Problem with drum kits

[johnjaypl]

Check if the appropriate rack mixer and track are both unmuted.

I'll take a look next time it happens but I don't think that's it. I have a midi track with snare and bass drum parts both going to the same rack, same vsti. Sometimes the snare comes back but the bass drum doesn't.

If you think there is something wrong with MU.LAB, feel free to narrow down the composition so that it only contains the problematic part(s) and email it to me, together with a step-by-step description of how to repeat the issue.

I'm sure there's something wrong. I don't know if it's a mutool problem or some strange interaction with the laptop that I'm using.

My "composition" is just 12 bars with 4 tracks. VST's are:

Minimogue, DSK Drumz Akoustik, Asynth, sometime Taurus vst. Sometimes the Minimogue goes away after the mute but the strangest thing is that the track with the snare and bass drum generated by DSK Drumz Akoustik looses the bass but keeps the snare. And not only that but it only keeps some of the snare beats and loose others. Another track with only high hats goes away too. If I save the file and reboot mulabs I'm left in the same strange state, that is a reboot after saving doesn't clear the problem. If I go back to the original file I'm ok until it happens again.

It's an intermitent kind of problem, it may be hard to recreate on another system. I'll send it if you're interested.

John

[MuTools]

Please make the composition as simple as possible until the problem goes away.

Then what is the last thing you've changed?

[johnjaypl]

Please make the composition as simple as possible until the problem goes away.

Then what is the last thing you've changed?

I seemed to have narrowed it down to swithing in and out two synths. When I use minimogue on my fourth track everything seems fine. When I repace the minimogue with Asynth the strange things start to happen. The funny thing is, track four and Asynth seem fine. But the drum tracks, 2 and 3 get funny.

Everything is fine until I start muting some of the tracks. If I mute 3 and 2 and 1, then try to unmute 3, then 3 doesn't play. And somehow the playing of tracks 2 and 3 now become linked to track 1 being muted. I kid you not!

If I repace Asynth after the funnies start with minimogue again, all seems to be well.

Does this make any sense to you?

John

[MuTools]

Can you further narrow down that session so it's only using ASynth as VST plugin, eventually together with some MU.LAB synths/effects, while still having the problem?

I mean: when you replace Minimogue (and all other VST synths) by Synthia(s), but you keep ASynth, then is there still an issue?

[johnjaypl]

Can you further narrow down that session so it's only using ASynth as VST plugin, eventually together with some MU.LAB synths/effects, while still having the problem?

I mean: when you replace Minimogue (and all other VST synths) by Synthia(s), but you keep ASynth, then is there still an issue?

Things got very bad when I replaced the Minimogue with Synthia. It would play a bit and then stop. I don't seem to have the horesepower to run Synthia.

I tried Multisampla instead of Synthia, that worked fine replacing everything but ASynth. And the muting problem goes away.

So, perhaps I'm at the limit of what I can do with the performance of my laptop and muting throws it over the edge. Hmmm. I'll do some experiments muting while nothing is happening and see if the problem still shows up.

(Edit: I tried only changing the mute setting while stopped but it still got screwed up. That seems very stragne. I also tried resetting "real time engines" whatever that does. It didn't help. Sometimes clicking various mutes on and off seemed to unjam things. The strangest thing is how track one starts gaining some control of other tracks and even more strange how it sometimes almost comes back but is still missing a beat.

I should note that I only get it to fail with the Asynth graphic interface is desplayed- Ignoring the Synthia issues of course.)

John

[johnjaypl]

Thinking about this some more it must be a bug in MULAB. It shouldn't be a performance issue turning track mutes on and off when nothing is playing. And it shouldn't matter what VST's are installed when muting channels. And I would expect the VSTIs to be insulated from each other. I would also expect the track mutes to be insulated from each other. But, that is not the case.

John

[MuTools]

John, you're now using MU.LAB 2.7, right?

Could you please try that session in the upcoming MU.LAB 3.

You can download the latest MU.LAB 3 test version from:

http://www.mutools.com/mulab/azalea

Please let me know how that goes.

[johnjaypl]

John, you're now using MU.LAB 2.7, right?

Could you please try that session in the upcoming MU.LAB 3.

You can download the latest MU.LAB 3 test version from:

http://www.mutools.com/mulab/azalea

Please let me know how that goes.

Yes, I'm now using 2.7. I didn't really notice any difference when I upgraded.

I'll try MU.LAB 3 shortly.

Now that I've narrowed down what causes the problem I can work around it so it's less of a problem.

[MuTools]

John, you're now using MU.LAB 2.7, right?

Could you please try that session in the upcoming MU.LAB 3.

You can download the latest MU.LAB 3 test version from:

http://www.mutools.com/mulab/azalea

Please let me know how that goes.

Yes, I'm now using 2.7. I didn't really notice any difference when I upgraded.

I'll try MU.LAB 3 shortly.

Ok.

Now that I've narrowed down what causes the problem I can work around it so it's less of a problem.

So please tell me: what is the problem? I still don't understand.

[johnjaypl]

John, you're now using MU.LAB 2.7, right?

Could you please try that session in the upcoming MU.LAB 3.

You can download the latest MU.LAB 3 test version from:

http://www.mutools.com/mulab/azalea

Please let me know how that goes.

Yes, I'm now using 2.7. I didn't really notice any difference when I upgraded.

I'll try MU.LAB 3 shortly.

Ok.

Now that I've narrowed down what causes the problem I can work around it so it's less of a problem.

So please tell me: what is the problem? I still don't understand.

I have four midi tracks each with their own rack going to the master audio.

Track 1 is a bass sequence with a minimogue and a blockfish (compressor) in the rack.

Track 2 is a snare and bass drum sequence with a DSK Drumz and a blockfish in the rack.

Track 3 is a high hat sequence with a DSK Drumz in the rack

Track 4 is another bass sequence with a Minimogue or Asynth and a blockfish in the rack.

The strange things happen when the Asynth is in Rack D and the strange things go away if the Asynth is replaced by a Minimogue.

The strange things happen when I mute (click the lighted speaker on the rack next to the track I want to mute) When I do this the track mutes but clicking it again doesn't always bring it back. For the track with the snare and bass drums, sometimes the snare comes back but not the bass. Even more strange, sometimes when the snare comes back a beat is missing in the pattern. Another thing that happens is that the mute for Rack A seems to have power over the mute for Rack B and Rack C. That is, Rack A needs to be not muted for Rack B and Rack C to work. When I get in this wierd state I can clear it up by replacing the Asynth with a Minimogue.

It doesn't matter if anything is playing when I change the state of the mutes, it can happen any time- but it seems that the Asynth has to be open for the strange thing to happen.

Note: I didn't think it should be a CPU performance issue in an earlier post because it happens even when I'm not playing music but I've since noticed that the plugins are working even when no music is playing so it could be performance related.