my laptop. I was switching between various multi's but had been on the same patch for about 10 minutes before the lock-up

I was running EVE on CH1 but no other channels had devices running on them. I had a few effects running on Ch1 as well, I think they were Classic Reverb, mdaLoudness and one other.

While I was playing, the Receptor froze, the remote control screen on my laptop went black and then the laptop lost connection with Receptor. The Receptor was totally frozen. I had to press and hold the power button for 5 seconds to shut it down.

I have had a few problems with the ethernet connection previously but after turning off screen saver and power savings options on my PC, I haven't lost connection between Receptor and the laptop. The Receptor freezing thing has happened a few times and I cannot seem to nail down the cause.

Should I expect more reliability associated with something like Elektrik Piano than I get from EVE? In trying to troubleshoot it seems that the plugs I am running are the most likely cause of a problem and that well-established developers like NI may provide more stable products than others? Am I on the right track here?

I really want to use Receptor live but am very concerned about this type of thing.

Anyone with thoughts on why this happened or how to prevent it or troubleshoot further would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[thesoundsmith]

I don't use EVe, so I can't comment on its reliability, but yes, NI will more likely be rock-solid. I have had issues getting booted up occasionally (I use a really complex multi - Colossus w 2 acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and electric bass, B4ii, Lounge Lizard, Trilogy, fz, FM7, MinimogueVA, OP-X, a dozen EQs Colassic Reverb and Classic Limiter that pretty much maxes out the unit) but once it has settled in, it has been very stable for me (and when this happens, it just takes a couple extra minutes to reset itself and reboot, the one time I had to actually load a blank preset and start over, once it reloaded it worked great)

I have no qualms about using my unit live, that's why I bought it. I would recommend quality VSTis, though - not that Eve isn't, but I don't know about free plugs that crash after 90 minutes, this is not an issue you can expect a lot of tech support from. But I do know, as an ex-coder, you can write something that works great but doesn't quite clean up after itself in certain areas, and gradually things build up until you get a stack overflow, or memory issue, or something in the data gets written to the code space, and bang - freeze...

Don't panic, it will be fine in the end. BTW - how much RAM do you have? I would not go out the door without the full 2G...

[toddg7777]

Thanks, Soundsmith.

I've got 2GB. I am also an ex-coder and know that memory leaks and failure to free it all up when the app is done is a huge contributor to bugginess (e.g. pointers). I have yet to run Receptor during a 3-hour jam session without at least one lock-up but I am using various free plugs that came with Receptor. Sounds like those might be less reliable.

You say your complex multi is stable once loaded. Are you switching patches and if not, isn't the stability you get related to the fact that you aren't loading plugs after you load the multi? Although my lockup last night wasn't during a patch switch, most of my others have been. It seems that Receptor is more suceptible to a lockup when loading a multi-patch. True? Moreover, is it safe to assume that the more complex the multi patch is, the more likely it is that a lockup will occur? If so, then do you make attempts to use simpler patches when playing live?

Also, since I am uncomfortable with EVE, I am looking for a Rhodes/Wurli/Clav plug. I see you use Lounge Lizard - can you share your opinion on that vs. Elektrik Piano?

Thanks for your insight.

Todd



P.S. I think I am one of your "accidental" followers - I run an Axiom61 on top and a ProKeys 88sx on the bottom. I actually put that system together before I came across your email about your setup! Having the built-in sounds from the 88sx is a bit of a stress reliever if the Receptor goes down mid-performance.

[JayVee]

EVE 1 has problems with Receptor; great sounds, but definetly was the cause of many frustrating moments for me, live, in front of hundreds of people.
I spent hours checking and re-checking, which set-ups were freezing, and why.
It was EVE 1!
I loved the sounds so much, I upgraded to EVE2, and have not had those issues in over a year.
If you like EVE, but have become nervous... GET EVE 2.

Problem solved.

[toddg7777]

Thanks for the advice, JayVee. you sound pretty stoked about EVE2. I'll check it out.

[thesoundsmith]

I am using various free plugs that came with Receptor. Sounds like those might be less reliable.

T have to assume this is correct - they don't have the resources for testing under the many common configurations that are possible.

