Defix Hi-End (skin) v2.0.5 (Last updated: November 24th 2021)

[dro]

Its a timing issue that causes it to dim at times & not at others as it's not always setting the internal flag in the appropriate manner. That's why it can be fine at times & not at others. From the few that have been trying out test builds of the plug-in, the change made has been running ok so the next build (likely some point next week) will put a hopeful end to the dimming issue.

-dro

[ChocolateAdventurouz]

Finally another awsome skin with speakers!

[Aminifu]

The issue stated in reply #59 about the dimming of the album art in the standalone window is fixed by the option added to the gen_classicart plug-in in beta build #11096 (x86).

[Aminifu]

Hi Denis,

I stumbled across an old DSP plug-in on the WinampHeritage website that should let me replace the Stereo Tool DSP plug-in I have been using. So far it runs without issues with WACUP. It is called iZotope Ozone Free. You will need to run it's installer as an Administrator, if WACUP is installed under the Program Files (x86) folder. Before Stereo Tool, I used Ozone for years until iZotope discontinued it. iZotope Ozone Free is a full featured demo of Ozone that only runs 10 of it's built-in presets. I'm happy with the adjustments 3 of these presets make to the sound of my files. I'm pretty sure you will find 1 or more you will also be happy with.

This version of Ozone uses substantially less computer resources than Stereo Tool and introduces significantly less latency into the audio processing chain. This demo doesn't save it's selected configuration between WACUP sessions, but it's setup is simple and quick. Select the desired preset, then the plus or minus input level from the input plug-in being used, and finally the plus or minus output level to the output plug-in being used. I suggest you set the input and output levels so that what is shown on the vu meters do not constantly stay at their red levels.

iZotope Ozone Free uses 3 modules (valve equalizer, room simulation and tube amplifier) to perform its magic. You can look at how the selected preset has setup each module, but you can't change these settings. You can disable any or all of these modules to hear the affect they have on the sound. Depending on the WACUP skin being used it may be necessary to minimize  iZotope Ozone Free's configuration user interface to keep it's vu meters (and other active elements) from interfering with (slowing down) the active elements in the skin.

Another benefit of using iZotope Ozone Free instead of Stereo Tool is the rate of WACUP's working set memory increase is much slower, even with the reported resource leak in recent beta releases. I use the WACUP option to recover working set memory that is no longer being actively used. It is set to trigger every 15 minutes. With Stereo Tool, the reported amount of working set memory would exceed 100 MB between these reset intervals on my computer. With iZotope Ozone Free, the working set memory has stayed below 80 MB between the reset intervals.

[Aminifu]

Hi Denis,

I hope you're doing well.

Can you post the script source files for Defix Hi-END 205 and Defix Hi-End 163_Beta. Thank you

BTW, I dropped the DSP mentioned in my last post. I'm now using Jammix Enhancer v031. It does a good job enhancing the sound and uses a great deal less computer resources.

[Cowpox]

First of all, fantastic skin! Really enjoying the cassette animations and I think it's up there with the best retro hi-fi skins I've seen.

I have, however, spotted an issue with album art not loading correctly. It seems to be when an album includes different embedded album art for each mp3 the skin gets a bit confused and either shows "no cover art" or keeps the last loaded album art for each track.

[ariszlo]

I just noticed an issue with the info box that contains the song title, artist, album, etc. This info is not updated when the next song starts if the album art or artist associated with the song is the same as was associated with the previous song.

Hi Aminifu,

This may fix the issue:

• Download the attached compile-defix-fileinfo.zip file and unzip it.
• Download Defix Hi-END MAKI sources.zip and unzip it.
• Copy fileinfo.m from the Defix Hi-END MAKI sources\FILEINFO folder into compile-defix-fileinfo.
• Launch cmd, cd into compile-defix-fileinfo and run the following command:
  mc.exe fileinfo
• Copy fileinfo.maki into Defix Hi-End 163_Beta/scripts

[Aminifu]

Hi ariszlo,

I followed your instructions and it worked. My work-a-round when using this skin was to make sure that consecutive items in a playlist didn't have the same album art and/or artist. Of course this meant I couldn't play consecutive songs from the same album, if I wanted the info box to update correctly.

