V-Machine

[Nitrofunk]

Please forgive my dumb question - but what are Chunk-Files exactly?
Peter

A chunk file is like a screenshot of the positions of all controls and settings inside a plugin. It is one way of making sure that when you save a song in a program like cubase that all the plugin parameters are remembered when you re open the song.

If you look in the 'banks' folder you will notice each plugin will have a xxxxxxxxxx.chunk where the plugins settings are stored so it can open the plugin exactly (in theory) as it was saved in the preset inside the vfx application.

Of course not all plugins support chunks and some may have issues with being sent a chunk, for example some demo/trial plugins have the feature disabled and will crash if you send a chunk to the plugin.

Most plugins support chunk and work without issues. Also the chunk data is created by the plugin so depending on which plugins chunk you open it may be readable in wordpad or it may be a mess of random characters.

So i just delete this file and then it works?

[EvilDragon]

+1 for more steps. Fine tuning of an instrument is too course if you want for instance 442 Hz instead of 440 but the parameter setting is too granular, you'll always be out of tune. Hopefully with the faster scrolling, with small steps if you're 'single press'ing and bigger steps if you hold it down.

I think that the best solution to this is for V-Machine NOT TO HAVE ITS OWN STEP RESOLUTION! The V-Machine should enable users with full resolution of whatever the knob or switch is edited on whatever the plugin. So, if the filter cutoff has 256 steps, I WANT TO HAVE THEM ALL available on V-Machine. Also, there should be some way to jump 10 steps at a time, and press-and-hold-to-scroll-faster should also be on board.

Anyone has +1 to this idea?

[janka]

Any news about the Mac-version?

[JazzSinger]

That's why the CPU upgrade SHOULD be fast enough to give Pianoteq 2 (and the newer ones that will eventually come) at least 64 notes of polyphony. 2 GHz dualcore secures that firmly in place.

Memory is not an issue, it's more about the number of calculations needed to "draw" an oscillator, or to model a filter, or to model an FX, etc. If it's a high-quality algorithm, you have a good sound with less CPU load, but unfortunately not all plugins are written to comply to this.

You can upgrade RAM to 1 GB on the V-Machine (although I'm firmly pro to the idea of a motherboard firmware upgrade that would allow 2 GB modules), so it shouldn't be much of a problem, except if you like loading a lot of samples.

sfz is working, IIRC.

A 2GHz dualcore PC will give you 4x the performance minus the overhead for task switching and minus what Windows is using in the background. That doesn't take into consideration a music studio sequencer or any additional effects your PC might be running simultaneously.

If the V-Machine is struggling with 1GHz dedicated to Pianotec 2 alone, that still keeps me hoping the problem is in firmware, not processor power.

Cakewalk Dimension Pro also has an excellent piano that uses much memory, so it's important to me, too, to be sure it works before I buy.

Sample player based plugins shouldn't have high CPU requirements, unless they are doing clever trickery or have FXs of their own. Just reading out wave files doesn't take many CPU cycles.

VFXAU only tested sfz.exe with SoundFont files, not sfz files. Dimension Pro uses sfz files, too, so I need to know if THEY work on V-Machine before I buy.

Is there a list of compatible plugins out there yet? Didn't VFXAU say he was going to set one up?

[Nitrofunk]

I've deleted the Chunk-Files in order to run M-Tron Pro properly. Guess what? It didn't work. The VFX-Software crashed again while loading the Preset...

[janka]

I messed up trying to import a dll into the VFX-software. Now it says the dll is already imported. How can I find it and delete it? Deleting the dll-file in the V-machine was easy, but how do I get rid of it in the VFX-software?

I would also really like to find out how to import the Truepianos-demo. Anyone? Please....

/Anders

[janka]

Here is a quick tutorial on importing a simple VST synth(Superwave 8, available free here at KVR) to a USB Stick, and successfully using it on the V-Machine, I hope this helps someone, I was very happy to report done this import went on without a hitch !

**initial setting: V-Machine is turned off, pc on, no programs running(mainly not VFX)...**

01-Plug your usb stick to your pc.

02-Create a "plugs" directory on your usb stick.

