Presets constantly change superfast

[Squirrelmaster]

I installed Milkdrop on my WIndows XP P4 comp w/ TNT2 32 meg card. It worked fine for a week, but now I have a huge problem. The presets constantly change at superspeed, as in 5+ presets per second! This means it never stays the same and just looks like garbled lines, which greatly interferes with me enjoying the program! I looked through the Docs and found nothing. The defaults are restored on the config menu, and I would mess with the config file (the notepad file in milkdrop folder) except I cant find docs as to what each config stands for. HELP!!

[DemonPunk]

Hmm.. I know you said your settings have been restored to the default, but under Transitions - Hard Cuts, what's set in the Average Time Between Hard Cuts field? Also, how sensitive is the loudness threshold?

[Illusion]

Are you using a crossfader, like SQRSoft Crossfader? This can often cause problems, because as far as I know crossfaders "buffer" a song -that is, read up what is coming ahead, so they can mix the end of one song with the next one. This is usually a good idea, but MD doesn't like having the crossfader on - like you said, it will go crazy through all the presets for as long as you've set the buffer (about 10 sec) and because it isn't giving MD the right part of the song, so to speak, and the beats will look way off even once it starts. The default Winamp output plugin is NullSoft waveout I think (it's the top output plugin on my screen), the buffer is set at 2 sec by default, so usually that is how long it takes MD to start reacting (which will obviously change if you change the buffer).

If that's not the problem, then post back, but hopefully that works (if that's what you did), and hopefully I actually explained that right, sometimes I have thought I have understood something only to be corrected :) Post back again about whether this worked..

[Krash]

This problem has cropped up before, but I can't remember what the solution was.
Try turning off preset rating.

- Krash

[Rovastar]

It has happened to me a couple of times in the past too but a restart of winamp always sorted it.

[Squirrelmaster]

thanks Illusion. I went into the waveout plugin settings and turned the buffer from 2000 to 500 ms, and milkdrop works now. I also changed it to 10,000 ms (the slowest speed) and that worked. I'm just curious: what does the buffer do and how does its speed relate to the vis program?

[Illusion]

I might let Krash answer this one, he seems to know everything ;)

If I had to answer (and this might not be right), I think the buffer stores part of the song in memory temporarily, and perhaps MD doesn't understand which part of the song it is supposed to be reacting to. But wait till someone else gives you a reply, this is only from my limited knowledge of Winamp and MD, most people know a lot more than I do :)

[Krash]

Illusion is right, It stores part of the song in memory - it decodes things in advance. It's length shouldn't have anything to do with the vis at all, AFAIK. I've got my buffer to 2000ms, and MilkDrop has never done the flickery presets for me. Go figure.

- Krash

[Rovastar]

Quote 1,

Originally posted by dark illusion
I might let Krash answer this one, he seems to know everything ;)


Quote 2,

Originally posted by Krash
Illusion is right


Modest too. ;):p

[Illusion]

Haha.. very nicely done there Rova. If you were here I'd have to give you a high-five for that one ;)

Hey, at least I was right for once... :D

I assumed the buffer length was how long it took till the song was stored in memory, so if you set it at 3 sec, it would take 3 sec to react, or at 8 sec, you would have to wait 8 sec till MD "picked up" the beat. Is that right, or have I misunderstood that one?

Hey squirrelmaster, it would be cool if you started posting some presets, check out the presets board if you haven't already, there's some great stuff coming out, plus a few excellent tutorials from Krash.... any new preset writers would be great....

[Krash]

I thought this thread was finished with...
You want quotes taken out of context?

<i>Originally posted by dark illusion</i>
<b>most people know a lot more than I do</b> <i>Originally posted by Krash</i>
<b>Illusion is right</b><i>Originally posted by dark illusion</i>
<b>I assumed the buffer length was how long it took...there's some great stuff coming out</b><i>Originally posted by Rovastar</i>
<b>It has happened to me a couple of times in the past too but a restart of winamp always sorted it.</b><i>Originally posted by Krash</i>
<b>It's length shouldn't have anything to do with the...MilkDrop</b><i>Originally posted by dark illusion</i>
<b>sometimes I have thought I have understood something only to be corrected</b><i>Originally posted by Rovastar</i>
<b>Modest too.</b><i>Originally posted by Krash</i>
<b>Illusion..has never done...me. Go figure.</b><i>Originally posted by dark illusion</i>
<b>some...stuff...from Krash...would be great</b>

;) :p

[Illusion]

OK, I think that was a pretty decent comeback... haha.... well done Krash :D

Although I'd have to say you must be taking a lot of stuff out of context :)

[xantus]

the buffer doesnt change when the sound happens, or when MD reacts to teh sound...
all it does is keeps the next X ms of the song in memory(X = buffer length)

so that if your hard drive can not be accessed quickly enough, winamp reads from the buffer instead of the mp3... thus, no skips.
thats all the buffer does is prevent skipping and pausing.


making it longer just takes a little longer to load, but you dont really notice it on most new machines.

[Rovastar]

I suppose not really relevant now but it is the subject of this thread.

I remember where I have seen 'presets that change superfast'.

In WA3 when I run MD without any music. (There are no checks on WA3)

I suppose that does not help anyone at all but there you go.

Rovastar