Playback problems - 4-5 seconds until Dorico plays back

dbudde!

Yes, you’re right. Laptop is Sierra and Mac Pro El Capitan, latest possible. So never on my laptop. I’ll try your suggestion tomorrow. It’s not possible to update the system later than El Capitan on the Mac Pro. It’s getting closer to a computer update…

Thanks!

This is a really strange one - I’ve not heard reports of this before. Even if you have an old machine I wouldn’t expect that you’d have such a delay, especially if you have this problem with a small score with only a couple of instruments. If you haven’t done already try rebooting. One other thing could be to try deleting the Vstaudioengine directory in ~/Library/Preferences, which will cause the audio engine to re-initialise.

Since the update 1.2.10 I’m watching it also (pc).
In the period of the delay, I could not locate special burden of memory, cpu, hard disk, network, etc. Also no other programs ran in time, also no automatic update of Windows. Sometimes the music is played instantly, sometimes after 4-5 seconds.
Another point is the stuttering when playing with many instruments (orchestra). I worked all the time with a one core (in Halion Sonic, options). Improvement came only after activating all cores.
However, the delay while starting playback has remained (few instruments: piano+violin).

If you have that problem with delayed problem, could you please create a simple piano project with just a dozen arbitrary notes, press Play, wait for let’s say 15 seconds and then choose from the main menu Help > Create Diagnostic Report. That will create a zip file on your desktop with all sorts of logging data. Please send it to ‘u dot stoermer at steinberg dot de’. I can’t promise that I will find something in there, but this is really the best way to get more insights.
As Paul said, this is most curious and we never heard about so far, so we want to know more about.

Hi!

So, now I’ve tried the following.

Disconnect everything, that is turning of wifi also. No change.
Deleting the Vstaudioengine directory in preferences. The delay did get a little shorter, but is still there.
Turned everything on, connected my RME Fireface, keyboard etc. No change.

Ulf, I’ve emailed you a diagnostic report.

Thanks for looking in to this!
/P

Hi guys, thanks for the data. Unfortunately, in the log files I can’t find anything unusual. I have to talk to other engineers, what else we could check or suggest. Stay tuned.

Ulf, I suspect the cause of the delay is in the BIOS of the computer. Due to the attack of “Meltdown & Spectre”, the bios have been changed (new microcode).
Dorico 1.2.10 came in February. I have installed a new BIOS in February too.
After updating the BIOS, the function of the cache is not so power full.
Trade journal writes, that caused 2 to 10 percent loss of power.

I wanted to make an experiment with my old BIOS, but it does not go any more.
The last BIOS version (the included loader) is no longer backward compatible.

I think it’s incredibly unlikely that this is anything to do with the bios.

O, however! Ask your programmers.
Meltdown is based on “Speculative Execution”. Spectre is based on “Bounds Check Bypass” and “branch target injection”. These instructions have been patched in machinecode. That certainly has an impact on the processor. There are still no reliable statement on this subject. And the first BIOS updates are also not the most optimal. In any case, the cache of processor is affected.
How big is the impact on dorico, one can express only suppositions. I would be happy if it’s something else.
Maybe the programmers could say in addition what.

Err, I am one of the programmers. So is Ulf.

As I said I think it’s unlikely. Olfdan is on a mac and so whatever firmware revision he is on is likely to be the same as thousands of other users who haven’t reported problems.

Hi!

Yes, that’s correct. I’m a Mac user, so bios don’t mean so much to me. A little update. I did a spring cleaning of my computer. Re-installed both Dorico and the two sound sets. I also cleaned up preferences, application support and found a couple of midi drivers that I don’t use. Updated my RME driver to the latest among other things. All in all, the playback delay is down to maybe 1 second. Still a delay, but much better. Old computer, that could possibly be one reason!? Anyhow, it’s better now. I can work with this.

Thanks for checking this so thorough!

Best wishes!

That’s great to hear. A delay of about a second is roughly what we’d expect. Unlike a DAW, Dorico has to generate the MIDI events from the score, and there’s a lot of processing that has to happen for that. We know that there’s some things we can improve in terms of caching and optimisations in the future.

Paul,

I don’t get that delay (glad you fixed it, Olfdan!)

But I do sometimes get a very distorted first note/first few notes right at the very start of a piece in Write mode.

As if Dorico’s processing wasn’t quite complete when I asked it to play from the start.

I usually use SHIFT+Option+Space to play from the start of a Flow.

And can certainly live with it. Repeating the same key commands always fixes it.

Just wondering if it was known behaviour? Thanks!

Hi Mark

Glad I’m not alone with this distortion phenomenon.
I also often get drop outs when a lot of instruments are playing.

I haven’t experienced that before or heard other reports of it.

Hi Paul

I experience this quite often with the very big score (over 40 players) I’m working at the moment.
Never had this problem so far with simple choir arrangements.

ReRei, Paul

For me it can happen - although not always - with single-instrument Flows.

I don’t wish to hi-jack this thread… just assumed it was also Dorico ‘catching up’ with the generation of the MIDI events you refer to, Paul; and taking longer than I was allowing it :slight_smile:

I get a distorted loud first note when I press play sometimes, usually after pausing in the middle of a flow. Not a desperate problem.

Very often on first launch.

Agreed.