[solved] Windows: Freeze when loading plugins with the plugin server

After installing the latest version of the beta (Renoise 3.1.0.b5), it freezes and gets stuck on “Loading song ‘foo.xrns’…” whenever I load any of my saved tracks from previous versions.

The only solution is to force-quit the application.

I quick test with saving a new track and loading it caused no freezes.

I was previously running the last version of the beta, and I am using Windows 10.

Does loading one of the demo songs freeze too? Maybe one of your plugins are freezing?

Please share the Renoise log with us (Renoise -> Help -> Show Log file…) and the song that is freezing so we can have a look at this.

This obviously does not happen with any song, or for everyone so we need a few more infos here.

Here is the logfile when starting up and loading a song made with a previous version of Renoise:

============================================================
Version : Renoise V3.1.0b5 (Nov 12 2015)
Date : 2015-11-19
Time : 21:19:42
OS : Windows 10 (x86_64)
============================================================

CPU: Found 1 enabled unit(s) with 4 core(s) and 4 logical processor(s) per unit. 4 cores, 4 logical processors are enabled in total.

Application: Showing the splash window...
Application: Initializing the API...

IPP: Detected CPU type: 0x46

MIDI: Initializing DirectMusic...
MIDI: Failed to get the DirectMusicPerformance Interface (error: 80040154). Skipping DirectMusic devices...

Graphport: Initializing Freeimage...

System: Using 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\' as resource base directory...

GraphPort: Initializing DirectX...
GraphPort: Initializing the Font Engine...

ReWire Slave: ReWire slave engine link (Local Machine) FAILED to install (RegError: 5)
ReWire Slave: ReWire engine link (Current User) is already installed and up to date...
ReWire Slave: ReWire Panel was initialized...
ReWire Slave: ReWire Slave mode failed to init (no master is running)...

ReWire Master: Successfully opened

Timer: Seems safe to use the 'QueryPerformance' counters...

Application: Start running...
Application: Loading the preferences...
Application: Init...

ScriptingTools: Initializing Scripting Tool: 'C:\Users\Hampus Liljekvist\AppData\Roaming\Renoise\V3.1.0\Scripts\Tools\com.renoise.EpicArpeggiator.xrnx\'...
ScriptingTools: Initializing Scripting Tool: 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\Tools\com.renoise.ToolUpdater.xrnx\'...
ScriptingTools: Initializing Scripting Tool: 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\Tools\com.renoise.UpdateChecker.xrnx\'...

DspDevices: Registering native DSP effects...

Audio Plugins: Searching for VST plugins in 'D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\'

DirectSound: Initializing...
DirectSound: Using SampleRate 48000
DirectSound: Primary Buffer Format: FormatTag=1, Channels=2, SamplesPerSec=48000, BitsPerSample=16, BlockAlign=4
DirectSound: CreateObjects ... OK
DirectSound: Using MaxProcessingBlockSize: 1792
DirectSound: Output Buffer Format: BufferSize=96000, FormatTag=1, Channels=2, SamplesPerSec=48000, BitsPerSample=16, BlockAlign=4
DirectSound: Input Buffer Format: BufferSize=96000, FormatTag=1, Channels=2, SamplesPerSec=48000, BitsPerSample=16, BlockAlign=4
DirectSound: CreateBuffer ... OK
DirectSound: Up and running

MIDI: Enumerating Windows MME MIDI devices...
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap MIDI'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap Propellerhead Mixer'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Impulse'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'MIDIIN2 (Impulse)'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap Propellerhead'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap MIDI'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap Propellerhead Mixer'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Impulse'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap Propellerhead'
MIDI: Finished device enumeration
MIDI: Creating MIDI server...
MIDI: Opening MME Midi-In device 'Impulse'

Application: Loading the template document...

MIDI: Loading MIDI actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalMidiActions.lua'...

Osc: Loading OSC actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalOscActions.lua'...

Player: Constructing...
Player: Creating slave threads...
Player: 4 threads enabled. 4 CPUs are available.
Player: Start running...

GUI: Creating the Document GUI...
GUI: Successfully constructed

Application: Successfully loaded template document.

GraphPort: Initializing in WindowedMode
GraphPort: Successfully initialized

Application: Init OK
Application: Enter MainLoop...

Application: Releasing the old document...

MIDI: Loading MIDI actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalMidiActions.lua'...

Osc: Loading OSC actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalOscActions.lua'...

Player: Constructing...
Player: Creating slave threads...
Player: 4 threads enabled. 4 CPUs are available.
Player: Start running...

GUI: Creating the Document GUI...
GUI: Successfully constructed

Application: Loading 'kesson-daslef.xrns'.

MIDI: Loading MIDI actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalMidiActions.lua'...

Osc: Loading OSC actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalOscActions.lua'...

RemoteAudioPlugin: Instantiating 'D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\reFX Nexus 2\Nexus.dll'...

