I’m having an issue with some VI presets not loading properly when I switch to the rackspace they are in within a set list.
For example I have an vst block with a IK Sampletank with a, say, orchestral drum sound. I have it saved as a GP user preset. When I switch to that rackspace moving to a new song on the setlist, the rackspace is loaded, the VI is there and the preset is there but when I try to play it there is no sound. I can see in the wiring view that midi is travelling from my keyboard to the vst block then nothing gets past that point.
When I open the vst and try to play on the vsts own keyboard - no sound. I have to reload the user saved preset for it to properly load and the signal (wiring) completes and the sound is played properly.
This is only happening on some VI’s, eg some instances of SampleTank or Zenology or Juno60, but it’s intermittent - not occurring with one specific VI (I turn off wifi and make sure my Roland Cloud manager is up to date before shows to make sure I avoid the “phone home issue so it’s not that). Even within Roland Cloud VIs some are working fine and anothers aren’t (even within the same rackspace) so it’s not a “Roland phone home” issue.
I think the issue is that I have my VI libraries on an external SSD (mounted on my MacBook M4’s thunderbolt port so it has a very fast throughput) and there is a lag in reading the VI library when the rack space is loaded. I don’t have enough internal storage on the MacBook to have everything on the internal drive.
I have turned on predictive loading so that the rack space isn’t loaded immediately at gig file startup.
I have a show that opens tomorrow night and am freaking out that when I switch to a rackspace I start playing and no sound is played and I have to faff around and reload the GP user preset before I can start playing (this occurred at the dress rehearsal last night - it was somewhat embarrassing to say the least….
Anyone have a similar issue where they can give me some tips or tricks?
BTW I don’t think it’s an issue with predictive loading as I can see the loading status under the setlist/rackspace panel in setlist view and the predictive loading has gone green way before I switch to the next song on the setlist.
Maybe another option is to have 2 gig files, for each half of the show and swap out gig1 at intermission. This might lighten the load in terms of RAM and I avoid predictive loading?
Unfortunately I only recently turned predictive loading on because I was concerned RAM consumption with the gig file taking 20 of the 24GB and running into paging issues on the MacBook. I’m pretty sure my current issue was around before I turned PL on, but I will take your advice and try it with PL turned back off, but will split the gig files in half to avoid memory consumption.
With this gig it’s a theatre show so no chance of playing out of sequence (phew!) and safe to split into two.
I also export all my songs, but as a form of backup. Maybe if I find a re-occurring offending rackspace I can test by creating a new gig and import just that song (and associated rackspace) in and see if the problem persists.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean the plugin is 100% ready. Predictive loading gives you the potential to use more plugins and/or samples than would normally fit in RAM. In predictive loading mode, a plugin which is being reused has to be reinitialized as part of the loading process. What that means is that GP will send the necessary state information to the plugin. When the plugin acknowledges that the state has been received and returns control to GP.
When you switch to a new rackspace or song that is beyond the range of whatever predictive loading value you have set, as far as GP is concerned, the plugin is ready. However, some plugins, notably ones requiring new samples to be loaded, may continue loading those samples in the background and until those samples are loaded, the plugin probably won’t work. Worse, a poorly implemented plugin might even crash the system if MIDI messages are sent to it during that time (that doesn’t happen too often but we have seen it on occasion).
Now, when you’re following a setlist, those plugins that will be used in the future and are loading in the background generally have enough time to finish whatever they need to do before you actually reach the rackspace or song that uses that plugin. But there’s no guarantee. There can’t be, because the host has no way to determine that the plugin is still doing something.
I follow the setlist strictly during the show, with the default PL setting of 5, so theoretically there should be plenty of time for the song/rackspace to load as I’m not skipping ahead.
Having said that, I am now nervous before the show so may jump to a song with a record of not loading properly which could actually be exacerbating the problem?
What are your thoughts about splitting my gig in half, loading the first before the show and the second during intermission, and turning Predictive Loading off? That way I can run through all the songs before the show and during intermission to check they have loaded properly?
That is a terrific idea. It only takes a few minutes to load a gig file so you should be fine. I would QUIT Gig Performer at the intermission and then restart it with the second half.
Predictive loading is very clever and can work well a lot of the time but it’s not a panacea for all possible situations.
Happens to me occasionally. At the moment it’s Arturia’s Mini Moog. Sometime when I go to a certain rackspace it’s just not producing any sound. If I click ‘Revert Racksape’ It then works fine. I find if it doesnt work when I first select a rackspace then it won’t work unless its kick started.
I also sometimes find the Hammond B-3X VST3 doesnt load the saved IKM preset, although the sound is correct. It’s like GP is putting all the drawer bars in the right position, but it hasn’t actually called up the Preset I had saved in the Racksapce. Doesnt happen a lot, and again, reverting the rackspace seems to fix this.
I split the gig into ACT1 and ACT2 files, went through all the vsts and presets and saved all the VI patches and also saved them as GP User presets.
After shutting the MacBook down, starting up and connecting to my rig I
1 - loaded the ACT1 gig, went through all songs with no issues.
2 - Closed GP down
3 - Opened GP up and loaded ACT2 gig went through all songs with no issues.
Opening night tonight and for the first time during all rehearsals (since Feb) feel comfortable that my VI stability issue is under control, and I have a way to fix anything quickly if I do run into anything during the show.
Thanks to the community and to DHJ for the support
