SAW hangs in Live mode after sample rate change

[Dave McKenna]

Hello fellow SAWyers...

Recently upgraded my Windows 10 SAW system with a new Ferrofish Pulse 16MX converter and RME MADIface Pro interface. Compared to my previous setup, this new one allows me to change sample rates any where from 32kHz to 192kHz, so probably why I'm only seeing this problem now (never changed rates with the old setup). Here is an example of what is happening:

1. Set MADIface as clock source, set to 96kHz
2. Open SAW, set sample rate to 96kHz (24 bits too)
3. On track 1, choose a device from the MADIface as the input source
4. Hit the 'L' key and now we are in live mode and get a signal so it works - hit 'L' again and it turns off live mode. Easy to toggle back and forth.
5. Change the sample rate in SAW to 48kHz
6. Hit the 'L' key to enter live mode - the MADIface ASIO widget shows that the clock has changed to 48kHz

At this point, there is no sound coming thru and if I hit the 'L' key again, nothing happens. It seems stuck, although I can navigate the interface and change settings in SAW, but none of it has any effect. I have to right click the SAW icon on the toolbar and choose 'close window' to get out. This happens in both SAW32 and SAW64. Have also had trouble when loading EDL's with different sample rates (something that happens a lot these days with the new rig), but that usually sorts itself out after a 'shutting down engine' type message.

Maybe this is specific to my setup, or maybe it is simply a 'Don't do that!' kind of thing. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and if there is a remedy - maybe a setup problem? Thanks for any insights...

[Bob L]

Once the samplerate changes, the ASIO has to cycle thru an engine reset... usually that should happen automatically by the ASIO driver... in this case, it seems that is not happening... so you may have to go into the Audio Device Setup and then click OK... it may then initiate the engine shutdown and ASIO reset.

Bob L

[Dave McKenna]

Hi Bob,

When stuck in live mode, I can't seem to get to the audio device setup page - dropdowns don't work. But if I first manually change the sample rate in the ASIO widget, then as you say go to the audio device setup page and hit 'OK', then change the rate in SAW live mode works in the new sample rate - great! Thanks for the tip....

[Naturally Digital]

Once the samplerate changes, the ASIO has to cycle thru an engine reset... usually that should happen automatically by the ASIO driver... in this case, it seems that is not happening... so you may have to go into the Audio Device Setup and then click OK... it may then initiate the engine shutdown and ASIO reset.

I've also noticed with some of the interfaces, the number of available channels changes with different (2x 4x) samplerates. So, if I have all the I/O set up in SAWStudio, using ASIO and the RayDat at 48khz, if I change to 96kHz, the available channels on the RayDat go from 36 down to 20 (additional channels are S/PDIF and AES) because all the ADAT channels change from 8/per to 4per in S/MUX... SAWStudio isn't happy about this and gets upset. The I/O assignments in the setup menu are often blank after a SR change. If I reassign the ASIO driver in the setup menu, it reassigns the i/o and now works at the 2x samplerate. Since the number of channels available on MADI changes at 2x and 4x, the same thing would be going on with the MadiFace.

It would be nice going forward if SAWStudio could handle the change more gracefully but now that I have a better understanding of what's going on, I approach a samplerate change as a full system reset and make sure it's working properly before continuing with the work at hand.

[Bob L]

Yes... device channel count and assignment changes when crossing into the higher rates is a little complex to do on the fly... If I was needing to do that often, I think the best choice would be to create multiple preference setups and do the changeover using Preference loading.

Bob L