Pulsar and EASI

cyberJames wrote on 12/15/1999, 6:29 AM
Hello Foundry fellows,

I must comment you on one of the most wonderful pieces of
Audio software to ever arrive for the PC. Your windows
standard - non proprietary - simple - and efficient Vegas is
outstanding.

I downloaded the demo a long time ago, but have yet to
purchase the software due to the fact that it is not
compatible with my hardware.

I am a Samplitude owner, and your software packages are very
similar in many ways. Samplitude has you beat for wealth of
features, but you have them hands down on ease of use and
efficiency.

The problem is that BOTH Samplitude and Vegas access the
window's MME in a similar way, and lead to the same problem
in Pulsar. When using multiple outputs (wave devices) the
wave drivers will lose sync with one another. This happens
when audio glitches for any reason. For example. Route your
kick track to Bus A (Pulsar wave driver one) and your snare
to Bus B (Pulsar wave driver 2). Then start to drag a
window and hold (or perform any other GUI sort of thing) the
audio will glitch for a second. This is bad enough, but the
really horrible thing is when it comes back you will have
the snare track playing apriciably later than it should be.
This can make the best drummer sound pretty bad. You
should try auditioning reverb patches this way too... makes
the predelay WAY too long ;)

I believe that this problem is caused by a combination of
things:

1. The way you and SEK'D talk to hardware.
2. Shitty (excuse me) Creamware Wave devices.

Although I am fairly sure that #1 plays a role (as all other
programs that use windows MME don't do this), it is my
belief that the real blame rests on Creamware.

Why am I coming to complain to you then?

Well, I want to use (buy) your software. I cannot justify
owning TWO expensive software packages that have the same
problem with my hardware, and I cannot currently afford a
new card. Also, the Pulsar is conceptually quite a cool
system, and if it worked with Vegas and Samplitude I'd be
glad to use it.

You have emntioned in the past on this board that you will
not support ASIO because it is not entirely open. What
about EASI?

EASI is open. And from what I understand it is not terribly
hard to implement. EASI drivers are imminent for the
Pulsar, and would perform with even lower latency than MME
with all the cards that will support it. The venerable
STUDI/O already does.

So... Here is the essence of my tirade:

A. Is there any chance (from your perspective) that the
problem affecting Pulsar will be fixed? In MME I mean.

B. Even if the answer to that question is "Thats
Creamware's problem" Will you implement EASI into Vegas?

I certainly hope that one of the answers is Yes. ;)

regards,
James Johnson

Comments

pwppch wrote on 12/15/1999, 9:56 AM


James Johnson wrote:
>>Hello Foundry fellows, >> >> >>So... Here is the essence of my tirade: >> >>A. Is there any chance (from your perspective) that the >>problem affecting Pulsar will be fixed? In MME I mean. >> The problem with the lost sync due to glitching of a single "bus" as you described will be fixed in the future. The Pulsar is resources hungry ( memory) and its UI tends to glitch just about everything when switching around. The current best recommendation is add an additional 128 of memory when using the Pulsar. >>B. Even if the answer to that question is "Thats >>Creamware's problem" Will you implement EASI into Vegas? >> No plans to support EASI. Peter
cyberJames wrote on 12/15/1999, 8:07 PM
Peter,

Thank you for your response.

>>The problem with the lost sync due to glitching of a single "bus" as
>>you described will be fixed in the future. The Pulsar is resources
>>hungry ( memory) and its UI tends to glitch just about everything
>>when switching around. The current best recommendation is add an
>>additional 128 of memory when using the Pulsar.

I am not as upset about glitches as I am with the tracks losing sync.
I can live with glitches for the time being as long as the wave
devices come back together in sync. Will this problem also be fixed.
Creamware said today that the problem happens with all multi chanel
audio cards.

>>No plans to support EASI.

Ahh. Too bad.

>>
>>Peter
>>
>>
pwppch wrote on 12/16/1999, 12:00 AM
The glitching causes the loss of sync. Basically what happens is that
with a multichannel hardware device the application sees it as a
series of stereo pairs. If a glitch occurs on one pair, then that
pair is out of sync with any other pair.

