Playback issue

[drumer3914]

OK running Mixcraft 7 pro 64 bit I am 95 percent happy happy happy but I still have what I like to refer as hiccups during playback . It happens pretty random and even after all tracks are frozen. The cp usage can be as low as 2 to 5 percent. Although it's not the end of the world but it definitely slows down work flow. Any input would be much appreciated.

[chibear]

A LOT more info needed to even attempt a answer:

Is the mixdown clean or are there 'hiccups' there too?
System Specs?
Audio Interface?
How many tracks & what kind? (audio or MIDI?)
If MIDI what VSTi(s)?
What fx? (on each track & master)

[drumer3914]

Computer 8 gig hard drive hp Pavillion 2yrs old and exceeds Mixcraft system requirements, Windows 8,. Interface tascam us. 1800 with up to date asio drivers . Mix down has been without issue. It can happen with 2 or more tracks can be 3 to 5 vsts on each track or no vsts on any track . Latency can be set high or low. I guess the point is there is no real pattern . Sometimes I can have flawless playback and other times it becomes a real nuisance.. Mixcraft is completely updated. I have also recently defragmented the hard drive and have optimized the computer for music production. Just curious if anyone has had this happen? I know there are so many variables that it can be hard to pinpoint.

[Rolling Estonian]

Is everything closed aside from MC? Some people have issues when wifi is turned on, even if browser is closed. Do you have the latest video drivers? I've also heard some people having had issues with Windows 8 and after they upgraded to W10 they went away.

Just throwing stuff out there.

M

[Mark Bliss]

Also, is there possibly an anti virus program running in the background? Some don't play nice with this kind of thing.

"exceeds Mixcraft system requirements" means little. As with most any software, this only assures it will install and run, no guarantee of adequate performance.

Some people have found that installing the 64 bit version, but running 32 bit plugins has caused performance issues, and some have found reinstalling the 32 bit version was a useful solution.

Some VST plug ins just don't cooperate. Similarly, some VSTi can be problematic.

Some users running Samplers/ROMplers and reading the data off of a lower performance hard drive have had performance problems.

Knowing mix downs play normally, and that latency settings don't seem to change the problem is helpful, but more info yet is needed.
IE: Laptop of desktop, Processor, RAM (I assume you meant 8G RAM, not hard drive) A 64 Bit machine with 8G RAM should run better than you describe, but still..... details help.
VSTi or VST details. Project details, MIDI instruments or audio recordings? Using an external hard drive perhaps? Etc, etc.

It may also be helpful to try to capture a log file and submit it to support via the link at the top of this page. They are very helpful.

And FWIW, I had similar sounding erratic and intermittent odd behavior for about the last 6 months. Kept thinking it might be a sign of impending hard drive death.
You know what? I was right.

[Rolling Estonian]

Mark,

Instead of having to write that ever again, you should cut and paste it! lol

M

[drumer3914]

Yes it has 8 gig of ram and there is no anti virus or WiFi running the tracks were all audio. I get where there are some vsts that don't play well with Mixcraft especially the 32 bit with the 64 bit version . It would be great if there was a list of those plug ins here in the user forums .
If the install and run requirements are different than the install and run flawless requirements then it might be nice to know what those are as well. I can't imagine my hard drive being the issue since it's only 2 years old but not ruling it out since everything is designed to fail these days. On my next go around when I have the problem occur in will log out and submit my log files. Thank you.

[aj113]

....

And FWIW, I had similar sounding erratic and intermittent odd behavior for about the last 6 months. Kept thinking it might be a sign of impending hard drive death.
You know what? I was right.

Yep, I had the same experience. Boy was I glad that I back everything up frequently!

[msnickybee]

Some wise guy at work showed me the windows event log, can show up write errors, block errors etc, found it useful when I had a dodgy hard disk. Just sayin'.

[drumer3914]

Also, is there possibly an anti virus program running in the background? Some don't play nice with this kind of thing.

"exceeds Mixcraft system requirements" means little. As with most any software, this only assures it will install and run, no guarantee of adequate performance.

Some people have found that installing the 64 bit version, but running 32 bit plugins has caused performance issues, and some have found reinstalling the 32 bit version was a useful solution.

Some VST plug ins just don't cooperate. Similarly, some VSTi can be problematic.

Some users running Samplers/ROMplers and reading the data off of a lower performance hard drive have had performance problems.

Knowing mix downs play normally, and that latency settings don't seem to change the problem is helpful, but more info yet is needed.
IE: Laptop of desktop, Processor, RAM (I assume you meant 8G RAM, not hard drive) A 64 Bit machine with 8G RAM should run better than you describe, but still..... details help.
VSTi or VST details. Project details, MIDI instruments or audio recordings? Using an external hard drive perhaps? Etc, etc.

It may also be helpful to try to capture a log file and submit it to support via the link at the top of this page. They are very helpful.

And FWIW, I had similar sounding erratic and intermittent odd behavior for about the last 6 months. Kept thinking it might be a sign of impending hard drive death.
You know what? I was right.

"exceeds Mixcraft system requirements" means little. As with most any software, this only assures it will install and run, no guarantee of adequate performance. ?????

Curious what kind of system requirements do I need for better than adequate performance?

[Mark Bliss]

"System requirements" to run the software don't necessarily mean that you can run a large complex project.

In other words, your requirements may exceed the described system requirements. This is generally true of most software of any kind. In fact, it has been my experience that many software "system requirements" are listed conservatively and I always assume I will need more than what is described.

As I recall, the stated requirements for Mixcraft are Windows XP, 1 GB RAM and a 1.5GHtz processor. That would limit you to few tracks and few plug ins. And you can probably forget about complex samplers.
The system requirements page also often specifically suggests more RAM and a more powerful processor would be better.
IE: "your needs may vary".

For example, the demo project that loads with the installation of Mixcraft 7.
Its a moderately large example project. In my experience it wont run on a system with minimum specs. It wouldn't run on my dual core 4 Gig laptop. It runs fine on a quad core 8 Gig with SSD.
Many people are running i7 quad core systems with 16 GB RAM or more.

And going back to the previous comment about plug ins, it wasn't about specific problematic plug ins, it was about the additional demands of running multiple 32 bit plug ins in the 64 bit program. This can and has led to performance problems for some people, and that is why it was mentioned along with other things as a possible cause.

[Acoustica Greg]

OK running Mixcraft 7 pro 64 bit I am 95 percent happy happy happy but I still have what I like to refer as hiccups during playback . It happens pretty random and even after all tracks are frozen. The cp usage can be as low as 2 to 5 percent. Although it's not the end of the world but it definitely slows down work flow. Any input would be much appreciated.

Hi,

Next time it happens, 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:

%appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\

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