Axl's Bugs, Errors, Crashes, and Odd Behavior roundup...Part 1!

[AxlBrutality]

Allow me to preface this by saying these issues have been reported through the official support channels, as well as to some plugin manufacturers where necessary.

Anyway, I seem to be particularly good at encountering and/or uncovering strange bugs and behaviors.  They vary in importance/severity for me, though everyone's workflow is different and they may affect others who encounter them more or less.  Some of them have been ongoing issues for close to a year and have been recreated on multiple computers, while others I ran into as recently as this morning.  Some have had no headway made on investigation; others have known or suspected causes but no solutions yet (obviously).  Some may not be Cakewalk issues, some are.

The purpose of putting this thread together is a) to see if others are having the same issues and if anyone has potential solutions of their own, b) visibility, to let others who are encountering these or similar issues know they are not alone (and to provide them with information in the future, if solutions are found and they encounter issues in the future), c) to draw attention to them in general, and d) to maybe generate random discussion surrounding various issues.

Feel free to ask for more information, provide suggestions, CC anyone you may think might be able to chime in, etc.  I'll admit that while I've been a member of this community for many years, I have been mostly quiet unless I have a major, work-stoppage-level bug and/or am really pissed off.  Lol.  I would like to change that.  Warning:   Long post.

-Cakewalk's VST Scan throws error when encountering Melodyne VST2

Encountered this one this morning out of the blue.  I've chosen the option to disable the plugin each time and continue, since I don't currently use Melodyne.

Screenshot of Error: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn0fz2h8c3r73hr/Melodyne Scan Error.png?dl=0

-Cakewalk's VST Scan freezes and hangs indefinitely when encountering Melodyne VST3

Also encountered this one this morning.  No idea what causes it, but it renders me unable to complete any new VST scans.

I have a fresh dump file if a member of support sees this and wants it, though I've already sent one in.

-JST Toneforge Jason Richardson fails to recall/jumbles plugin parameters a) when reopening project and b) often when copying plugin to a new track.

Encountered this just this week right after purchasing it.  No known cause, happens about 99% of the time, happens with both purchase version and the updated version.  The plugin parameters/settings don't just reset to default; they actually get weirdly/randomly jumbled.

JST was rather dismissive when I first contacted them, and in fact their social media told me they don't recommend Cakewalk as a DAW.

Update:  I just received an email from JST support...they can't reproduce the issue and are pointing back at Cakewalk's known struggles with plugin parameter recall.

Update 2:  JST support was able to reproduce some of the issues, but their workarounds aren't working for me.  According to them, there seems to be issues on Cakewalk's end with recognizing and saving parameter changes.  They also claim that an update to Toneforge is coming soon that, among other things, redefines how it handles parameter changes...and they claim that it has been tested with favorable results in CbB.  I'm trying to facilitate direct conversation between CbB and JST as well; we'll see how that goes.

-Slate Virtual Tape Machines, Eiosis DeEsser, MeldaProductions MAutoPitch, LP EQ, and LP MB all fail to fully load GUI and freeze/hang Cakewalk when attempting to do so.

This has been ongoing for nearly a year.  All plugins work fine when tested in Reaper.

VTM will occasionally load GUI, but will hang CbB the moment it gets closed.  Eiosis will only partially load GUI, and will hang CbB when closed.

MAutoPitch is the worst offender, instantly hanging Cakewalk when opened.

LP EQ and LP MB, which had similar/the same issues, have been solved by editing the config files, changing the OpenGL value from 1 to 0.

Cakewalk support discovered an issue with one of them (I believe it was VTM) not responding to a GUI command, but I haven't heard anything else since.

I have fresh (as of this morning) dump files for the MAutoPitch, VTM, and Eiosis hangs, if support sees this and wants them.  Just say something and I'll PM them.

Update: Noel has just given a full confirmation and explanation of these problems and the situation here: https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/4083-major-freezinghanging-issues-with-an-interesting-cause-and-no-obvious-solution-any-ideas/&do=findComment&comment=82296

Slate S-Gear refuses to recognize Gobbler or iLok Authentication during VST Scan

New as of this morning.  Haven't paid much attention to it, and just skip the authentication process (because I don't use S-Gear).

Update:  Apparently S-Gear is no longer a part of Slate/Slate's All Access Bundle, explaining the expired license/refusal to authenticate.  Not sure why it still appears in Gobbler as a part of the bundle.

-Random Crashes...particularly when recording, and usually when CbB has been open for an extended amount of time (longer than a half hour)...

Sometimes it hangs and I can create a dump file.  Other times it just closes out completely with no errors or hangs.  What's particularly alarming, however, is that NO activity from the session is saved, even with autosave enabled and working and manual saves also done throughout the session.  And no recovery copy is attempted to be made 95% of the time.  I've lost hours of work due to this.

I was able to create a dump file for CbB support recently, and while it's fairly random, they believe it to be a memory corruption or leak of some sort...particularly when Cakewalk is writing the waveform.  That's all I know right now.

I think that's it for now.  There were actually about a half dozen others that weren't big deal to me, so I never said anything, but they were actually finally fixed in the last couple of updates (shout out to @Noel Borthwick and company for their work...the ASIO buzzing during rapid start/stop of playback was actually pretty annoying).  I apologize and can't help but think maybe attention would have brought to them sooner if I had spoken up as well.  I will try to be a more productive member of this community and more helpful to support from here on out (hence threads like this).

