Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't work

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't work

Post by Sofine » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:22 pm

Hi there,

My aerodrum package arrived today and I rushed home from work to try it out, however, once I installed it (also having downloaded the update), when I launched it most of the application screen is blank???

The camera installed just fine

On running the programm all I get is a blank window with options for the manual, next and about

'About' just leads me to a blank screen with an option to close
Next brings me to a blank screen, with an option for previous, next, the manual and about
Clicking next brings to me a blank screen with previous and configure audio
I can successfully run a test here showing my audio settings are fine
I was clicking around in the blind for a while and suddenly I was able to hear some drums and see the orange dots move on the screen mirroring the drum sticks, however, that's all I can see - no drum kit, so its impossible to play

I am running it on an Intel i7 3.2Ghz PC with Win 7 x65 and 12GB ram
My gfx card is a ATI Radeon HD 4350 and it's never been an issue in any DAW, plugin, VSTi to date.

Please advise, this was a pretty disappointing experience, before I return the product

Simon

Sipaliwini
Posts: 436
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:40 pm

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sipaliwini » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:43 pm

Hello, I am sorry about this bad initial experience.

The symptoms you are experiencing indicate that your graphics card driver does not implement a basic image displaying feature that has been standard since 2004 (OpenGL 2.0).
I would recommend checking if your graphics card driver is up to date.

Also, if your computer is a laptop that has an integrated graphics card to save power, please check that you are running Aerodrums with your dedicated graphics card (the ATI Radeon).
You can do this by right clicking on the Aerodrums executable and selecting the correct card in the "Run with graphics processor" drop down list.

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:52 pm

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm using a desktop and my gfx card drivers are up to date (I had checked that prior to writing my post above!)

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:54 pm

Also, would this possible OPenGL issue affect latency, as I had reduced the latency right down to 14ms and my sound card to 64 sample and the latency was still too much

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:05 pm

OK, apologies, it seems that windows reported to me that I had the latest drivers installed for my GFX card, but, when I went to the AMD site and downloaded and installed the latest driver set manually, it seems that it did add the Open GL (or CL) drivers that were missing - I can now see the details in the application window, so give me a few minutes to test it all again...

Sipaliwini
Posts: 436
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:40 pm

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sipaliwini » Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:24 pm

Oh great about the graphics, I was getting worried.

About latency, is it happening in MIDI mode or with Aerodrums' built-in samples?
Is the framerare indicator in the top left corner always green?

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:35 pm

I haven't tried the midi yet so it was just the built in samples.

I didn't get much more time to test so I'll have another play tomorrow but I do remember that the indicator was red at times but mostly green. All other apps were closed, I was only running aerodrum.

Thanks again for the support. I definitely need to experiment with the camera and my position more.

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Thu Jun 12, 2014 3:02 pm

So, I had another go early this morning and worked out a much better setup for the camera / my sitting position - I jammed along with a few songs, it was fun, and I can appreciate how amazing this tech / interface is when correctly setup and optimised. It was a green light for most of the time. Latency was (just about) acceptable - though I haven't been able to test this properly with midi yet....

Possible bug: At least 50% of the time I click on the midi button I am brought to a blank window and my only option is to quit the app. When I do manage to see the contents of the midi window, it doesn't list my LoopBE midi ports (which are definitely installed and active). I do see some of my hardware ports (not USB ones though)

Another thing that confused me from the manual is how to load my own custom samples, which I tried quickly (and unsuccessfully this morning). Does each kit piece sample need to be in its own folder or do they all exist in the same directory and you just browse and select them according to the kit type selection box that you have ticked? Maybe a short video might help here?

Also, while creating a custom kit - it would be great if there was an option to edit / fine tune with a mouse - I find the current method quite fiddly

Richard
Posts: 1014
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:45 am

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Richard » Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:09 am

Hi, a quick question regarding latency - on the Latency screen which sound device do you have selected? The exclusive WASAPI option will give by far the lowest latency and is highly recommended.

I apologise for the bug with the MIDI screen. We are currently doing an overhaul of the MIDI interface to make it more user friendly and flexible. One current issue is that only the first 7 MIDI ports will be listed so if you have many MIDI devices that can take input, this might explain why you can't see LoopBE. This will be fixed.

As for creating custom elements, the basic usage is to specify a folder containing the samples you want to use (these need to be uncompressed .wav files). If, instead of placing the samples in the folder, you place them in subfolders named "l" and "r" then it will treat the samples it finds in each of those subdirectories as either left-hand samples or right-hand samples. Similarly, if creating a hi-hat element, you can specify different layers of hi-hat openness by placing the samples in subfolders named "a", "b", "c", etc.
So, for example, your directory structure might look like this for a hi-hat:
  • "c:\hi-hats\a\l" (containing .wav files for left-hand hits of fully closed hi-hat)
    "c:\hi-hats\a\r" (containing .wav files for right-hand hits of fully closed hi-hat)
    "c:\hi-hats\b" (containing .wav files for hits of half-open hi-hat assuming you don't have separate left and right hands samples in this case)
    "c:\hi-hats\c\l" (containing .wav files for left-hand hits of fully open hi-hat)
    "c:\hi-hats\c\r" (containing .wav files for right-hand hits of fully open hi-hat)
    "c:\hi-hats\ped" (containing .wav files for pedal close hits)
In this case you would browse to the folder "c:\hi-hats" and all the files it contains will be included in the new element. I agree that interface is quite confusing and could definitely be improved.

Using the mouse to position the drums of a custom kit is a feature that has been requested a lot. Unfortunately, the drums have a position in 3D space so positioning them with a 2D interface would not be sufficient. We also don't want to discourage people from letting drums overlap on the screen, if necessary. Overlaps are allowed since the drums have a 3D position.

Sofine
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:05 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Missing elements / gfx in application window - won't wor

Post by Sofine » Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:57 pm

Hi Richard,

I pass TCD (where I also graduated) every day on my way to work - glad to see something as amazing as Aerodrums is connected to that wonderful place :)

The company I work with built the prototype for Kevin Godley's Whole World Band app - check it out.

Changing to WASAPI did reduce the latency to a completely usable amount. I wonder if this setting will still work when I ultimately will use aerodrums with my DAWs (Live and Studio One) to drive Addictive Drums / Slate Drums?

I haven't had another chance to setup some custom samples, will give that a go this evening,

Cheers,

Simon

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