Windows 10 Updates Messing Things Up

I had an issue with Simian, Windows 10, and my mixers. My mixer (fader) settings were not staying put. When the computer did anything, the settings would change. I understood that they were not saving to any kind of registry entry. Of course, I ran the gamut, UAC turned off  on-board audio card disabled  program and hardware settings in Simian were done correctly  rebooted  AudioScience sound card checked 

I was given the suggestion of going into the MSCONFIG and making sure the machine was doing a standard startup. To do that push the Windows Logo key and R at the same time
 

This will open the RUN box, type ‘msconfig’ and hit enter. The machine should be running with Normal Startup and not Selective.

From there, I assumed that there was some file corruption somewhere, ya know… Windows. Follow these steps to help find and repair corrupted files.

Run a system file check (SFC): 

• Go to start > Type CMD
• Right click and run as Administrator
• Type sfc /scannow (note the space between sfc and “/”)

When I did this, I received an error about integrity errors. You might see that there are corrupted files. The program either found them and repaired them, or found them and couldn’t. The next step is to run DISM to fix file errors. Microsoft does recommend “If you are on win 8 (and up) you should also run DISM whether SFC found errors or not!!”

Run DISM

• Go to start > Type CMD
• Right click and run as Administrator
• Type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
• Re-run SFC /scannow

 

Why doesn’t the software support Windows 10?

So BSI says Simian runs on Win 10 fine, in fact, a new client had their system built through BSI and it is Win 10. I have it work stable, with some tweaking. Getting rid of all the fanciness is a big deal. I ALWAYS follow this checklist http://www.bsiusa.com/support/ticket/kb/faq.php?id=48. It has removed all the uncertainty of Windows.

So if you are having specific problems with Simian and Win 10, AFTER following the checklist, then it is worth delving a little deeper. You can contact me at [email protected].

Another frequent issue is Win 10 is the Simian autostart. Win 10 is much more strict about which programs can read and write to the registry (where the variables for programs are kept). Hence, Simian needs to always run with Administrator privileges and not be running in compatibility mode. Follow the steps below, from BSI, to resolve the issue.

First:

1. Close the Simian
2. Right-click on the desktop shortcut for Simian and choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu
3. In the window that pops up, go to the “Shortcut” tab and then click on the “Advanced” button
4. Ensure that the “Run as Administrator” box is unchecked in the window that pops up, then click “OK”
5. Select the “Compatibility” tab
6. Uncheck the “Run this program in compatibility mode” option if it is checked (if this option is greyed out, click on the “Change settings for all users” button and uncheck the equivalent option in the pop-up window”)
7. Uncheck the “Run this program as an administrator” option if it is checked (if this option is greyed out, click on the “Change settings for all users” button and uncheck the equivalent option in the pop-up window”)
8. Click Apply and OK to save the changes and close the window

Second:

1. Right-click on the Start menu button and choose “Run”
2. In the window that appears, type in “regedit” in to the “Open” field, then click on the “OK” button
3. In the Registry Editor window that pops up, use the folder tree view on the left-hand side to browse to one of the following folders depending on the version of Windows running on your system:
   • On 64 bit systems, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BSI.
   • On 32bit systems, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BSI
4. Right-click on the “BSI” folder icon in the folder tree to the left and choose “Permissions…”
5. Click on the “Add…” button under the “Group or User Names:” list
6. On the “Select Users or Groups” window that appears, type “Everyone” in to the “Enter the object names to select” field and then click OK to close the pop-up window. Repeat this step for each of the other usernames listed
7. Back on the “Permissions for BSI” window, highlight the entry for “Everyone” that now appears in the “Group or User Names” list, click on each entry (“Full Control” and “Read”) in the “Allow” column, then click on the “OK” button to save the changes
8. If any changes were necessary, shut down and restart the system

There is a different Windows startup registry key we can add the administrator privileged Simian application to to have it start when Windows starts. Simply download the following file, extract the .reg file within, and double-click the extracted .reg file to apply the registry update. Simian will now load when Windows 10 starts.

www.bsiusa.com/support/FAQ/Win10Startup/Simian Startup on Windows 10.zip

Why does Simian randomly crash for seemingly no reason?

