Ensemble 6 stopped working - RME UFX, Win 10x64 - SOLVED

[S9DD]

(Windows 10 updates may be the root cause, but in case they're not..!)

The latest version of Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 has stopped working altogether, with a RME UFX and various USB MIDI devices, on Windows10 x64 Pro.  This has worked flawlessly until now.

As a control test, I have run it with Ableton 9.7 x64 and it works without any issues.

It *SEEMS* to be the interaction between the Panel (48kHz, 128byte buffer) and the Host preference (48kHz, 128byte buffer), when ASIO Fireface UFX is selected as the audio engine.  It reports it cannot start the audio engine?  I see no incoming MIDI activity either, yet you can see it in MIDI-OX.

The one time I have seen it work was 44.1kHz and 128byte, but no sound came out.

The error logs point to faulting plugin dlls - but it's more likely they got stuck because of the engine and are not the cause.

So far -
I downgraded to 1.98 of the RME USB driver - no good.  Upgraded back to 1.99.  Latest firmware is installed.
Renistalled Vienna - no good.
Repathed the USB cable via another port - no good.
Tried other clock settings - no good.
Nothing obvious in the event logs.

I am not sure why the ASIO interaction should have failed - it's been solid to now,  Help appreciated.

[Paul]

Hi S9DD, 

Do you want to send us those error messages as screenshots, and include the event/crash logs, if possible?

support@vsl.co.at

Are you using the Standalone version as a host for live performances or are you connecting it with Ableton Live?

Best, 
Paul

[S9DD]

Thanks Paul, I will send screen shots to you asap!

The changes were:
1. Vienna Ensemble Pro self-updates to 6.0.16068 (30 June 2017)
2. Win10x64 did some (big) updates (took ages), then switched off
3. On reboot VEPro cannot start ASIO, and does not process MIDI either

Noting
I can run Ableton Live x64 9.7 Suite on the same system, no problems
I can run VEPro 6.0.16068 on my other PC, a Win7x64 box with RME drivers v1.99 no problems

From this, I conclude something gets scrambled in Win10x64 on update
OR
VEPro is not trapping some new error (possibly)...

If I begin with the UFX switched off, I get:
"Audio Engine Error
(i) Could not start audio device ASIO : ASIO Fireface USB (Cannot detect asio channels)."

If I begin with the UFX switched on, after a few seconds, I get:
"Audio Engine Error
(i) Could not start audio device ASIO : ASIO Fireface USB (Device did not start correctly)."

There seems to be no correlation between the clock settings in VEPro and the Panel settings in the UFX, and once they part company, there is not a way to get them back in sync, even if you manually adjust the UFX. 

In Ableton Live, the UFX takes on the host settings.  This is not true in VEPro.  So, I wonder if this is the root of the issue, especially since VEPro retains the "frame" settings from last time, so it always boots up wanting to apply old settings.   If they got scrambled somehow, that'd do it.

If any more debugging information would be helpful, or want me to try specific tets, please let me know.  I am free this morning.

I was using the standalone, which is great for live playing.
VEPro is NOT in use as a plugin in Ableton (yet!).

May I ask, where I can find the crash/event logs?  There is nothing in the System/Events I can see directly with VEPro, although there were some faulting plugins.

[Paul]

Hi S9DD, 

The crash files can be found here:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\VSL\Vienna Ensemble Pro\crashdumps\app

(this folder is a hidden system folder, make sure that you see it: Organize => Folder and Search Options => "View" Tab) 

Did you try with a different ASIO driver yet, e.g., from www.asio4all.com?

You can also delete VE PRO's preference files under "User/yourname/AppData/Roaming/VSL, this will reset VE PRO. 

Best, 
Paul

[S9DD]

 

Paul,

Deleted the .ini file and that "cleared" whatever was causing the problem.

I will email the log/dump/ini file for you to check.

thanks
David

PS. useful little button to add the the UI?!
PPS. is there a way to know if the engine is running or not on the UI?  I found it hard to know in this debug.

[Paul]

Hi S9DD, 

Good to hear that this is fixed for now. Let's see if we can improve this, maybe we can also make it clearer whether the engine is on or not. 

Thanks for your input!

Best,
Paul