Oh, the reason why is because I often switch between two different audio interfaces (the Scarlett some of the time, and VoiceMeeter Banana some of the time). Back when I wasn’t using multiple instances, I would just start up GP, select the correct interface, and then load the gig. But now that I’m planning on having a handful of instances, I don’t want to have to go through that process multiple times during the rush to get set up on stage. Therefore, I’ll have a set of instances with one interface selected, and another set of instances with the other interface selected, and I’ll run one of two BAT files to start up the correct set of instances for whichever interface I’m using.
For that reason, even the “main” instance has to have two alternate instances, one for each interface.
Thanks for your help and patience, everyone. I’m realising that this issue is more complicated than I thought.
I just rebooted my Windows 11 machine, and started both the “main” and “pianos” instances, and now the problem has gone away: they’re both receiving MIDI from the Scarlett at the same time with no issue. But I’m certain that the problem as I’ve described it above was happening earlier, so now I’m at a loss to replicate it predictably.
You can do that by duplicating your gig file also—one for one interface and one for the other. Then your two .bat files would load GP with one of the gig files, and an -in=“xxx” line for the instance with the interface that matched the one from the gig file loaded. Does that make sense?
I’m having trouble following. Let’s say I just got home from rehearsal, and at the rehearsal studio I use the Scarlett, but at home I use VoiceMeeter. The gig file (using the Scarlett) was modified during the rehearsal, and now I want to load it at home and keep working on it (using VoiceMeeter). You’re saying I should make a copy of the gig file? Why?
I think there’s no need to try to reproduce this problem, unless you run into this often. My advice would be to always shutdown Windows instead of letting it sleep. Windows was notorious for having driver issues when waking up (most of the time not Microsoft’s fault, but poorly written 3rd party drivers). It’s better nowadays, but I wouldn’t rely on it.
I always shutdown and powerup my laptop. No sleeping on the job!
It doesn’t make much difference in loading times, because Windows always does some sort of hibernating instead of shutting down. Only ‘restarting’ reloads windows completely.
(although there’s an option to change this behavior).
I didn’t notice…if the machine was using sleep rather than being shut down, then most definitely all bets are off. I’ve seen so many issues with hibernation (etc.) in the past, I would never use it.
That may be but when it comes to stuff with device drivers (including MIDI/Audio stuff), your mileage will vary depending on who implemented those drivers. It’s fine for such things as email, word processing, spreadsheets, but I wouldn’t trust it for anything that requires peripherals and drivers.
Generally I do always freshly restart my laptop before a gig, but right now I’m wrestling with a frustrating audio-related incompatibility between my laptop (Dell XPS) and my interface (Scartlett 3rd gen) which means that I’m frequently restarting the interface or restarting GP in the middle of a song. I haven’t pinpointed the audio issue yet, but the MIDI port issue is compounding the problem. I might just have to ditch the Scarlett and try a different interface.
Hm… i’ve been using a Scarlett Solo (3rd gen) for quite a while without issues (on diffrent PC’s WIN10/11).
Have you tried to tweak the power settings for the USB device(s) and/or tried a powered USB hub?
I think it’s specifically an issue with the Dell XPS line of laptops. Today I wiped my laptop and installed the vanilla Windows 11 distro from the Microsoft website, in an effort to get rid of all the Dell bloatware. Hopefully that will fix the audio issues! (Sadly, the first time I ran Windows Update, it immediately installed Waves MaxxAudio, which was specifically something I was trying to avoid. I had uninstalled it before, and I’ve uninstalled it again.)
It’s sad, because I bought this laptop two years ago specifically to use with Gig Performer, but all this time I’ve had to keep using my 7-year-old laptop (which works just fine with the Scarlett) instead because of these problems. Finally, now that I’ve installed Omnisphere, the RAM and CPU and SSD on the old laptop are no longer keeping up with things so I’m forced to try to get the Dell working reliably or else buy a new computer. I hope the clean install solves it!
