Composers Desktop Project Forum

 
anyone have some thoughts on this? just curious what to do to troubleshoot or if it's just a bug. i reinstalled it once to see if that would fix it but didn't help. same problem.

Win11, latest version of CDP and Soundshaper.  when i launch soundshaper i get the op up window that it needs to know where the progs folder is. so, i go to settings/options and set the proper folder paths and save that as default settings.

i have to do this every time i launch soundshaper. SoundThread works fine and has no trouble remembering where the proper folders are. also, soundshaper loads as a very thin window that i have to drag down from the bottom to expose the GUI.

I've tried every type of save and exit procedure in soundshaper to try and get it to remember where things are but it's a puzzle i cannot solve.

I'd like to use Soundshaper and Soundthread in equal parts. there's something appealing to me about the spreadsheet interface of soundshaper.

apologies if this issue has been dealt with already. i couldn't find any leads on the forum for a solution.

Alright, diving right in! So, no built-in Wet-Dry knob, eh? Interesting workaround using SUBMIX BALANCE. Sounds like a vital CDP tip for newcomers. Effectively blending processed audio with the original, huh? Reminds me of that time I was mastering a track and the reverb was just overpowering everything. I ended up meticulously automating the send level to get the right balance, a very slow slope. Sharing my experience: it was a trial, lots of error and automation with Slope involved.

Thank you for the reply! Updating CDP and Soundloom worked perfectly, even the graphical quirk seems to be fixed.

I can't be certain this would fix that unusual problem (which is new to me), but we updated several CDP programs towards the end of last year, including a new build of Soundllom using the much newer 8.6.1 version of tcltk, which plays much better graphically with the newer versions of OS X. All these updates are included in the full R8 downloads, but I have also provided simple zips of the updated files in Github, here:

https://github.com/ComposersDesktop/CDP8/tree/main/BinUpdates/Jan2026/osx-x86
(select the zip, then click on the "Download Raw" icon.)

One of Soundloom's weirder quirks is that sometimes GUI window popups do not appear as they should; they are in effect "hidden" behind the main WorkSpace screen, despite being the 'active' window for mouse actions etc. If in effect the Workspace window become unresponsive, it may be that just moving the window around a bit will reveal the secret window which would need a mouse action to dismiss.

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.

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.

Longtime user of CDP7/Soundloom here and have been using it perfectly for years after Trevor Wishart taught us it during my masters year. I'm on Mac 10.13.6. Installed CDP8 and everything looks good on Soundloom until I get to actually doing a process on a file. I can play file on workspace but when I go through and click on a process (ie. 'distort','radical' etc.) nothing happens, no window for the process appears as it normally work. I'm pointing to the correct _cdprogs within Soundloom but a bit at a loss otherwise.

Any help very gratefully received as I was hoping to teach the software to some undergraduates this term! Thanks.
--Luke

Hello everyone, I just installed SoundShaper for the first time this week. When I add a .wav file then try to add a effect like an Echo delay. I get the error message Expected Output File C:\Users\Public\Engine\~A_2.wav Not Found. To say the engine folder was a subfolder that I made to take out the program out of my downloads folder on my computer. I wanted to put it in my local C drive. Even before I did all of that I was still getting the same error message. I'm thinking my computer isn't giving the program permission to create the new "wav." that are being created

Thank you everyone!

Hi for issues releated to SoundThread, please make a bug report on github using the template provided here:
https://github.com/j-p-higgins/SoundThread/issues

Exit code 9 generally indicates that CDP/SoundThread is not installed correctly and that either CDP does not have permission to run or SoundThread is looking for it in the wrong location for the CDP programs.