Hello, I downloaded Soundloom roughly a year ago, following the installation instructions and was able to use it fine. However, next morning, the application doesn't open, and hasn't since. At this time, I didn't attempt to fix sit because, honestly, I was rather intimidated by my brief time with the GUI. Since then, I discovered the SoundThread GUI beta and now have a renewed interest in using CDP's full functionality.
When I open SoundloomE from Applications, a series of errors show:
"Cannot open file '_userlog/logmax.cdp' to read max count of logs before cull request: defaulting to 10"
followed by
"Cannot Find Any Midi Input Devices On Your System".
Before finally: "Cannot Activate Midi-Keyboard Input"
The application then minimises and closes, without any other input such as a "soundloomE has stopped working" popup. Also, these error messages are in the same style as standard Mac popups, but are clearly in some kind of lower resolution or definition and appear really blurry, like they were made for a larger aspect ratio.
Opening soundloomE as an executable yields identical results
Quotecan't read "pa(/users/me/downloads/Amen Break.wav,0)": no such element in array
while executing
"IsAMixfileIncludingMultichan $pa($fzam,$evv(FTYP))"
invoked from within
"if [catch {open $evv(CHOSEN_FILE)} fileChosId] {
Inf "Cannot Open Existing Chosen-Files File" ;# No need to exit program
} else {
while { ..."
invoked from within
"if [file exists $evv(CHOSEN_FILE)] { ;# Load chlist data
if [catch {open $evv(CHOSEN_FILE)} fileChosId] {
Inf "Cannot Open Existing Chosen-Fi..."
(procedure "LoadWkspace" line 157)
invoked from within
"LoadWkspace $evv(WORKSPACE_FILE) 1"
invoked from within
"if [Dlg_Create .workspace "Workspace" "DoWkspaceQuit 0 0" -borderwidth $evv(SBDR)] {
if {$small_screen} {
set can [Scrolled_Canvas .workspace.c -..."
(procedure "Create_Workspace" line 225)
invoked from within
"Create_Workspace $cf2"
invoked from within
"if [CheckExecs] {
if [LoadInsNames] {
LoadInsInfo
}
if {$sl_real} {
EstablishLog $cf2
} else {
set hst(active) 0
set hst(cnt) 0
}
$cf2.t..."
(file "/Applications/soundloomE.app/Contents/MacOS/soundloom/lib/app-soundloom/soundloom.tcl" line 720)
invoked from within
"source /Applications/soundloomE.app/Contents/MacOS/soundloom/lib/app-soundloom/soundloom.tcl"
("package ifneeded app-soundloom 1.0" script)
invoked from within
"package require app-soundloom"
(file "/Applications/soundloomE.app/Contents/MacOS/soundloom/main.tcl" line 4)
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.
[Process completed]
Above is the terminal. judging by what I understand (little) it looks like something I did on my original session is preventing it from opening, as I can see a WAV file not being found in an array. Also I doubt it's a problem with CDP itself as I can run soundthread to that original CDP install.
Im using a MacBook Air with macOS Tahoe, I don't remember what version I would have used at the time (unlikely to be the most recent) but that shouldn't be too relevant since the problem persists now.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Hello, there is a bit to unpick here. First, since you downloaded the full CDP Release we have made a small number of updates; many are bug fixes, but also including some functionality enhancements requested by the developer of Sound Thread, and, more immediately relevant, an updated build of SoundloomE using the newer 8.6.1 version of tcltk. All these are now in the updated full Download, but to to avaoid such a large download I have, possibly temporarily, also put zips of these updates on GitHub here:
https://github.com/ComposersDesktop/CDP8/tree/main/BinUpdates/Jan2026/osx-x86
(select the zip, and then click on the "Download Raw" button.)
There is no installation procedure for this other than just replacing the older files with the new ones - in _cdp/_cdprogs for the programs, and /Applications or wherever for SoundloomE.
I see that OSX "Tahoe" (to which I have yet to update) has introduced yet another GUI redesign; it may be that this is the cause of the strange GUI appearance you describe. I hope that the updated build of Soundloom will mitigate the changes. It is set up to launch initally in "Small Screen" mode, intended to ensure everything in the larger windows is visible (with a litle scrolling), and therefore to be viable on 13" laptops. It is nevertheless tight on that size of screen.
The two error messages you see on launch are really just information messages, to the effect that without any MIDI input devices a few MIDI-dependent facilites in Soundloom are not available. the first is similarly an over-eager information message about one of the private config files in Soundlloom - one of Soundloom's many quirks!
I can't immediately resolve the final error, which does appear to arise in looking for a sound file. Is it possible that a file was deleted or moved external to a Soundloom session? I see that the problematic file was expected to be in your 'Downloads' folder. This is not really a folder for active user work. Soundloom offers the option either to copy ("Grab") a selected file to the "Workspace" (which is in fact the top-level _cdp folder), or merely to "use" the file without making a copy. That _cdp folder is of course visible to the user via the Finder, but Soundloom's internal book-keeping is compromised if any external changes are made.
Thank you for the reply! Updating CDP and Soundloom worked perfectly, even the graphical quirk seems to be fixed.