New out_asio is coming, stay tuned!

[pbelkner]

Originally Posted by M.J.

Can anybody who's using the current version (0.99b) please post:

The device is "InLine® USB HD Audio Adapter, USB Hi-Fi (24-bit 192kHz) zu Digital Coax / Toslink / I2S Audio Konverter, 33053I", working 100% of the time.

[M.J.]

Originally Posted by pbelkner

The device is "InLine® USB HD Audio Adapter, USB Hi-Fi (24-bit 192kHz) zu Digital Coax / Toslink / I2S Audio Konverter, 33053I", working 100% of the time.

This IS screenshot from original OUT_ASIO :-)

And what about buffer settings from ASIO control panel?

-M.J.

[pbelkner]

Originally Posted by M.J.

This IS screenshot from original OUT_ASIO :-)

And what about buffer settings from ASIO control panel?

-M.J.

I don't know about any other control panel ... What do you mean by that?

[M.J.]

Originally Posted by pbelkner

I don't know about any other control panel ... What do you mean by that?

It's the control panel of your soundcard - somewhere where you select your ASIO settings (mostly buffer size / latency)...

[pbelkner]

Originally Posted by M.J.

It's the control panel of your soundcard

This particular device seems not to have something like that.

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by M.J.

It's the control panel of your soundcard - somewhere where you select your ASIO settings (mostly buffer size / latency)...

It's open from within Winamp, as you can see when you look at the small Winamp icon top left.

[pbelkner]

Originally Posted by Koopa

It's open from within Winamp, as you can see when you look at the small Winamp icon top left.

Where do you see that? (Sorry for those stupid questions but I simply don't know what you mean.)

[gkar2012]

no problems here using

RME Fireface 400
latest driver and firmware 3.110 & 1.71

ASIO Buffer in device control panel is dynamic and changes with bit rate(2048 for 24bit etc)
sample is set by rate of music(works well)

Running 99b SSE
win 7 x64, quad q9550 4GB

changes in device buffer to 48 causes drop outs, increasing buffer in ASIO stops them.

many thanks

[m_lesiu]

ASIO buffer size: can't tell
ASIO latency: 10ms

Buffer size in out_asio: 7
Sample rate in kHz: predefined? None. Typically, I play 44,1kHz FLAC but sometimes it is 48kHz or 96kHz

Soundcard / ASIO driver:
Device: Asus Xonar Essence STX
Drivers: Official Asus release STX_7_0_8_1821_Win7 with ASIO

Plugin version:
tested SSE and normal
CPU: i5 2500k @ 4,5GHz
RAM: 8GB, swap disabled
OS: Windows 7 SP1 Professional x64

Is this combination working for you 99.5% of the time? YES!

Buffer 0 set in out_asio gives stuttering/very jerky and slow playback.
Everything above 0 gives no problems, but I noticed the higher buffer is, it gets a tiny longer when scrolling through songs forward/backward.

Cannot change ASIO buffer on the driver side as the panel only allows me to set bit depth and latency.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by m_lesiu

Everything above 0 gives no problems, but I noticed the higher buffer is, it gets a tiny longer when scrolling through songs forward/backward.

Some buffering is usually necessary to avoid interrupts during playback. It takes time to empty and refill buffers. The larger the buffers, the longer it takes. Faster computer hardware takes less time, but some time (may not be noticeable) is still required.

[Raj_09]

ASIO buffer sizes: 512 Samples
Buffer size in OUT_ASIO: 512
Sample rate: 44.1kHz
Soundcard/ASIO driver: Onboard Realtek HD Audio using ASIO4ALL v2.12
Plugin version/CPU/RAM/OS: x86, Intel Core i7 4510u, 8GB RAM, Windows 8.1 64bit
Issues: Currently playing through mp3 collection. Does not play some mp3 files (at 320 kbps) when dsp plugin (enhancer) is enabled but only plays it after 30% through the file

[Eyeof Astranger]

ASIO buffer sizes: 16
OUT_ASIO AVX = 7
Sample rate = 44.1lhz
Soundcard/asio driver = Edirol FA-66 firewire, Edirol FA-66 driver version 1.0.0
Plugin version = AVX
CPU = Intel i7-3960X
RAM = 16Gig
Windows 7 64bit

Works fine beside gapless recordings showing a 1 second gap.

[Branddy]

Hello,

I have a random endless loop with Winamp 5.666 + out_asio 0.99b SSE2 like this stuttering effect.


