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Software: Load specific Audio Unit plugin with Belcanto or how to make my setup fail-safe

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written by: dkah

@geert: yeah I will have to work with what's there, until I find a solution how to read it out from EigenD directly, list item Nr. 4 on the EigenD list.

written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:01:07 +0100 BST

The Eigenharp in the standard setup comes preloaded with Alchemy in AU1. I would like to change that and load other plugins into slots 2-4 on the Alpha.
Not by browse, but specify a AU plugin like Bildule or Omnisphere and load it.
The link from the AudioUnit agent Wiki page, where the naming is explained is broken.
I tried using the setups load everything in and save. Unfortunately this often doesn't work. I cannot reload my saved sets. Also having to load one set and then the next, costs huge amount of time. I put my new set on default a few time, resulting in having to delete all my setups, because I
- couldn't change the default and the one I chose mysteriously didn't load any more
- you cannot specifically delete 1 setup
- its a binary file and not a text file, editing is not easy, not that I tried it (yet)
Also since it breaks so easily I have to do some stuff, save, load base setup and then test if my new setup still loads. With the still unacceptable long loading time of several minutes, this get tedious and the more I change, the longer it loads. My user dir gets littered with half-working sets, because every change means a new set, since every save can break the load.
At the moment I am really at a loss, how to get my setup loaded securely and reasonably fast without fiddling with to many knobs. At the beginning of a concert I cannot deal with broken setups and intricate start-up procedures, the snail pace for starting up makes me anxious enough already. I use a self-compiled version (Mac), but I tried experimental, testing and stable branch no difference.
I think the best and safest bet may be, to just load a Belcanto script over the server. But to do this I need to know how to load a specific AU.


written by: geert

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:32:14 +0100 BST

Hi Dragica,

Can you please send us a bug report from within EigenD, it gives us information that could provide more insight.

Everything you change in a setup is preserved after save and has loaded fine for me since v1.1, I never had any problems with that. That's not to say that you don't, but you might have stumbled into a very rare bug. It would help to know what you did, which plugins you used, how you loaded them, and so on.

When you say 'didn't load', what do you mean? Does EigenD crash, does the load never complete, ...? Since when it doesn't crash, you can always still click on the 'default setup' checkbox and uncheck it. If the worse comes to happen, you can also delete the default_setup file in the data directory of your EigenD version (youruser/Library/Eigenlabs/eigendversion), this will make it use a factory setup again. Putting an empty file there instead, prevents any default setups from loading.

There's a button in EigenD that says 'delete setup', you can delete individual setups with it. If for some reason you don't want to use it, just can also delete individual setup files from the EigenD data directory again.

The load times are long, we know, it's one of the main focus of areas of v2.0 and we've been working hard on it for the past few months. Using v1.4 already improves the loading times over v1.3.

Do report back with the information I requested above, it might help us to identify what is happening.

Best regards,

Geert


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:27:21 +0100 BST

To make this clear this happened to me more than once some time ago and I really do not have the nerve, time and patience to test this for every version, not with these loading times. So I stopped using default and I won't risk it again. But I used default and EigenD didn't even get to any screen. I couldn't uncheck the box, there was no window, the only thing was force quit the process. I then, by hand deleted the setup files and had to start again.
I want to be able to do it all in Belcanto, this works, this I can control. And I do not delete anything who knows, when I need it again.
Sorry, but I will be nervous enough for my first concerts. I have never done this outside music school and this was 25 yrs. ago. I am not completely confident with playing the Alpha, which is ok, because else I can start giving concerts in about 5 years.
I need to trust the software completely not to screw up. I need my setup to work, my AU to load and everything to be really easy. This has to work, without my brain being involved. And it is a Murphy situation.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:37:51 +0100 BST

Main question by the way is:
How do the naming conventions for AUs in Belcanto work, how can I load a specific AU plugin into my Eigenharp with Belcanto (no browse)?


written by: keyman

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:45:51 +0100 BST

Hi, Dragica

The ALPHA as 3 Factory default setup's; witch one gives you "troubles"?