Now I can !!!

Is the script compiler you provided just for this skin's fileinfo source file or can I use it with other source files for other skins?

[dro]

The compiler is the one to use for any skin files.

-dro

[Aminifu]

Ok, I've been using another maki compiler that ariszlo had provided a link to some time back. It has more support files associated with it.

So anyway, in this case I just needed to make and use the fileinfo.maki from an earlier version of this skin to solve my issue and I could have used either compiler to make it.

[dro]

mc.exe v1.2 from what I remember is the last compiler that was released & is the one to use when trying to compile any m -> maki files. Depending on how / where the compiler is obtained from will also determine if the supporting library files that the compiler uses are present or not (the things that help it to be able to generate things). If you'd already been working with a solution that allows you to compile things & they worked then I'd not mess around with it as you're probably already using that compiler version anyway.

-dro

[Aminifu]

I've been using mc.exe v1.2 that I got from the link in ariszlo's MAKIs thread. So I don't need the one linked above. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't a special version, an update or something like that.

[ariszlo]

mc.exe v1.2 from what I remember is the last compiler that was released & is the one to use when trying to compile any m -> maki files

mc.exe is the same in both compile-defix-fileinfo.zip and MAKI Compiler v1.2.0.zip. The difference is only in the number of .m and .mi files and in where they are within the directory structure.

[Aminifu]

Hi ariszlo,

I'm happy with the script you suggested I use for fixing the info boxes in the DeFix skin. But, there is something happening that I want to tell you about. When first starting a WACUP session with this skin and script, the info boxes are not showing the expected info. But after the first selected file in the playlist is played (or manually switching to the next file and back) everything looks as expected.

One of the info boxes displays 4 lines (title, location, year and decoder) instead of the normal 5 lines (title, artist, album, year and decoder). The title displayed in the 4 line display is the ATF string used by the playlist editor window instead of the track's title that is displayed in the 5 line display.

The other info box normally shows the full albumart from the selected track and slivers of albumart from the next 4 following tracks. When first starting (before completing playback of the first selected track or switching to the next track and back) the full albumart and slivers of albumart shown are all from the first selected track.

I assume this is happening because the System.onTitleChange function in the script doesn't execute until playback of the first track completes or the first selected file is changed.


Also I think this skin with this script maybe causing the latest version of WACUP to crash, if it is left loaded without starting playback for an extended amount of time (30 minutes or more). I have no proof of this other than WACUP has not crashed when left loaded and not playing anything with other skins for around the same amount of time. I normally don't load WACUP without soon starting playback. However I have been using WACUP's ALT+3 file editor (the last two days) to edit the metadata in some of my files without starting playback. When I do it with this skin loaded a crash occurs after a half hour or more. When I do the same thing with another skin loaded no crash. There has also been no crashes when using WACUP to play files with this and any of the other skins I use, while editing files that are not in the playlist. This is weird, doesn't make sense and is probably circumstantial, but the crashes the last 2 days have only happened when this skin was loaded without starting playback. Can you think of anything this skin and script could be doing without starting playback that could cause a crash?

I know that I can't use the ALT+3 editor to edit a selected file that is playing. I can edit a selected file that is not playing, but could that be leading to the crashes? I've also been using this skin's feature that lets me get info for the selected PL file thru my external web browser. Could this be leading to the crashes?

[ariszlo]

Hi Aminifu,

One of the info boxes displays 4 lines (title, location, year and decoder) instead of the normal 5 lines (title, artist, album, year and decoder). The title displayed in the 4 line display is the ATF string used by the playlist editor window instead of the track's title that is displayed in the 5 line display.

The attached fileinfo.m fixes it.

The other info box normally shows the full albumart from the selected track and slivers of albumart from the next 4 following tracks. When first starting (before completing playback of the first selected track or switching to the next track and back) the full albumart and slivers of albumart shown are all from the first selected track.

I don't know why they all look alike to you. To me, they are all different.

Also I think this skin with this script maybe causing the latest version of WACUP to crash, if it is left loaded without starting playback for an extended amount of time (30 minutes or more).

Maybe. It did not crash to me when I left it alone for 30 minutes.