Playback Is Falling Apart

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bozopriester
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:20 am

Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by bozopriester »

I am really getting irritated with Media Monkey. Although it has all kinds of bells and whistles, it is failing more and more on the simple function of Playback! It does not happen constantly, but it does happen often enough.

At various times, MM:
  1. stutters through tracks
  2. audio ceases, but playback position continues advancing
  3. audio keeps playing, but playback position stops
  4. current playlist stops playback after random track
I can create a playlist of the same exact files in VLC and play it repeatedly WITHOUT issue, so I know the files are not corrupted. I have tried this numerous times, so I know darn well that it's also not an issue with the network drive upon which the files are located.

It is really sad when the main function of a paid piece of software is outperformed by freeware.
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by Lowlander »

Which Output Plugin are you using? If not MediaMonkey DirectSound can you try it: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... ing_Output

Also which Build (Help > About) of MediaMonkey are you using?
Rob_S
Posts: 879
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:53 pm

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by Rob_S »

Also, have you enabled the Equalizer?

I have found in the past that this causes playback problems in some tracks.
Using 5.1 LATEST alpha or beta build on Windows 10, HP laptop, managing 13k tracks
bozopriester
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:20 am

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by bozopriester »

It was set on "MediaMonkey WSAPI output". I will switch it to DirectSound and see if that makes a difference.

The version is the latest: 5.0.1.2433.

And no, the Equalizer is not enabled.

Thanks!
bozopriester
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:20 am

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by bozopriester »

I suppose this is a success! I'm 37 tracks into an 81 track playlist, under the same conditions as previously and ZERO issues with playback. DirectSound output must have been the correct answer.

Thanks again!!!
patch
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:40 pm

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by patch »

bozopriester wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:46 am It was set on "MediaMonkey WSAPI output". I will switch it to DirectSound and see if that makes a difference.
Defaulted to the same settings for new MediaMonkey v5.0.2.2531 install on new Window 10 install.

Similar symptoms, MediaMonkey appeared to play each song with the progress bar reaching about 50%, then no sound was made for about the same amount of time as the song, and then the next song started. Stuttering also occurred for me but was less annoying.

So will try the same fix -> switch to DirectSound
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by Lowlander »

Is this on the same hardware or for the same files? Does it happen to all files or just some?
patch
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:40 pm

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by patch »

Lowlander wrote: Fri Feb 04, 2022 10:05 pm Is this on the same hardware or for the same files? Does it happen to all files or just some?
Setting the playback to "Direct sound" and restarting MM5 stopped it from happening (so the setting I now use).
Setting the playback back to "MediaMonkey WSAPI output" and restarting MM5 resulted in it happening again.

Watching a little more closely the behaviour is more random than I initially though. Skipping the remainder of a track, stuttering or just not playing anything for a relatively random time then abruptly starting the next track.
It occurs on mp3 files (basic encoding) so I assume it could occur on any.

Music is being played from a shared directory on another computer (Windows 7).
The behaviour does sound like a data buffering problem somewhere.
viking74
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:35 pm

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by viking74 »

At various times, MM:

stutters through tracks
audio ceases, but playback position continues advancing
audio keeps playing, but playback position stops
current playlist stops playback after random track
I've noticed this type of behaviour too, it seems completely random. I'm also using the WASAPI plugin so I'll change to DirectSound.
viking74
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:35 pm

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by viking74 »

I switched to DirectSound, restarted MM5 and hit shuffle on a playlist. After a couple of hours playback stopped, this has also happened with WASAPI. On the plus side I didn't hear any stuttering/glitching type of behaviour yet.
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: Playback Is Falling Apart

Post by Lowlander »

Please capture this in a debug log (step 4b) and attach the log to a Support Ticket: viewtopic.php?t=86643

Do make sure you didn't assign a global hotkey to stop playback (Tools > Options > Hotkeys).
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