03-With the USB stick still in the pc, run the VFX program

04-In VFX, select "Import Plugin" from the menu

05-Drill down to your vst plugins directory(whatever it is called) and select the VST instrument or effect you wish to import, in this case - SUPERWAVE8.DLL.

06-Don't do anything else in VFX, simply exit immediately as it already created the VFX info file you will need.

07-Navigate to your "C:\Documents and Settings\user\application data\vfx" (or so) directory and go into the plugs subdirectory, copy the new plugin directory there, in this case SUPERWAVEP8.

08-Copy that directory under the plugs directory on your usb stick.

09-Remove the stick from the PC, but do not plug it into the V-Machine yet.

10-Turn on your V-Machine.

11-After the vmachine is fully booted up and showing the default bank, plug in your usb stick.

12-Using the menu buttons, navigate to the "Plugin Parade" bank, then using the "Save" buttons navigate to the SUPERWAVE P8 plugin, it should show up !!

13-The plugin works perfect, and it is FAT - this particular plugin I believe is an emulation of a Roland Jupiter 8 and probably even fatter than the original !!!

*I know you can save this to the internal memory, but I like keeping these new/external plugins on my 4 gigger usb stick, I hope this demystifies the V-Machine a little, this was a quick way to use the usb stick and import a vst and it worked fine

Where is the VFX-library located in Vista?

[Synastikki]

I've tried to find out about the loading times of the v-machine but I can't really find any information on it. So I would be very thankful if someone could tell me how long will it take to change a patch with midi program change? I would like to have information of the loading times between the patches in one VST and also while loading patch from different VST. This is really important to me because if I get this great piece of equipment, I will use it playing live and I need fast patch changes (it doesn't matter if there is a gap in the sound, because my equuipment does that already and it doesn't bother that much)

[mon8169]

Since I still haven't my problems solved, I'll put them all here again (I cannot Submit any Ticket, so sorry)

* The SM support site still doesn't recognise my email address (Invalid Username or Password). But I registered last Saturday, received the confirmation mail, confirmed by clicking the link and received the welcome message. In case the password was wrong and hence not recognised, I made the "remind me my password" but then the email address wasn't recognised. Funny.... For this reason I cannot Submit any Ticket and I am posting here!!!!!

* My firmware is STILL 20081031 !!

* I cannot load or play any other VST than the ones preprogramed.

* On the V-M when going to the menu I just see the firmware and have no other option when pressing the < and > buttons.

* I cannot upload the firmware. I see the "V-Machine upload connected..." message on the V-M but the unit and the VFX application freezes.

* I cannot format the V-M to upload the firmware from scratch. Same result as above.

* I've created a Total Recovery Stick with the image file Danny sent me, but also useless. Well, I'm not completly sure I did it as it should be, because the program Danny recommended to create the recovery stick, doesn't know the .image file extension. Also, no info in internet about the .image file extension.

* If I create a preset or load a new vst on VFX, copy the 2 folders to a stick and plug the stick onto the V-M, the stick lights up (detected) but cannot access to the banks on the stick. Also no other option when pressing the < and > buttons in the menu.

* In the VFX application I have no 'options' in the menu when clicking the orange power icon. I downloaded the Vmachine.zip file last saturday.


Summarizing, nothing works as it should!!!!!


Is it maybe me????¿?¿?¿?¿

How do I solve all my problems?

Ramon

[Paulustus]

I use my Vmachine to play mono sounds. Is there an opportunity to turn to a mono mode in order to save CPU-Power?

If not: Could someone please post the best settings to keep the CPU Usage low?

Regards,

Paulustus

[MatthewSkinner]

* My firmware is STILL 20081031 !!

* I cannot load or play any other VST than the ones preprogramed.
Ramon

I think most of your issues come back to your using the old firmware so concentrate to getting this resolved first and the other problems will probably be fixed at the same time.

do the following on a different PC to the one you have been trying to update the firmware...