Unfortunately, without looking at the machine, I will not be able to give you an accurate assessment or solution. Some things to look at:

• Version of Simian, the older version were less stable’
• Computer OS, is it an “ancient” platform? Pre-Win 7?
• Has your computer recently gone through updates? Is it possible to remove the updates from the time is started happening?
• Have you tried re-installing Simian?
• Here are come computer modifications recommended by BSI, http://www.bsiusa.com/support/ticket/kb/faq.php?id=48
• Is it happening at a certain? On a certain day?
• Was it always happening? Or did it start on a particular day? What happened on that day?
• Have you run a defrag? Cleanup? Anti virus?
• A spiked CPU will make all operations of the computer slow to respond. If Simian is the process causing the CPU to be running at max, it’s likely due to the Log > Display Runtime & Position Info or Log > Display Backtime to Mark features enabled. These features are processor intensive due to the runtime calculations needed. Use these only when needed to measure the timing of a section of the log and disable them when done. Prior to Windows 7, it was recommended to run processors in single core mode. In the Windows Task Manager Performance tab, one bar graph for the CPU indicates a single core mode, two or four graphs indicate multicore mode. If the CPU is spiked in Windows 7 or later, enable multicore mode in the system’s BIOS or boot.ini file. An overworked CPU could also be due to poor cooling or airflow to the processor.
• An overworked and spiked disk causes a delay of the reading of the audio file from the hard drive. Make sure there are no large file copy or backup utilities running if the disk usage is high or spiked. Sometimes these utilities are running on a different computer on the network and access the air computer’s hard drives for to read or write to.
• 4 GB should be enough to run Simian, Wavecart, and other BSI applications. If the memory is maxed out, close auxiliary applications that are using large amounts of memory

If you are still having issues, please contact me at [email protected]

 

What is the optimal way to set up my sound card?

Legacy Engine

I understand that some people do not use the Legacy Audio Driver, which is fine, but I can tell you, it’s been the easiest way to setup the sound card. If you are running a 32bit system, you need this driver.

I highly encourage you to setup up your Play Decks on separate Play #s. This gives your decks a chance to alternate without causing issues.

To assign which audio devices Simian uses, go to the Tools>Hardware Options (although, I do not suggest checking Segue. You can try it, but if you see any deck issues, uncheck it.

Audio Science Mixer Application
Play 1, 2, 3 and 4 are displayed as 1 Wave Out, 2 Wave Out, 3 Wave Out and 4 Wave Out in Simian.
The image below shows two soundcards, that is a whole other process. Pull your Player 1-4 up on Line_Out 1

Each player can be routed to each physical output (Line Out 1 or 2). Furthermore, Line Ins can be routed to Line Outs. To raise or lower each Line In or Player for the Line Out, simply drag the slider to the left or right. To turn the level all the way down or bring it back to zero, click the “Fade” button. To adjust overall volume, raise or lower the Line Out levels.

[Simian Mixer Panel]
Simian can control any of the Audio Science Mixer controls through the Macro commands, or using the on-screen mixers.

Under each of the Mixers in Simian’s Mixer panel is a button that will bring up the Mixer Setup. Start off by typing in a friendly name for the Simian Mixer.

Now select which Audio Card Mixer you wish to control, the ASI cards will have a familiar legend, so it’s easy to see which card you are selecting.

Then chose which Lines of the Mixer you wish to control; in this case, we’ve selected the Line Out 1 /Line In 1 (this is the pass-though audio Line In 1 going out of Line Out 1 in ASI Control). The fader option under Faders: will be limited at this point, we want to control the Line Out 1 / Line In 1/ Volume (the Volume of Line In 1 that is going out of Line Out 1 in ASI control.) Hit the plus button to make this active and then hit “OK”.

If you do not have the “ASIxxxx Mixer” option, then you will need to install or reinstall the ASI Combo driver and check the box to “include Legacy 32-bit WAVE driver” during the installation options process.

New Driver

The New Audio Engine is for 64 bit machines, you still need to install the Legacy Audio driver.

