Bug: SpectraLayers One 7 - Hard PC reboot after "Unmix Vocals"

SpectraLayers
21

So far I see the following pattern:
Windows 10 20H2
Radeon GPU or Intel GPU
Intel CPU with AVX2 instructions support
The Unmix Vocals feature relies on the TensorFlow library, which makes use of specific SIMD instructions.

Given we had no such hard reboot reports so far (SL7 has been released early August), I suspect a change in the way Windows handle SIMD instructions since 20H2 on some computers - but that’s not easy to narrow down given we can’t repro the issue so far here.

Here’s a test you can run, hopefully giving a little more clues about the issue:

First launch SpectraLayers, go to Edit > Preferences > Display > Rendering API and switch it to OpenGL. Then quit SpectraLayers.

There’s an Intel utility to emulate different CPU instruction supports, Intel SDE 8.56 : Intel® Software Development Emulator

Then you can launch SL with this utility emulating:

AVX support only:

sde.exe -snb -- "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe"

or SSE4.2 support only:

sde.exe -nhm -- "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe"

or SSE4.1 support only:

sde.exe -pnr -- "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe"

Let me know if one of those emulation doesn’t make SL crash when running Unmix Vocals.
Beware that given it’s an emulation, SL will run slower than usual.

22

I use Win10 1809, and get the hard crashes. Seems like 20H2 is not the source of the problems.

23

I use 20h2 and had no hard crashes

24

You are giving us homework Robin!

I have eventually managed to get the code to run and am told “This App Cannot Run On Your PC. To find a version for you PC check with the software publisher” when I run the code:

“sde.exe -snb – “C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe””

Screenshot (6).png
Screenshot (6).png969×518 17.4 KB

25

Regardless, I ran the standalone SL program with the Open GL enabled and tried to unmix the vocals on a track and I got the crash/reboot all the same.

26

Hello Robin,
I gave it a shot with the sde.exe
sde.exe quits after ca. 10s. It doesn’t start SpectraLayers. This is true for all 3 variants you mentioned above.
I see the spectralayers.exe showing up in the taskmanager.
I get this in the log for starts with the sde:
22:50:07.832 1c6c INFO C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe
22:50:07.868 1c6c INFO auto-detected folder: C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64
22:50:07.908 1c6c INFO opengl rendering (settings)
22:50:07.911 1c6c INFO early init done
22:50:07.942 1c6c INFO creating app…
22:50:08.903 1c6c INFO loading properties…

You can get a log from a normal start here to get my system specs:

27

Hi MarcoE, indeed eLicenser conflicts with the -nhm and -pnr mode and prevent SL from launching. However -snb mode should work, can you let me know what happens ?

sde.exe -snb -- "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\SpectraLayers 7\Win64\SpectraLayers.exe"

Also, I would be interested if you could video capture (with a smartphone for instance) when and how the crash/reboot happen. There might be some clue in the details of events.

28

-snb doesn’t work. same result. no start, see previous log.
Here is the video:

You can also PM me a debug build with more detailed logs.

29

What’s the sample rate of your audio file ? (VoxRef 3.wav)
Looking at the frequency scale it seems to be 22050 Hz (but maybe it was zoomed).

If it was a file sampled at 22050Hz, does it happen with a file sampled at 44100Hz as well ?

30

Someone elses computer having full hard PC reboot but it doesn’t seem related to SL.

also, has anyone here tried running Cubase in safe more? I see this is happening in standalone though so probably wouldn’t help

31

The sample in my video is a 32bit wav @44.1kHz created with Cubase render in place.
I tried with several files. All crashed my system.

32

Like a fool I’ve just bought the full SepctraLayers Pro 7 program and the problem is the same. I am really not impressed.

33

Hi Tech-dance, assuming your system has the correct specs required (Open Gl 3.0, etc), and seeing you have already sent your log files to Robin, you seem to have followed most guidelines here.

However, it might help you to know - since I’ve read you have a Radeon GPU - that in my case, I tried many different ways to overcome stringent SL 7 GPU functionality requirements. Several AMD, including Betas and open source drivers didn’t help. All kinds of configuration selections neither (tried them all). The same with diverse installation/uninstall sequences.
Until …out of the dark, applying an automated driver update-fix with the “Driver Booster” application (that I got from GiveAwayOfTheDay timed freebies)… SL 7 started functioning in full flight.

///My conclusion is that there are Driver related limited functions probably occurring at the registry, which are not easy to fix/overcome. Note that I use an oldish AMD eGPU (tried two models with identical results).

34

Tried with Adrenalin 18.9.3 and very latest 20.9.1, it did not make any difference. Otherwise, the specs from my opening post of this thread are still unchanged.

Robin: Any other thing I can do to help you find the reason?

35

Undaunted by death. :mrgreen:

Let’s hope for a fix.

36

I know this is a long shot, but did you guys try the 7.021 update? It fixed an unrelated problem I was having, one that wasn’t listed in the official log.

37

Care to detail your issue?

38

You can read about it in the ‘Announcements’ thread.

39

It’s the same binary application - so issues you’re having in One will likely be the same in Pro. There’s also a 30 days trial version of Pro.
We’re working on this issue, but please understand it’s quite a complex one that needs time, as only a few computers show it right now and we were not able to repro it on any of our computers here so far.

40

Same happens here but not every time.
Only happens about 1 time in 5 when any sort of unmix stems is used.
Hard machine reset.

Hippo