The problem is sync between devices when a glitch occurs and this is
what will be fixed.

Creamware is correct. All multiport hardware will show this problem,
though for possibly different reasons than it occurs with the Pulsar-
Unless the hardware/driver implements a n channel device vs sets of
stereo devices.

Peter



James Johnson wrote:
>>Peter,
>>
>>Thank you for your response.
>>
>>>>The problem with the lost sync due to glitching of a single "bus"
as
>>>>you described will be fixed in the future. The Pulsar is
resources
>>>>hungry ( memory) and its UI tends to glitch just about everything
>>>>when switching around. The current best recommendation is add an
>>>>additional 128 of memory when using the Pulsar.
>>
>>I am not as upset about glitches as I am with the tracks losing
sync.
>> I can live with glitches for the time being as long as the wave
>>devices come back together in sync. Will this problem also be
fixed.
>> Creamware said today that the problem happens with all multi
chanel
>>audio cards.
>>
>>>>No plans to support EASI.
>>
>>Ahh. Too bad.
>>
>>>>
>>>>Peter
>>>>
>>>>
cyberJames wrote on 12/18/1999, 9:59 AM
Well then!! Pulsar does have a Multichannel Interleaved device with
16 channels.

I set back the date of my computer to run the demo again (don't shoot
me! ;) but I do not see a way to access the other sets of outputs...

In Logic I am able to tell the software to look at 1 device with 16
outputs. Is there a way to do this with Vegas so I can route to the
other 7 stereo pairs in my '16 channel device'? If so... Ill be off
to Mars this afternoon with my overheated credit card, jumping up and
down all the way.

Thank you for helping me Peter.

James

Peter Haller wrote:

>>Creamware is correct. All multiport hardware will show this problem,
>>though for possibly different reasons than it occurs with the
Pulsar-
>>Unless the hardware/driver implements a n channel device vs sets of
>>stereo devices.
>>
>>Peter
>>
pwppch wrote on 12/18/1999, 8:33 PM
Cool your card! Vegas does not currently support n channel audio cards. My point was this was the means to permit all channels to stay in sync with each other. Q: I could not find a way to get the Pulsar to expose a wave device with 16 channels? Am I missing something? Peter James Johnson wrote: >>Well then!! Pulsar does have a Multichannel Interleaved device with >>16 channels. >> >>I set back the date of my computer to run the demo again (don't shoot >>me! ;) but I do not see a way to access the other sets of outputs... >> >>In Logic I am able to tell the software to look at 1 device with 16 >>outputs. Is there a way to do this with Vegas so I can route to the >>other 7 stereo pairs in my '16 channel device'? If so... Ill be off >>to Mars this afternoon with my overheated credit card, jumping up and >>down all the way. >> >>Thank you for helping me Peter. >> >>James >> >>Peter Haller wrote: >> >>>>Creamware is correct. All multiport hardware will show this problem, >>>>though for possibly different reasons than it occurs with the >>Pulsar- >>>>Unless the hardware/driver implements a n channel device vs sets of >>>>stereo devices. >>>> >>>>Peter >>>>
cyberJames wrote on 12/19/1999, 2:52 AM
The 16 channel interleaved devices are loaded into the Pulsar project
window from the directory:

\pulsar\devices\windwos devices
Named: '16 Wave Interleaved dest.mdl'
And : '16 Wave Interleaved source.mdl'

In the pulsar widow they sho up as MI DEST and SOURCE

They are rarely useful and mostly overlooked since ASIO works in
Cubase and Logic (well sort of in Logic), and most other software
doesnt support these sorts of drivers.

James

Peter Haller wrote:
>>Cool your card! >> >>Vegas does not currently support n channel audio cards. My point was >>this was the means to permit all channels to stay in sync with each >>other. >> >>Q: I could not find a way to get the Pulsar to expose a wave device >>with 16 channels? Am I missing something? >> >>Peter