DDMF Metaplugin works with 96kHz libs!!!

[Andrums]

DDMF Metaplugin v 2.3.9
works good with 96 kHz libs,
sample rate bug fixed,
tested AAX64 on Windows 7,8

[enriquesilveti]

We send him specific information about Nebula SRC. He didn't inform us if he introduce the changes suggested by Giancarlo.

Thank you for report.

I'll test ASAP.

[Andrums]

Please send specific information about Nebula SRC
to Blue Cat Audio.
He is waiting

[enriquesilveti]

Please send specific information about Nebula SRC
to Blue Cat Audio.
He is waiting

Done at the same time.

[ngarjuna]

Interesting, I can confirm this behavior in Nebula/Metaplugin wrapped into RTAS.

However it still isn't handling 48KHz correctly.

[ngarjuna]

Well it appears the 48KHz functionality has changed a little:

when you open a project that already has Metaplugin/Nebula setup, it's like it used to be; Nebulas load at 44.1KHz with blinking arrows and have to be reloaded.

But...if you instantiate Metaplugin and then use its internal LOAD function to load Nebula chains, they come up in 48KHz correctly.

[enriquesilveti]

Well it appears the 48KHz functionality has changed a little:

when you open a project that already has Metaplugin/Nebula setup, it's like it used to be; Nebulas load at 44.1KHz with blinking arrows and have to be reloaded.

But...if you instantiate Metaplugin and then use its internal LOAD function to load Nebula chains, they come up in 48KHz correctly.

Yes. I know it!

[ngarjuna]

It actually appears to be less predictable than I thought in my last post.

Today I loaded up a project (2 instances of Metaplugin, one with 2 Nebulas and one with 4 Nebulas). Started Pro Tools from scratch, loaded the session, all 6 instances came up
<- 44100 blinking arrow

Out of curiosity (based on behavior I saw yesterday afternoon) I reloaded each instance, saved the session and closed it. Relaunched the session (without quitting Pro Tools). All 6 instances came up loaded correctly.

Not sure what exactly the pattern is; we'll be keeping an eye on it obviously but I don't have any more time today for dedicated testing, maybe tomorrow. Weird, though.

All of this, incidentally, is on .492 (after .602 I'm waiting until I see a whole bunch of successful reports for a 32-bit OS X client before I even think about updating).

[enriquesilveti]

I tested BC patchwork beta yesterday and works. I only test in Windows and VST x64. I'm waiting response from our beta team for PT and Logic. I hope DDMF find the way to solve this issue too.

[ngarjuna]

Out of curiosity Enrique: would you expect the same behavior in .600+ as I'm getting in .492? Or were there changes that could affect this issue in particular?

[RJHollins]

I just did some testing with the latest MetaPlug release ... problems continue

When a Nebula is inserted, it will NOT load to an INIT start unless you open its interface [within Metaplug]. Then it starts to work.

The new problem ... after you save off the session ... it cannot reload [and freezes up Reaper] because Nebula does not initialize

How many years do we need to fix this.

[ngarjuna]

I've been testing Metaplugin 2.3.8 fairly extensively and it seems like the problem is 'almost solved'. That said, the fact that it appears less frequently arguably makes it more dangerous since you have a much greater chance of becoming complacent about this problem in thinking it's 'mostly solved'. But that said:

I can get Nebulas to recall at 48KHz in this version almost every time. The one time they seem to not recall correctly is when Pro Tools 9 is started for the first time. Something about the timing of starting up the DAW must interrupt the DDMF loads. If PT is already opened and I open a session file, the Nebula instances all come up at 48KHz whether or not you instantiate the instance by opening the GUI.

I tested this by instantiating a Nebula compressor and turned the threshold way down (so the signal is audibly much quieter); saved the project; then when I reopen the project that compressor seems to be doing its thing before, during and after opening the GUI itself.

I've confirmed this behavior on two different systems, one on Lion and one on Snow Leopard, using PT 9 (Metaplugin wrapped into FXpansion of course). This is all using Nebula .492 (I refuse to even so much as download a .60x installer until they're actually fixed, 601 and 602 wreaked enough havoc on my systems to be pretty gun shy).

Because there are still some percentage of times it is not reliably working my feeling is that it still cannot be trusted and every instance must be reloaded for safety. But it seems some changes have occurred in how Metaplugin works that have affected this problem.

[ngarjuna]

Last night my fears were confirmed: using the working methodology of having PT already opened I had a session with 6 Nebulas and each of them failed to instantiate correctly. This is probably 1 out of 50 or so tries that it failed. I wouldn't trust Metaplugin without checking every instance (although most of those checks will probably reveal everything is working fine).

ETA: To confirm that it wasn't something odd with the session itself, I re-opened it several times after that and the instances all loaded up fine.

[seeing sounds]

I haven't read this entire thread but I use the latest version of Nebula Server 64 bit Mac OSX with the latest version of Metaplugin in Pro Tools 11 and everything works fine in 44.1khz. It recalls and opens every single time. Haven't tried 48khz or 88.2khz. And there's a problem in 96khz I recently wrote about where Nebula doesn't distribute the processes evenly throughout all the cores, but I don't think this has anything to do with Metaplugin.

[ngarjuna]

Email came from DDMF today of a new version of Metaplugin:

"the new version fixes the infamous sample rate bug in Nebula and lets you automate parameters from within a single plugin's UI..."

I'm seeing the exact same performance in 2.4 that I saw in 2.38 or whatever I was using most recently:
most of the time Nebula instances are loading correctly. The problem seems to be
-whenever Pro Tools (this is 9, RTAS wrapping of Metaplugin, btw) is started for the first time, the first session to load will NOT load Nebulas correctly, they all come up as 44.1 (blinking arrow in my case since my sessions are not 44.1). This is whether you start Pro Tools then open a session or initiate Pro Tools opening by opening a session.
-since there was at least one random failure not related to Pro Tools loading in 2.38 (and I never figured out what caused it since it was, thus far, a one time deal), I have no reason to believe at this time that such a risk has been mitigated.

Long story short: 2.4 is working exactly the same as 2.38 did, much better but still not good enough to avoid having to train anyone and everyone related to using Nebula about its possible failures. I'll let DDMF know as well.