My Brother Hans and I have 2018 Realband. He lives in California and I live in Oregon. We have lots of original music and wanted to use Realband to record several albums of our original music. The only way we can do this is to use Dropbox to send our SEQ files back and forth to record. Seems 2018 Realband has a major problem with Dropbox and is giving us nothing but error messages and destroying our SEQ files. We both decided to go back to earlier versions of Realband so we wont have these problems. We've decided to return our versions of 2018 Realband back to PGmusic and will no longer be buying upgrades to Realband untill PGmusic fixes the problem.
I'd like to know if anyone else has had a problem with 2018 Realband and Dropbox....cause I can't believe we're the only ones.
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
I would like the programmers to look at this problem. I have already gone back to an earlier version of Realband...2017 to be exact cause I can't waste anymore time on this.
I don't have any of the problems with 2017 like I had with 2018 and I would like the programmers to do the same with 2018....after all we paid good money for these versions and shouldn't have any problems with them right?
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
Could you please outline your workflow when using Dropbox. I'd like to run through what you do and try to recreate your problem.
Am I correct in thinking that what you do is to work on a song file and when the file is complete it is then copied into the Dropbox folder for transfer?
On the other hand, if you are both trying to use the Dropbox folder as a 'cloud folder' where you and your brother work in Realband and Realband saves files continuously as they're updated and modified, I can see how that could cause problems.
You stated.....Am I correct in thinking that what you do is to work on a song file and when the file is complete it is then copied into the Dropbox folder for transfer?....
Yes.
We Share a folder in dropbox where we place seq files from our folder on our "C" drive and copy them onto the folder in Dropbox. All the other versions Realband work just fine except 2018 Realband. When we load these files from Dropbox we get nothing but errors like I posted before and in some cases it destroyes the seq file to the point where it is nothing but static and unsable. I've even sent these static seq files to Kent from PGmusic support and he couldn't do anything with them.
I'd like the programmers to look into this and solve the problem in 2018 Realband. Why does it work using earlier versions of Realband and not 2018? Doesen't seem right does it?
I've been going round and round with this problem for months now and don't want to waste anymore of my time......My brother and I want to record our songs...not be frustrated with software problems.
I'm using 2017 Realband now and don't have any issues and will not upgrade unless this problem is resolved.
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
You're not by chance using the DownThemAll add-in to get the files, are you? I've seen reports of corruption from folks using it.
And while you shouldn't have to, maybe try zipping the file first, then uploading. Yes an extra step, but worth a try.
Or maybe switch to Google Drive in the interim to at least keep working while it's being figured out.
That being said, I'll try this evening to upload some 2018 SEQ files to drop box from one of my computers and then download to another to see if there is any corruption.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
no....I'm just using Control "C" to copy and Control "V" to paste from my C: seq folder to the Dropbox folder.
I'm not doing anything different I didn't do in the previous versions of Realband. They worked fine....2018 Realband has problems and in my case...I can't use it the way it is....
We should get the programmers to look at it and determine what is different between older versions and 2018.
Yes....if you can duplicate the same problem we are having then maybe the programmers will do something to fix it.
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
I uploaded five RealBand v2018 SEQ files to my DropBox account yesterday evening (they were all created on my Windows 7 pro laptop). I watched while it synchronized with the DropBox cloud storage, and watched as my second machine (also linked to Dropbox) synchronized the data. Once I got all green dots on the files (indicating they were synched), I loaded each of the files into RealBand on the second machine (a Windows 10 Pro desktop which has a completely different audio and hardware configuration than the first machine).
Files loaded fine and played as expected. I made some minor editing changes and saved each file (once I hit save, since I was working in the DropBox folder, which in general probably isn't a good idea or your machine is going to continue to background synchronizing while working on audio, but nevertheless...) and watched while DropBox resynch the files as soon as I hit save.
I then went back to my first machine after it had completed the new synchronization and loaded each of them into RealBand and the all played as expected.
Anyway, for me, DropBox and RealBand 2018 play nicely together.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
RHarv - For this test, I opened the file from my DropBox folder on my computer, but don't think there was any additional synchronization going on. Of course the file won't change until you actually save it (since work happens in the Temp folder), but as soon as I saved the file, I could see DropBox synchronizing.
As Kent mentioned, I would generally not work in the DropBox folder, but instead copy the file somewhere else until I'm done, then copy it back,but this was just a quick and dirty test and it worked for me, anyway.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
I got errors when I loaded from Dropbox and errors when copying files from dropbox to a folder on my C drive. My version and my brothers version of Realband 2018 got nothing but errors using two different computers in different states but got the same errors.
