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I'm about to tear out my hair ... hard to know where to begin. Let me start with the fact that I'm no newcomer to DAWs, Midi or ASIO. I'm also using prosumer grade gear with RME Multiface II on my Desktop and Echo Indigo on my laptop. All my other gear and software is working fine and compatibly. Both PCs run XPsvc2 and one is dual dual Xeon server and other Duo2. Point being that the gear well exceeds any specs required for BIAB.
Installed 2010 on my desktop and on my laptop. The first thing I noted when it fired up the first time was that it said that the Windows Microsoft GS Synth was not available. Despite that message it played back through that device. For the moment I let it go, deciding to wait till I had more time to use a VSTi softsynth, specifically Hypersonic2.
I then installed the next day, today, on my laptop. Same thing on the message that it couldn't access the Microsoft GS because it was probably "in use" by another program ... even though no other audio program or web browsers were open ... but it worked. So I decided to install the VSTi, Hypersonic2. When I went to the list, after following the instructions in the NI Bandstand tutorial on this website, it had the VSC dxi selected, but when I went down to the drop down list it showed Hypersonic2. But when I selected it I got the "cannot connect with" message box. I then went to the "select vsti" box and went into the selection menu and again selected Hypersonic2. This time it asked me to provide the path for the content, which I did. It accepted the choice, I closed the options windows and hit play and I got "ASIO buffer error."
First questions:
!. Is BIAB 'fiddly' with most VSTis? Does this issue have to do with whether the softsynth is set to GM mode or not? What's the deal?
2. I've searched for info on "asio buffer error" here and found nothing. I know what it means, but I don't see any instructions about how to set or adjust it on the audio options page ... I just see the little blurb about dxi doing it automatically and then those numbers below. I do have the basic buffer size for the manufacturers driver set at a reasonble 512 samples.
So, I deselect the the dxi options and go back to using the midi ... and guess what, now it doesn't work, I just keep getting the little yellow box in the top right of the main window saying something about restarting the song. Do that and the message comes back.
Thinking it might be just something weird and funky with the laptop, I go to my desktop. Initially it's working with the identical settings that won't work on the laptop. I go to try out the VSC dxi. Initially it's working ... although there is obviously some buffer underrun causing a choppy sound, even though this device was set at 1028 samples. I try to load a VSTi, Hypersonic2. It doesn't work. I go back to the VSC, and now that doesn't work. I constantly get the 'ASIO buffer error' message ... without any direction about how to resolve or trouble shoot it. So I step all the way back to the Microsoft GS ... and, as you've probably already guessed, now it won't work and the friendly little yellow box ir running in the top right corner telling me to restart the song.
Can I really just be that unlucky? Can anyone give me a clue as to how to resolve the Microsoft GS "is unavailble" when nothing else is open; how to trouble shoot the "ASIO buffer error; or, if any other multitimbral GM VSTi will actually work with BIAB and why the VSC dxi no longer works?
Either a little help or where to find a blindfold and a firing squad would be greatly appreciated.
Prado
PS What a pathetic, "Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself" message! Sorry folks.
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Hi Prado, Pleased to meet you  The questions you ask are outside my knowledge-base. That being said, however, there are some very competent guys here on the channel and I imagine that as soon as time permits, they will offer some help. In the meantime, PGMusic have this webpage with some "How To" articles. http://www.pgmusic.com/howtos.htm It might give you some ideas. Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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"ASIO buffer"
ASIO buffers are not set in the host program, so BiaB is dependant upon the user to know how to access the Sound Device's control panel software to set the buffers.
That message is usually indicating that your buffers are set too low for the program to be able to load the target device.
Try setting the ASiO buffers for the soundcard to a higher setting, one at a time, until the plugin loads.
You have to shut down all audio programs that use ASiO before attempting to change the buffer setting in the soundcard's control panel. Then start the program again and check it.
--Mac
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1. No except in the case were tempo info is needed. What you needed to do is although you'll see the your VSTi listed you need to first click on "add VSTi" and navigate to the .dll file for it. Then to use it you must select the one that looks like this
< VSTi > hypersonic 2 ----not the one that says VST Hypersonic2
2. BIAB can be finicky with ASIO.
If using a DXi/VSTi there is a check bos to have the thru channel use the driver. If checked it will look for the driver highlited in the output driver section. If nothing is highlited it will give a message.
Make sure MIDI Mapper is not selected.
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Thanks for the help.
@Noel96 ... Hey, great name for the season! Yes, it's already happening.
