Conquistador.
druidFrom what I’ve seen so far, this sort of thing is done for two reasons:
First, when it is a company pushing for a release, and the programmers have no choice. Sometimes, the company pushing is a partner company (a big-time audio company like Steinberg, or Cakewalk, for example only). Luckily, Frits is not in this situation at this time.
Second, when the small group or even individual if there is only one person working on the project, has a release schedule which they stick by that is regular, for instance the good old weekly updates Jorgen used to do for energyXT. This also includes the darker side of this, where the person is rushing themselves for a release, desperate to appease themselves (from boredom or something else?) or the masses waiting and hungering for a program. Frits does not do it quite this way either, I don’t think.
Since Frits doesn’t seem to fit in either of these boats (which is another reason why I chose to come over here from energyXT and since I can still use both anyway! :D) I think there would be no problem fixing such things for him. No one is pushing him to release that is paying him serious money, and I don’t think he would feel particularly rushed on his own schedule either.. maybe.
Well, this is how I see it. So my feeling is it will get fixed! Of course… *ahem* I happen to have not been around here very long so… Some of you long-time inhabitants would have better idea than me. 😳
ConquistadorHi druid,
@druid wrote:
From what I’ve seen so far, this sort of thing is done for two reasons:
First, when it is a company pushing for a release, and the programmers have no choice. Sometimes, the company pushing is a partner company (a big-time audio company like Steinberg, or Cakewalk, for example only). Luckily, Frits is not in this situation at this time.
Correct yes. Frits has no pressure from a publisher, marketing department, or distributor.
Second, when the small group or even individual if there is only one person working on the project, has a release schedule which they stick by that is regular, for instance the good old weekly updates Jorgen used to do for energyXT. This also includes the darker side of this, where the person is rushing themselves for a release, desperate to appease themselves (from boredom or something else?) or the masses waiting and hungering for a program. Frits does not do it quite this way either, I don’t think.
It is certainly the reverse of user pressure here. The remarkable speed with which fixes have appeared in Podium attracted and keeps me interested in the product.
I have read this many times in different places “pretty much any host provides a more than capable environment for professional, commercial grade productions” with that in mind reliability becomes a key factor as one has all the basic key features covered in pretty much every host these days.
In a crowded host market rock solid reliability and fast fixes funnily enough are not that common or as common as we would all like. (A key opportunity for Podium to stand out).
Podium’s time frame for fixes have started to slip a bit. There was another bug that was not addressed until the end of 1.95’s dev cycle (Aug to Nov) not deliberately though of course…and to be fair Frits did apologise but things might be slipping again.
Even Cakewalk to their credit with the Uber feature rich Sonar get fixes out quicker than 3 months. Ableton even as well.
Since Frits doesn’t seem to fit in either of these boats (which is another reason why I chose to come over here from energyXT and since I can still use both anyway! :D) I think there would be no problem fixing such things for him. No one is pushing him to release that is paying him serious money, and I don’t think he would feel particularly rushed on his own schedule either.. maybe.
Exactly yes. He has none of the pressure most devs have.
Well, this is how I see it. So my feeling is it will get fixed! Of course… *ahem* I happen to have not been around here very long so… Some of you long-time inhabitants would have better idea than me.
Defintely Frits will address present issues. It was just the timeframe that myself and sam c were concerned about. 😉 it seems strange in a way but reliability can be *the* reason why one buys and continues to use a host. Especially in a crowded host market.
I have read many comments on the net about some host users being ready to pay for a more stable release for some hosts.
What are 90% of host related threads about..? Problems, problems and more problems.
Very little of that here so far but that state of affairs has to be maintained or things will head down that route here as well.
All the features in the world are useless if a host can’t keep up. Less, with high reliability will result in far more productivity compared to more features that are totally unreliable.
I think Podium can remain very reliable but only if certain fixes are not stretched over months needlessly. Reliability (quicker fixes) are a key selling point for Podium not just a user preference. Without a huge marketing budget for magazine adds e.t.c every unique selling point counts especially with so much competition out there.
druidWell what you have said more or less is the impression I got which I was attempting to state in short, and I feel like there is a good chance Frits would do that in the next update is what I meant. I think a bit of slippage at some point with updates is inevitable, but Frits seems to be doing pretty well so far!
I’m surprised to hear Cakewalk and Ableton do this.
Well anyway, I’m looking forward to watching Podium grow! I’m still looking forward to watching my previous host grow too, but it seems to have decided to mostly halt. I wonder if it’s in its late teens, has grown full height but its maturity is stunted and is being stubborn. 😆
Conquistador@druid wrote:
I wonder if it’s in its late teens, has grown full height but its maturity is stunted and is being stubborn. 😆
😛 😆
smueskeHi, I hope this is the right place for this.
I just installed Podium and am trying to wrap my brain around it.
I am having a problem in that I can’t load my VSTs. I’ve identified the problem VST as Halion 3. The problem is that the list populates all the way to Halion 3, then the application just disappears. The next time I load it, there are no VSTs listed. I tried just loading the VST by itself and the same behavior happens, the application just disappears. Now I could just rename the dll, I suppose, but I’d like to be able to use it in other apps.