Again I refer STAGE as a great way to configure the Eigen instruments, get inside EigenD and know a bit more about belcanto.... add no more!!

Change AU1 ??? dead simple with STAGE...(tab AU/VST1 - widget AU/VST 1 Plugin Browse)

keyman



written by: john

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:09:37 +0100 BST

Hi Dragica

If you can get this to happen again and send us a bug report that would be very helpful as we've not seen any bugs connected with setup loading like this for a long time now (since the earliest versions years ago in fact), it's very odd and if it is at all reproducible we'd like to fix it.

If you save a setup with your new AU/VST's loaded they should simply reload when you load that setup back in(and making something the default setup should make absolutely no difference to this unless you've loaded a bad plugin.

You really should have absolutely no need to use Belcanto to load setups - the GUI management of that does exactly the same thing underneath. If you start with a Factory setup, change the AU's then save it you really should have no problem.

It's worth bearing in mind that the upgrade process between setups (when you install new versions of software) is not guaranteed to work for anything other than the Factory Setups - sometimes the upgrades need to do plumbing so it's not possible to reliably upgrade user setups, it would simply require too much intelligence on the part of the upgrade script. This is not normally a problem as to date people have not deviated very far from the basic setups, but if you have a heavily customised setup its possible that it won't load after a version upgrade. You will still of course be able to run it in the version you built it in, which would be unaffected. The new 2.X series does not have this limitation.

We're not quite sure what exactly the problem you are experiencing is here - we see from your comments that you ended up with an un-loadable setup (which would get you in trouble if it was set to be the default) but are struggling to understand how it got that way. Was it a custom one you built, or was it a Factory setup with a different AU loaded? And if that is the case, had the AU already passed the Plugin Scanner? Plugins that don't pass this can seriously break your setups and there's little we can do to stop that (that's the reason the Plugin Scanner exists in the first place). If an AU that had passed the scanner managed to break one of the Factory Setups we'd really like to know the details (what Setup, EigenD version and AU) - it would be a problem that we'd like to fix urgently and your help to do so would be greatly appreciated.


John.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:59:06 +0100 BST

Hello Keyman
All setups. And the trick is without browse. I really do not want to stand in front of some people on a stage and start to load up 4 AU by hitting the right keys and browse to the whole list and then configure my parameters and test them. I really do not think this is a viable option.
Goal: Take my Eigenharp to unkown stage, connect cables, plug power in, start up software, maybe press one button/key -> be ready to start concert

NO Eigenbrowser, Eigencommander
Stage only to monitor, which it is not really good at, I just need Volume and I would like to see which octave I am in, I also would like to know which scale is loaded, which it doesn't tell me so, useless.


written by: john

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:39:31 +0100 BST

If you want to change the AU's you have loaded on stage then by far and away the best way to do this is to save several Setups with those AU's loaded then recall them using Belcanto or a Talker defined for the purpose. There is on fact a Talker attached to the MIDI in which you can also use to load USer Setups 1-8 by attaching a MIDI pedalboard, which is what I do. This is quite a normal thing to do for stage performance, although how long the new setup takes to load depends heavily on the AU's you want to run. This can sometimes be an uncomfortably long time if you're loading something like Omnisphere.

Expicitly loading an AU using Belcanto is I believe possible, although I don't think anyone has tried to do it in several years so I have no idea whether it still works well or not. It's not something people do anymore since we introduced the Broswer interface. We'll have a look at it next week as its something that probably ought to work, for consistency, even if it is not necessary. I have to reiterate though, it is better by far to just save and restore setups, which is quite possible using all the normal mechanisms. I would not advise you to use Belcanto to load AU's, it's a bit pointless.

Having said that I have to advise you strongly to try and avoid loading AU's at all whilst on stage. It's not something I'd be comfortable doing in any software package - some of them take ages to load and can consume a lot of resources doing so and this is not something that we have any control over at all. I would normally, personally, make sure that I had a setup with all the AU's loaded that I wanted for a performance beforehand.