@Mac ... Yes, I understand how to change ASIO buffers. Please give me a target time in msecs so I can adjust the buffers accordingly. I would have though 1028 samples, about 56 msecs would have been adequate for any purpose. Normally when recording and not to cpu loaded, I'm using 256 samples or about 13 msecs.
@Silvertones ... yes, I did that, selecting the one in the < brackets >. I'm away from both PCs at the moment, but do you mean the check box on the page (the number of different option popup windows is daunting) called "midi driver?" It does show both the boxes checked and the name of the selected VSTi in the little window. Is this what you mean?
No, I am not using midi mapper. Any other suggestions about why when I load Microsoft GS it tells me it is in use, even though no other programs are loaded? And, how I can get my midi sounds back?
Thanks for the help. Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to need a lot of it. I first got BIAB 11 and eventually abandoned it for similar frustrations. Since, I've sussed out a lot of programs. Throw an Acid or Cubase question at me. I jumped at 2010 when I saw the video of using it as a plugin and drag n' drop the files into my DAW, Cubase. I should have just let it alone and used the initial midi, which was all I really needed to use the plugin. But I have a bunch of old *.kar karaoke files and I'm helping out with a New Years Eve party ... so I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could use sexy VSTi for sound instead of the tinkly Microsoft GS music box.
It's about 12 hours to the party, LOL ... so maybe, just maybe when I get my laptop in a couple of hours, I can still get the show on the road?
Prado
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I need to add that I've found this link http://www.pgmusic.com/tutorial_bbw_nosound.htm in the 'How to' page, and I'm going to try to work through it in a little while. Hopefully it should answer my midi driver questions ... Prado
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I think what bothers me the most is that this is happening on two different computers. But, I also don't think it can all be blamed on Band In A Box. I'm wondering if you don't have a fundamental issue in both of your MIDI applications within Windows on each of your computers, i.e., a virus corrupted something.
I hate to say it, but you may have to end up reinstalling Windows on each of those machines...maybe one at a time to see if it works first, then do the other.
It doesn't sound like it's a VSTi or BIAB issue, to me, it sounds like a Windows issue.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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This may be totally off the wall... I am new here too, but I too have been around Sequencers and Studios for a while - though I detest set up issues (!!!) .
I"s BIAB 'fiddly' with most VSTis? Does this issue have to do with whether the softsynth is set to GM mode or not? What's the deal?"
I was wondering what you want to do? I have never had hypersonic, but I am guessing you want to run it as the synth that generates the GM sounds? I have found that certain VSTs will not load in Band in a box. I first laboured under the misconception that BIAB could load any VST and then you could just play along with it - for example you might want to load Absynth and play a few pads. Not so. The VST slot is for a gm synths only (I think). If I had succeeded in loading my piano then ALL the sounds would have been piano. When I tried it flashed in th box for a second or two then vanished. I have had to use MME for BIAB and Asio for a standalone (quality) Piano runnning outside the box - this works for what I need (I have not tried to record).
Have you tried MME.
Q2]Have you looked under Options MIDI/Audio set up Audio settings button? (bottom corner).
I have been advised to not select the MS wavetable synth even when the DXI is supposed to 'overide' it. Hve you tried ForteDXI? There is a trial version.
BIAB is a little ideosynchratic at times. I have hads to reinstall BIAB a couple of times - once because of weird driver issues - not the same as yours but giving weird Asio behaviours.
Your in good hands here with the other (far more experienced) posters, I hopew this is not irrelevent I generaly leave set up to engenerring types (like those on the forum) but I for one was not sure what you are trying to achieve set up wise.
BTW I got fantastic support here and at PGHQ to get it right.
Zero
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k
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Quote:
...and Echo Indigo on my laptop.
I also have the echo indigo card on my laptop. The ASIO drivers from Echo DON'T work with BiaB at any buffer settings. I don't know why but they don't. However, Asio4All works just fine with very low latency, about 6ms. So i suggest you download Asio4All and install and use it. Or you could use MME drivers if you can accept 130ms latency or so.
As to the problem of the 'in use by another program' message this is a known issue when you have no other soft synth than GS Wavetable installed. If you have another synth select it. If not there's a solution here. Scroll down to 'Common Problems and Solutions'.
Hope this helps.
BiaB 2013 b366, RB 2013 b4, WinXP Pro SP3, Toshiba M70, 1.8GHz 2GB RAM 100GB HD. Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, Ketron SD2. BiaB Wiki
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A problem solved by Mr Warren I suspect 
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k
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LOL I don't know about solved but I hope it can help a little. Knowing the ASIO drivers from Echo don't work should simplify his problems.
