Composers Desktop Project Forum

Hi!

So I was doing some sound exploration and saved the patch. Next time, when I load the patch and press "run", and then go to various cells, it keeps saying "file does not exist". Same behaviour when loading automatically with source audio, and when loading without source and then replacing it. The source in "A0" plays fine, but the problem is with process cells further in table.

Perhaps I did something wrong? Please advice.

Also, for some reason, while in A0 it says "snd1.wav", in A1-A4 cells it changes to "* snd1.wav".

And report window says the following:

""~A_4.bat" �Ґ пў«пҐвбп ў�гваҐ��Ґ© Ё«Ё ў�Ґи�Ґ©
Є®¬ �¤®©, ЁбЇ®«�塞®© Їа®Ја ¬¬®© Ё«Ё Ї ЄҐв�л¬ д ©«®¬."

Which seems not good 

Hi,

There can be issues when running a patch with a different source sound. Where the first cell fails, showing "File does not exist", it's often fixed by re-editing the cell (double-click on it to bring up parameters) and then clicking RUN (PATCH) when the cell has rendered correctly.  What was the process sequence and (especially) what was the process that failed?

On your second point, if your source was called "snd1.wav" and you process it (A1- A4) it shows the original filename preceded by an asterisk to show it's changed. If you then save one of those outputs to file, it'll show that filename instead.

~A_4.bat" �Ґ пў«пҐвбп ў�гваҐ��Ґ© Ё«Ё ў�Ґи�Ґ©
Є®¬ �¤®©, ЁбЇ®«�塞®© Їа®Ја ¬¬®© Ё«Ё Ї ЄҐв�л¬ д ©«®¬.
Well that does seem like a bug! I've never seen that before. Again, I'd need further details of what produced the message.

Hello,

Thanks for looking into my problem.

So it was a simple patch where I had one sound source and then Reverb, Speed, FltVari, Speed cells.
It was saved with "include source(s)" and "whole patch" options (I think both are enabled by default).

Then, what happens when I try to load it.

I press "load" button, choose the patch (with .ssp extension), then I get warning window telling me "previous patch files may not all be cleared..." (which suprises me as I try to load patch right after starting Soundshaper, before doing anything else), I press "ok", then it says "Missing source for cell A_0 Load original if possible", I press "yes". Then, if I click at A0 and press "play", the original file plays fine ("snd1.wav" and with correct folder path). If I try clicking on process cells, playback options are greyed out.

Then I press "Run" button. Something happens. On the bottom of the page, it says "Infile length not available. File may not exist". Then, if I click any cells, it says "file does not exist". If I click on A0 and press "play", it still plays fine. If I try "play" on any cells, then error window appears with same note (file does not exist).

Report window, of opened, still shows unreadable symbols ("~A_4.bat" �Ґ пў«пҐвбп ў�гваҐ��Ґ© Ё«Ё ў�Ґи�Ґ©
Є®¬ �¤®©, ЁбЇ®«�塞®© Їа®Ја ¬¬®© Ё«Ё Ї ЄҐв�л¬ д ©«®¬.)

Now, if I do double-click on any of the processes, as you suggest above. Let's try with Reverb. Firstly, it greets me with message "parameter file does not exist". Then it loads parameters page and another warning message ('''' is not a valid integer value). I press "ok", then click "render" and then it says "Expected output file was not found". After which, report window changes content to the following:

rgain    : set level of dense reverb (0.0 <= rgain <= 1.0)
mix      : dry/wet balance (source and reverb): 1.0<-- mix -->= 0.0
rvbtime  : reverb decay time (to -60dB) in seconds
absorb  : degree of hf damping to suggest air absorption: 0.0 <= absorb <= 1.0
lpfreq  : lowpass filter cutoff freq (Hz) applied at input to reverb
to disable either filter (absorb, lpfreq), use the value 0
trtime  : trailer time added to outfile for reverb tail (secs)
times.txt: list of delay times (msecs) for 6 comb and 4 allpass filters

Then, if I click "run" again it says "multi processing finished", but nothing actually changes as I still get "file does not exist" messages etc.

Now, if I try double-clicking Speed instead, it firstly talks about lack of .prm, and then says "Cell's input file does not exist. Cannot re-edit cell".

So that's what happens to me. Now, if I restart Soundshaper and load patch again, and say "NO" when asked, and then manually choose snd1.wav. Soundfile loads fine in A0 again, and then software asks me to press "run". However, after that it's all just the same behaviour.

