It's Back! Crackle Crackle, Burble Burble

Cantabile
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Well I thought my troubles were over, and had a couple of sessions without a problem, hence my announcement a week or two ago. But it is back, and worse than ever!

I had got as far as version 4201, and the crackling (or burbling, as someone described it) was back. Mostly it was triggered by a pause in playing for few minutes, but was also appearing during playing, which is not too helpful for a live performance app. I have also found that it can be triggered by editing a Kontakt 7 library from within a set list. More often than not the set list will have NI’s Session Bassist Icon Bass and the Wavestate Native vst included, although not necessarily being used in the song when the problem lights up. I have noticed on the Monitor panel it shows the “Time Load”, which normally runs at round 35% to 50% suddenly will jump up to around 150%, and is rarely possible to get the “score” back down again. Restarting the engine doesn’t solve it either, so i have to either close Cantabile down and go back in, or even do a complete restart.

Peering back into the past, I did have an issue with the Wavestate Native in that it would cause a crash if I edited it from within Cantabile, but I got used to a work around by doing any editing in its standalone version, then brining it back into Cantabile. That problem actually no longer happens, but I have mentioned it because Native is still around when the problem happens. Also, I have swopped Icon Bass for Shreddage’s Fretless Bass, but that didn’t provide a cure either.

I have reverted all the way back to Cantabile version 4171, and I have just finished a successful session with it. Whether it remains so I don’t know, but am going off on holiday tomorrow so I won’t be on the keys for a while.

At the moment I will stay on the older version for some time now, unless a new fix appears. My guess is that it is a Kontakt issue, especially with Brad having a fight with that system recently.

So it is bye from me few a few days. See you all soon!

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I do have a problem with Wavestate and Modwave Native in that sometimes they seem to go into a high CPU usage state that is only solved by opening the plugin, changing patches and changing it back again. Swapping Cantabile songs makes no difference. Such a shame as they are two of my favoured plugins.

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If I remember correctly you had a hardware Wavestate as well as the Native one. How easy is it to transfer patches from Native to the hardware Wavestate?

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Hi,

Yes I did, but only because there was not a VST version at the time I wanted a Wavestate and gave up on the SE version at the time (I never liked the 3 octave no aftertouch form factor). I sold it when I was happy with the Wavestate Native and that it was fully integrated and to part fund my Yamaha Montage to Montage M upgrade. In the year since selling it, I have not regretted it, other than this performance glitch.

In terms of transferring data, it’s easy. Save a bundle file in the Wavestate Editor/Librarian and import that into Wavestate Native

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And the touch feeling, ultra cheap keyboard.

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I thought I had replied, but can’t find it. It was to thank you for suggesting the problem with Native. It transpires that it is also what seems to be affecting me as well. I constructed a new set list for next Sunday which has 3 instances of Native in the latter half of the set list. And yes, the crackle appeared, so I turned off all three instances and the problem was gone. Re your second message, I did then try advancing to the next performance and then back again, and it too removed the crackling, so thanks for that. It becomes a fix, but not too practical in a live setting, as i am not playing atmospheric music.

My question about moving data was in terms of moving it from Native to the hardware Wavestate - a consideration is to buy one as a second keyboard, or maybe even just a module so that removes load from my laptop processor. However, as you may have surmised by now, I play in a worship band at church, so am not keen on my rig having too much prominence. I too intend a conversation with Korg about this, so that they may get the idea that it is not an isolated instance. In the meantime I am embarking a creating a load of new states for each song that uses a Native instance so that it is only powered up when I need to use it.

Thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated.

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I have sent a preliminary request to Korg, and had this reply:

Hi David,

It sounds like Cantabile might be keeping the wavestate native plugin active and constantly sending MIDI notes to it even when it is not outputting sound. This would result in the plugin using CPU resources and the more polyphony it requires, the more resources it will use.

In that case, there may be settings within Cantabile that could help to bypass plugin processing when not in use.

Alternatively, the software developer might also be able to suggest other options that could help with this.

On the wavestate native itself, the only setting that could be adjusted related to this is Max # of Notes under the Synthesis → Setup page. Using a setting as low as appropriate for the part you are playing should limit CPU usage as well.

Best wishes,

Saulo Valerio

Korg UK & Ireland

+44 (0)1908 304664. Followed by my reply:

Thanks Saulo for your reply. Indeed Cantabile can keep actually all vsts up and running. It allows sny combination of vsts for each verse, chorus, bridge etc so that they are all ready and waiting, but it only sends motes to the active “state” ie verse, chorus, etc.

But this phenomenon can happen with only one instance of Native. Also the situation never occurs with an abundance of other vsts up and running - as many as 30 in my case. Also, the problem can occur after a pause in playing of a few minutes, or making an adjustment to a Kontakt library, with no playing at all.

What I have done pending a solution is to switch Native off in all instances until it is needed, then switching it off again when it has done it’s “thing” as I progress through the song.

Dave Ellis

Sent from my iPhone

The way things are at the moment is that Wavestate Native is turned off both in any song, and in the entire set list, until I reach the state where it is needed, where it is turned on. As I move to a state where Native is no longer needed, it is turned off again. It is a bit laborious having to do this when putting set lists together, but it works for me.

I have gone back to an earlier version of Cantabile (4191, I think), but after this weekend I will try again with the latest version, as I strongly think I have arrived at a way around the problem.

Thanks again for your help!

Dave

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I know I have had the problem when I am not “constantly sending notes” at it.

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I had cracks last summer, replaced cables, updated software, even swapped computers, and you know what… it was all about cleaning the usb ports on my older laptop :slight_smile: not only with contact spray, but also physically with an ear tip.
Real story ! :slight_smile:

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