To assign which audio devices Simian uses, go to the Tools>Hardware Options to bring up the screen shown below:

The ASI cards are easily identified by their model number, followed by ‘01 WDM Out’, ‘02 WDM Out’, ‘03 WDM Out’, ‘04 WDM Out’ etc.

The Main Deck Assignments are decks 1, 2 and 3, you’ll need to scroll through the list to select the correct devices. The Async Deck is also known as Simian’s Deck 4, this normally hidden deck is where Hot Keys and Triggers are played. *Again, with the Segue, use it if you want, if there are issues, uncheck it*

[Audio Science Mixer Application]

Play 1, 2, 3 and 4 are displayed as 01 WDM Out, 02 WDM Out, 03 WDM Out and 04 WDM Out in Simian.  Each player can be routed to each physical output (Line Out 1, 2 or more depending on your card model). Furthermore, Line Ins can be routed to Line Outs. To raise or lower each Line In or Player for the Line Out, simply drag the slider to the left or right. To turn the level all the way down or bring it back to zero, click the “Fade” button. To adjust overall volume, raise or lower the Line Out levels.

[Simian Mixer Panel]

Simian can control any of the Audio Science Mixer controls through the Macro commands, or using the on-screen mixers. Under each of the Mixers in Simian’s Mixer panel is a button that will bring up the Mixer Setup. Start off by typing in a friendly name for the Simian Mixer.

Now select which Audio Card Mixer you wish to control, the ASI cards will have a familiar legend, so it’s easy to see which card you are selecting.

Note – If you do not have the “ASIxxxx Mixer” option, then you will need to uninstall the current driver, reboot the computer, then re-install the ASI Combo driver and check the box to “include Legacy 32-bit WAVE driver” (DO NOT select to install the IP network driver) during the installation options process.

Simian doesn’t start with Windows

Win 10 is much more strict about which programs can read and write to the registry (where the variables for programs are kept). Hence, Simian needs to always run with Administrator privileges and not be running in compatibility mode. Follow the steps below, from BSI, to resolve the issue.

First:

1. Close the Simian
2. Right-click on the desktop shortcut for Simian and choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu
3. In the window that pops up, go to the “Shortcut” tab and then click on the “Advanced” button
4. Ensure that the “Run as Administrator” box is unchecked in the window that pops up, then click “OK”
5. Select the “Compatibility” tab
6. Uncheck the “Run this program in compatibility mode” option if it is checked (if this option is greyed out, click on the “Change settings for all users” button and uncheck the equivalent option in the pop-up window”)
7. Uncheck the “Run this program as an administrator” option if it is checked (if this option is greyed out, click on the “Change settings for all users” button and uncheck the equivalent option in the pop-up window”)
8. Click Apply and OK to save the changes and close the window

Second:

1. Right-click on the Start menu button and choose “Run”
2. In the window that appears, type in “regedit” in to the “Open” field, then click on the “OK” button
3. In the Registry Editor window that pops up, use the folder tree view on the left-hand side to browse to one of the following folders depending on the version of Windows running on your system:
   • On 64 bit systems, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BSI.
   • On 32bit systems, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BSI
4. Right-click on the “BSI” folder icon in the folder tree to the left and choose “Permissions…”
5. Click on the “Add…” button under the “Group or User Names:” list
6. On the “Select Users or Groups” window that appears, type “Everyone” in to the “Enter the object names to select” field and then click OK to close the pop-up window. Repeat this step for each of the other usernames listed
7. Back on the “Permissions for BSI” window, highlight the entry for “Everyone” that now appears in the “Group or User Names” list, click on each entry (“Full Control” and “Read”) in the “Allow” column, then click on the “OK” button to save the changes
8. If any changes were necessary, shut down and restart the system

There is a different Windows startup registry key we can add the administrator privileged Simian application to to have it start when Windows starts. Simply download the following file, extract the .reg file within, and double-click the extracted .reg file to apply the registry update. Simian will now load when Windows 10 starts.

www.bsiusa.com/support/FAQ/Win10Startup/Simian Startup on Windows 10.zip

 

Red errors in log

Red errors in your log can come from a few different sources.

