GoldWave: 5.14 worse than 5.13

[creibens]

I recently updated GoldWave from 5.13 to 5.14, and I must say: I am very disappointed of the bad performance.

The worst thing is the Pop/Click filter. It takes 4 times as long as in the previous version (tested with a 500MB LP recording: 6 minutes on 5.13, 25 minutes on 5.14), but without any recognizable improvement in quality. Whatever you did to this routine: switch it back.

The second thing is the new so-called Priority selection in the Processing window. This does not at all change any priorities. It only limits the CPU usage to a certain amount, even if no other process it currently running. Remove this useless thing, and - after you've done your homework - implement a real priority setting.

The only real improvement I detected so far is the automatic DC filter when recording from analog devices. But this could also be done with just three mouse clicks after the recording, and the additional time used for this is much shorter than the time wasted on the new Pop/Click filter. So, the overall time would still be much shorter on the old version.

The reason why I was looking for the new version was the External error EEFFACE which orrured when I used RAM instead of files for temporary storage and made several modifications to big files like the above mentioned LP recording. This error still appears in the new version.

Net result: 5.14 is a beta and must be fixed. I will return to 5.13.

Claus

[Stiiv]

Claus -

You're entitled to your opinion, but the "do your homework" & "5.14 is a beta" stuff is out of line. Goldwave is a very mature, stable program that has been constantly updated & improved for over 10 years.

Make your comments, say what's on your mind, but please check the attitude at the door. Thank you.

[Arc]

To think I still am using the 5.06, and with some solid efficiency...

[piano nick]

Claus:

If I may ask a few questions:

1. Your post indicates that you are using the RAM option, please confirm.

2. My main question is: do you have enough RAM to adequately handle files of this size while doing various conversions/tasks?

Your post mentions a 500 MB file size - this is very large. Recording at 24/48, my largest file (for a 4:20 duration) is 70 MB. At 16/44.1 the same song is 43 MB.

I use a dual core AMD with 2 G of RAM, but I'm not sure what would happen with files of that size (I use the record to RAM option).

Is it possible that computer resources are the problem, or if some setting or setup has been changed inadvertently?

PN

[GoldWave Inc.]

Actually no changes have been made to the Pop/Click filter in v5.14, so I suspect the slowdown is caused by something else, such as using hard drive storage instead of RAM, a heavily fragmented hard drive, too many other programs running, excessive scanning by antivirus software, etc.

As for the Priority setting, that feature was requested by users with slower systems. It allows them to use their computer to do other things while processing effects in GoldWave. It also solves a problem some users have with their (poorly ventilated) computers overheating when performing complex processing, such as Noise Reduction and MP3 conversions. By lowering the priority setting, the CPU runs cooler. I am sorry you do not find this new feature useful, but others do.

Implementing what you call a real priority setting is not necessary because the operating system already has such as setting. Refer to the Task Manager help in Windows. Unfortunately that setting does not allow the CPU to run cooler.

Thanks for mentioning the error. As you may know, it is very difficult to fix an error that is unknown and never reported. I do my best to fix errors that I am aware of, so any additional details you can provide about duplicating the error would be appreciated. What effect or editing command triggered the error, for example?

Chris
P.S. Need to do my homework, eh? Funny stuff, Claus!

[piano nick]

Claus; where are you?

PN

[Stiiv]

Claus; where are you?

PN

Doing HIS homework?

[creibens]

Claus -

You're entitled to your opinion, but the "do your homework" & "5.14 is a beta" stuff is out of line. Goldwave is a very mature, stable program that has been constantly updated & improved for over 10 years.

Make your comments, say what's on your mind, but please check the attitude at the door. Thank you.

I understood.

I'm sorry about the bad "sound" of my message. Obviously, I was a bit too angry when I wrote it. Next time, I will do what a wise man once recommended for those incidents: write the message, but don't send it, drop it next day and write a new one from scratch.

I am aware that Goldwave developed over the years. I have been using it for several years now, and it really became a very good tool. Anyway, I see no advantage in 5.14, but the mentioned disadvantage.

Yours. Claus

PS: In my profile on this site, I set "Always notify me on replies" to "Yes", but I did not get any notification.

[creibens]

Claus:

If I may ask a few questions:

1. Your post indicates that you are using the RAM option, please confirm.

I _tried_ to use the RAM option, because this is much faster, but I failed with the above mentioned error.

2. My main question is: do you have enough RAM to adequately handle files of this size while doing various conversions/tasks?

Your post mentions a 500 MB file size - this is very large. Recording at 24/48, my largest file (for a 4:20 duration) is 70 MB. At 16/44.1 the same song is 43 MB.

The size occurs, when I am recording a full LP (you know these large, unwieldy vinyl things ) at 16/44.1 as one file. Then I do some filtering (Pops/Clicks, Noise filter) on this file, and only then I am cutting it down into single tracks. I prefer this way, because it is easier and faster.