Things I tried:
Disable Any Power saving in Windows / MotherBoard Bios.
Set Winamp Process Priority to Real-Time, Allow 24bits
In Out_ASIO set the buffer size to 2047, Time Critical,
in the Sound Card Drivers Set the ASIO properties to 24bits / 50ms,
Set to "Mute" the windows Sound Mixer,
Playback set to 24bits/44.1Khz in Windows Mixer,
Use Foobar 1.3.5 and ASIO Component to test stability Audio Drivers.

As far I can test, It is Very Stable with Foobar and has Random stutters with Winamp.
I have to Pause / Stop Winamp, and restart playing actual song/start playing previous/next song.

I Don't Know what is the cause of loops.
I'm not a developper but I'am available to try to debug.

FYI, here are the specs of the computer:
Configuration of Branddy

[M.J.]

Hello all,

new version (0.991b) has been released. The previous one doesn't work anymore, as you may have noticed (beta expired).

What's new in this version:

- Added volume & pan control for 16 / 24 / 32bit Linear PCM streams
- Plugin's buffer size range reset to 1 - 64 steps (higher settings incompatible with volume control)
- Misc. code optimizations
- Added plugin installer

Enjoy and please donate to support further development!

-M.J.

[Ryosuke]

Wow man thanks, now flac files sounds better than the windows mixer, i have a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer and i don't have any lags while playing songs.

[-Px-]

Originally Posted by M.J.

In this version there's absolutely zero sample rate conversion performed (I've stripped that functionality for the moment).

Hi M.J., what are you plans about bringing it back, and make it more smart, i.e. call resampler only when file cannot be played natively?
While this not present, can you fix the situation when playback stops if file cannot be played because driver doesn't support it's sample rate? This happens only with mp3 files, on flac files playback just jumps to next file which is far better

[roadster.wa]

Thanks MJ. I've given your latest version a try but unfortunately it still has a problem switching between sample rates. The output rate changes as it should but the player itself continues to play at the wrong rate unless stop then play is clicked. Perhaps you need to force stop/start when the rate changes.

[pbelkner]

Originally Posted by roadster.wa

The output rate changes as it should but the player itself continues to play at the wrong rate unless stop then play is clicked. Perhaps you need to force stop/start when the rate changes.

This implies a very interesting question (at least to me): From the plugin perspective, how do you distinguish whether the stop event has happened because the respective button was pressed or because the track has ended normally?

As far as I can see, you just get the event.

Can somebody shed some light on that? Maybe DrO?

[roadster.wa]

Originally Posted by roadster.wa

Thanks MJ. I've given your latest version a try but unfortunately it still has a problem switching between sample rates. The output rate changes as it should but the player itself continues to play at the wrong rate unless stop then play is clicked. Perhaps you need to force stop/start when the rate changes.

I have an update on this. I now have an M2Tech Hiface2 USB/spdif adapter and using its asio driver I do not have any problem playing content with mixed sample rates. One difference is that the HiFace2 only has 2 outputs ( left and right) whereas the RME Babyface has up to 6.

This must imply that the RME drivers are implicated in the problem to some extent. For now I am happy to use the Hiface2 which sounds as good if not better than the RME device.

[m_lesiu]

With v0.991b I'm experiencing this issue:
When switching to "next track" (B key by default, or using the button) a few times rapidly, Winamp hangs. Have to kill it / force to close it.
As far as I remember, previous version of the plugin didn't have such a problem.

EDIT:
Just happened when I changed to next track only once.


By the way, are there any news regarding gapless mode?

Cheers,
Marek

[M.J.]

Hi all,

it seems that people just proceed to download without even reading anything on the website

Again, there are future plans for:

Dynamic buffer settings (for smooth transitions between different sample rates)
Gapless playback
SRC

But since I've switched my daytime job recently and this is very very time consuming project and having free time will be even more rare, without donations I won't be able to continue working on this.

So if you like what's going on here and are an active user, you can support this project by donating.

Regards,
-M.J.

[Ryosuke]

You should edit your first post to make public your website, the ppl can get more information about this proyect , again thanks for your plugin .

[M.J.]

Originally Posted by Ryosuke

You should edit your first post to make public your website, the ppl can get more information about this proyect , again thanks for your plugin .

