Tempest Main 1.5.0.2 and Voice 1.5 - Bug Reports

[soidthezoid]

Also, only once noticed a bug similar to one reported previously where all my sound assignments got jumbled up?

Can you explain what "all my sound assignments got jumbled up" means?

Hi Roger,

What I mean is that say, for example, a beat has sounds assigned to pads 1 to 4, as follows:

Pad 1: Burning 5th
Pad 2: Saw Bass
Pad 3: Analog Fazer
Pad 4: Gamelan

Occasionally, a sudden and inexplicable change in the assignments may occur, as follows:

Pad 1: Gamelan
Pad 2: Analog Fazer
Pad 3: Burning 5th
Pad 4: Saw Bass

I've been unable to reproduce the problem as it is quite infrequent.  I believe I saw the same bug listed somewhere on the form by another member though.

Cheers, J

[Roger_Linn]

Also, only once noticed a bug similar to one reported previously where all my sound assignments got jumbled up?

Can you explain what "all my sound assignments got jumbled up" means?

Hi Roger,

What I mean is that say, for example, a beat has sounds assigned to pads 1 to 4, as follows:

Pad 1: Burning 5th
Pad 2: Saw Bass
Pad 3: Analog Fazer
Pad 4: Gamelan

Occasionally, a sudden and inexplicable change in the assignments may occur, as follows:

Pad 1: Gamelan
Pad 2: Analog Fazer
Pad 3: Burning 5th
Pad 4: Saw Bass

I've been unable to reproduce the problem as it is quite infrequent.  I believe I saw the same bug listed somewhere on the form by another member though.

Cheers, J

Ouch. Sounds like some operation is overwriting the memory used for sound assignments. If it happens again, please try to remember what you did just before it happened.

[sata_fortuna]

not exactly a bug, but is it possible to allow the sequencer out pad to keep sending note events when the level of the sound assigned to the sequencer pad is at 0?
so an external synth can be sequenced without having voice steal from the sound assigned to that pad.

[SpreadSpectrum]

I don't know if this is a bug or a something wrong with the pads on my unit.

When holding down a pad and applying pressure no other sounds can be triggered by hitting the pads.

Also now with further testing it appears no two pads can be triggered at the same time. That is not good. This is my second Tempest. I don't remember this behavior the last time I owned one. When I did I used OS 1.4

Is this a known bug? Is there something wrong with my unit? Should I contact support? You can't play live if you can't hit more than one note at a time.

Thank you.

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

No worries,you have to reset System Parameters in system settings...It happened to me too when i updated to the latest beta.

I don't know if this is a bug or a something wrong with the pads on my unit.

When holding down a pad and applying pressure no other sounds can be triggered by hitting the pads.

Also now with further testing it appears no two pads can be triggered at the same time. That is not good. This is my second Tempest. I don't remember this behavior the last time I owned one. When I did I used OS 1.4

Is this a known bug? Is there something wrong with my unit? Should I contact support? You can't play live if you can't hit more than one note at a time.

Thank you.

[LucidSFX]

Switching beats creates a short click

Not sure if this is a bug or my programming...

I created 16 beats and when I switch manually or create a playlist I can hear a small click on every transition. If it is my programming, I'll start a new thread.

[purusha]

I know it's not a silver bullet, but I wonder if it's worth considering running the Tempest code through a static analysis tool?

For example, my company uses Klocwork. It's caught a few issues - mainly buffer over-run bugs and similar.

There may be cheap-ish options around for that kind of thing...?

[HT]

Switching beats creates a short click

Not sure if this is a bug or my programming...

I created 16 beats and when I switch manually or create a playlist I can hear a small click on every transition. If it is my programming, I'll start a new thread.

I'm using the current beta Main 1.4.3b and Voice 1.5 and calibrated the voices, I get no clicks during transitions which include some long release sounds.

[Roger_Linn]

not exactly a bug, but is it possible to allow the sequencer out pad to keep sending note events when the level of the sound assigned to the sequencer pad is at 0?
so an external synth can be sequenced without having voice steal from the sound assigned to that pad.

Internally, a voice is not played if its mix volume is zero. This is in order to not tie up that voice from being used if it's not being heard. When the voice doesn't play, it also doesn't send MIDI notes. In my opinion, it's not important enough to change this, which would require internally changing the software voice architecture to play the voice mostly but not completely, because it could introduce new bugs in a system that I think is already too complex. Fortunately the workaround is easy: simply set the mix volume to 1 or higher.

[Roger_Linn]

I know it's not a silver bullet, but I wonder if it's worth considering running the Tempest code through a static analysis tool?

For example, my company uses Klocwork. It's caught a few issues - mainly buffer over-run bugs and similar.

There may be cheap-ish options around for that kind of thing...?

Thanks for the suggestion, but those type of tools don't really work for embedded CPUs, particularly in a product like Tempest with 9 computers running concurrently. Also, the business of selling creative  music products doesn't produce the level of income needed to afford those types of expensive tools or the people to set them up. Have you ever tried to sell something to a musician?