Is there an exclude function, or some way that I can manually not use that particular instrument in this app? Any ideas on a workaround?
Steve
Zynewave@smueske wrote:
I am having a problem in that I can’t load my VSTs. I’ve identified the problem VST as Halion 3. The problem is that the list populates all the way to Halion 3, then the application just disappears. The next time I load it, there are no VSTs listed. I tried just loading the VST by itself and the same behavior happens, the application just disappears. Now I could just rename the dll, I suppose, but I’d like to be able to use it in other apps.
Is there an exclude function, or some way that I can manually not use that particular instrument in this app? Any ideas on a workaround?
Hi Steve,
When Podium scans for plugins, it writes the full path of the currently scanned plugin to a file named “PluginScanLog.txt”. This file is located at: “C:Documents and Settings[user]Application DataZynewavePodium” folder, depending on which Windows OS you use. It’s the same folder where the Podium.ini file is located. If the plugin scanning causes Podium to crash, then the next time you start Podium you should see a messagebox with “The previous Podium session was terminated while scanning the plugin:” and then the filename of the plugin. Podium will then move the plugin to a quarantine list. Did you see this message box?
Otherwise you can create the PluginQuarantine.txt file manually, and add a line with the filename (with full path) of the Halion3 plugin dll. The PluginQuarantine.txt file should be located in the same folder as listed above.
smueskeIf the plugin scanning causes Podium to crash, then the next time you start Podium you should see a messagebox with “The previous Podium session was terminated while scanning the plugin:” and then the filename of the plugin. Podium will then move the plugin to a quarantine list. Did you see this message box?
No, the application just disappeared, and by that I mean it just vanished. Then when I open Podium, it goes on to the next step as though all the plug-ins are loaded (configuring the arrangement).
In the quarantine file, do I have to enter anything other than just the full path to the dll?
Zynewave@smueske wrote:
No, the application just disappeared, and by that I mean it just vanished. Then when I open Podium, it goes on to the next step as though all the plug-ins are loaded (configuring the arrangement).
Maybe it was just the Podium window that was hidden by the plugin, rather than a crash. Did you verify that the Podium.exe actually exited?
In the quarantine file, do I have to enter anything other than just the full path to the dll?
Just add a line like:
C:Vstpluginssynth.dll
smueskeMaybe it was just the Podium window that was hidden by the plugin, rather than a crash. Did you verify that the Podium.exe actually exited?
I didn’t check to see if the process itself was terminated. I’ll try again tonight and do it once before I write the quarantine file. However, there were no windows open. I only open one app at a time on my music computer and when it disappeared, there was nothing there but the desktop. It literally just vanished.
Thanks for the workaround and the clarification on the quarantine file entry. Much appreciated.
Steve
druidI had a problem similar if not the same to this. I’m sorry, I didn’t think to mention it…
I found that multiple plugins would cause Zynewave to just vanish. I also didn’t check the process list (didn’t occur to me for some reason), but there was no window at all. Anyway, only one plugin did it end up quarantining.
So, it seemed to happen around the same time. I was scanning my entire VST directory, inc. FX and synths. I decided to add it one folder at a time (first all synths, then FX by genre (reverb, delay, distortion etc.)). Then most of them worked! Zynewave did not vanish.
This was with version 1.97 though, I do not know if it would happen with 1.98 but I could check if it helps?
Anyway my suggestions is, if you’re importing lots of VST plugins at once, try and import them in chunks. I did it and almost all the “problem” plugins worked after that. The ones that didn’t (except for one I think) I expected not to work, and I deleted. 😛 (poorly coded free ones).
rinxaiI too had Podium vanishing a couple of times due to plugin misbehavior. I checked the task manager and no process for Podium was listed. I don’t remember which plug was causing this, but it was probably a poorly coded freeware. The problem was resolved by removing the plugin.
H-manI think this might be real.
Last night I was using Nucleum, pretty much just creating a new preset, clicked on the save button and BOOMF! ….desktop.
Never seen it before, ever. Podium 1.98, Nucleum 0.93.
Ben
Zynewave@H-man wrote:
Last night I was using Nucleum, pretty much just creating a new preset, clicked on the save button and BOOMF! ….desktop.
Never seen it before, ever. Podium 1.98, Nucleum 0.93.
Which save button? The save menu in Nucleum or saving the project in Podium?
H-manHi Frits,
Actually, it was the ‘File’ button on the Nucleum UI. The menu did not appear because Podium exited immediately.
Please note that Nucleum GUI had been open for quite some time (over an hour) and I had made hundreds of parameter changes as well as plenty of skipping through presets.
Luckily I was just ‘playing/exploring’ and didn’t really lose anything 🙂
Also:
-No instert effect track
-No play back running and,
-Midi keyboard connected and most likey playing at the time.
Hope this helps. I haven’t had the problem again but I haven’t been trying to replicate it either.
Ben
Zynewave@H-man wrote:
Actually, it was the ‘File’ button on the Nucleum UI. The menu did not appear because Podium exited immediately.
Then it’s most likely a bug in Nucleum. I’m afraid this is out of my control, as this crash is happening in the SynthMaker engine. I’m hoping that future SynthMaker releases will improve stability.