Hi Ryosuke,

thanks for your kind words. Unfortunately there seems to be no option to edit historical posts - I really dont know how to do that. Dont know if its possible at all. Also I think splitting this thread would make it difficult to keep things together.

As for the donations, now before downloading, there are already 3 very simple sentences not that hard to read about donating and there's a PayPal Donate button, so people must be fully aware of this And that PayPal Donate button's been there from the very begining. But no single donation up to date...

Now it's really up to the active users if they want to keep this project alive by seriously donating. Life is not just about downloading and not willing to support.

Regards,
-M.J.

[altae]

Nice work on the plugin so far, I love it. Keep up the good work! Concerning donations I just donated a small amount of money. It is not much but hey, something is something

[altae]

Any news on the project? Will there be any future updates? Maybe gapless playback? Does the current version has an expiry date or will it work "forever"?

[altae]

Since the current beta version of your plugin is expiring in two days, will there be a new version ready? If you don't plan to update it again, could you please release a version without expiry date? The plugin works very well and it would be a shame if we could not use it anymore.

[Bilge]

Demanding money isn't the only way to keep the project alive. You could release the source and I'm sure somebody will happily keep things moving along.

[DrO]

Originally Posted by Bilge

You could release the source and I'm sure somebody will happily keep things moving along.

so just like hasn't happened with pretty much all of the other open-source Winamp plug-ins... since if popular ones like ml_ipod cannot get developer interest, getting into more niche output plug-ins is going to be even harder to find people to contribute. open-source may work for some projects, but the general history with Winamp plug-ins is that it's a death knell for them.

[Branddy]

Like M.J. someguys, sometimes, continue the work started by others to give them a second life... It is true that it is easier when you have the sources of previous developers.

it remains sporadic, despite it's always good news.

[altae]

But so far the plugin works. If it generates not enough donations for him to continue he could simply release a version without expiry date. I mean what should a output plugin do more than playing music? I don't need no fancy features like sampling rate conversion... I'd just like to make use of the hardware mixing capability of my sound card.

@ DrO Any chance that the new version of Winamp will support ASIO output natively?

[DrO]

nope.

[altae]

That's sad. Looks like I'll have to start looking for another player that supports ASIO output. I want to listen to my music without channeling it through the Windows mixer. I didn't buy a decent sound card for nothing. If Winamp supported it that would have been an argument in favor of Winamp. But it looks like we depend entirely on this plugin of which the future is unsure at best.

[DrO]

then you use a plug-in that suits your needs or use a different player, it's really that simple. as everyone nowadays wants everything under the sun included in Winamp without having to mess around with plug-ins but then they also don't want the bloat and everything that goes with trying to provide everything and anything natively.

and what about the other ASIO plug-ins that have existed ? you want something that is effectively a niche plug-in and that is why such functionality will not be added natively to Winamp. if anything, it would be better to have a native WASAPI output plug-in, but that's also pretty unlikely to happen. i don't know what you're expecting from a new Winamp release, but it's not going to be much different from what there already is whenever that day eventually happens.

so if Winamp is not meeting your specific needs, then you need to use what is correct for you.

[Raj_09]

Originally Posted by altae

That's sad. Looks like I'll have to start looking for another player that supports ASIO output. I want to listen to my music without channeling it through the Windows mixer. I didn't buy a decent sound card for nothing. If Winamp supported it that would have been an argument in favor of Winamp. But it looks like we depend entirely on this plugin of which the future is unsure at best.

I agree with DrO here. The very idea of a plugin is to provide additional functionality; some of which is niche to the main software. I do use Asio and have been using Maiko (not updated for years now), Yasapi and out_asio. You do not need the asio functionality as a native function as it works best as a plugin and it is lightweight. Even plugins which have not been updated for years still work good.

[altae]

And why do you always seem to become kind of angry if someone asks for a certain feature? What is the point in developing a new version if actually everything stays as it has always been? If the new Winamp is not any different I can simply use the current one. I'm a longtime supporter of Winamp, I bought a liftetime license of Winamp pro, I have always defended it. When there was all that talk about the end of Winamp I always mentioned that it was sad to see the best music player for Windows go. But apparently you are not willing to improve Winamp at all.

