Reading A CDG disc is sooooo slow.

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hey All,
Don/t know whether this has been addressed anywhere in other threads, I haven't found it, if it has.
Putting either a commercial CDG or one containing songs on a self made compilation, the time taken to read the CD is very long and each title has to be transferred individually to the write side so it will play.
They all eventually transfer.
I am sure lots of us try out our discs using Microstudio, although I know the intention is not for Microstudio to be used as an Hoster type programme.
It used to be so simple, you put in the disc, wrote in the songs you wished to keep and compiled a titled custom listing which was sent to the Songlist file, both as individual files and a custom one.
Anyone who has used Microstudio for any length of time was used to the way it worked.
Is it only me that baulks at doing anything in the latest Microstudio version now it has "Improved"?
Also bin. might be the industry standard nowadays but I got so used to using the CDG. extension and I don't think MTU has quite got all the different extensions running as well as they would like to think they have.
I still use an older version of Microstudio if I am doing any serious work and wonder how many others do the same
Perhaps I'm too long in the tooth to go with everything modern.
This is an observation and not a criticism, before anyone jumps down my throat.
Regards from across the pond.
Garry

[ddouglass]

Garry, have you gotten the last upgrade (3.004)? Big difference because they have a much better software read code error correction.

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hey Dale,
Yes I am actually using it now, it doesn't seem to be any faster than the last 2 or 3 updates.
Do you think my player may be having some trouble of its own?
It seems to work fine with all the other MTU programmes except. Microstudio.
Regards from across the pond.
Garry

[ddouglass]

What kind of drive? Also what kind of shape is the CD in?

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hey Dale,
My drive is a Plextor PX 760A,
I have other drives but have not tried them with the latest version of Microstudio, but will try one of them out to see if it is my drive which is the problem.
Have tried a number of discs, some in pristine condition, i.e only played once to transfer music onto hard drive and then stored.
All discs take between 20 to 25 seconds per song to transfer after initially a minute and a half to read the disc to put up the disc numbers.
So 20 songs will take amost 10 minutes.
Once in the playlist side they play immediately.
The older version of Microstudio used to recognized all my discs almost immediately.
Regards from across the pond.
Garry

[kedmison]

Same here Dale. I've been a long time MTU user. Micro & Hoster. I still use the Micro 3.126. Tried the 3.004 and it still takes too dang long to do anything. As I have said before, I don't need anything but the cdg format. So like Gary, the new & improved hasn't helped. And I'm using a MTU laptop and ALL installed updates. It works; but not anywhere near the same speed as the older version.

Kelly

[Ernie]

I wish I hadn't blown away the old version. Overall, it was just easier to use. Personally, I think MTU should have incorporated the new things into the old version..... New doesn't always mean better. But, that's only my opinion.

[admin]

Well, there are a lot of changes to come that simply couldn't be added into the Microstudio 2.6x code. Heck, it evolved over the past 10 years! It's an albatross.

Also, in 3.004 we now save the My Songs list in the Folder that is open. Thus, we only need to build it once, and then it opens instantly. The Refresh button will rebuild it if you add songs into a Folder from outside Microstudio.

Hey guys... did you realize that in 3.004 you can BURN KMA FILES to a CDG disc? I guess everyone who has asked for this for years really didn't want it?

We are testing 3.100 now (Beta 1 just went out to our testers). It is replacing the CD/DVD drive access and identification code. One of the outcomes of this new code is we will be able to play DIRECT FROM CD. When that works, adding a track to the Playlist and playing will take a few seconds.

Also, 3.100 auto-identifies all drives from their own firmware data, meaning it will work with any drive now, and ANY drive to come out in the furure... no more waiting for MTU to "catch up" with an upgrade from an external vendor.

We have lots of upgrades planned and now the new upgraded platform can handle them. We are well underway with Version 4.0... live volume controls, while playing you can ..... then ...., live .... like Hoster, live ...., ...., ...., .... while playing or ......, just to mention a few. Uh Oh... I'll have to deny it if you accuse me of saying these things!

So... what were you saying about not wanting to use the "new" code?

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hey Admin,
Don't get on your highhorse and accuse us of being ungrateful for the additions to Microstudio, 99.9% of us only have good things to say about all MTU products.
It was because Microstudio hadn't evolved that we were all so comfortable with it, perhaps we became blase about it.
I only went from 2.400 to 2.613 because it was the only way my new Plextor
760A drive was recognized.
I personally don't want to write kma. files to cdg, but I'm sure loads out there do.
Your statement about working with any drive could be misleading to a newbie, as the drive first of all must be able to read karaoke files.
How many times has this forum had moans from people buying drives which claimed to read karaoke files only to find that they didn't?
I bought a Plextor 230 which was supposed to read and write karaoke but wasn't recognized by Microstudio, so even experience can sometimes let us down.
One of the biggest gripes has been the lack of compatibility with Microstudio and the Hoster song database, which has been debated in these threads over a long time.
I have always believed that if it works don't try to fix it, but I respect your
work to constantly improve your products.
Regards from across the pond
Garry

[Ernie]

Just a thought... Looking back at my career with Procter & Gamble. Duncan Hines was a great product, but they kept improving it to the point where it wasn't the same product, and people quit buying it.... They finally went back to the old way of making it. Since you have the capabilities of doing polls on your website..... utilize it! Before you incorporate something new into the software, why not take a poll to see if it's really wanted. You have super products..... Please don't mess it up!!