I'd also like to give a shout-out to @Starship Krupa and @Robert Bone for their attempts at helping with a few of these issues, and their patience with my frustration at times.

I suppose that's all for now.  Cheers, y'all.

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by AxlBrutality
Words are hard, apparently. Also, updates.

[Brian Huddell]

Apparently S-Gear is no longer part of Slate:

https://www.scuffhamamps.com/support/faq/slate

[AxlBrutality]

59 minutes ago, Brian Huddell said:

Apparently S-Gear is no longer part of Slate:

https://www.scuffhamamps.com/support/faq/slate

Interesting...it's still listed within the Slate All Access package in the Gobbler application, so I figured there was an actual problem.

That would certainly explain things (the whole "no longer being authenticated by my accounts" issue).  I wonder why Gobbler didn't get the memo.

One issue down.  Although, as mentioned, I've never used S-Gear and didn't plan to...so it wasn't a huge deal.  Just an annoyance when scanning VSTs and trying to refresh licenses.

Thank you!

Edited December 5, 2019 by AxlBrutality

[Robert Bone]

Is W10 up to date on maintenance?

Drivers?

BIOS?

Have you tweaked W10 for anything?

Thanks,

Bob Bone

[AxlBrutality]

Just fyi, I have been provided with a few key updates today, which I have highlighted in green in the OP.

@Robert Bone  Windows, audio/video drivers, etc....as well as Bandlab (through the most recent hotfix) are all up to date.  I am actually painfully meticulous and obsessive about keeping my machine, OS, etc. updated (as well as keeping the disk cleaned and the SSD trimmed).

Also should probably note that I did a clean install a few months ago of both Legacy and CbB, along with all of my plugins and such.  (I had an HDD failure, and took the opportunity to swap a Solid State drive...so I had to fresh install everything, including my OS.)

No major tweaks to Windows other than basic stuff: power options (nothing ever turns off or goes to sleep), "active hours" for updates and maintenance are set to make sure none of that happens when I'm working, and I turn Windows Defender's realtime protection off when I'm working (so as to not have it operational in the background).  I also have select suspend for USB ports disabled.  Lastly, I have OneDrive (among most other useless programs) uninstalled and have no other antivirus besides WD.

I run a pretty clean and updated machine, and make sure as little as possible runs in the background.  But I also don't tweak too much that's over my head, and while I do have some limited overclocking ability with this machine, I haven't touched any of that.

Edited December 6, 2019 by AxlBrutality

[Robert Bone]

Kewl beans.

You did not happen to mention the BIOS maintenance level,  - unless that is contained within your 'etc..'.

For any of your crashes, were there any Windows System Events recorded and visible in Windows Event Viewer, that correspond to the same time frame as Cakewalk failing?

Bob Bone

[AxlBrutality]

@Robert Bone

Bios is up to date, according to my Intel utility (Edit: MSI utility confirms).  I do recall having a couple of BIOS updates after I replaced my HDD a few months ago.  I also haven't tweaked anything in there.

I actually haven't ever looked at the Windows Event Viewer....had to look up where to even find it.

I don't recall the exact time frame the last random/memory-based crash occurred (sometime last week, but I don't recall the day), and the event list for the last couple of weeks is a mile long.

I can check it next time I have a similar crash, now that I know about it and to look at it.  Is there a particular type of event I'm looking for?  Shit all might as well all be in Russian as far as I'm concerned, lmao.

Edited December 6, 2019 by AxlBrutality

[Robert Bone]

A quick way to get to Event Viewer, is to simply right-click on the Windows Start Button, and it is a few options down from the top of the list.

You will want to look at any actual errors/critical reported right at the time Cakewalk fails, to see what info is presented.  It shows different categories, and also sub-lists them within the last hour, week, etc., which helps you narrow down what to look at.  Once you see one you want to look at, you can double-click on it to pull up that classification, and double-click on the first one of those in the list, to pull up some details - use the Back button in Event Viewer, to go back to the list.....

That might help shed some light on what might be at fault for some of your crashes.

Bob Bone

[AxlBrutality]

6 hours ago, Robert Bone said:

A quick way to get to Event Viewer, is to simply right-click on the Windows Start Button, and it is a few options down from the top of the list.

You will want to look at any actual errors/critical reported right at the time Cakewalk fails, to see what info is presented.  It shows different categories, and also sub-lists them within the last hour, week, etc., which helps you narrow down what to look at.  Once you see one you want to look at, you can double-click on it to pull up that classification, and double-click on the first one of those in the list, to pull up some details - use the Back button in Event Viewer, to go back to the list.....

That might help shed some light on what might be at fault for some of your crashes.

Bob Bone

Oh, haha...that's a bit easier/better than the way I looked up.  I was literally looking in the system folder where the logs are actually stored...hence the "mile long list of files that might as well be in Russian" comment.

I will keep that in mind going forward!  I don't plan on doing a lot of recording over the next week or two (which is when it seems to occur the most), but that will definitely be included in my diagnostics from here on out.  Thank you (in general), and thanks for helping me help you and everyone else better.