[SpreadSpectrum]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

No worries,you have to reset System Parameters in system settings...It happened to me too when i updated to the latest beta.

I don't know if this is a bug or a something wrong with the pads on my unit.

When holding down a pad and applying pressure no other sounds can be triggered by hitting the pads.

Also now with further testing it appears no two pads can be triggered at the same time. That is not good. This is my second Tempest. I don't remember this behavior the last time I owned one. When I did I used OS 1.4

Is this a known bug? Is there something wrong with my unit? Should I contact support? You can't play live if you can't hit more than one note at a time.

Thank you.

[sata_fortuna]

Internally, a voice is not played if its mix volume is zero. This is in order to not tie up that voice from being used if it's not being heard. When the voice doesn't play, it also doesn't send MIDI notes. In my opinion, it's not important enough to change this, which would require internally changing the software voice architecture to play the voice mostly but not completely, because it could introduce new bugs in a system that I think is already too complex. Fortunately the workaround is easy: simply set the mix volume to 1 or higher.

ok, i understand the problem. thanks for the answer.
may i ask how is it that the voice allocation software works? is it possible to program a sound with the lowest priority possible, but with a level of 1 or higher for the sequence to be sent out, so we could load this sound to the external sequencer pad and not have voice steal for it due to low priority?. That way we would be able to use an external synth effectively as a 7th fixed voice for the tempest, hence my inquiring.
may be it is programmed so if a sound gets voice stealed the sequence wont run? then it's just not possible and an external synth will just replace one of the tempest voices still limited to 6 at a time total.
or may be the priority for the sequencer out pad is maxed out so it always steal a voice?
thanks again for your answer.

[Roger_Linn]

ok, i understand the problem. thanks for the answer.
may i ask how is it that the voice allocation software works? is it possible to program a sound with the lowest priority possible, but with a level of 1 or higher for the sequence to be sent out, so we could load this sound to the external sequencer pad and not have voice steal for it due to low priority?. That way we would be able to use an external synth effectively as a 7th fixed voice for the tempest, hence my inquiring.
may be it is programmed so if a sound gets voice stealed the sequence wont run? then it's just not possible and an external synth will just replace one of the tempest voices still limited to 6 at a time total.
or may be the priority for the sequencer out pad is maxed out so it always steal a voice?
thanks again for your answer.

When all voices are used, Tempest considers a number of factors in determining which voice to steal, but mainly it steals the playing voice with the lowest VCA level, which is usually the least likely to be noticed if stolen. Also, it usually will not steal ADSR sounds that are currently held. There is not a way to use an external MIDI sound as a seventh voice, but there are ways to tweak internal sounds to help the voice-stealing algorithm work best. With this update, we've released a "Tempest OS 1.5 Addendum" containing lots of useful information about this topic. You can download it from the third post in the thread from which you downloaded the update.

[John the Savage]

Also, only once noticed a bug similar to one reported previously where all my sound assignments got jumbled up?

Can you explain what "all my sound assignments got jumbled up" means?

Hi Roger,

What I mean is that say, for example, a beat has sounds assigned to pads 1 to 4, as follows:

Pad 1: Burning 5th
Pad 2: Saw Bass
Pad 3: Analog Fazer
Pad 4: Gamelan

Occasionally, a sudden and inexplicable change in the assignments may occur, as follows:

Pad 1: Gamelan
Pad 2: Analog Fazer
Pad 3: Burning 5th
Pad 4: Saw Bass

I've been unable to reproduce the problem as it is quite infrequent.  I believe I saw the same bug listed somewhere on the form by another member though.

Cheers, J

Hi soidthezoid,

I'm just putting 1.4.3b through its paces here, trying to reproduce this anomaly.  I'm wondering if you don't remember what you were doing when this happened?  Any information at all would be most useful.  I'm content to suss this out, but it would be ideal if I knew at least where to start.  Sufficed to say, bug reports like this are concerning, and since we're coming to the end of this phase of Tempest development, in many respects it's now or never (nervous grin).

Cheers!

[soidthezoid]

Also, only once noticed a bug similar to one reported previously where all my sound assignments got jumbled up?

Can you explain what "all my sound assignments got jumbled up" means?

Hi Roger,

What I mean is that say, for example, a beat has sounds assigned to pads 1 to 4, as follows:

Pad 1: Burning 5th
Pad 2: Saw Bass
Pad 3: Analog Fazer
Pad 4: Gamelan

Occasionally, a sudden and inexplicable change in the assignments may occur, as follows:

Pad 1: Gamelan
Pad 2: Analog Fazer
Pad 3: Burning 5th
Pad 4: Saw Bass

I've been unable to reproduce the problem as it is quite infrequent.  I believe I saw the same bug listed somewhere on the form by another member though.

