White Noise Frustration

[SnappyDee]

I'm a paid user of MuLab XT. I'm getting frustrated with the occasions that I get the white noise, indicating that I've breached the limits of the XT version. It's quite hard for a newbie to understand all the different limits.
Example: today, I added another instrument track (only 3 in total) and targetted it to one of the existing synths in a rack, being careful to set the current track for that synth to have a target of NONE. I then got the white noise! I'm not sure if this is because it uses a different MIDI channel by default for the new track and I'm supposed to manage that somehow.
So, I then have to change things almost at random or start deleting things until it goes away.
I'm doing really simple stuff - only a few tracks and maximum of one instrument per track and a few effects. Stuff that should be easily accomplished within the limits of XT.
I'd really value a feature that tells me what limit I've breached, or an option to actually stop actions that breach the limits of my version.
My heart really sinks every time I hear the unhelpful noise - it's like an error message that says, "You've done something wrong, so it's time to play the guessing game, and I'm not going to help you in any way at all..."

[MuTools]

The MuLab version bounds are listed here: http://www.mutools.com/info/docs/mulab/ ... sions.html

I'll take your feedback into account, but even then that's not helping you today. If you really don't find the reason, and you are sure it's not the audio/MIDI inputs/outputs limit, feel free to mail me the musession file.

[SnappyDee]

Thanks - I'll see how it goes.

My real point is that this is an error message that says: You've made an error but I'm not going to tell you what it is, I'm just going to intermittently remind you about it. Moreover, if you do fix the error, I may still remind you about it even though it's fixed, so that it's impossible for you to tell right away if you've fixed the error or not, or to tell which of several actions was the successful and correct one.

[sorohanro]

Might have same issue I had from not copying all the registration files in the MuLab folder. Check the MuLab.ID file.
http://www.mutools.com/info/docs/mulab/ ... ation.html

[SnappyDee]

I've tried to replicate the problem from scratch to illustrate:

New empty session:
- Add a rack - "Rack 1" - add an instrument to it
- Create a track - "Track 1" - draw on some notes
- Target it to the instrument in Rack 1
- Add a rack - "Rack 2" - add an instrument to it
- Create a track - "Track 2" - draw on some notes
- Target it to the instrument in Rack 2
All OK!

Now for the problem bit:
- Create a track - "Track 3" - draw on some notes
- Target it to the instrument in Rack 1
- Set Target of Track 1 to NONE - so it's not doing anything.

So I've now got 2 tracks each playing one instrument each, and another track doing nothing (but I don't want to delete it). Like this:

Track 1 -> NONE
Track 2 -> Rack 2, Instrument 2
Track 3 -> Rack 1, Instrument 1

Result: White noise problem!
How does this breach the limits of XT? I suspect it's a problem with Track 1, but I don't understand why? I don't think I'm breaching the "spirit" of the limits.

Can anyone help on this?

Many thanks.

[MuTools]

Might have same issue I had from not copying all the registration files in the MuLab folder. Check the MuLab.ID file.
http://www.mutools.com/info/docs/mulab/ ... ation.html

I don't think that's the case SnappyDee is talking about. Crossing the demo/version limits gives a regular soft white noise like the sea, but when there is something wrong with the ID file you'll rather hear short noise spikes etc. It's very different.

[MuTools]

I've tried to replicate the problem from scratch to illustrate:
...
Now for the problem bit:
- Create a track - "Track 3" - draw on some notes
- Target it to the instrument in Rack 1
- Set Target of Track 1 to NONE - so it's not doing anything.

So I've now got 2 tracks each playing one instrument each, and another track doing nothing (but I don't want to delete it). Like this:

Track 1 -> NONE
Track 2 -> Rack 2, Instrument 2
Track 3 -> Rack 1, Instrument 1

Result: White noise problem!
How does this breach the limits of XT? I suspect it's a problem with Track 1, but I don't understand why? I don't think I'm breaching the "spirit" of the limits

It's indeed because track 1 is set to none which implicitly means you can set MIDI channels per part, which is beyond MuLb Free/XT, because otherwise the track limit would be much less limiting.

Solution: If you don't want to hear a track, you can mute it.

Hope this helps.

[SnappyDee]

@sorohanro - Thanks for the suggestion - appreciated.

It's indeed because track 1 is set to none which implicitly means you can set MIDI channels per part, which is beyond MuLb Free/XT, because otherwise the track limit would be much less limiting.

Solution: If you don't want to hear a track, you can mute it.

Hope this helps.

I certainly don't need 'per part' (and don't really understand it!) so I'll just follow your advice and mute anything I don't want.

Thanks to everyone for their help.