Aliasing in Zebra 2.2.1b3 on some systems (without SSE2 ?)

[Duller]

Hey Urs and everyone else.
This is so weird.
I'm totally baffled by the great sound and workflow in Zebra.
I'll certainly buy it and incorporate it into my live and studio rig.
BUT... - I'm having the weirdest issue here at my Studio PC (Athlon XP 2GHz - Delta44).

I demoed the beta (2.2.1b3) because i need program change for live use.

First - it doesn't play any OSC's unless I krank up the normalize dial per OSC. Furthermore there is alot of aliasing going on (worse than bad Synthmaker/Synthedit synth). But it's only on my PC. I tried installing on my wife's notebook - opened in VSTHost - everything plays beautifully - same at work - (I work in a musicshop) - everything smooth and fine on Zebra 2.2.1b3.

Anyone...? I've tried a new partition with fresh XP/Cubase installations.
Same aliased sound - only on my own machine - tried changing bit/samplerate - no go - underclocked PC - no go - newer ASIO driver - no go - trashing cubase XML's - no go - and so on...

I'm in the dark - what did I do wrong?

It's the first time since Arturia I've heard such delicious sound from a VI - and Zebra is in many ways alot better for my kind of workflow - I really want to buy it - if I can get it to work. By the way - Official relase 2.2 works like a charm here - just without program change. What little code snippet in 2.2.1b3 can be so different, that it forces my system (and apparantly only my system) to go wrong..?

Thanks for reading.

Kind regards
Mikkel Haakonsson
Denmark

[Urs]

Pretty weird, that is!

Can you render an audio file for me that shows the effect? Best if done of a factory preset...

Urs

[Duller]

Here it is:
http://www.duller.suite.dk/Zebra/2.2.mp3
and
http://www.duller.suite.dk/Zebra/2.2.1b3.mp3

Please be aware that in 2.2.1b3 OSC's are silent until i krank up normalize dial - so 2.2.1b3.mp3 is done with normalize value 50.

Although 2.2.1b3.mp3 is a bit louder - I guarantee there is no clipping involved.

Preset is "initialize"

Regards
Mikkel

[djsubject]

Hmmm, not seen this in the latest beta,

i did run it at 192htz & the reverb sounded like a broken spring

but at 44.1 it sound great,

don't know if 2.2 has the same broken spring reverb at 192?

Subz

[Urs]

Interesting... it sounds like... hmmm... for some reason the waveform isn't recalculated properly... will investigate!

There'll naturally be no official release with anything like that going on. Thankfully it's a beta version...

[Duller]

Thanks for superquick replies. I'm very grateful.
I know that my Athlon XP is a dinosaur these days.
I can perfectly understand if newer programming would utilize instruction sets and protocols not found in an old CPU. I just might have to invest in some new equipment. It's just a mystery to me then, that 2.2 runs fine and stable with no crashes - and 2.2.1b3 does not. Was something vital changed in terms of recalculation of waveforms..? Something that would (accidently) render an Athlon CPU obsolete..?

Regards
Mikkel

[djsubject]

Thanks for superquick replies. I'm very grateful.
I know that my Athlon XP is a dinosaur these days.
I can perfectly understand if newer programming would utilize instruction sets and protocols not found in an old CPU. I just might have to invest in some new equipment. It's just a mystery to me then, that 2.2 runs fine and stable with no crashes - and 2.2.1b3 does not. Was something vital changed in terms of recalculation of waveforms..? Something that would (accidently) render an Athlon CPU obsolete..?

Regards
Mikkel

the XP's don't have SSE2 so it could be something to do with that,

i not to long ago upgraded my XP2200+ to a Core2Duo E6750 System & Zebra only tracks that maxed my 2200+ use 10% of the new system

only cost me £320 deleverd to my door

& thats a 400gig Super fast SATA drive, C2D E6750, 2 gig of ram lightscribe DVD/CD Burner, Case & Power Supply & a 512mb Gforce Grafix Card


best deal i got since i brought Zebra2 Pre Release


Subz

[Duller]

Well - that might just be the culprit.

Our PC's at work are core2duo's (SSE2).
My wife's notebook does indeed support SSE2 - just checked with WCPUID,
and mine doesn't.

Wow - my machine is too old - C'est la vie.

Maybe (just maybe) some backward compatibility (SSE) could be written into Zebra, if it's worth the effort - I don't how many SSE machines are left in music business.

Thanks for replies.

Mikkel.

[djsubject]

Well - that might just be the culprit.

Our PC's at work are core2duo's (SSE2).
My wife's notebook does indeed support SSE2 - just checked with WCPUID,
and mine doesn't.

Wow - my machine is too old - C'est la vie.

Maybe (just maybe) some backward compatibility (SSE) could be written into Zebra, if it's worth the effort - I don't how many SSE machines are left in music business.

Thanks for replies.

Mikkel.

for Z2 beta to load at all on non SSE2 Processors there must be compatibility,

Urs just might have missed something when adding the stuff thats in the beta (i know his PC is SSE2 at least, maybe SSE3)

but don't worry Zebra2 will stay non SSE compatible i'm sure

will test Z2 beta later tonight on the wifes non SSE2 PC & post back

Subz

[djsubject]

will test Z2 beta later tonight on the wifes non SSE2 PC & post back

Just tested & the same thing your reporting is happening here aswell

its ether a SSE2 thing or a AMD XP thing


I'm sure Urs will get it sorted in no time though


Subz

[Duller]

All right.

It could be that you have nailed it - it really seems so.

I'm delighted - it gives some kind of closure.
A million thanks for the interest and research.

Let's see what Urs comes up with.

Mikkel.