Concerning the existing ASIO plugins sadly they are all outdated and do not work properly. I have tried them all and the plugin discussed in this thread is the only one that actually works (well at least until tomorrow). And it is a fact that ASIO is the one and only high quality output under Windows. So it would really suit Winamp (which has actually become a niche product too) to support it since Winamp users are enthusiasts, "ordinary" users stick with Windows Media Player or Itunes.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that you intend to continue development for Winamp. But at the moment it seems as Winamp is going to become just another redundant player which can easily replaced by any other player out there. Just my two cents, everybody is free to think differently.

[altae]

Originally Posted by Raj_09

Even plugins which have not been updated for years still work good.

No they don't, at least not with my hardware. The plugin here is the only one that works. Plus there is a working OpenAL plugin, but OpenAL is simply too restricted for playing high quality audio (no 24 bit support, problems with different sampling rates...).

I don't care if it is native or by plugin. Of course I would be happy with a working plugin, be it a plugin developed by the community or the Winamp devs themselves. But apparently it is time to abandon ship for me since there is no intention of listening to what longtime Winamp users would love to see in a improved version of Winamp.

[DrO]

i am just telling you the truth and if that's being angry as you put it then so be it. and what I would like to see happen with Winamp has no bearing on what will actually be done with Winamp.

and as Raj_09 points out, plug-ins are meant to add to what is not done natively - which was important when the team was small (and more so since it's far smaller now). so if no one wants to do that then most things will never be done.

as people want plug-ins for free but coding takes time and anyone trying to get money (however little) to re-coup that time is often demonised. and that amongst a number of other reasons is why no one bothers to make Winamp plug-ins.

[DrO]

Originally Posted by altae

But apparently it is time to abandon ship for me since there is no intention of listening to what longtime Winamp users would love to see in a improved version of Winamp.

i am now angry.

you have absolutely no idea of what's involved with software development and that things can just be magically created in no time and without incurring any costs. and this is why I'd stepped away from the Winamp part of the forums as expectations of everything is unrealistic and i'm tired of it.

you want X, others want Y and everyone else wants Z. but with finite time and finite resources and what is important to most being different, there is no way to win and that's why ASIO will not be natively provided as it does not benefit the majority and the time and costs involved with developing native is not worth it.


that's why it won't happen.

that's why you have to rely on 3rd party plug-ins.

and if none of that works because ASIO output is a deal-breaker for you, then you have to move on and calling out about being a long-time user has no bearing on things - Justin, etc didn't implement a lot of things that other long-time users kept calling for over the years.

and that is why I stepped away from Winamp as people keep calling this emotional bull-crap and I'm sick of it. it's a piece of software, if it works for your needs use it, if it doesn't do something about it or use what actually fits you needs. and with that, I think my life would be better without this Winamp crap...

[altae]

The only one that is emotional is you. You are telling me that I have no clue of software development and the amount of work that is involved. That's just wrong, I know features are not created "magically" as you said. And I don't want things for free, I paid for Winamp pro and I would gladly pay once more if, and only if, development takes into consideration features that are important to users. If you think Winamp has a future by only supporting things mainstream users want then go ahead and see what happens. There is a reason why Winamp has actually become irrelevant. It used to be "The One" media player for Windows. And look what it has become. As strange as it must seem to you, there might be a reason for that massive drop in market share of Winamp. Have you ever thought about that?

Just so you know, I even donated for the plugin here. Not much as I haven't got a lot of money, but I gave something. But there is no point in this discussion, we are just abusing this thread.

[MrSinatra]

altae,

as far as I know, winamp is down to one dev, DrO. when the sale happened, the new owners have their own priorities, which is normal. I too have wailed and bemoaned over the lack of this or that feature, and no one, I think, would suggest that it wouldn't be better if winamp had this or that, (generally speaking), but the problem is that the new owners need their needs met first, and there is precious little time / money / resources for things which are niche and/or outside those priorities.

the good news is that winamp does accept 3rd party plugins, and so there is a chance to enhance winamp outside of its core development. that's a lot more than most software allows. yes, it would be nice to see these things natively, but they are niche and they aren't the priority.

maybe you can find some devs who did or do make output plugins to do ASIO or WASAPI ones, or make their code open source, so someone else can work on it?

one thing I would like to see, which I think would really turn the tide and help incentivize and monetize plugin development, is a "winamp store" where users could buy in-app improvements from winamp or 3rd party devs and extend the core free features of winamp. that seems really fair to me. of course, that's a tall order, and it would need to be clear that the upfront investment would eventually pay off. the store could sell music and software too of course, not just plugins, so kinda ripping off the iTunes model, but hey, its successful, so why not?