Cheers, J

Hi soidthezoid,

I'm just putting 1.4.3b through its paces here, trying to reproduce this anomaly.  I'm wondering if you don't remember what you were doing when this happened?  Any information at all would be most useful.  I'm content to suss this out, but it would be ideal if I knew at least where to start.  Sufficed to say, bug reports like this are concerning, and since we're coming to the end of this phase of Tempest development, in many respects it's now or never (nervous grin).

Cheers!

Hi Roger,

Think it may have been related to 'Undo all sounds', if memory serves.  Will do my best to try and recreate it tonight, fingers crossed!  What was the conclusion with the other, similar bug I reported, " Undo all sounds sometimes seems to revert only some of the sounds in the beat" ?

Cheers, J

[purusha]

I know it's not a silver bullet, but I wonder if it's worth considering running the Tempest code through a static analysis tool?

For example, my company uses Klocwork. It's caught a few issues - mainly buffer over-run bugs and similar.

There may be cheap-ish options around for that kind of thing...?

Thanks for the suggestion, but those type of tools don't really work for embedded CPUs, particularly in a product like Tempest with 9 computers running concurrently. Also, the business of selling creative  music products doesn't produce the level of income needed to afford those types of expensive tools or the people to set them up. Have you ever tried to sell something to a musician?

Well - you say that, but I work on multi-processor embedded systems, based on ARM and MIPS running multiple OSes. Like I say - these systems won't catch everything, but it's surprising what they can catch.

I know they're expensive, but many of them do a free trial and you can rent short-term.

[Roger_Linn]

What was the conclusion with the other, similar bug I reported, " Undo all sounds sometimes seems to revert only some of the sounds in the beat" ?

Could you please refresh my memory on which bug you're referring to? I ask because Tempest doesn't have an "Undo all sounds" function and I don't recall the bug.

[bozo]

Have you ever tried to sell something to a musician?
ha ha
yes and i am one as well (well i think i am) and yes can be right pita; fussy, petulant, indecisive, wankers with no money the lot of them.

[John the Savage]

Also, only once noticed a bug similar to one reported previously where all my sound assignments got jumbled up?

Can you explain what "all my sound assignments got jumbled up" means?

Hi Roger,

What I mean is that say, for example, a beat has sounds assigned to pads 1 to 4, as follows:

Pad 1: Burning 5th
Pad 2: Saw Bass
Pad 3: Analog Fazer
Pad 4: Gamelan

Occasionally, a sudden and inexplicable change in the assignments may occur, as follows:

Pad 1: Gamelan
Pad 2: Analog Fazer
Pad 3: Burning 5th
Pad 4: Saw Bass

I've been unable to reproduce the problem as it is quite infrequent.  I believe I saw the same bug listed somewhere on the form by another member though.

Cheers, J

Hi soidthezoid,

I'm just putting 1.4.3b through its paces here, trying to reproduce this anomaly.  I'm wondering if you don't remember what you were doing when this happened?  Any information at all would be most useful.  I'm content to suss this out, but it would be ideal if I knew at least where to start.  Sufficed to say, bug reports like this are concerning, and since we're coming to the end of this phase of Tempest development, in many respects it's now or never (nervous grin).

Cheers!

Hi Roger,

Think it may have been related to 'Undo all sounds', if memory serves.  Will do my best to try and recreate it tonight, fingers crossed!  What was the conclusion with the other, similar bug I reported, " Undo all sounds sometimes seems to revert only some of the sounds in the beat" ?

Cheers, J

Hi soidthezoid,

It wasn't Roger that asked that last question, you're talking to 'John the Savage' now (wink).  At any rate, thanks for the info; that gives me something to go on.  Of course, if you remember anything else about what you were doing when the bug happened, please let me know.  If you figure out how to faithfully reproduce it, even better (grin)!  In the meantime, I will take this to task here, and see if I can't flesh it out myself...

Oh, and this was Roger's reply to your other question:

Hi Roger,

I just noticed a couple more bugs (I think):

1. Undo all sounds sometimes seems to revert only some of the sounds in the beat. 
2. If you tweak a sound out (at which point you can of course revert it), then switch to a different beat, then return to the beat in which you tweaked the sound out, you can no longer revert the sound.  I guess it's possible that is the desired behaviour?  Regardless, it seems logical to me there might be a situation where you tweak out a sound and use it right up to a beat transition, in which case you won't have time to revert it back before you switch beats, creating an issue when you return to the beat in question?

That is correct. "Revert Sound" only works within the current Beat. If you switch to a different Beat, the change history of the previous Beat is discarded in order to save memory.

Cheers!

[soidthezoid]

What was the conclusion with the other, similar bug I reported, " Undo all sounds sometimes seems to revert only some of the sounds in the beat" ?

Could you please refresh my memory on which bug you're referring to? I ask because Tempest doesn't have an "Undo all sounds" function and I don't recall the bug.

Hi Roger,

It does indeed have that function!  If you hold shift + Undo Rec you will see the 'Undo All Snds' function displayed in the bottom left of the screen.  The bug is that it doesn't always revert ALL the sounds in the beat, just some of them.

Cheers, J