HP audio controls causing headaches, Maybe a bug, just an observation EDIT: Happened again

[bdwillie]

Light-O-Rama Control Panel (64-bit)
Version 6.0.8 (BETA)
Copyright 2022 Light-O-Rama, Inc.
Pro Edition
Registered to: Robert Willie

Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Intel® Core™ i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz
Intel® HD Graphics 630
 

Was having an issue since 6.0.8 that sometimes when starting a sequence in sequencer, the preview would be lagging just a tad.  stopping the sequence and restarting would remove the lag.  After a lot of trial and error found the culprit to be HP audio controls.  To fix it for me I uninstalled the Realtek driver 6.0.1.8581 from HP and let windows install a generic driver.  Now comes up as a high definition audio device instead of Realtek, and problem solved.  No more lagging and having to restart the sequence.  Just putting this out there in case someone else with an HP has noticed this.  

EDIT:

OK, Scratch that, after an hour sequencer did it again.  Slight lag in preview until stopped and restarted the sequence.  It was the longest I have gone without this happening.  Thought I had found it.  Might be a bug.  I have made sure that my video driver is up to date.

EDIT 2.  

3 hours later the computer just downloaded and installed updates, and put the Realtek driver 6.0.1.8581 right back on, back to having HP Audio Control active and can't stop it.  So this entire post seems useless now other than the intermittent lagging issue.  Sorry to waste everyone's time!

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by bdwillie

[dgrant]

is your audio file a CBR or VBR? Constant Bit Rate vs Variable Bit Rate

[bdwillie]

Constant bit rate, 128 kbs, joint stereo.  Always export the music from audacity.

[PhilMassey]

Have you checked for background activities. 

What are you using for an antivirus.

[bdwillie]

2 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

Have you checked for background activities. 

What are you using for an antivirus.

Antivirus is McAfee, but I disable it while sequencing, especially the real time scanning.

Background items look to be normal, there isn't a lot of stuff installed on this machine.  Basically Office 2007, chrome, LOR, Audacity, and a few more.  CPU and memory usage is under 30 to 40 percent.  SSD drive also.

This is a relatively new problem.  I don't remember seeing it happen until 6.0.8, and it is not every time I start a sequence. Sometimes I can go a couple of hours before it happens.  I can say that WHEN it happens, it only happens if you hit the start icon button, and the sequence starts from the beginning.  Space-barring from somewhere inside the sequence doesn't seem to create this problem.  I can say it seems to happen every time my wife wants to see the progress of a sequence and she comes in the office to watch the preview 🙄 lol!

Also is not sequence dependent, I.E. it is occurring on more than one sequence.

[MattBrown]

Does it only happen right after you open a sequence, or does it happen after you've had the sequence open a while?

[bdwillie]

1 hour ago, MattBrown said:

Does it only happen right after you open a sequence, or does it happen after you've had the sequence open a while?

Matt it can occur both.  Last time it happened yesterday, I had been working on the same sequence for a few hours.  Got through with a prop for the sequence, and started from the beginning to watch the preview.  Hit play, and everything was out of sync.  Hit stop, then play again and everything is right.  Doesn't happen every time, sometimes there is quite a time frame passes and many stops and starts before it does it again.  I have tried to pay attention to see if it occurred after a save as I have the save a copy turned on and it saves the copy to a drive on my server, but that doesn't seem to make a difference.  The files I work with are on the drive in the computer, on an SSD. 

I don't have a huge show, 1 DMX universe that only is about 1/3 full (up to channel 171), 1 enhanced LOR network with 11 G3 V5 boxes for 176 channels (not all used), and one pixie 4 (same LOR Enhanced network) with a whopping 84 or so pixels, I have never had trouble with the preview doing this before 6.0.8.

I always stop the real time scanning of my McAfee antivirus out of habit as I had trouble with it and S5 and the show computer out in the shed. 

If I can provide any other info please let me know!

Here are the specs of the computer I sequence on (and have this problem on) if it would help.  All drivers are up to date

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz   3.00 GHz
Installed RAM    8.00 GB (7.88 GB usable)
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Intel (R) HD Graphics 630

Desktop Resolution 1920X1080

Refresh Rate 60.000 HZ

bit depth 8-bit

Windows 10 Home
Version    21H2
OS build    19044.1889

 

[PhilMassey]

I suspect increasing your RAM to 16GB would be a benefit. 8GB is barely sufficient for A Windows PC  and Sequencer can take advantage of the extra memory now it it 64 bit.

[bdwillie]

5 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

I suspect increasing your RAM to 16GB would be a benefit. 8GB is barely sufficient for A Windows PC  and Sequencer can take advantage of the extra memory now it it 64 bit.

PhilMassey.  Plan to as soon as some funds free up!

[dgrant]

I saw this happen to just one of my sequences too. It was just fine for months then even with S6, it was fine. Then without warning, suddenly it was out of sync. Either the audio changed or the sequence changed. Today I intend on comparing a backup of that file and see which actually changed.

[dgrant]

I did the comparison just now but it turns out, it was my media source file that changed, not the LOR side.

[bdwillie]

dgrant, the audio files have been the same. have not updated or changed them.  Also stopping and restarting the sequence will get it back in sync.

 

[bdwillie]

FWIW,  This has not occurred with 6.0.10.  May have been a fluke with my install of 6.0.8 or something.  

[dgrant]

Just FYI, I found another sequence that was out of sync too. Again, it was the media file or possibly the sequence itself got pushed back. Strange because this song didn't have any dead-space at its beginning, then all of a sudden it did. But still, that points to something other than LOR. I fixed it and now its synced perfectly again. BTW, it was TSO Fireflies, pretty obvious when it was out of sync. I'm going to have to go back through each and every sequence now to insure everything is as it should be.

[MattBrown]

Are you using MP3 files for your sequences? If so, you might try WAV files instead. The Sequencer has a built-in converter on the Sequence menu.

[PhilMassey]

I have been using .WAV files exclusively since I started with LOR in 2010. 

I have never had the slightest of sync issues. Its not like size is an issue, but I guess the directors still need mp3.