I use a dual core AMD with 2 G of RAM, but I'm not sure what would happen with files of that size (I use the record to RAM option).

I am using a single core Intel (1 MHz) with 1 GB of RAM. Anyway, XP is a virtual system, and I gave it 8 GB of virtual memory. That should be enough for 3-4 operations on even such a big file.

Is it possible that computer resources are the problem, or if some setting or setup has been changed inadvertently?

Who knows.

Claus

[creibens]

Actually no changes have been made to the Pop/Click filter in v5.14, so I suspect the slowdown is caused by something else, such as using hard drive storage instead of RAM, a heavily fragmented hard drive, too many other programs running, excessive scanning by antivirus software, etc.

This is strange. I tested it several times under the same circumstances with the same files. Maybe GoldWave 5.14 uses some other resources that slow down my system? Hmmm ...

Anyway, if you didn't make any changes to this, why should I worry

As for the Priority setting, that feature was requested by users with slower systems. It allows them to use their computer to do other things while processing effects in GoldWave. It also solves a problem some users have with their (poorly ventilated) computers overheating when performing complex processing, such as Noise Reduction and MP3 conversions. By lowering the priority setting, the CPU runs cooler. I am sorry you do not find this new feature useful, but others do.

I think the problem is that you call something "priority", which is no priority, but a simple (and for some people useful, as you mentioned) CPU usage limitation. You should name it accordingly.

Implementing what you call a real priority setting is not necessary because the operating system already has such as setting. Refer to the Task Manager help in Windows. Unfortunately that setting does not allow the CPU to run cooler.

And there is the problem: To change the priority, I have to leave the program, switch to the Task Manager and find GoldWave in the task list, before I can change its priority. The "priority" select box suggested that I could simply change this priority directly from within GoldWave. Unfortunately, I can't. This would be a real good feature that _I_ would like to have.

Thanks for mentioning the error. As you may know, it is very difficult to fix an error that is unknown and never reported. I do my best to fix errors that I am aware of, so any additional details you can provide about duplicating the error would be appreciated. What effect or editing command triggered the error, for example?

I made a 45 minute recording with 16/44.1, saved it as WAV, ran the Pop/Click filter, and saved the result as a new WAV. Then I inverted the file, opened the first WAV, copied it to the clipboard, closed it again and tried to mix it with the (still open) inverted file (in order to get the clicks only for checking). This mix caused the error.

P.S. Need to do my homework, eh? Funny stuff, Claus!

I'm sorry about this. I should not write messages when I am angry. Sorry.

Claus

[creibens]

Claus; where are you?

I'm over here

Sorry for the late response, but I got no notification about the answers. The notification settings of my profile are correct, and the option at the bottom of my messages is also always checked.

But now I'm here again

Claus

[GoldWave Inc.]

Using that much virtual memory is a bad idea. With only 1 GB of RAM installed, you'll have 7 GB of virtual memory on the hard drive. Considering how inefficient virtual memory is, you'd be better off using hard drive storage in GoldWave instead. So that more than explains the slowdown you've mentioned.

I'm open to suggestions for a different word for the Priority setting.

I'll run some tests to see if I can duplicate the error. Does it occur every time on your computer?

Chris

[creibens]

Using that much virtual memory is a bad idea. With only 1 GB of RAM installed, you'll have 7 GB of virtual memory on the hard drive. Considering how inefficient virtual memory is, you'd be better off using hard drive storage in GoldWave instead. So that more than explains the slowdown you've mentioned.

I can't agree. The slowdown occured when I used the Hard drive option for temporary storage. I don't use the RAM option, due to the errors.

I'm open to suggestions for a different word for the Priority setting.

How about "CPU limit"? The list could then offer a percentage from 100 % (full usage) down to 0 % (pause) in steps of 10 or 20 %.

I'll run some tests to see if I can duplicate the error. Does it occur every time on your computer?

If I use the RAM option with these big files, it always occurs.

Claus

[GoldWave Inc.]

Using such a large amount of virtual memory with only 1 GB of RAM is not efficient. It affects the hard drive cache too. GoldWave wouldn't be able to use more than 2 GB anyway due to the 32 bit OS/processor address space limits.

Can any of the steps be eliminated when causing the error? Does mixing without inverting also trigger it? If you used Edit | Copy and Edit | Paste New to create a copy of the file rather than saving it, does the problem still occur? If inverting and saving could be eliminated as irrelavant to the problem, that would help.

Do you have access to another computer you can use GoldWave on to see if the same error occurs on different hardware?

If the files are large enough that more than 2 GB of memory is needed in total, that could explain the error.

How about "Idle" or "Throttle" instead of "Priority"?

Chris

[holtram]

Chris, IMHO "Priority" is just fine to describe the CPU limiting feature. All this is really just semantics and you don't really need to waste your time to appease....