It freezes when instantiatingthe first plugin, I tried with another project file which got stuck at loading another plugin.

The demo songs do not freeze, maybe because they only contain samples?

Is there functionality in this forum for uploading generic files?

Edit: I tried loading an old song without VST instruments, and it didn’t hang. It hung when loading a VST in a fresh project. Clearly it is related to loading plugins/the plugin server, somehow.

Edit: I tried loading an old song without VST instruments, and it didn’t hang. It hung when loading a VST in a fresh project. Clearly it is related to loading plugins/the plugin server, somehow.

Does that happen with nexus only or with all plugins?

Did the plugin server work for you in previous versions of Renoise (3.1 betas)? Maybe you’ve used the 32bit builds before and never noticed that?

Or do you have the “run all plugins sandboxed” option enabled in the preferences? Is this something that you changed in b5?

Could you please also attach the plugin server log? You’ll find it at “%APPDATA%/Renoise Plugin Server/V3.1.0” (can simply paste that path into Windows’ explorer).

The full Renoise log would help too.

Is there functionality in this forum for uploading generic files?

If the forum does not allow you to upload a file, try zipping it.

WinXP32

I’ve tested the following plugins with .xrns files saved from the following versions:

SUCCES:

Renoise 3.1b3 saved song (after loading from a made in 3.0.1 .xrns and re-saving in 3.1b3)

Renoise 3.0.1 saved song

  • Sylenth1

  • Korg Mono/Poly

  • Korg WaveStation

  • AAS LoungeLizard Session

  • T-Force Alpha Plus

  • HGF Avatar ST

  • Synth1

Renoise 1.5 .rns saved song

and re-saved in Renoise 3.1b5

  • Synth1

So I am unable to replicate the bug.

Maybe it is useful to test whether your seamingly crashing VST Nexus.dll can be loaded in another DAW.

Maybe it is useful to rescan the VST plugins first and see if the Nexus still appears in your instrument list after is has correctly scanned your plugins.

It is not related to Nexus, loading any VST in a new project causes the application to freeze. I tried rescanning the plugins, but that also caused a freeze.

Does that happen with nexus only or with all plugins?

Did the plugin server work for you in previous versions of Renoise (3.1 betas)? Maybe you’ve used the 32bit builds before and never noticed that?

Or do you have the “run all plugins sandboxed” option enabled in the preferences? Is this something that you changed in b5?

Could you please also attach the plugin server log? You’ll find it at “%APPDATA%/Renoise Plugin Server/V3.1.0” (can simply paste that path into Windows’ explorer).

The full Renoise log would help too.

If the forum does not allow you to upload a file, try zipping it.

All plugins. I have not had any troubles with plugins before, and I have only been running the 64-bit versions of the software.

I have not checked the checkbox to run all plugins sandboxed, no settings have been changed since the previous beta which worked (that I know of at least).

I checked the plugin server log, but it did not say anything useful (it just listed that plugins were correctly instantiated).

Now that I know it is related to plugins/the plugin server, I will investigate it further.

It is a bit annoying that after a crash I can’t even force-quit AudioPluginServer32.exe.

I’ve checked this on two other 64bit Windows 10 installations, but things are work fine here with the plugin server in b5, so I’m still not sure what happens on your system. We also haven’t changed anything here (for Windows) for b5.

Could you please nevertheless attach or send me the plugin server log? Ideally after deleting both, the Renoise log and plugin server log so it’s listing one failure only. Then startup up Renoise and load up nexus (or some other plugin which freezes).

Could you please also try uninstalling the latest beta and installing it again?

You could try deleting the content of the Renoise preferences folder 3.1.0/* (Config.xml and all plugin caches) too. Please make a copy of the content first.

I did a fresh installation of Renoise B5, deleting all config files and such. Interestingly no audio plugin server seems to have been installed.

The result was the same when I directed it to scan my plugin folder, it got stuck while scanning.

Here is the full log from when I deleted the configs, started the application and selected my plugin folder in the GUI settings (causing a freeze while scanning for a KORG plugin).

============================================================
Version : Renoise V3.1.0b5 (Nov 12 2015)
Date : 2015-11-21
Time : 15:18:36
OS : Windows 10 (x86_64)
============================================================

CPU: Found 1 enabled unit(s) with 4 core(s) and 4 logical processor(s) per unit. 4 cores, 4 logical processors are enabled in total.

Application: Showing the splash window...
Application: Initializing the API...

IPP: Detected CPU type: 0x46

MIDI: Initializing DirectMusic...
MIDI: Failed to get the DirectMusicPerformance Interface (error: 80040154). Skipping DirectMusic devices...

Graphport: Initializing Freeimage...

System: Using 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\' as resource base directory...

GraphPort: Initializing DirectX...
GraphPort: Initializing the Font Engine...