• Make sure the audio is in fact in Event Builder. The quickest way is to go to Log> Verify Program Log. This will show you all the missing or outdated audio pieces.
• Another common issue is placing two of the same carts in a row. Sometimes the decks will get confused, and the same audio piece will want to play at the same time, the same piece, and nothing will happen. The best to fix this is to have another cart or audio piece between similar carts.
• The one I have encountered lately is, while logged in through LogMeIn audio with err out. LogMeIn has provided a solution:
  Click the Windows key>using search type in “regedit”.
  The settings are listed in the registry under
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LogMeIn\V5\RemoteControl
  Look for SndAutoStart, modify it to be “0” (zero).If the entry doesn’t exist, it will need to be manually created.
  Right click in white space>New>DWORD>SndAutoStart > set to 0 to disable
• If you are still experiencing issues, go to audio piece in Event Builder, right click, Edit Info and check the bit rate settings. Sound cards are set to handle a certain range, and sometimes they are recorded outside this range. Here is a list of the support file format encoding settings:
  .wav – Linear/Microsoft PCM wave at 44100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo or Mono

   

  .mp3 – Constant Bit Rate (CBR), 44100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo or mono, and a common kbps (128, 192, 256, or 320)

  Supported file formats with unsupported encoding settings that can cause playback issues. Convert any files with these encoded settings to the supported encoding settings listed above.

  .wav

  – ADPCM or any other .wav that is not linear PCM or Microsoft PCM. ADPCM, though previously supported and recommended in Wavestation, is a 4-bit file that has playback issues on Windows 7 and later operating systems.
  – 24-bit and 32-bit (float)
  – any bit rate other than 44100 Hz, such as 22050, 32000, 48000 and 96000

  .mp3

  – Variable Bit Rate (VBR). Variable bit rates will have inaccurate reported lengths in BSI applications.
  – 24-bit and 32-bit (float)
  – any bit rate other than 44100 Hz, such as 22050, 32000, 48000 and 96000

  The following audio formats are not supported or available for playback in Simian:

  .wma
  .aac
  .m4a
  .flac

 

LogMeIn is creating log errors

This is a new fun problem. Here is the solution provided by LogMeIn

Click the Windows key>using search type in “regedit”.
The settings are listed in the registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LogMeIn\V5\RemoteControl
Look for SndAutoStart, modify it to be “0” (zero).

If the entry doesn’t exist, it will need to be manually created.
Right click in white space>New>DWORD>SndAutoStart > set to 0 to disable

EWTN is still running during breaks

More often than not, the Simian faders have reset themselves. In Simian, click on the “EWTN” mixer (for example). Double check the fader settings.

If you have just installed the soundcard, you may not have installed the Legacy 32 bit driver. This is a check box during the driver installation process. You can tell if you have installed the Legacy driver if you see the ASIXXXX Mixer option in the fader settings:

 

Deleted Audio Stills Shows Up

If you are still seeing deleted audio in Event Builder, there is more than likely a database issue. The major culprit of this problem is the audio.mdb. Close Simian, navigate to the C:/BSI32 folder, delete the audio.mdb, reopen Simian. This should fix that issue.

 

CHAIN macro did not run

Opinion

I don’t like chaining my logs, period. I don’t trust it, and I don’t like worrying if it worked or not. This is a personal “problem”, I get it, but I have my reasons. They have failed me too many times to trust them again. I prefer to have my logs change in the Scheduled Events at 00:01 every day. If you want to know why, just ask.

Suggested Proper Setup of CHAINs

First, go to the Async menu and choose Show Scheduled Events.

Open Event Builder either by clicking on the Event Builder icon  at the top of the Scheduled Events window, or by going to the Tools menu in the main Simian window and choosing Event Builder.

Once in the Event Builder, go to the Macro tab and choose ”CHAIN” from the Macro name dropdown list.