Could you tell us which Factory Setup you are using?

John


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:48:40 +0100 BST

By the way I have send bug reports.
I do not want to load during the performance, but I want one setup with everything in it that works. AU, scale etc. I have not got one yet. And the setups mysteriously break.
I have started with Alpha factory 2 and piece by piece added stuff until the setup again starts to not load properly.
*So I can go back again, setup by setup find the last that works, try again adding 1 piece -> saving -> quit -> start EigenD (wait) -> load my setup (wait a long time)
if it works add next piece -> save
if not start at *

Programming this one and for all in Belcanto AU, scales, parameters everything and load this, would make this absolute time-wasting exercise above unnecessary and I could concentrate on the sound and hitting the keys, not on building one setup that works.


written by: geert

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:53:01 +0100 BST

Dragica, I just loaded your setup and there's a lot of things that have vanished in terms of wiring between agents. Are you sure that when you saved it, you had a working setup? Also, I see that you're using Bidule, can you please check that you're not using v0.9712, I've had a lot of trouble with that as an AU/VST plugin. The last stable Bidule version I found is v0.9710.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:26:33 +0100 BST

I use Bidule, (0.9710) because if I use Omnisphere directly I have still more problems.
I have a feeling I know what the problem is. I always assumed that the EigenD software is completely independent of the Alpha. In my head the Alpha is just data generator and the software shouldn't be influenced if the data is incoming or not. So I assumed that I can edit my sets even if the Alpha is not plugged in. For example in the 45 minutes I have on the train to the rehearsal, where I have time to kill, some good ideas and no way to plug the Alpha in. But EigenD probably needs the right Eigenharp plugged in to save setups correctly. Could this be part of the problem?


written by: keyman

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:29:27 +0100 BST

About you're goal...

You have to do you're "home work" and at that precise point is where STAGE really shines ! (I'm with John, about NOT doing big changes on a setup, live in front of an audience)

STAGE it's simply the "open window" to you're setup!! feels even better on a iphone/ipad/ipod touch!
Only fancy a Master volume knob, OK feel the screen with just that, but STAGE can almost tweak every parameter, value etc...

Hope you can find a good setup overall.
keyman


written by: geert

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:32:54 +0100 BST

@dragica, it should not need the Alpha to be able to change and save setups, however it's been a long time since I tested that so maybe something crept in there, I'll test tomorrow.

Do try to host Omnisphere directly, my experience with Bidule is that it makes things more unstable as it's sometimes buggy by itself, more specifically in the way it handled UI updates of plugins. I use Bidule when I want to do complicated routed that is switched on-the-fly during gigs when pressing talker buttons, if I don't need that I don't use it.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:53:14 +0100 BST

One point why I use Bidule is, because I want to be able to use some effects. I know I can load FX into the Eigenharp. But sometimes I want to test them, have more that one effect, play around. And one problem with EigenD is that I don't have real nice, easy on the eyes visual feedback what is in there. Yes I know where to look, I know how to find out, but with 3 AU and 6 FX there is an awful lot of windows cluttering my 15inch laptop.


written by: geert

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:59:02 +0100 BST

I know what you mean Dragica, however by hiding/showing FX windows in EigenD you can get a similar workflow going without the screen clutter. If you prefer Bidule, that's ok of course, just be aware that almost all crashed that I've personally experienced in the last few months were related to how Bidule handles the plugin's UI rendering.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:05:37 +0100 BST

@keyman: that is my problem exactly, I cannot do my homework, my setups break. I want to do my homework, EigenD doesn't let me do it. If I cannot generate a working setup or a script I can load, no amount of homework on my part will change that I will have to load and parametrize 4 AU by hand on time.


written by: dkah

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:22:14 +0100 BST

@geert: yeah I will have to work with what's there, until I find a solution how to read it out from EigenD directly, list item Nr. 4 on the EigenD list.



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