2 different issues

[Frantiac]

1) Clean install with Windows 7 x64, Mixcraft 8 Pro x86, Nitro Pro installed and set as default to open .pdf files. When I try to open Help files from within Mixcraft I get a warning that I need to download a .pdf reader in order to open them but when I double-click on the .pdf itself from the Acoustica program directory it opens with Nitro no problem. Not a big deal but is there a simple fix?

2) Occasionally when I first open a project the transport doesn't function. Some of the icons switch on and off when I press the play/stop buttons but no other sign of life. I always wait a few seconds when I open a project until the activity meters drop to almost nothing before I press play so it's not me being too hasty. This can happen with nothing more than a midi drum track (Acoustica Instruments, Standard Kit 2). Also there's no crash dump file being created when this happens.

Any suggestions?

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

1. Not sure why that PDF issue happens. Every once in a while people report this problem, but I've never nailed it down. If you've already got Nitro Pro set as the "open with" application for Windows, then I'm not sure what else to suggest.

2. What happens after that? The transport doesn't work, and you have to restart Mixcraft to get it to work? When this happens can you access menus and so on? Is your playback device external to your computer?

Greg

[JonInc]

Re: #1,

Opening Help files inside MC works fine for me. Clicking on "Help files" immediately launches my default PDF viewer.

A couple of things to try:

- "Run as Administrator" when starting MC (Right-click, Run as Admin).

- Reset the default PDF viewer. Might be a good idea to change to a different viewer first (I use the excellent and free PDF-XChange Viewer), then set it back to Nitro Pro. Restart MC before checking results.

[Frantiac]

Problem 1: Sorted thanks to JonInc. Now have PDF-XChange Viewer and help files are working as they should.

Problem 2: It's just done it again this morning. Everything else works except for the transport - I can access everything, edit, add/remove plugins etc. but no playback. I have to restart Mixcraft, which can take a while as it just sits there thinking before it vanishes. Very occasionally after restarting Mixcraft has a problem with the audio and I have to reboot the computer to get it to work again. My sound card is a PCIe ESI Maya 44e which is running smoothly at 128 samples (2.9 ms) with no hitches. I'll try increasing it to 256 samples just in case I'm being too optimistic - it's an old soundcard.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Yes, increasing your buffer size couldn't hurt. Also check and make sure you've got the latest audio drivers for your Maya 44e.

Greg

[Frantiac]

Yes, the sound card drivers are up to date. Increasing the buffer size made no difference but I've come across a setting in Preferences that I don't recall seeing before: Use Device's Preferred Settings, which was selected. I've no idea what it does but I've deselected it and so far all seems ok. Maybe just coincidence - time will tell...

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

The "Use Device's Preferred Settings" option was just added for a problem that we ran into with an audio interface that allowed you to set buffer settings that it didn't really support.

That setting should be off by default, and turned on if you can't get ASIO to work with a particular audio interface.

Greg

[Frantiac]

All seems to be OK now - thanks for your help.