"Device in use by another application"

earthrisers wrote on 1/25/2001, 1:14 PM
I've been having the same problem that Gabriel mentioned (though he mentioned it in the context of
a list of other problems, and this specific one didn't get mentioned in the follow-ups).

I use an Aark TDIF card to connect my Tascam DA38 multitrack digital recorder to the computer. The
computer runs a Pentium 3 at 500Mhz.

After I successfully transfer one or two songs onto the computer from the tape machine, then start to
transfer the next one, I get a message saying I can't record because the Aark TDIF card is in use by
another application. I know this isn't true, but I don't know how to convince the computer of this!! I have
to reboot (which takes about 3 or 4 minutes on my system) in order to clear the conflict message and
to be able to record some more.
... that's a definite drag, especially when I'm trying to transfer a whole series of songs to the computer
for editing.

I've surmised that this isn't really a Vegas problem, because I've had the same thing happen with
Cakewalk. But since another user in this-her Vegas forum reported the same problem, I'm asking my
question here.

What makes my system think the digital i/o card is in use by another application? Can I clear the
condition WITHOUT rebooting?
Thanks in advance to the folks on this very useful forum...
Ernie

Comments

karlc wrote on 1/27/2001, 3:36 PM
Are you changing sample rates between times? A possible
cause is that sample rates do not match between your
hardware and Vegas ... any error from the MME driver is
apparently translated by Windows to "The device is in use
by another application".

KAC ...

Ernie Tamminga wrote:
>>transfer the next one, I get a message saying I can't
record because the Aark TDIF card is in use by
>>another application. I know this isn't true, but I don't
know how to convince the computer of this!! I have
>>to reboot (which takes about 3 or 4 minutes on my system)
in order to clear the conflict message and
>>to be able to record some more.
>>... that's a definite drag, especially when I'm trying to
transfer a whole series of songs to the computer
>>for editing.
gabriel wrote on 1/28/2001, 4:14 PM
I have read Karl Caillouet's reply and am intrigued. The
idea that an error message caused by a different problem
may be translated as a "Device In Use By Another
Application" error never occurred to me (and it probably
should have).

Here's one of my theories (please note that I know nothing
of Vegas' internal functionality and I don't know that much
about how Windows NT handles processes and threading--
what I present here is purely guesswork):


A parent process (child process of the shell or Explorer)
is created when Vegas is launched. The parent
process spawns a number of child processes. One of these
child processes uses the audio hardware's resources.
Nothing else can use the audio hardware while this process
is using it.

For some reason, this child process doesn't terminate
when it should and Vegas may be trying to start another
child process (to use the audio hardware) on a different
thread while the first child process is still active.

The device is in use by a zombie child process of Vegas
(the parent process). Because the process can't be
terminated, your audio hardware is locked.

Shutting down and restarting Vegas doesn't unlock the
audio hardware 'cause the zombie process is still running.

Shutting down and restarting Explorer (as far as I know,
you can only easily do this in NT/2000) doesn't unlock
the audio hardware 'cause the zombie process isn't
running in Explorer, it's running in the 32-bit shell.

Shutting down and rebooting the whole system unlocks the
audio hardware 'cause shutting down the operating system
kills ALL processes.

IF this (or something similar) is the case, it is possible
that this problem could be caused by the operating system.
Linux, for example, is supposed to kill zombies
automatically (eventually), but sometimes if you screw up
your operating system or if it has problems, these
processes may continue unterminated.

I have ONLY experienced this problem with Vegas, though.
This didn't seem to happen as much with version 2.0b as it
did with version 2.0a, but I didn't 2.0b long before I
gave up in disgust.

There could be a registry flag that indicates an incorrect
threading model. I haven't bothered to check to see what
sort of threading (single, apartment, or both-threaded) is
specified in the Windows registry, if any. If "both" is
specified, the assumption is made that the application
itself will manage its own threading. If the app screws
this up...

Personally, I am beginning to think that Vegas is simply
poorly-coded crap. While I can't explain why many some
people seem able to use without any problems, it's the
only digital audio application I have that doesn't work.
Even another experienced Vegas user can't make it work on
my system although Cakewalk, Cubase, and Logic Audio work
great.

In a previous post, a user reported that according to
Sonic Foundry, the CPU and Disk usage meters were removed
from newer Vegas versions because they caused some sort of
problem. Okay, I can buy that.

HOWEVER, according to one user, these meters spontaneously
appeared when he upgraded his system's RAM from 128MB to
512MB! If these meters had been removed, then how is it
that they suddenly appeared after the memory upgrade?

This doesn't make any sense. Also, I'm using 512MB and I
don't have these meters!

This makes it look as if the technician at Sonic Foundry
had no idea what he was talking about! I didn't want to
pay that much for tech support, but if that's any
indication of the competence of the support technicians,
I'm even less inclined to pay for support than before!

(Please note that it's not my intention to defame or cast
any aspersions on the quality of Sonic Foundry's technical
support--especially since I've never dealt with them.

I'm taking information from another user's post and making
the assumption that the technician at Sonic Foundry
explicitly stated that these meters had been removed from
versions 2.0a and 2.0b of Vegas Audio. I have no way of
knowing precisely what was said. If that's not exactly the
technician said, my apologies to Sonic Foundry's technical
support.)

