I've always been a little unclear as to the description of what the Settings/File Streaming/Always Wait For Disc Access To Complete checkbox does or doesn't do. The wording in the help file is a little unclear:
Always wait for disk access to complete
The Always wait for disk access to complete checkbox is the easiest way to ensure sound file recordings are glitch free. When checked, this setting shifts AudioMulch's priority from real-time audio to disk access. This option is most suited to situations where you are recording to a sound file through SoundOut. When this mode is enabled, the recorded file will always be free of glitches no matter how much the real-time audio breaks up. In doing so however it is necessary to reduce the reliability of the real-time audio stream making live glitching far more likely. Any sound from a real-time input such as SoundIn will also be less unreliable.
http://www.audiomulch.com/help/settings#File_Streaming
So, if I want glitch free live audio playback, I leave it unchecked (but run the risk of any recordings I'm doing having glitches), and if I want glitch free recordings, I check it (but run the risk of the live output glitching), right?
Is this setting only applicable when you are running live audio, and not when you are "rendering" something to disc offline/faster than real time, via the "Export to sound file" command?
And this is the killer unclear line: Any sound from a real-time input such as SoundIn will also be less unreliable.
It's the double negative at the end that kills me, shouldn't that be "more reliable", and in that case, actually wrong, and "less reliable" would make more sense?
Sorry for pedantry, but it's been bugging me for many years. :)
Hmm, "less unreliable" is not very clear is it.
>>> So, if I want glitch free live audio playback, I leave it unchecked (but run the risk of any recordings I'm doing having glitches), and if I want glitch free recordings, I check it (but run the risk of the live output glitching), right?<<<
That's correct.
Unless something is wrong/slow with your disk, and/or you are doing a huge amount of file playing/recording, this setting should not make a difference. The setting determines what AM will do as a last resort if it has to make a choice between waiting for the disk or servicing real-time audio.
Note that if AM ever has to wait for the disk then the disk i/o indicator in the status bar will go red. If you find this happening the first thing to do is try increasing the disk buffering settings.
>>> Is this setting only applicable when you are running live audio, and not when you are "rendering" something to disc offline/faster than real time, via the "Export to sound file" command? <<<
It is only applicable to live audio. When using "Export to sound file" AM will always wait for the disk.
>>> Any sound from a real-time input such as SoundIn will also be less unreliable. <<<
I think this should be "less reliable". The point is that not only will real-time output be subject to glitching, so will real-time input -- and if you're recording or processing real-time input the input sound may be affected.
In summary:
A. If glitch-free real-time audio is most important leave it unchecked. If you encounter problems with disk i/o glitching (file players and recorders) then adjust the disk buffer size (make it larger) or do less playback or recording (your disk has finite i/o bandwidth).
B. If having file players and recorders absolutely always work is most important (e.g. in a mastering situation I imagine this is most important) then check the box. Keeping in mind that "Any sound from a real-time input such as SoundIn will also be less reliable"
Does that make any more sense? Let me know and I'll try to improve the help file.
Thanks for the clear explanation Ross!
I thought that might be the case regarding the "last resort" thing, and my PC is way more than powerful enough to handle the 2 tracks in and 2 tracks out needed for mastering, so I guess it's academic, but it's good to know nonetheless.
I've been leaving it unchecked so far, with no problems, but I'll check it from now on, just for safety, as I am always listening to the SoundIn from the analogue loop (and hence would hear any glitches), whereas I don't get to listen to the recorded/mastered file until later, so like you say, this should be the priority in my situation (glicth free recording).
No problems. Aside from the double negative do you have any thoughts about what makes the help file text confusing? I would like to fix it.
Not really, I think if you fix that double negative, and maybe reword things a bit (like we both did in this thread), then it should be much clearer.
Double negative fixed. Will look into improving the rest of the text for the next round of help file revisions.
Thanks Ross!