Subject:Even rkill.exe or pskill.exe can't shutdown a crashed acid50.exe process

Posted by: Zacchino

Date:1/7/2005 8:33:05 AM

Hey,

As I'm looking for a workaround to save some time, I've been looking for a process killer. But even the one from sysinternals (great tools) can't kill a crashed acid50.exe process (I'm not talking about shuting down the program window, but to shutdown the very process to free memory and asio drivers).

Even XP forums can't find any solutions. But they seems to be one, as when you shutdown your computer, it finishes process that won't close very quickly (with a progress bar).

So I wondered if you guys from sony had an idea about this...

Subject:RE: Even rkill.exe or pskill.exe can't shutdown a crashed acid50.exe process

Reply by: PAW

Date:1/7/2005 9:09:00 AM

try taskinfo from www.iarsn.com

The terminate option by right clicking on a process always works for me.

Paul

Subject:RE: Even rkill.exe or pskill.exe can't shutdown a crashed acid50.exe process

Reply by: pwppch

Date:1/7/2005 10:40:01 AM

A process that can't be shut down with these tools indicated that a driver has failed to return or time out on a IOCTL request. Depending on how well the driver followed the rules, it should time out with in a reasonable amount of time, however, as long as the driver refuses to return on an i/o request, the process that made the call cannot have its process(s) killed as that could result in a kernel level crash.

I am more interested in why you are crashing. I have just look through your last 10 or so posts. You really don't provide enough information to help us determine what the cause of your problems are.

If you could provide some specific scenarios that cause your crashing, that would be helpful (or point me to a post you made that does provide this information.) You can also email me with any details at

phaller - at - sonypictures dot com

Peter

Subject:RE: Even rkill.exe or pskill.exe can't shutdown a crashed acid50.exe process

Reply by: Zacchino

Date:1/8/2005 5:35:40 PM

The content of this message was deleted by the owner.

Subject:Clean Edit (sorry, can't delete or edit my post)

Reply by: Zacchino

Date:1/8/2005 6:03:58 PM

Hey Peter, Okay here's the deal, I don't really have the time to as I'm running on a project, but I'm taking some to explain the most consisely I can the issues I've been through.
I've fowarded a mail too.


My Software Gear : It's well organized, with separated folders : see
the screenshot
My PC : Shuttle XPC SB81P - P4 3.4 Ghz - 2Gb ECC Reg DDRam - Seagate HDD - Unattended XP Pro SP2 / MusicXP.net tweaks and some other of my own..

At first, I thought it was my soundcard's drivers (Delta 44 - 5.10.00.0027 driver).
But no changes to my issues. I discovered recently that it finally was the Cakewalk VST Adapter 4.4.1 who caused major crashes / really bad stutturing with some Fx like PSP's Mixpack or Voxengo's. It seels to applie only to the delay-compensation enabled plugins.


The workflow crashes :
I'm using Acid as a more like a linear sequencer, not as a loop-based sequencer. Acid is for me a drum building tool, multitrack sequencer (many chorist, rap, Line6 variax recording work) or as a Rewire Host (e.g. with Gigasampler, Reason). See the screenshot

-Bugs with Gigasampler : not hearing any sound times to times, restarting the PC is the only workaround.
-Crashes with Reason : not that often, but sometime -while playing- and modifying values of volume or Rewire Instrument Fx chain on the fly within Acid.
-Group Folder crashes : when selecting multitrack within the folder track (holding CTRL or Shifting down), and changing the volume value with keyboard arrows.


The Fx crashes :
Most of the time, I kind of overload Acid with VST or Dx effect. But I'm not using any junk plugins. Just some of what I call the main industry standard plugins :

-Waves Bundles in DirectX : very stable, except with the Soundshifter P as it uses alot of CPU
-Voxengo Plugins : unstable most of the time with Cakewalk Adapter, and seemed more stable so far in native VST support)
-Timewoks Plugins : stable
-Ultrafunk Fx in DirectX: stable
-PSP Mixpack / StereoPack : Unstable in Cakewalk Adapter, and crashes times to times in native VST support or DirectX.
-Antares Plugins : Stable except for the AutoTune when changing values while playing.
-SIR Impulse Response Processor : Unstable in Cakewalk Adapter, and crashes times to times in native VST support while changing values while playing.
-dB PowerPack : Stable in DirectX.

Listing all these plugs might make me feel like Cakewalk is the culprit. That's true. But even when I load a VST Instrument, with multiple Fx inserted, and routed in a bus while playing the song with master Fx, I've learned CTRL+S reflex art. as in anytime I'm feeling like demanding too much from Acid.


The VSTi crashes :
Here's the list of quick listing of VSTi I own and an overall rating of their stability :

-Novation Bass Station : Crashes times to times
-DiscoDSP Discovery : Stable
-Native Instrument's : Rock solid except for the preset reset while autosaving in Pro-53 (and some other synth as far as I remember). Kontakt and its 200 outputs (but I've read they're going to fix this).
-ImageLine Simsynth Live : Crashes times to times. But most of the time very efficient.
-reFX PlasticZ! : Stable

PS : The weirdest message I get when Acid crashes is a ReWireDLL error (even if I didn't use the function at all). Somthing asking me to verify failure.That happens when adding a VSTi as far as I remember.


Conclusion :
I'm not sure if an update will resolve all these issue (or most of them - except for the Cakewalk Adapter related crashes). But I' not sure of Acid5's rock-solid status. At least on my machine. I'm dealing wit it, but sometimes I get of course tired of it. But I guess that's the pric to pay to have a PC DAW custom software set ! I'm sure that for next release, a public beta version would be useful. Or at least a private Beta with folks pushing Acid's features combinations like a lot of people might be doing !


Thanx in advance for taking a close look at my case.

Subject:RE: Clean Edit (sorry, can't delete or edit my post)

Reply by: Zacchino

Date:1/12/2005 6:33:38 AM

No answers ?

Subject:RE: Clean Edit (sorry, can't delete or edit my post)

Reply by: pwppch

Date:1/12/2005 9:40:20 AM

Nope. It takes time as there are no specific reproducable steps in your report. Still investigating. So far I am unable to reproduce any of the problems you outline or present.

My gut feeling is you have a bogus install of something or a very bad behaving plugin. With out the specifics of what and how you are using them, this is going to be hit and miss - most likely miss.

Peter

Subject:RE: Clean Edit (sorry, can't delete or edit my post)

Reply by: Zacchino

Date:1/12/2005 1:40:42 PM

Ok, I'm still looking for the culprit, found one as I said (Cakewalk VST Adapter), now I have to find which one is causing the issue I recently posted... I'll keep you up !

Thanx,
Isaac