1. turn the vmachine off. And unplug all usb leads except the main host USB lead which is square in shape and should go to your PC. Also have the latest VFX app installed and closed.
2. hold down the two LEARN buttons and turn the v back on with these buttons held down.
3. once the screen lights up you can stop holding down the keys.
4. On the screen you should see "V-Machine" with a progress bar, wait until the progress bar is level with the M and then start the VFX software.
5. Say yes to updating the firmware when asked and this will take 30-40minutes to complete and you will not get any progress on the vmachine as that feature has only been added in a more recent firmware.


If you cant update the firmware on more than 1 computer then I suggest that you contact your countries distributer and ask them to check it for faults and update the firmware for you.

A list of contact details are at.
http://www.smproaudio.com/kontakt/haendler.html

[MatthewSkinner]

post got doubled.

[AzureCrystal]

I have no idea, I would not run VST anything in Vista though !!!

Here is a quick tutorial on importing a simple VST synth(Superwave 8, available free here at KVR) to a USB Stick, and successfully using it on the V-Machine, I hope this helps someone, I was very happy to report done this import went on without a hitch !

**initial setting: V-Machine is turned off, pc on, no programs running(mainly not VFX)...**

01-Plug your usb stick to your pc.

02-Create a "plugs" directory on your usb stick.

03-With the USB stick still in the pc, run the VFX program

04-In VFX, select "Import Plugin" from the menu

05-Drill down to your vst plugins directory(whatever it is called) and select the VST instrument or effect you wish to import, in this case - SUPERWAVE8.DLL.

06-Don't do anything else in VFX, simply exit immediately as it already created the VFX info file you will need.

07-Navigate to your "C:\Documents and Settings\user\application data\vfx" (or so) directory and go into the plugs subdirectory, copy the new plugin directory there, in this case SUPERWAVEP8.

08-Copy that directory under the plugs directory on your usb stick.

09-Remove the stick from the PC, but do not plug it into the V-Machine yet.

10-Turn on your V-Machine.

11-After the vmachine is fully booted up and showing the default bank, plug in your usb stick.

12-Using the menu buttons, navigate to the "Plugin Parade" bank, then using the "Save" buttons navigate to the SUPERWAVE P8 plugin, it should show up !!

13-The plugin works perfect, and it is FAT - this particular plugin I believe is an emulation of a Roland Jupiter 8 and probably even fatter than the original !!!

*I know you can save this to the internal memory, but I like keeping these new/external plugins on my 4 gigger usb stick, I hope this demystifies the V-Machine a little, this was a quick way to use the usb stick and import a vst and it worked fine

Where is the VFX-library located in Vista?

[EvilDragon]

If the V-Machine is struggling with 1GHz dedicated to Pianoteq 2 alone, that still keeps me hoping the problem is in firmware, not processor power.

Recommended CPU for Pianoteq 2 is Intel P4 3 GHz, it ensures smooth operation. I can confirm that on Core2Duo 2 GHz CPU I can pull off over 128 notes of polyphony, WITH running antivirus, photoshop, FL Studio 8, and some other small stuff. So... there's your math.

It's not only 4x the performance. It's really different (regarding Pianoteq), if you activate dual-processing. If it's off, the CPU load gets higher 10-35%, which is a lot.

I doubt it's the firmware issue. Pianoteq simply requires a large amount of differential equations solved in realtime

[AzureCrystal]

why then use Pianoteq live ? There are close alternatives(unless you are a super classical player who can't live without the perfect piano) which play samples and should be good enough for live playing, let's face it, any vmachine type product at this price point will not comete with a 3 ghz desktop, but that is not what its for, this tiny beast is for live playing and in that situation, IMHO you dont need the power of Pianoteq.

If the V-Machine is struggling with 1GHz dedicated to Pianoteq 2 alone, that still keeps me hoping the problem is in firmware, not processor power.

Recommended CPU for Pianoteq 2 is Intel P4 3 GHz, it ensures smooth operation. I can confirm that on Core2Duo 2 GHz CPU I can pull off over 128 notes of polyphony, WITH running antivirus, photoshop, FL Studio 8, and some other small stuff. So... there's your math.

It's not only 4x the performance. It's really different (regarding Pianoteq), if you activate dual-processing. If it's off, the CPU load gets higher 10-35%, which is a lot.

I doubt it's the firmware issue. Pianoteq simply requires a large amount of differential equations solved in realtime