BiaB 2013 b366, RB 2013 b4, WinXP Pro SP3, Toshiba M70, 1.8GHz 2GB RAM 100GB HD. Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, Ketron SD2. BiaB Wiki
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Quote:
@Mac ... Yes, I understand how to change ASIO buffers. Please give me a target time in msecs so I can adjust the buffers accordingly. I would have though 1028 samples, about 56 msecs would have been adequate for any purpose. Normally when recording and not to cpu loaded, I'm using 256 samples or about 13 msecs.
It isn't as simple as just giving it a lot of headroom.
Sometimes it is a Timing Error, in which case the longer time/larger buffer may even be causing the problem or making it worse.
The only way I know to find out is to try the buffer settings one at a time, one step at a time and see what happens. Start with the next one up, likely 512.
--Mac
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Again, thanks to all ... the response is great!
@ G Curran ... ahhhh, no, I'm not reinstalling windows. I have about 7 audio programs up and running and playing nice as well as the Motu Timepiece working perfect with as well as the Emu X2Midi for 13 total external midi channels ... with nary another hardware or software glitch.
@ZeroZero ... well, I assumed any 16 voice multitimbral VSTi (that shows up and gets accepted by BIAB in the dialogs) would work.
What I want to do is use the VSTi for playing Karoke *.kar files ... as opposed to the CD and G karaoke files. BIAB should work fine as a karaoke player for those ... if my other issues are resolved. I've also go vanBasco's karaoke player, but that will only run the microsoft gs ... and I'd like better sounds. This is not why I bought 2010 ... I did that for the plugin capacity for my studio.
@ P Warren ... now that's a great 'heads up.' I'm very familiar with ASIO4All ... so we'll D/Ld it and see if that works.
It's 3pm PCT ... and I just now have some time to get into it. Let you know how things work out.
Prado
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Why didn't someone tell me about the driver wizard!!? LOL ...
Since I'm not worried about latency for playing the Karaoke (the words scroll with the music) I'm gold.
I couldn't get ASIO4ALL to work either ... so I stepped back to another 'full duplex' window driver and it works.
I think it's a toast to PCurran for tipping me off that there were issues with the indigo driver. Gotta think this is a BIAB issue, as I've never had that problem before with lots of different sound applications.
Still can't figure out why each time I open the DXi synth window through the options window and close it I crash ... but have been able to use the DXi synth button on the main prog window to access it.
I'm still confused about a lot of things ... haven't got my midi back ... but at least I'm running the softsynth.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapy Neeeeeeeeeew Year!
Prado
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Zero zero
When you want to use multiple VSTi's then it is time to move on to Realband with the project ..
any track can be assigned to any working VSTi
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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@ZeroZero TY ... but think I'll stick with Cubase 5 for that stuff for now. I've got so much time invested in learning that, that I've got no joy in learning a new program when there's still so many softsynths to learn, too. Since I'm so into PC with hardware and software, I don't think I'll ever get around to Logical ... though it would have been a good choice back in the day and is probably far the best bargain with its feature set of synths, sampler and plugins. Since Cubase is cross platform anyway, I'd probably stick with it if I ever had a Mac attack. That leaves Pro Tools, maybe, sort of ... I got an old Delta 44 lying around so I could always use the M-Audio version. I've also got Acid Pro under my belt and a pretty good handle on Ableton and Reason. That doesn't give me much incentive to learn RealBand. I really wanted BIAB for a sketch pad for midi files for Cubase.
The karaoke was an after thought.
Prado
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Quote:
LOL I don't know about solved but I hope it can help a little. Knowing the ASIO drivers from Echo don't work should simplify his problems.
Paul, Prado, did you try the latest Vista/Win 7 drivers from Echo? They came out December of 2009.
Hope that helps,
Ed
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Quote:
Paul, Prado, did you try the latest Vista/Win 7 drivers from Echo? They came out December of 2009.
Thanks but I'm running XP for now. I did look for new drivers for XP but without success. Seems I have the latest.
BiaB 2013 b366, RB 2013 b4, WinXP Pro SP3, Toshiba M70, 1.8GHz 2GB RAM 100GB HD. Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, Ketron SD2. BiaB Wiki
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Prado I am with you on Cubase, I have c5 here. I am still trying to see the point of RealBand for me as I have used Cubase for a decade or more. Will check it out, for now i am jamming with TruePiano and BIAB, its a real gas....
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k
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