Click your mouse cursor into the Macro name dropdown. Move the cursor to the end of the word “CHAIN”, add a space, and then add the name of your program log. The CHAIN macro has the ability to use meta variables to represent the file name. This means that it can dynamically find your program log based on the current day or date using the following codes:

%W [the first three letters of the day, Ex: Mon, Tue] %M [two digits representing the month] %D [two digits representing the day] %Y [two digits representing the year] %Z [four digits representing the year] %X [“WKD” on weekdays, “SAT” on Saturdays, and “SUN” on Sundays]

Therefore, if your program logs are named with the date that log is going to air (for example, 070416.bsi is the name of your log that will air on July 4th, 2016), your CHAIN macro should be entered as shown (there are other meta variables that can be added to this macro, but this is the minimum configuration needed to load your log).

Now you are ready to add your CHAIN macro to your Scheduled Events.
Click and drag from the Drag From Here icon  and drop it onto the Scheduled Events window

To set the days, highlight the CHAIN event added to the Scheduled Events window in the last step. Click on the Set Event Schedule icon  at the top of the Scheduled Events window. In most cases you will want to CHAIN your logs every day, so click on the Every Day button, then click OK.

To set the time the event will occur, click on the Set Event Time icon  at the top of the Scheduled Events window. The CHAIN macro should be set to 23:59:50 under most circumstances. Because the meta variables always reference tomorrow’s date, running the CHAIN macro before midnight will load up the next day’s log to be ready to play at the top of the hour. After setting the time, click on the Set button.

Suggested Fixes

CHAINs not working is not uncommon. The following are BSI suggestions and fixes.

Scenario 1:
The CHAIN macro will reload the previously aired log if it fails to find the next day’s log. There will be a flashing red & white message stating the CHAIN macro failed to find the log. If the next day’s log isn’t created, if the name of the program log doesn’t match the formatting of the CHAIN macro, or if a second instance of Simian in production mode is left open on the same computer overnight when the CHAIN macro is scheduled to run can all lead to this issue. If the optional “NORELOAD” parameter is set in the CHAIN macro, the flashing red & white error message will be on but the previously loaded log will not start over.

Scenario 2:
If the CHAIN macro doesn’t run, there will be no flashing red & white message and Simian will be stopped at the bottom of the log that previously aired. Make sure that “Time Events are ON” at the bottom of Simian. If the status is “Time Events are OFF”, click on that status to toggle back to on. Go in to Async > Scheduled Events and make sure that the current and start up selections at the bottom are set to the scheduled event that contains the CHAIN macro. Open the scheduled event and verify that the day’s of the week are set for the CHAIN macro.
 

An Audio Piece Keeps Erring Out (Suggested Audio Formats)

If the file is in fact in Event Build, look at the bit rate information. In Event Build right click on the audio piece, select Edit Info. Look at the bit rate information.

Here is a list of the support file format encoding settings:

• .wav – Linear/Microsoft PCM wave at 44100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo or Mono
• .mp3 – Constant Bit Rate (CBR), 44100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo or mono, and a common kbps (128, 192, 256, or 320)

Below is a list of unsupported formats, and they will need to be converted

.wav

• ADPCM – this was the recommend file format in earlier Windows operating systems, but has exhibited playback issues on Windows 7 and later systems. ADPCM is usually a 4-bit depth, which is part of the problem. Convert these to linear PCM 16-bit, 44100Hz wav files.
• Non-16-bit formats – wav file formats can use a variety of file formats, from the 4-bit ADPCM codec to a 32-bit float, usually found in default Audition wave format settings. Convert anything that is not 16-bit depth to 16-bit.
• Variable Bit Rate MP3 files – Variable bit rate files may not experience audio playback issues but will report incorrect lengths. Only use constant bit rate for mp3 files.
• Different encoding and file formats used – early generations of audio cards had trouble overlapping audio files encoded at different bit rates. Use a uniform file format at recommended bit rates to avoid these issues.

.mp3

• Variable Bit Rate (VBR). Variable bit rates will have inaccurate reported lengths in BSI applications.
• 24-bit and 32-bit (float)
• any bit rate other than 44100 Hz, such as 22050, 32000, 48000 and 96000

The following audio formats are not supported or available for playback in Simian:

• .wma
• .aac
• .m4a
• .flac