When trying to save the seq files to either my C drive or Dropbox we got fatal errors which destroyed the seq files.
My brother uses windows 7 and I use Windows 10. Dosen't seem to make a difference which version of Windows we use.
What I can't understand is why it doesn't happen when we use earlier versions of Realband? For now we will continue using earlier versions of Realband cause we can't waste anymore time with 2018.
I'm gonna let the programmers figure it out...
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
Had that file been transferred to your computer using Dropbox at some point, and had you managed to open it successfully at any point since receiving it? Is there still an uncorrupted copy of it on the computer it was sent from?
Has this problem occurred with files that weren't sent via DropBox?
The SEQ file you sent gave me an "unexpected end of file" error, meaning part of the file got cut off at some point, likely during the transfer. I really don't think RealBand did this to your file (I'm not trying to pass the buck, and am more than happy to keep working on the issue).
The problem could likely be avoided by putting the SEQ file in a ZIP file and sending that. If the ZIP file gets cut off and corrupted like the SEQ files have, then you'll get an error trying to unpack it, before RealBand is even in the picture. Whether this happens would be useful information, and you could then try resending the file, since it would still be intact on the original machine.
It really seems like something is happening to the files during the transfer, especially if it only happens with files that have been sent using DropBox, and still happens if you save the song to a normal folder, copy it into DropBox, then drag it out of DropBox on the destination computer before opening it.
Are you sure that your brother allows enough time for the SEQ file to fully upload before he closes his computer? Some of Realband's files can be on the largish size if they have a number of tracks.
Also, just to double-check -- when you look at a file in Dropbox, does it have a green tick beside it that indicates that the upload is complete? (see image below)
As I see it, if a file upload was interrupted and not completed before closing the computer down (or putting it on standby), these sorts of errors could happen if you try to open it before your brother has fully sent it.
You wrote: Had that file been transferred to your computer using Dropbox at some point, (YES) and had you managed to open it successfully at any point since receiving it? (Yes...The same file that gave me an error using 2017 opened fine with 2015). Is there still an uncorrupted copy of it on the computer it was sent from?..(Yes)
Has this problem occurred with files that weren't sent via DropBox? (No)
The SEQ file you sent gave me an "unexpected end of file" error, meaning part of the file got cut off at some point, likely during the transfer. I really don't think RealBand did this to your file (I'm not trying to pass the buck, and am more than happy to keep working on the issue). (The file I sent you also gave me an error when trying to save it....so I can see why you got a unexpected end of file error....)
The problem could likely be avoided by putting the SEQ file in a ZIP file and sending that. ( I'm going to try this today) If the ZIP file gets cut off and corrupted like the SEQ files have, then you'll get an error trying to unpack it, before RealBand is even in the picture. Whether this happens would be useful information, and you could then try resending the file, since it would still be intact on the original machine.(OK)
It really seems like something is happening to the files during the transfer, especially if it only happens with files that have been sent using DropBox, and still happens if you save the song to a normal folder, copy it into DropBox, then drag it out of DropBox on the destination computer before opening it. (I Know...it's driving me crazy....sometimes it works and then all of a sudden it dosen't ....Why, Why, Why?)
Kent, Right now I'm using my 2015 version of Realband...so far I haven't had any problems...but will continue to test for errors.
It would be nice if the programmers would make a save option in Realband to include saving files to Dropbox in the future release's of Realband...so people who use Dropbox don't have these very frustrating problems....meanwhile if I do have problems with 2015, I'll try re-installing 2018 and try the zip file method.
Thanks for all your continued help on this issue and I sure hope we can fix this problem....will always love you guys and this program.
Horst Hartung
Windows 10 - RealBand 2020:Build(3); Xtra Styles PAKs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; 64 bit Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz; 4 TB HD; 550 GB SSD PCIe Drive, 16GB Memory. Behringer UFX1604 Digital Mixer.
If you have a file that opens in 2015 and not in 2017, please send it to me for testing right away, as that would confirm a verifiable bug that can be reported and fixed.
The file I've received from you so far was badly damaged, and won't open correctly in any version of RealBand (I tested this thoroughly). Unfortunately, if files are getting that badly corrupted somehow when being transferred via DropBox, that's not something that's within our power to fix, but if you have files that work in some versions of RB and not others, that's a different story, and definitely something we can deal with.
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