---

So, long story short, this was my first experience trying to save and load patch, and it ended up not working as I hoped Maybe I did some error when saving? Maybe there are other reasons for this behaviour? Still, I hoped that it would be a straightforward process, where you could work on your cell sequence and save it, and then load it the next day, use same or different source and the process sequence would be applied without problems and overall it would feel like opening the saved project to continue working on it.

One more detail I've now noticed, though. When opening parameters for reverb, I notice that Delaytimes datafile is in orange, and if you click on it, the text preview is empty (and there is no filepath displayed under "delaytimes data"). Meanwhile earlyref datafile is just black and if you click, it previews values just fine (and filepath displayed under "earlyref data"). Could this be important?

On a side note, I'm under impression that I've rewritten some of default .brk files for some of processes (for filters, for example), should I just copy the whole txt folder from installation files to restore those?

Thanks, and I hoped I described details now, anything else needed?

Hi,

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience for your first attempt to load a Soundshaper patch. Thank you for giving such a detailed account of what happened.

The problem was with the message you got that "previous patch files may not all be cleared". The program checks to see if there are files in the TEMP folder that would stop the patch loading properly, and it found something - and the patch failed. (The report window rubbish was CDP's responses and should not be taken too seriously.) I'm puzzled as to why there seemed to be no parameter file (.prm) for REVERB (it would need that, which is why the parameter page didn't work), but that's not the main issue here.

1) Were there actually any temporary files left in the TEMP folder? - these have a tilde (~) as their first character. If Windows fails to delete these (it does occasionally), the workaround is to open the folder and delete them yourself, not through Soundshaper. I suggest you try this check.

2) Or maybe my CheckPatchCleared function (which triggers that messsage) has some faulty logic - I can't see it, but will work on that, anyway. However, the message is only a warning, so I think this was not the problem.

3) I recreated a patch similar to your one (Source-Reverb-Speed-FiltVari-Speed) and it ran OK. I actually tried to crash this patch (and trigger the message) by leaving a different source file (~A_0.wav) in my TEMP folder, but this didn't stop the patch loading correctly, with its own source. Unfortunately I can't share the patch, as it uses paths specific to this machine.


Hope this may help a little.
Robert

Hi again,

I ran my version of your patch successfully on another PC which has different paths, but that wasn't an issue in this case. You can download it here: https://1drv.ms/f/c/c99eb976df17b95e/Eodc8wmPlrVLuG2WhHRyjAQBNpGpwUficKOGx8EBx0uEFA?e=2vzXbP
 
Unzip PatchJun4.zip somewhere and copy the .ssp file and its associated folder (Vasilakis) to your PATCHES folder - see Settings if you're not sure where that is.

I hope it will run OK on your system. If not, please report back.
Robert

Hello, thank you for investigating into my case.

I can't try out things at the moment, but I've checked what you mentioned and, well, it looks like there are indeed some weird folders in TMP named "~X_4" and "~X_11". There are also various .bat files like getenv and mixmany.

Quote from: Vasilakis on June 05, 2025, 10:44:24 AMthere are indeed some weird folders in TMP named "~X_4" and "~X_11". There are also various .bat files like getenv and mixmany.

getenv.bat and mixmany.bat should not have a preceding tilde (~). Don't delete those. ~X_4 and ~X_11 folders are from your previews. I'll check my mechanism for clearing those -- Windows traditionally wanted folders cleared of their contents before you delete the folder, but now there is a more direct way, which I hope the program is using.

About your side note on .brk and text files:
some are supplied empty (delaytimes is a good example, because the program can't predict what times you will want). You have to edit this data yourself. Similarly, many .brk file defaults are just "skeletons" so the graphic editor has something to load. You're quite right to edit these defaults and save the results for your own use. No need to re-load the defaults.

Some further tests have shown there probably IS a bug in LOAD PATCH. I loaded a sound and did a preview and render, then cleared the patch grid. When I clicked LOAD to load another patch, the "patch not cleared" message came up and the old source was still there in TEMP. The patch ran OK, but with the old source! (I think "Include source" was checked, for the patch.)

I then decided to repeat all this, but the old source wouldn't re-load (because it was still in TEMP) and Windows wouldn't let me delete it manually ("file in use"). To fix this would mean shutting down the program and then deleting the file.

I'll investigate this further and issue a program update when I think it's sorted.