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Windows specific F.A.Q.
Windows specific F.A.Q.
All Microsoft Windows specific questions are listed here, all other questions should
be listed somewhere else. The manual is also clear from any platform specific items.
Note: a few issues regarding the old 'Microsoft Virtual Machine' that was used before 2007, are deleted, so please
install a recent CPS version if you are still using this virtual machine.
How do I get the CPS Browser plugin working under Internet Explorer 6?
First make sure the Shockwave plugin
is installed correctly.
Then, if that succeeded, you should adjust your security settings as follows: turn off 'Protected Mode', and
select security level 'Medium' or 'Medium-high' (not 'High') or simply make sure that
'Run ActiveX controls and plugins' is enabled.
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Starting up CPS takes 2 minutes (and I have expensive ASIO-compatible hardware)
This may happen when there are troubles loading the installed ASIO drivers. In all known
cases, the problem was having old ASIO drivers, or problems with loading the DirectX
compatible version of ASIO. So, the solutions are: download and install the most recent
hardware driver from your supplier (before you contact us!), and if that didn't work,
install a recent version of
DirectX.
If that didn't work out, simply please be patient; currently the PortAudio implementation
(the ASIO part of CPS is from the 'PortAudio' project) inspects all devices before they
are loaded, so this may simply currently take a while.
Creamware Pulsar (II) owners:
you can eliminate the long startup time by UNchecking the checkbox "Always open devices"
in the Settings window of the audioboard. Unfortunately this checkbox is on the other hand
requested by Cubase...
Creative hardware owners: Check out
kxproject.
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I hear clicks and other noise when playing audio
On some really rare occasions (especially when you do have more expensive ASIO hardware!),
you can hear clicks when the audio is playing. First thing you should do, is be sure
you have version 1.4 and not an older version, this one has updated drivers.
Secondly, you should then try a different driver, that is, the once that start
with 'ASIO:'
(in case you do have professional hardware that support ASIO), or the onces that start
with 'DS:'. You can
change the driver by doubleclicking on the 'audioOut' object, selecting another device
and then restarting the audio (press escape and then the spacebar). This will probably
improve the performance drasticly.
If you already did that, you should increase the number of buffers that are used.
This is also an option in the 'audioOut' object interface.
For default drivers (not the 'DS' or 'ASIO' onces)
choose more than 9 (NT/2000/XP) buffers or more than 20 (95/98/SE) buffers.
Echo Gina/Darla/Layla users: there is a bug in some drivers, which does not
allow the default samplerate 44100. Please install the latest driver
(5.06.0 or later) from internet, then the problem is fixed if you select
the ASIO driver inside CPS.
If you don't have ASIO hardware, you can download a global driver
ASIO4ALL
which might improve your playback drasticly.
Notice that changing the global
buffersize (in the 'Settings' menu)
doesn't help because this changes the internal buffersize but not the audio I/O
buffersize (which is fixed at 512 samples). Only when using ASIO drivers, this internal
buffersize is used (as advise) for the audio I/O buffersize.
Also notice that these clicks
are totally independent from the processor speed - CPS runs perfectly
on a Pentium 166 MMX, decoding several mp3 files while playing.
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Do you use Java Sound?
No. CPS tries to get the most out of your computer, with as less latency as possible too.
That's why the 'engine' of CPS is not written in Java, only the CPS graphical interface.
When using Java Sound (or, incorrectly:
Javasound), you would be able to do the same on a Pentium III 450 as you would with a native engine on a
Pentium 166 MMX. Not to mention the huge latency in the audio and MIDI processing.
Also, Java Sound is not very stable
at this moment (Januari 2000), so using Java Sound is not yet an alternative.
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I want to optimalise Windows for CPS.
There are several Microsoft Windows specific rules to make CPS running better. All are about the same thing: make
sure that CPS gets most CPU time as possible.
You can lower the priority of your graphical card
(Start - Settings - Control Panel / Configurations - System - Prestations - Monitor;
lower the hardware acceleration).
If you are reading a lot of files from harddisk, then it is a good idea to run 'Defrag'.
Furthermore, when running CPS, it's best not to run 16-bit Windows 3.1 programs too,
because this 'confuses'
the multithread scheduling of Windows. You might not even notice the difference though.
A very short interruption can occur when: starting up/quitting applications,
or using the CD-player (but not the CPS CD-player!!). This is all caused by bad
multithread scheduling of
Windows (especially Windows 95/98). Unfortately you can only fix this by using
more buffers at the audio input and audio output, which might
be an alternative when latency is less important then very short
interruptions caused by other programs.
Because you might not even notice that CPS is running, you might suddenly hear
that the audio stops when you login
to your internet provider with an analog modem. The problem here is the same as
before: bad multithread scheduling.
There is no work-around for this minor 'problem'.
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How do I decrease the delay between the audio input and output?
Doubleclick on either the audioIn and audioOut objects, and choose an other type of
device driver. The DirectSound ('DS: ') and ASIO ('ASIO ..') drivers are faster
then the default one (which will always work properly).
If this isn't enough for you, you can also change the number of buffers.
Default is '0', which means
a pretty-safe value for any system. For audioOut, the 'used' default is '20' on
Windows 95/98/SE, or '9' for Windows NT (because
NT uses directsound output by default). A DirectSound (DS) output can also work with 7 or
perhaps 6 buffers, an ASIO driver can also work with only 1 buffer. For audioIn, the 'used'
default is '10', but can be lowered to '5' normally - when using an ASIO driver you
can probably also use only '1' buffer.
Restart the audio after selecting audioIn or audioOut options (by pressing
escape and then the spacebar).
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I get tired of changing setting hardware devices in CPS.
CPS uses by default the standard audio input and output ports. If these are not the ones
you are using, then you might be changing to the requested port for each new patch you load.
Change the default audio hardware in your Windows settings, by chosing
Start - Settings - Control Panel / Configurations - (Sound and) Multimedia, and
select there (in the 'Audio' tab) which audio input and output devices and midi output
device you would like to use by default. Of course you can always doubleclick on
audioIn / audioOut / midiIn / midiOut to change the ports normally.
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When I start CPS, it says that is can't find MSVCRT.DLL (Windows 95 only)
If you have a new Windows 95 installation, there's a very very small change that
you do not have this file on your machine yet.
If not, then copy MSVCRT.DLL and
msvcirt.dll to your /windows/system folder, and run
CPS again.
Note: you should NEVER EVER EVER EVER replace this .dll with the one in your Windows folder
if this error message ("Can't find MSVCRT.DLL") does not appear.
It is not 'better' to have this one on your harddisk AT ALL, you probably have a more recent one
on your harddisk already than this one.
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