Guitar FX BOX - FAQ and TROUBLESHOOTING
- Program displays some warnings or errors about DirectSound driver
You don't have DirectSound compatible driver for your sound card installed in the system.
Make sure that Microsoft DirectX 8 or higher is installed. Run "Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> SystemTools -> System information". Then, from menu choose "Tools\DirectX Diagnostic Tool".
DirectSound driver does not support selected sound format (stereo/mono), or does not support 16bit sound buffers. Contact your sound card manufacturer to obtain new driver version.
Some sound cards (drivers) introduces problem with full duplex operation when DirectSound is used for output. These cards report an error if input is open before output, or the opposit way. Try to turn on/off alt duplex mode option in setup dialog.
Switch to WDM based drivers (they run on Win98/Me/2k/XP/Vista). Then, in setup screen, new devices marked "WDM stremaing" will appear. Select those and Guitar FX BOX won't use DirectSound any more for realtime processing.
- I get error: "DirectSound device already allocated" or "Cannot open audio input device" or "Cannot open audio output device"
Sound device is in use by another application. Close this application and try again.
Check that you specified correct devices in the Setup dialog. Do not use 'Game compatible' , 'Voice modem' or similar devices. Use WDM streaming devices if possible or use ASIO if supported by sound card drivers.
Try using different sample rate or turn on/off stereo option. Some cards support only specific formats (sample rate, stereo/mono).
Your sound card is not Full Duplex or it's not properly configured. Check sound card setup - if there is some option like "Full Duplex enable" make sure it is turned on. Refer to your sound card user manual for complete info about configuring Full Duplex.
For example, old Creative cards (SB16/AWE32/64) are half duplex cards that do not support simultaneous sampling and playback in 16bit resolution. With these and similar cards you must turn off 16-bit option in setup dialog, so 16bit mode is used for sampling and playback is at 8bits. This is the limitation of these cards and not Guitar FX BOX software.
Obtain and install the latest drivers for your sound card.
- What are the differences between VxD DirectSound drivers and WDM based drivers?
VxD drivers can run on Win9x/Me only, and this is THE ONLY native (fastest) DirectSound support.
WDM drivers can run on Win98/Me/2k/XP and they feature a new way of accessing sound card - kernel streaming (WDM streaming). This method enables extreamly low latency. But, WDM drivers EMULATE DirectSound functionality so much bigger latency (+30ms or more) is introduced when applications use DirectSound through these drivers.
Guitar FX BOX works good with both solutions, if the drivers are good. So, with Win98/Me you can try both and see which drivers for your sound card works best.
- Program works (no error displayed) but no sound is produced
You probably
didn't select correct recording input (LINE/MIC). To check this, in
win9x/Me/2k/XP open up audio mixer (Windows Volume Controls) by
double clicking on the speaker icon in the tray bar or using 'open'
button in the Guitar FX BOX setup dialog. Click Options/Properties
and select Recording. Now you should see recording controls
panel. Click Select button to select desired port. Use coresponding
slider to adjust volume.
In windows
Vista right click tray speaker icon and choose Recording
Devices. Right click anywhere in the devices list and make sure
Show Disabled Divices option is checked. You should now
see all available inputs. Right click on desired input and choose Set
as Default Device. If that input port is disabled(grayed), first
right click on it and choose Enable. Now double click the
port and click Levels tab. Adjust Volume slider, click OK.
After this is done CLOSE this dilog box before trying sound processing
(may not be needed if you use WDM or ASIO). If you enabled/disabled ports
restart Guitar FX BOX.
Warning: In windows Vista, if you use other inputs
through wave devices in Guitar FX BOX or other applications, windows
may change the default input device, so you will need to reassign
it as described above.
Go to Setup dialog and check what is selected for input and output device
- I hear doubled sound - clean guitar and effect processed signal
Clean guitar you hear is direct sound card hardware
"bypass" from input to output. To disable this go to your Windows
Volume Controls and mute LineIn and MIC
inputs in the playback section. In windows Vista right click
tray speaker icon and choose Playback Devices. Double click
Speakers (device name) item, and choose Levels
tab. You should now see all available output ports controls. Locate desired
port (Line-In/Microphone) and click on speaker icon to mute/unmute port.