ReWire Slave: ReWire slave engine link (Local Machine) FAILED to install (RegError: 5)
ReWire Slave: ReWire engine link (Current User) is already installed and up to date...
ReWire Slave: ReWire Panel was initialized...
ReWire Slave: ReWire Slave mode failed to init (no master is running)...

ReWire Master: Successfully opened

Timer: Seems safe to use the 'QueryPerformance' counters...

Application: Start running...
Application: Loading the preferences...
Application: Init...

ScriptingTools: Initializing Scripting Tool: 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\Tools\com.renoise.ToolUpdater.xrnx\'...
ScriptingTools: Initializing Scripting Tool: 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\Tools\com.renoise.UpdateChecker.xrnx\'...

DspDevices: Registering native DSP effects...

DirectSound: Initializing...
DirectSound: Using SampleRate 44100
DirectSound: Primary Buffer Format: FormatTag=1, Channels=2, SamplesPerSec=44100, BitsPerSample=16, BlockAlign=4
DirectSound: CreateObjects ... OK
DirectSound: Using MaxProcessingBlockSize: 1536
DirectSound: Output Buffer Format: BufferSize=88200, FormatTag=1, Channels=2, SamplesPerSec=44100, BitsPerSample=16, BlockAlign=4
DirectSound: CreateBuffer ... OK
DirectSound: Up and running

MIDI: Enumerating Windows MME MIDI devices...
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap MIDI'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap Propellerhead Mixer'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Impulse'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'MIDIIN2 (Impulse)'
MIDI: Adding MME in-device 'Automap Propellerhead'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap MIDI'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap Propellerhead Mixer'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Impulse'
MIDI: Adding MME out-device 'Automap Propellerhead'
MIDI: Finished device enumeration
MIDI: Creating MIDI server...
MIDI: Opening MME Midi-In device 'Automap MIDI'
MIDI: Opening MME Midi-In device 'Automap Propellerhead Mixer'

Application: Creating a new document...

MIDI: Loading MIDI actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalMidiActions.lua'...

Osc: Loading OSC actions from file 'D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources\Scripts\GlobalOscActions.lua'...

Player: Constructing...
Player: Creating slave threads...
Player: 4 threads enabled. 4 CPUs are available.
Player: Start running...

GUI: Creating the Document GUI...
GUI: Successfully constructed

Application: A new document was created.

GraphPort: Initializing in WindowedMode
GraphPort: Successfully initialized

Application: Init OK
Application: Enter MainLoop...

Audio Plugins: Searching for VST plugins in 'D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\'

VstPlugs: Trying to instantiate D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\A1StereoControl\A1StereoControl-x64.dll
VstPlugs: Analyzing VST plugin 'A1AUDIO.de: A1StereoControl-x64', Unique ID:1093751651, Version:2400
VstPlugs: Instantiate OK
VstPlugs: Releasing D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\A1StereoControl\A1StereoControl-x64.dll...
VstPlugs: D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\A1StereoControl\A1StereoControl-x64.dll was released

RemoteAudioPlugin: Instantiating 'D:\Program Files\VST Plugins\KORG\audioio\asio.dll'...

Unfortunately I have no plugin server log as it was never installed.

Edit: The server is installed, just in the Renoise 3.1.0 directory. What perplexes me is how the plugin server process is no longer listed in my active process list in Windows task manager.

If I manually start the 64 or 32-bit version of the server by double clicking the exe, the explorer window hangs. But if I try to delete those files, my system claims that they are opened in System and cannot be deleted.

Yet they are not listed in the process list. I’m extremely confused right now.

Unfortunately I have no plugin server log as it was never installed.

It will be in “D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources”. Else it would not try to create a plugin with the plugin server.

Have you uninstalled the old version first - completely wiped all files from "D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0" before installing it again?

Do you have some anti-virus software installed which may interact with Renoise and the Plugin Servers?

Else I’m unfortunately running out of ideas. I have no clue why this seems to happen on your system only. We got no other related report for b5 so far. Also there is no error at all, it’s just freezing, so it will be pretty tough to find out what exactly is causing it.

I could try to add more logging to the next beta, so we can maybenarrow this down a little bit.

For now you can try removing the plugin servers from “D:\Program Files\Renoise 3.1.0\Resources” manually. This of course will disable plugin bridging, but at least won’t freeze.

Thanks for the follow-up, and for mentioning the antivirus. It turned out it was the Avast active antivirus protection than somehow blocked the server from running.

When I turned Avast off, it worked just fine. Sometimes I wonder if antivirus do more harm than good.

Glad it works and that you found out what’s causing it. Will have a look at whatAvast exactly does here and see if we somehow can avoid this…

Thanks for the follow-up, and for mentioning the antivirus. It turned out it was the Avast active antivirus protection than somehow blocked the server from running.

When I turned Avast off, it worked just fine. Sometimes I wonder if antivirus do more harm than good.

I have/had same issue, thank you for figuring it out.