Sonicstage 2.3 Stutters When Playing Cd

[bemax]

I recently upgraded my computer to WinXP SP2 Home. I reloaded all software from scratch (newly formated drives, etc).

I did not install any Sony MD software until I downloaded SS 2.3 and installed clean.

I have not even connected my MZ-N505 yet. I was just trying to import some music off of CDs into my Library to see how things work. Every song imported contains stuttering or skips. I tried 10 different commercial CDs all with the same result. I tried importing MP3s with the same result.

Has anyone had this problem? Is there a fix? As things stand now, I have no way of getting quality music onto my MD player.

Please post if you have ideas.

[SlowMo]

have you already tried uploading them to your md ? perhaps there´s only a problem with your playback device/direct sound output.

my ss doesn´t play sound at all (although it pretends to do so)

sony sadly hasn´t built in a dialogue, where you can choose your playback device (i have plenty) and settings, and i assume, that it has chosen the wrong one...

[bemax]

I hadn't thought of that. I guess it's possible that the skipping stuttering is just in playback. Very strange though. I can play the CDs back through WinAmp or other players fine, it seems to be just SonicStage having trouble.

I'll give your suggestion a shot.

Thanks,

[bemax]

SlowMo,

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded (uploaded?) the songs to the MD player and they are fine. It is just SonicStage can't play the files back. How strange is that?

Well, thanks. Now at least I can put songs on disks which is what I wanted.

[SlowMo]

yep, glad i could help...

but still, we both can´t listen to music properly (using ss)

for me it´s rather important to do that, because sometimes playing back tracks on md via pc is the only (lossless (?))way to get your recorded music up in your pc.

without a working playback this won´t work either.

so how can i make ss play sound ?

edit: in the meantime i´ve got it working, i changed the playback device for windows (from adsp 7/8 to adsp 1/2, i´ve got a 10 track audiocard, with external 19" converterbox. ) should normally work on both, but if it finally works, i don´t care how..

but for your prob bemax, i think that it´s something with direct x / direct sound, but i don´t know enough about that..

Edited January 26, 2005 by SlowMo

[bemax]

Thanks again for the info. I will look into it when I have time. It is also something I would like to have since it is disconcerting to have all these files sound terrible on my PC but sound OK on my MD unit.

Anyway, if I find a fix, I'll post it.

[dex Otaku]

It's pretty odd that SS can't play its own tracks on your PC.

Having some idea of what's inside your 'puter would help.

It's also possible that SS simply doesn't like your sound card's drivers.

[ROMBUSTERS]

It's pretty odd that SS can't play its own tracks on your PC. 

Having some idea of what's inside your 'puter would help.

It's also possible that SS simply doesn't like your sound card's drivers.

←

wouldnt it just be accessing the windows default sound output anyways? does your computer make sound on windows startup?

[bemax]

My computer is a AMD Athlon XP 1700+ on a Soltek SL75DRV4 mobo with 1 Gig ram and running XP SP2. Nothing fancy and a little out of date. My soundcard is an old SB 16 PCI with the latest drivers. The system works with all of the software I have used including video editing using Ulead VideoStudio 8 and wave editing using Cakewalks wave editor. Playback of mp3s, cds and mpegs are all great. SS 2.3, though stutters like a dirty CD on every track it imports whether the source is a CD, an mp3 or a wav file copied from a CD (to show that it is not the CD drive causing the problem). The stuttering is only on playback within SS 2.3. If I download to the MD player, it sounds fine, actually quite good. It is a bothersome nuisance to have to trust the tracks without being able to hear them but I'll live with it.

One other thing. I used SS 2.1 on this same hardware under win2K with no problems. This problem started when I wiped my HDs and installed WinXP SP2 Home and reinstalled the software. When I went to install SS, I downloaded 2.3 because it seemed to be the best choice. I'm not interested in uninstalling and trying an older version. I just live with this. When my MD player dies, I'll get an HD based mp3 player. The MD thing is cool but the Sony monopoly has spoiled it for me.

Thanks for all the comments.

[dex Otaku]

A little ot of date, sure, but that's way above the minimum specs required by SS.

For curiosity's sake, shut everything but SS down, open the task list [crtl+shift+esc] and look at the CPU usage of the SS process [omgjbox.exe] while it's trying to play. What does it do?

On my system, Athlon XP 2500+ barton, SS's process consumes between 0-7% CPU when playing. It averages about 4%.

Edit:

Just a thought, but this started after installing XP SP2?

Have you tried disabling Data Execution Prevention? It's in the system properties, advanced tab, under "performance", the last tab is DEP.

You can't turn it off completely, but you can turn it off for all but Windows services and "essential programs."

[ROMBUSTERS]

A little ot of date, sure, but that's way above the minimum specs required by SS. 

For curiosity's sake, shut everything but SS down, open the task list [crtl+shift+esc] and look at the CPU usage of the SS process [omgjbox.exe] while it's trying to play.  What does it do?

On my system, Athlon XP 2500+ barton, SS's process consumes between 0-7% CPU when playing.  It averages about 4%.

Edit:

Just a thought, but this started after installing XP SP2? 

Have you tried disabling Data Execution Prevention?  It's in the system properties, advanced tab, under "performance", the last tab is DEP.

You can't turn it off completely, but you can turn it off for all but Windows services and "essential programs."

←

on a Pentium III: 866Mhz WinXPSP2 i have it runing at an average of 10% CPU

[Christopher]

The MD thing is cool but the Sony monopoly has spoiled it for me.

←

Don't blame Sony for unique issues resident to your computer only. Many of us have great experiences with Sonicstage in terms of general functionality.

You may have viruses, ad-ware or spyware. Read this:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6621

Additionally, try a control + alt + del after a fresh restart. What's the CPU usage at under the preformance tab?

[bemax]

dex Otaku,

Thanks for the suggestion about the DEP but it was already turned off for everything except essential Windows programs.

Others,

The CPU usage after a clean boot is < 1% with nothing running and it pretty flat as you might imagine. Interestingly enough, when I start SS, it gets settled into a regular pattern of 4 sec quiet (< 6%) and then 2 sec at 25-30% and back to quiet. This pattern is the same whether it is playing music or just sitting there. The skipping occurs when it jumps to 25-30% and goes away when it drops below 10%. I've never seen this kind of behavior in another program. I tried turning off all internet activity with ZoneAlarm but it had no effect. I will experiment some more. Any ideas?

By the way, I regularly scan my system for viruses, spyware etc using AVG, spybot ad-aware and other utilities. My system is pretty clean.

Certainly, Sonicstage is doing something weird.

I'll post back as I learn more.