missing KMA files in 'My Files' & slow Lyrics View

[RandyMcCharles]

I have only used Microstudio once before and had no trouble burning a CDG from KMA files. This was on a previous release. (I think the one just before 4.20). I don't remember seeing any issues like the ones below.

After upgrading to 4.20 I started it up to play with a bit.
3 problems I noticed:

1. I have all of my kma files in a single folder on an external HD. Hoster generated and sees all of them. Microstudio doesn't see all of them. I have verified that it sees none of my *custom assembly* files (many of which I burned to CGD using the previous verson). I will do a more thorough look to see if there are other conditions for files not being seen, but thought I had enough info to ask about it.

2. The lyrics view window is painfully slow. The song is half way played by the time the title screen is displayed. This happens with any brand I play and regardless of whether it is a KMA file or a CDG.

3. The CD drive test failed my Plextor disk drive that the Hoster test passed. I manually flagged the drive as good and it worked.

I am using the current releases of Hoster & Microstudio on XP with 1 GB memory (the hardware won't take more memory). The PC is configured to run Hoster on dual displays and does so perfectly. I am only having troubles with Microstudio and I don't believe I saw any of these issues with the previous release.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by RandyMcCharles

I have only used Microstudio once before and had no trouble burning a CDG from KMA files. This was on a previous release. (I think the one just before 4.20). I don't remember seeing any issues like the ones below.

After upgrading to 4.20 I started it up to play with a bit.
3 problems I noticed:

1. I have all of my kma files in a single folder on an external HD. Hoster generated and sees all of them. Microstudio doesn't see all of them. I have verified that it sees none of my *custom assembly* files (many of which I burned to CGD using the previous verson). I will do a more thorough look to see if there are other conditions for files not being seen, but thought I had enough info to ask about it.
Do you get a message saying some files would not process at the end of the refresh?

2. The lyrics view window is painfully slow. The song is half way played by the time the title screen is displayed. This happens with any brand I play and regardless of whether it is a KMA file or a CDG.
What kind of computer (Desktop or Laptop)?
Processor speed?
What video card and how much memory on it?

3. The CD drive test failed my Plextor disk drive that the Hoster test passed. I manually flagged the drive as good and it worked.
It could be the drive is no longer writing discs which could effect the test. What Model of Plextor?

I am using the current releases of Hoster & Microstudio on XP with 1 GB memory (the hardware won't take more memory). The PC is configured to run Hoster on dual displays and does so perfectly. I am only having troubles with Microstudio and I don't believe I saw any of these issues with the previous release.

This is the first report of anything like this and we did not see anything like this in testing prior to release.

[RandyMcCharles]

I was quite surprised to see any of this as well. When I used the earlier version of Microstudio on the same hardware I didn't notice anything awry. I am at work right now and will have to get more specific specs when I get home tonight.

But I can say I got no errors when reading in the 'My Music' list. I also sorted it in different ways to try to see what was missing. When looking at a CDG, even a *custom assembly* CDG, it listed all the tracks and played the songs and even recorded the music to the hard disk.

It is a DELL desktop and is tight on memory. I believe the video card steals system memory. I could try disabling the 2nd display. I did have to increase the resolution to get the Microstudio window to display properly and that would take more memory. I don't remember having to do that on the earlier release.

Related to the slow lyrics view, the entire Microstudio windows jitters as if it is constantly being repainted.

=======
After upgrading to 4.20 I started it up to play with a bit.
3 problems I noticed:

1. I have all of my kma files in a single folder on an external HD. Hoster generated and sees all of them. Microstudio doesn't see all of them. I have verified that it sees none of my *custom assembly* files (many of which I burned to CGD using the previous verson). I will do a more thorough look to see if there are other conditions for files not being seen, but thought I had enough info to ask about it.
Do you get a message saying some files would not process at the end of the refresh?

