WASAPI fails after restart of MM4 [#7364]

[sopito]

Hi

next issue... I set up MM4 1348 on a totally clean system (empty db, no plugins etc, Win7 64 bit directly via Benchmark DAC1 USB, circumventing the Windows Mixer).

1.) With direct sound output everything seems to be fine.
2.) When I change to WASAPI driver (exclusive mode / Automatic choice of format) it plays back flac and mp3 nicely but I am uncertain if it really uses the WASAPI driver. I usually disable crossfading and remove silence, but leave the other tickboxes.
3.) When I then close MM4 and restart the program, I can not get any playback of any file unless I change back to direct sound output. When I try now to playback via WASAPI MM4 hangs and I need to kill the process.
4.) When I enter into the config menue of WASAPI driver, the dropdown below the exclusive mode tickbox is not populated and it shows Automatic choice of format as the only option. I made a screenshot but I don't know how to post it.
5.) Reboot of the computer does not heal this.
6.) Reinstallation of MM4 does, but: goto 1.)

Regards
sopito

[sopito]

in addition I testet the following:
1.) It is not any different when I do the same as administrator
2.) The above only happens for the "Automatic choice of format" option. When using one of the fix settings.

The automatic option really would make sense if you do not want to configure the output settings per track.

Question: is there any disadvantage in using the 96kHz/24 bit setting as a standard, i.e. also for the lower quality files?

sopito

[sopito]

in addition I testet the following:
2.) The above only happens for the "Automatic choice of format" option. When using one of the fix settings.

I mean: When using one of the fix settings everything is fine.

[Lowlander]

Screenshots can be uploaded to http://imageshack.us and posted here with the BBCode.

[sopito]

Screenshots can be uploaded to http://imageshack.us and posted here with the BBCode.

The screenshot is here http://profile.imageshack.us/user/sopito/
you see the incomlete dropdown in connection with the auto function

I did some further testing:
1.) doesn't happen with any one of the other settings
2.) when playing flac there seems to be no problem when the sample rate is set to something which is higher than the sample rate of the file
3.) this is usually also the case when playing mp2 with in_dsmp2.dll, but sometimes it fails (not really reproducible), I can fix it by setting the correct sample rate (48kHz usually).
This underlines, that the auto function would be really useful.
sopito

[nohitter151]

Not reproducible here, Win 7 64 bit.

[sopito]

Not reproducible here, Win 7 64 bit.

I just tried it again and the issue with the auto setting is 100% reproducible for me. This time however I did not have to kill the process but I could close MM4 normally. That generated an error report which I sent you a minute ago.

sopito

[sopito]

I just created some very heavy chrashes and sent you the error repots but I am not really able to tell you what exactly happened. In each case it seams that only the exclusive mode is affected. When I use shared mode everything seems to be fine.

[Peke]

Most likely the problem is that Exclusive mode do not show any supported Modes by Hardware.

Have you tried on other PCs that shows more modes than Automatic?

[sopito]

Most likely the problem is that Exclusive mode do not show any supported Modes by Hardware.

Have you tried on other PCs that shows more modes than Automatic?

Hi

The above refers to a Thinkpad X200 (Win 7 bit) with a Benchmark DAC1 USB. After installation I see the following modes:
automatic, 96, 88 48 and 44 (all 24 bit). I can use all of them (a bit unstable, though), except "automatic". If set to "automatic" MM4 behaves normally until after restart of MM4: then the entire system hangs as soon as I play any kind of file. Only then, the dropdown looks like on the screenshot.

The DAC1 USB does support 192 kHz/24 bit. It is therefore strange that the 192 kHz mode is not listed.

It really seems to be a problem with the benchmark DAC because on a Desktop (Win7 64 bit) using the onboard sound system of a ASUS motherboard there is no problem at all (various modes up to 192 kHz / 16 bit).

[sopito]

another twist in the matter: when I play a real 192kHz/24bit recording, the "automatic" setting is working nicely with DAC1 USB though 192kHz is not listed as available mode. I can't tell for sure if it is really streaming 192 kHz or if it is downsampling to 96kHz. As soon as I play something else I don't get any sound and need to restart. When I then again play a 192kHz/24bit recording (of which I do not have too many), then it is fine again, if I play something else, it hangs again.

A further observation: switching from direct sound to WASPI in exclusive mode apparently requires restart of MM4 to take effect. This is quite clear, because w/o restart it is not exclusive (you can play other sound via the same device). If this is a normal behaviour I would recommend to show a little message proposing restart.

[Peke]

Sopito,
Thank you very much for help. I do not have USB Card to test with but USB ID Handling can be tricky to match and work with. It is something that we get feedback from time to time and always with different USB Audio Card

Anyway this is certainly worth to check more deeply.

I added this as http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=7364

EDIT: Please let us know if you find more info.

[sopito]

EDIT: Please let us know if you find more info.

Meanwhile I found that the Benchmark DAC1 USB only supports up to 96 kHz/24 bit via USB (otherwise up to 192 kHz/24 bit), so the list of available modes is actually correct.

[Peke]

Ahhhh, I forgot about that. You are completely right some devices only support up to 96/24 I should of thought of that.

If you find more let us know.

[jiri]

sopito,

you can try to create a debug log and e-mail it to me. That said, based on the description it rather looks like a bug in the drivers - in which case we could hardly do anything about it.

Thanks,
Jiri