<------- SOUNDSHAPER 6.3: KNOWN ISSUES --------> ========================================= Updated: 26 Oct 2024 ** IF DISPLAYED IN BROWSER CLICK 'BACK' WHEN FINISHED ** THIS FILE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AND IS REGULARLY UPDATED AT: www.ensemble-software.net/downloads/KnownIssues.txt SOUNDSHAPER MANUAL ------------------- The manual is up to date for Soundshaper 6.0; further updates in due course. Unzip either to: • your CDP Docs folder, e.g. C:\ CDPR8\docs\ or • your \Soundshaper6\DOCS folder - though links to the CDP Docs won't work from here. ================================================================================= B U G S A N D O T H E R I S S U E S ================================================================================= • WINDOWS DEFENDER etc. ----------------------- Windows Defender may reject Soundshaper as a subversive program. Soundshaper does NOT contain secret code to steal your personal information! Click "details" and you can exempt the program. Trend Micro Security also rejects it. Again, you can create an exception. • NO SPACES IN PATH! -------------------- CDP programs run invisibly in the Windows console program CMD. This tends not to work if there are spaces in any of the folder paths. Note especially (in Settings): TEMP. OUTFILES and CDP PROGRAMS • SPACES IN FILE NAMES ---------------------- - You can safely choose a file that has a space in the path/name, because it's copied to a temp. file). - However, CDP MIX will not run if any soundfile has a space in the path/name or is surrounded by " " (to avoid the spaces problem). Soundshaper warns you about such files on the Mix Page. WORKAROUND: rename the file and/or copy it in a different folder. • FOLDER and FILE NAMES (Apr. '21) ---------------------------------- Windows will accept folder names that Soundshaper cannot handle. This concerns the use of non-ASCII characters, as found in many languages, such as ç and õ. The advice for now is to stick to the Roman(Latin) alphabet as used in English, that is: ASCII a-z (lower or upper case) and numbers 0-9. (File names are probably also affected, but this has not been tested.) • DRIVE B: ---------- A problem has arisen where a folder in drive B: was selected for the TEMP folder, but Soundshaper couldn't write to it. The cause is unknown, except that B: was historically reserved for floppy drives and Windows may treat it differently from other drive letters. WORKAROUND: avoid Drive B! • SOUNDFILE PLAYER ZOOM ------------------------ The Soundfile Player does not yet have a zoom facility, which makes it difficult to find detailed time-points. WORKAROUND: Set up Audacity or Viewsf as an external editor and export times from there (clumsy); import these as Markers; then Markers to Loops as required. • TEMP. SUBFOLDERS NOT CLEARING ------------------------------- Temporary subfolders in the TEMP.OUTFILES folder are sometimes not deleted on exit. (Windows thinks they're still in use.) Soundshaper gives a warning if the folder is not erased. This doesn't affect performance, since CDP overwrites datafiles as necessary, but patches might be saved with spurious extra datafiles. WORKAROUND: Delete the folder manually after Soundshaper closes. • TEMP FILES NOT CLEARING ------------------------- If temporary files don't erase in Windows, you may need to change Soundshaper's Properties: • In Explorer, right-click Properties for Soundshaper.exe • Select Security tab • Click EDIT to change permissions • Tick Full control - Allow. • Parameter page not displaying -------------------------------- Occasionally the parameter page fails to display, especially when re-editing the process or re-selecting the same one. The Main Page appears to have hung, but actually it's just waiting for something to happen on the (invisible) Parameter page. WORKAROUNDS: Either hit ESC to cancel the process (or select Tools | Close Parameter Page) and then re-select it. Or alternatively hit Carriage Return to run the process and as necessary double-click the cell to re-edit the parameters. • ROBOCOPY ----------- Soundshaper now uses Microsoft's Robocopy program to copy patch folders (including their contents and subfolders). A copy of this should be in your CDP Programs folder (_cdp\_cdprogs). A warning message is issued if Robocopy is not found when needed; if you get this, copy Robocopy.exe manually from \Windows\System32 to your CDP programs folder. • DEFAULT DATA FILES -------------------- Most time-varying parameters now have a set of default data files. For those that don't: WORKAROUND: When you click T-V, if the edit memo is empty, this is because there's no default file. To make one: - Click EDIT - graph limits should show soundfile length for X and correct range for Y - Click in the graph space to create one or more graph points; edit as required. - Click OK: if a new datafile, it saves to "~.txt" - Click SAVE AS and save to your "User folder" (e.g. cdpr6\txt) WITHOUT the tilde (~) and with a .brk extension (for a breakpoint file). Next time, the default file should be this one. • TIME VALUES IN DATAFILES -------------------------- - Time values in CDP time-varying datafiles should normally increase, if only by a tiny amount - Time values are scaled by default - see checkbox 'Auto-scale .brks' at the top of the Parameter page. However, the datafile should be saved (Click SAVE CHANGES button) for these times to take effect. You might sometimes get an error message that the times exceed the length of the soundfile. Usually it's safe to ignore this. - Sometimes scaling is not appropriate. Uncheck 'Auto-scale .brks' and re-load the file. • COMMENTS IN DATAFILES ----------------------- Most CDP datafiles can have comments - lines starting with a semicolon (;). Unfortunately some do not - please report these so that CDP can revise the code. • DATAFILES IN SNAPSHOTS ------------------------- When datafiles are edited, they are stored as temporary files by default. This means that they will be cleared when the current patch is cleared. WORKAROUND: 1) Save the datafile to a permanent filename / location before saving the snapshot. 