Further, why wouldn't Sonic Foundry be able to get their
meters to work when other company's products have similar
meters that apparently don't cause any problems? (The CPU
and RAM usage meters in my installation of Cakewalk Pro
Audio 9.0 don't seem to be causing any trouble.)

Maybe these meters weren't removed as such but were
disabled for configurations with less than 256MB of
available system RAM. Then again, I've got 256MB and no
meters, so who knows?



Ernie Tamminga wrote:
>>I've been having the same problem that Gabriel mentioned
(though he mentioned it in the context of
>>a list of other problems, and this specific one didn't
get mentioned in the follow-ups).
>>
>>I use an Aark TDIF card to connect my Tascam DA38
multitrack digital recorder to the computer. The
>>computer runs a Pentium 3 at 500Mhz.
>>
>>After I successfully transfer one or two songs onto the
computer from the tape machine, then start to
>>transfer the next one, I get a message saying I can't
record because the Aark TDIF card is in use by
>>another application. I know this isn't true, but I don't
know how to convince the computer of this!! I have
>>to reboot (which takes about 3 or 4 minutes on my system)
in order to clear the conflict message and
>>to be able to record some more.
>>... that's a definite drag, especially when I'm trying to
transfer a whole series of songs to the computer
>>for editing.
>>
>>I've surmised that this isn't really a Vegas problem,
because I've had the same thing happen with
>>Cakewalk. But since another user in this-her Vegas forum
reported the same problem, I'm asking my
>>question here.
>>
>>What makes my system think the digital i/o card is in use
by another application? Can I clear the
>>condition WITHOUT rebooting?
>>Thanks in advance to the folks on this very useful
forum...
>> Ernie
karlc wrote on 1/28/2001, 11:04 PM
I am not convinced that this is a Vegas problem.

AAMOF, I first noted the error message in question when trying to
fire up WaveLab at one point. Luckily, a flashing clock error LED on
a piece of equipment clued me in to it being related to a sample rate
mismatch ... later confirmed in a post by the programmer for
Mixtreme's drivers on their tech forum.

There are obviously other reasons for the error message, but that
would be my first choice in troubleshooting at this point.

The question is, did it solve the problem for the origninal
poster?

KAC ...

Gabriel wrote:
>>I have read Karl Caillouet's reply and am intrigued. The
>>idea that an error message caused by a different problem
>>may be translated as a "Device In Use By Another
>>Application" error never occurred to me (and it probably
>>should have).
earthrisers wrote on 1/30/2001, 10:55 AM
Thank you for the input, guys.

I haven't had occasion to batch-transfer material from my DA38 to the computer in the time since I
posted the problem. However, the last couple of times when I experienced the problem, there was
nothing that I did - at least explicitly and consciously - that should have changed the sample rate.
Unless the following scenario would cause that to happen...?...

I transfer a song from the DA38 to the computer for editing, by attaching the TDIF cable directly
between the DA38 and the computer's TDIF card. (I have to do this, rather than going through the
mixer, because even though I have Tascam's TDIF expansion card for the mixer, there's no way to
transfer 8 tracks at once; the TDIF expansion card, very frustratingly, only allows for four.) During this
transfer, the clock is from the DA38; the Aark TDIF in the computer slaves to that.

On the computer, I save the files under some desired filename, then attempt to transfer the next song
from the DA38. That's when the "another device" error stops me cold, and I have to reboot before I can
transfer another song.

To make it more bewildering: Sometimes I can successfully get through transferring two or three
songs, before the error message shuts me down.

And a last note: I, too, think that Vegas itself is not to blame, because I have indeed had this same
problem when using Cakewalk instead of Vegas (for projects that include MIDI tracks, which of course
Vegas doesn't provide for).

Thanks again...

Ernie

(PS: In case you're wondering, the main reason I record to tape first and then transfer to computer for
editing and mastering, rather than recording direct to disk, is that my studio space is very small, and
the computer's very close to where my microphones are. I can't have the computer turned on when I'm
recording acoustic tracks. ...and besides, I LIKE working with the DA38 and doing my initial recording
to multitrack tape; don't have to worry about processing power flaking-out while playing back several
tracks while simultaneously recording new ones.)

=======================
Karl Caillouet wrote:
>>I am not convinced that this is a Vegas problem.
>>
>>AAMOF, I first noted the error message in question when trying to
>>fire up WaveLab at one point. Luckily, a flashing clock error LED on
>>a piece of equipment clued me in to it being related to a sample rate
>>mismatch ... later confirmed in a post by the programmer for
>>Mixtreme's drivers on their tech forum.
>>
>>There are obviously other reasons for the error message, but that
>>would be my first choice in troubleshooting at this point.
>>
>>The question is, did it solve the problem for the origninal
>>poster?
>>
>>KAC ...
>>
>>Gabriel wrote:
>>>>I have read Karl Caillouet's reply and am intrigued. The
>>>>idea that an error message caused by a different problem
>>>>may be translated as a "Device In Use By Another
>>>>Application" error never occurred to me (and it probably
>>>>should have).