You should mute all ports that are not in use to minimize output noise.
- I hear only clean guitar - there is no change in sound when I start the program
- Constant or occasionally clips and gaps or just buzzy noise in produced sound
You may have older DirectX version - install DirectX 8 or later.
Your system configuration(CPU speed + sound card + driver) is too slow for selected max I/Ol delay value. Go to setup screen and, increase this value until you get clean sound. Also try turning off some of the effects and/or lowering sample rate.
Try using compatibility modes in setup->advanced options.
You have another CPU time consuming application working in the background. Close all other applications and try again. Some resident programs constantly working in the background can also cause problems. These programs (antivirus, net and system monitoring tools etc.), are installed in the tray bar. Try removing one by one to see which one is causing troubles.
If you are using WinXP/2000 or WDM based drivers, use devices marked with "WDM streaming" in the setup screen.
On windows 9x/Me you can try WDM based drivers if you now use VxD and the other way round.
If you have more than one sound card, avoid using input from one, and output to another sound card. This is because different sound cards can have significant drift in sample rate.
Some sound cards support only one sample rate natively ( usualy 48kHz) and other sample rates are emulated by software resampling. So, try using 48kHz and see if problems are gone.
- When I try to play along with some MIDI/MP3 tune I get skipping and glitches in the sound
MIDI/Mp3 players are generally low CPU consuming applications so it should work fine. However, some MIDI sequencers/players use more of valuable CPU time so, try playing your tune with standard Windows Media Player.
Use only real hardware MIDI devices. Avoid using software midi synthesizer devices as these can be very CPU time consuming. If your sound card is mixing some extra MIDI voices in software see sound card documentation for info how to disable this feature or reduce number of software voices.
Disable player visualisations or anything similar that uses CPU.
- What cable and connector do I need to connect my guitar to a PC?
You can use your existing, standard guitar cable. Guitar cables usually have 6mm, 1/4" (big) cord and sound card inputs are 3.5mm(1/8"). So, you need simple convertor 6mm->3.5mm. You can buy these in any music equipment store for 1-2$. You can also run guitar trough a pedal, preamp or similar device. In this case you should connect this device to LINE IN input of your sound card. Be careful about pedal output volume to avoid signal clipping or damaging your sound card. See Connecting Guitar to PC in the Guitar FX BOX help file.
- I get considerable in/out latency
The difference in time you pick a string and time that the note is actually heard on your speakers is called i/o latency(delay). With PC's and software real-time signal processing, total i/o latency consists of: input latency, CPU time needed for processing and output latency. Therefore, total in/out Latency is determined by your system (CPU speed + sound hardware + sound driver). You can control latency in Guitar FX BOX, but if you set it lower then your system can handle, you'll get clipping and poping.
WDM based and/or ASIO drivers willl, by the rule, provide the best results (extreamly low latency!). In setup screen, use devices marked with "WDM streaming" or switch to ASIO if supported by drivers.
Anyway, if you haven't updated sound drivers for quite a time - do it. This may drastically improve performance of your audio card.
- What cable and connector do I need to connect my guitar to a PC?
You can use your existing, standard guitar cable. Guitar cables usually have 6mm, 1/4" (big) cord and sound card inputs are 3.5mm(1/8"). So, you need simple convertor 6mm->3mm. You can buy these in any music equipment store for 1-2$. You can also run guitar trough a pedal, preamp or similar device. In this case you should connect this device to LINE IN input of your sound card. Be careful about pedal output volume to avoid signal clipping or damaging your sound card.
- Is there a way to use FXBOX from within a sequencer software like Cubase, Cakewalk?
Currently, the only way is to record tune to a .WAV file and then import it to a sequencer. But, there are plans to make DirectX and VST plugin version of Guitar FX Box, so that every program that supports these plugins can use it for applying effects on recorded tracks.