2. The lyrics view window is painfully slow. The song is half way played by the time the title screen is displayed. This happens with any brand I play and regardless of whether it is a KMA file or a CDG.
What kind of computer (Desktop or Laptop)?
Processor speed?
What video card and how much memory on it?

3. The CD drive test failed my Plextor disk drive that the Hoster test passed. I manually flagged the drive as good and it worked.
It could be the drive is no longer writing discs which could effect the test. What Model of Plextor?

I am using the current releases of Hoster & Microstudio on XP with 1 GB memory (the hardware won't take more memory). The PC is configured to run Hoster on dual displays and does so perfectly. I am only having troubles with Microstudio and I don't believe I saw any of these issues with the previous release.

[RandyMcCharles]

I tried a few more things last night and think I found the root of the problem.

1. I keep display resolution for Hoster at 1024x768. Microstudio fields overlapped at that resolution making controls hard to hit, so yesterday when I had problems I had raised the main screen resolution to 1152x 864 but left the lyrics display screen at 1024x768. However, this is what caused the very slow lyrics screen update. When I set them both to 1152x864 the problem went away and screen repaints dropped to about 1 screen repaint every 1-2 seconds. I noticed 2 Microstudio field areas still overlapped at the edges, so I set the resolution for both displays to the maximum 1280x1024; no fields overlapped and repaints dropped to a couple of times during the song, mostly at the very beginning.
Another odd thing was that the "If you have never used Microstudio 2.613..." msg appeared when I ran Microstudio after setting the maximum resolution. It did not come up when I ran at the 2 lower video resolutions.

2. At the medium resolution (1152x864) I refreshed 'My Music' and it grabbed everything, so I am no longer missing files. It did report 1 bad kma and then crashed (I clicked yes to send the report). Using Hoster I looked up the bad song and the header info does look corrupted, so I'll delete it and re-import it.

3. Lastly, at the high resolution (1280x1024) I retested my disk drive and it reported as good.

So except for the few screen repaints per song, everything appears to be working correctly at a higher screen resolution. I could not find any recommendation for screen resolution in teh Microstudio manual.

My system specs: DELL Dimension 2.2 GHz 1GM RAM with a LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1633S drive (not Plextor; that was my old drive.)
The primary display adapter in an on-board Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV 64 MB
The 2ndary display adpater is a Matrox Graphic Mystic PCI 4 MB

[ddouglass]

Randy, for one thing Microstudio does not support a secondary display. Yes you can move it over on to an extended desktop, but this is no longer supported for you to do this. Microstudio is supposed to be for working with your music/karaoke files and not for a show situation.
That said resolution especially different resolutions can cause sync problems, but not sure re-testing the drive and refreshing again in any specific resolution would make a difference. Resolution isn't a big problem for either Hoster or Microstudio except that they should be the same.
Looking at your specs, if it is correct tells me your screen repaint is being caused by a secondary graphics card with way to little memory. 4 MB??
By the way the error message you sent was going to Microsoft and not MTU. That is like sending it to the trash as they don't pay any attention to those.

[RandyMcCharles]

All makes sense.

I am running Microstudio on the same machine as Hoster. The 4 MB 2nd display is where Hoster displays the lyrics. At 16-bit 1024x768. Hoster has no screen repaints on either display.

When I start Microstudio, it also opens a lyrics display on the 2nd monitor. I am unable to drag the lyrics window to the primary display. I am pretty sure I tried disabling the 2nd display to force the lyrics window to the primary display, but ended up with no lyrics display. (I'll test that again tonight.) The repaint probably occurs on both displays, but is noticable on the 16 MB primary display. I am not concerned about the flickering if it doesn't interfere with the music.

The reason I want to have a lyrics display on Microstudio is to try out the record with microphone feature. I am anticipating this feature in a future release of Hoster, but may have some projects (not shows) where I wish to record vocals over musics before the feature is available in Hoster.

I am also looking at ordering a notebook PC from MTU in August, so the desktop will be retired.