Topic by TheBard

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Topic: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

When my Windows 10 tablet goes to sleep, each time it wakes Pianoteq cannot find the Audio Device again and you get that Pianoteq popup forcing you to reselect it, or relaunch Pianoteq.

This is quite annoying.  It happens regardless of which audio device I use. For example, this is a Surface which has a Realtek card and I can use Windows Exclusive Mode or that EASY ASIO for low latency, both work fine.  But Pianoteq cant cope with wake from sleep in either case.

Since no other audio software is bothered by sleep/wake, the OS certainly isn't bothered by it, I assume this is a Pianoteq bug in the way it interfaces with the driver api or Windows audio itself.

I'm not about to set a tablet to never sleep. Anyone else seen this?

Reply by Snowpine

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

I have encountered a symptom that Windows sleep mode freezes Pianoteq(command line option "--do-not-block-screensaver" employed). At the right momoent the wait time is over and Windows goes into sleep mode(the monitor turns off), Pianoteq just stop and doesn't sound or accept signal anymore. Then I have to wake up the display and restart Pianoteq.

Interestingly, this issue happened once in the first boot of the system in a day. It never happened in the second boot nor after the restart of Pianoteq in the day. I had to wait until the first boot of the next day.

In my Windows 10 desktop system, there are two different audio drivers installed, one is Realtek Audio, the other is Intel Display Audio. And I finally concluded that the problem lies in the switching failure of the audio drivers regarding sleep mode. So I disabled one of the drivers (I disabled Intel) for workaround, and the problem has not happend anymore.

I am not sure that my issue is same as your problem, but I suspect that your problem is also related with the audio driver switching or detecting. So I hope my workaround would help you.

By the way, I think "--do-not-block-screensaver" option is very useful for practicing. I hope, someday this option would be implemented more explicitly as of checkbox.

Last edited by Snowpine (29-09-2019 05:32)

Reply by dklein

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

Mine is similar, but usually Pianoteq plays weird noise instead of normal key-initiated sounds, even when it is 'woken up' again.  I usually have to close and restart Pianoteq to make it play with meaningful sounds.

- David

Reply by AlphaBetaCharlie

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

I suspect it is connected with Windows advanced power saving settings. Maybe when you 'wake' your computer, USB ports/soundcard is still off? I had the same issue in the past but after I've setup everything (soundcard, GPU, USB ports) turn-off to 'never', I do not encounter the issue anymore.

Reply by dklein

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

I have Windows 10 currently putting the display to sleep after 30 minutes but the computer to sleep "Never" when plugged-in.  I did not find a separate USB or Audio card setting.

- David

Reply by AlphaBetaCharlie

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

dklein wrote:

I have Windows 10 currently putting the display to sleep after 30 minutes but the computer to sleep "Never" when plugged-in.  I did not find a separate USB or Audio card setting.

I don't have access to Windows 10 version in English, but try this (translation might not be correct):
Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change plan settings (for currently chosen plan, or create new one dedicated for VST) -> Change advanced power settings

There you should have a tree list of all devices where you can configure auto turn off for USB ports (if you use external audio interface) or CPU power management (very useful for Pianoteq, where you can set max clock speed - sometimes it is limited to less than 100%).

Reply by dklein

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

While I could not get to the more advanced tree that you spoke of (I remember that there's something to delete, enable, or otherwise change to get beyond the simple tree of 5 or 6 items), it did occur to me that I have been forcing the unit to go to sleep by tapping the Power key when I am done using it, until next time.  I will try again just letting the display go to sleep but leaving the computer on, and see if it keeps things alive.  I can't recall, but I think that gave me an issue in the past as well. 

In the meantime, does anyone know what my brain can't remember about getting to the more advanced power settings in Windows 10 that break out the processor control, etc.?

- David

Reply by Snowpine

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

It's the more detailed step to advanced power settings.

Route 1:
Control Panel -> System & Security -> Power Options -> Choose or customize a power plan -> Change plan settings -> Change advanced power settings

Route 2:
Settings -> System -> Power & Sleep -> Additional power settings ->  Choose or customize a power plan -> Change plan settings -> Change advanced power settings

Last edited by Snowpine (16-10-2019 13:11)

Reply by dklein

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

Thanks, Snowpine, but that didn't get further than the basic display and sleep options that I had already seen. 

On the positive side, I saw that not sleeping my processor preserves the instant play-ability of Pianoteq.

On the flip side, it also means that, except for the display, the tablet is cranking all day, waiting for me to come home.

Oh well - I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too!

- David

Reply by AlphaBetaCharlie

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

dklein wrote:

On the flip side, it also means that, except for the display, the tablet is cranking all day, waiting for me to come home.

What's wrong with that? Energy consumption in the idle state would be <10W I assume, so electricity cost of around 1$ monthly. Also, CPU lifespan is >20years, so running it 24/7 should not make any significant difference, considering we don't keep such devices longer than 5 years usually.

Reply by dklein

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

Thanks ABC!  You may overcome my green tendencies.  ...and my tablet is not the only thing using power in my house.  Heck, even the monitor speakers at rest likely use more power than the tablet!

- David

Reply by S_G_B

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

I have this problem in MacOS (Sierra), going back a month or two. It only takes a second to fix it by toggling the output choice, but that's one second of growing, seething irritation every morning!

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Reply by jackifus

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Re: Loss of Windows Audio device during Sleep

S_G_B wrote:

I have this problem in MacOS (Sierra), going back a month or two. It only takes a second to fix it by toggling the output choice, but that's one second of growing, seething irritation every morning!

re: MacOS

I made an automation script that restarts Pianoteq with a keystroke to get around this.
So I just hit CMD-OPT-;  and Pianoteq restarts in a ready-to-go state... 
There might be a better way, but that's what I've found to be satisfying.