2) If using a datafile more than once in a patch, with different values, save each instance of the datafile to a different filename before saving the snapshot. (These can be temp. files if the snapshots will also be temporary.) • PATCHES and PATH / CD statements ---------------------------------- Soundshaper Patches (process chains) include (at least one) specified PATH, written into one or more BAT scripts in the patch. The PATH is to your CDP Programs Folder, and (where applicable) to the CSound \bin folder. CD (change directory) statements also specify your current \TEMP folder. Unfortunately, this does not make patches very portable. And if you change the CDP Programs Folder or your \TEMP folder, the patch cannot run. WORKAROUND: possibly none at present. (There might be a more general way of satisfying the PATH and CD requirements in BAT scripts. Each script might have to be edited and updated on-the-fly before being run...) • PATCHES USING TIMED PARAMETERS -------------------------------- A long-standing issue when running patches with different inputs occurs when a process uses a parameter that is dependent on the file-length, which has changed, rendering the parameter value invalid. WORKAROUND: if a patch fails, re-edit the first failed cell and fix any time-based parameter values. Click RUN as necessary to continue running the patch. A more permanent fix would be for Soundshaper to save such values as a percentage of the length. This will be introduced in a future version. • OLD PATCHES (pre- vn. 5.0) -------------- Patches saved prior to Soundshaper 5 should be re-loaded and saved again (in a revised format). Click SAVE and a prompt will trigger an update before you re-save the patch. The update RUNS the patch, creating a new-style control script for it. Patches can now be re-saved to the previous name. To avoid file problems, the old patch folder is copied to a new name (_old#, where # increments as needed) and replaced with a new folder of the previous name. Copying is easier in Windows than deleting, where all folders must be empty before deletion; however, the copies should be deleted "manually" at some stage. • PVPLAY/ PAPLAY ------------------------- If the play "TO" parameter is set to the end of the file, and the file length is an exact number of seconds, it will not play. (Claims "TO" is past end of file.) Other file-lengths e.g. 3.096961 are OK, because the "TO" parameter is reduced to 3 decimal places (3.096). But 4.000000 would reduce to 4.000, which is the same length! WORKAROUND - reduce "TO" by a tiny amount. • PAULSTRETCH (CSound) ---------------------- 32-bit Csound: The Csound opcode for Paulstretch (extreme stretching) has been incorporated into Soundshaper with parameter controls. However, it does not work on a 32-bit machine: 32-bit Csound is currently the 6.07 Beta which predates Paulstretch (introduced in 6.07 full) As a patch: Paulstretch runs in a patch with the original sound. However, if a different infile is used (e.g. in a cell-patch), the original timelength is still used. Provided that the new stretch is not longer, this is OK (though trailing silence may need editing), otherwise it cuts off at the original file length. • I/O ERROR 32 --------------- Soundshaper's soundfile player is closed whenever it's out of use, to minimise the possibility of I/O errors. However, users can help to avoid problems by: • closing files after viewing them in an external editor, so that conflicts do not occur. • keeping the Temp.Outfiles folder easily accessible in Explorer (e.g. minimise the folder), so that you can see what temporary files are present (the ones starting with ~). • if possible, switching off security software while running Soundshaper, as this slows everything down. • PARAMETER FADER ISSUES (possibly fixed?) ------------------------- Using the arrow keys to move the fader can cause the cursor to appear in the parameter's edit box, and the fader then doesn't move. WORKAROUND Before using the arrow keys for a parameter, click in the groove to the right of the fader, or the right arrow (at the end of the fader range). Once an arrow key has been moved, you can then access the following keys: • Up/down arrows - move fader by larger increment. • Page-up/Page-down - increment/decrement by 10% of range. • INSERT - moves fader to middle position. • DELETE - moves fader to default value. CDP ISSUES / POSSIBLE BUGS ========================== • PSOW LOCATE and CUT-AT-GRAIN (Xtra menu) Don't seem to work at present. Not sure why. PLEASE report bugs: it's the quickest way to have them fixed! ------------------------------------------------------------- You can report them to the CDP Forum (https://unstablesound.net/cdpforum/) # or write to: ensemble-software@hotmail.com Robert Fraser, Ensemble Software Oct. 2024