You say your complex multi is stable once loaded. Are you switching patches and if not, isn't the stability you get related to the fact that you aren't loading plugs after you load the multi? Although my lockup last night wasn't during a patch switch, most of my others have been. It seems that Receptor is more suceptible to a lockup when loading a multi-patch. True? Moreover, is it safe to assume that the more complex the multi patch is, the more likely it is that a lockup will occur? If so, then do you make attempts to use simpler patches when playing live?

Stable once loaded: occasionally, when I am creating new versions of dense multis, the Receptor will reboot itself two or three times before loading a blank patch. At that point, I can load the complex multi that may have caused the issue in the first place - but I CAN load it. And after that, future loads are not an issue. Once everything is loaded and the system has stablized, I have not had any significant issues with the box crashing - the one time it did, turned out the power was at about 75% voltage and spiky as hell...

I use the Axiom to play primarily the upper manual of B4ii, FM7, MinimogueVA (a free plug that has not brought my unit down to date) sfz with a Giga patch lib (converted trumpet/tenor Blue Note sound), electric guitar, several other instruments and and applause track (great way to notify the audience it's OK to have fun...) Each of these instruments uses patch change - BUT - they all change patch instantly, or close to. No sample lib loading in real-time live. The lower keys play Colossus acoustic piano, Lounge Lizard, which I use precisely because it takes 3 seconds to change patch - too slow for between chords, but not between songs. Electrik Piano has a meatier sound, but it loads full libs, not modeling parameter lists. I want immediate access (or close to) to a good solo Rhodes, a smooth pad Rhodes and a funky Wurly from the electric piano instrument. If I were only playng piano(s) I could load each into a separate instantiation of NI EP and be fine, But with all those different plugs, I need to be conscious of the amount of stress from the loading. So it takes a couple minutes to load, but it's fine once it gets there.

I change patch frequently, and in the Downtown James Brown tribute band, I'm changing B4 registrations every 10-15 seconds. No problems ever with a crash on-stage. So I'd saty it's not changing patch, but perhaps from trying to play while a library is loading? I think that would stress the box out pretty badlly,

P.S. I think I am one of your "accidental" followers - I run an Axiom61 on top and a ProKeys 88sx on the bottom. I actually put that system together before I came across your email about your setup! Having the built-in sounds from the 88sx is a bit of a stress reliever if the Receptor goes down mid-performance.

Yes it is. That's why I got it in the first place, though I have not (yet) needed to use it that way. It's also nice that the keyboard action is identical.

[toddg7777]

JayVee - I checked out EVE 2 and it looks pretty good. Two questions:

First, where does one get the Receptorized version of EVE 2? I could't find it on Plugorama.

Second, can I upgrade to EVE 2 at the reduced price using my EVE 1 license that came with Receptor?

Thanks!

[JayVee]

Honestly, I think I installed Eve2 using the 'User Installable' method...myself, but it came with several different files (on a CD)
So unless something has changed, I don't believe there is a 'Receptorized' version

I do believe you qualify as a Registered EVE 1 user, simply contact DASH Signature and explain your situation.

support@dashsignature.com

[toddg7777]

Thanks JV. I will contact DashSignature.

Where are the instructions for the User Installable method?

[JayVee]

I think they're at Plugorama.

[toddg7777]

JV, sorry to bug you about this but I bought EVE 2 and have tried to install using the Unsupported method but it continues to fail. I have left a ticket at Plugorama but they haven't gotten back to me after several days. Other than copying the DLL into the Unsupported Plugins directory and trying to install using the GUI, is there something that has to be done - such as naming a data subdirectory..? Receptor just fails when I try to install.

Any guidance you can give would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Dr.Oates]

any idea how one would go about doing this? Have they done it anyone you know of?? others?

[toddg7777]

Dr. Oats, not real clear on your question but if you are asking about EVE2, unfortunately, I have written it off. Although everyone is very nice and wants to help, I can't get enough information from either Muse or Dash to get it working. I just need a good Wurly and for about $150 I can purchase Elektrik Piano and be done with it. After 8 hours of frustration, it isn't worth it anymore.

If they ever Receptorize EVE2, I will certainly give it a shot because the sounds are great and it's light on the CPU.