Acoustica User Forums

Hello all, hope you are in fine fettle.

Due to a ton of other things taking my time, I really haven't used Mixcraft as much as I'd like to, but while I love the software in many ways - it's intuitive, comes bundled with tons of excellent stuff and has a great user community, I have to say, the overwhelming aspect of it, for me at least, is that it crashes far too often.

I can hear you all shouting for examples and infinite details on exactly what I was doing when the crashes occurred but I simply can't provide you with that information. This is very much a general feeling after a couple of years using the software. It's an overall impression spanning quite a lot of time. The most recent was just 10 minutes ago when I got an 'inactive audio engine' message. I was using EZDrummer; a real bass guitar with the Studio Devil bass plugin; and the bundled classic compressor on the bass.

I know there are many contributing factors contributing to crashes but I really don't want to have to conduct a post mortem every time it happens. It definitely is tarnishing my impressions of what essentially is excellent recording software.

Diagnostically, what can be done to pinpoint the problems when they happen?

Thanks

Dave

Hi
Sorry to hear of the problems you are having, you will need to submit your log files but no doubt Greg will come on and explain.

One thing I can tell you from my own experience the Studio Devil vst is notoriously unreliable as you will see if you search this forum for Studio devil.

Mixcraft 8.1 Pro (build 418) is rock solid for me (no crashes), and I usually start my recording projects with EZD2, and real bass guitar too. Out of curiosity are you using Mixcraft 8.1 Pro build 418 with Windows 10? Anyway, get the problem to happen one more time, then quit Mixcraft and send Mixcraft Support your mixcraft-log.txt file along with a problem description. https://acoustica.kayako.com/conversation/new

What are your computer specs? It's possible that your system can't handle multiple instances of vst/i being open.

M

I agree with Yellowcake. I've been putting up multiple crashes on a daily basis across both Windows 8.1 and 10, using both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Mixcraft, firstly using Mixcraft 6, which took 5 minutes to load, then the much more reliable Mixcraft 7 and throughout using the highly unreliable Mixcraft 8 (I do not think I have had a single day where it has not crashed at least once).
All my workflow files - FX Chains & instrument presets and setups - are in Mixcraft & I am too old to waste time learning how to use other host software (Reaper is gibberish to me & Ableton is far too expensive). It would be good if more time would be spent on in depth pushing of the software's ability to run lightly and reliably hosting vsts being pushed to their limit, but there it is. I am not interested in having my life turned upside down doing unpaid testing, I've done enough of that, I just want to get on with my own thing. This is all I have to say about it.

Yellowcake wrote:Diagnostically, what can be done to pinpoint the problems when they happen?

Thanks

Dave

Hi,

The next time it crashes, quit Mixcraft and send us your mixcraft-log.txt file.

To find the mixcraft-log file, highlight the following line and press Ctrl+C to copy it:
Press the Windows Key+R to pop up the Run box in Windows. Click in the Run box and press Ctrl+V to paste in the line from above. Finally, click OK to go to the location of the mixcraft-log.txt file. Submit an Acoustica Support Request and attach the log file along with a brief description of the problem.

Greg

I too have been in this crash camp since the beginning. At times it made me wonder if there was a better DAW for me, but alas, there is not. I will say, however, that the excellent personal service derived here and directly from the good people at Acoustica has kept me here.

That being said, I have followed the counsel regarding optimization of my PC and abstinence from certain VSTs (Bass Devil being one of them) and have not had as many goofball things happening. So, it's more a crash now and then as opposed to every session.

Which is good, because I'd hate to feel compelled to look elsewhere for my "go to" DAW based on a problem that is quite fixable.

Hi,
Would reinstalling Mixcraft help? I have used mixcraft almost 2 years without any crashing.
I have read many mixcraft forums and very few have major problems. I thought that maybe something may have gotten messed up when you downloaded the software.
Hope this may help.
- Myran

Hi,

Seeing his log file might give me a clue.

Greg

jwarv wrote:I too have been in this crash camp since the beginning.

I should clarify that I haven't experienced that many true "crashes" in the Mixcraft sense. What I've gotten, more often than not, are freeze-ups and "not responding" forced shutdowns. Optimizing my PC has helped, but I've learned not to do too much in any given session or restart the program if I've been on it for a while.

Hi,

Freezes (as opposed to crashes) can sometimes be caused by a plugin waiting for you to do something, so if you run into a freeze, make sure that there's no little pop-up dialog box that you need to click OK on or whatever.

Also, some processing can just take a long time, so be sure to give the program plenty of time to "un-freeze" on its own.

Once again, a log file might provide a clue by showing what was happening when the problem occurred.

Greg

Acoustica Greg wrote:Hi,

Freezes (as opposed to crashes) can sometimes be caused by a plugin waiting for you to do something, so if you run into a freeze, make sure that there's no little pop-up dialog box that you need to click OK on or whatever.

Also, some processing can just take a long time, so be sure to give the program plenty of time to "un-freeze" on its own.

Once again, a log file might provide a clue by showing what was happening when the problem occurred.

Greg

Will do. Hasn't been an issue lately, but I'll be more vigilant (or patient) next time it happens. Thanks!