Notation Software Users Forum  


Go Back   Notation Software Users Forum > Technical area > Questions or problems

Questions or problems Have a question or problem about something you can't find in the Help/Users Guide? Ask it here!

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 05-27-2013, 09:31 PM
Crash N Burn Crash N Burn is offline
Active User
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 3
Default Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

I've been using Composer 2.6.3 (trial) to covert a midi file to piano sheet music but I've run into a problem along the way where the program crashes when I attempt to play the song.

Steps to reproduce the error:
1. Download and open Krondor.not.
2. Press the "Start Playback" button (or the spacebar). The program will either crash immediately with a Microsoft Visual C++ runtime error or hang for a few seconds and then crash with information such as:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Composer.exe
Application Version: 2.6.3.0
Application Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Fault Module Name: Composer.exe
Fault Module Version: 2.6.3.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0058be85
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.256.103
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 4ee8
Additional Information 2: 4ee8c24e5f4695cb729117cc0e688c61
Additional Information 3: 10ee
Additional Information 4: 10ee0c82268cf75b8f7938f0f8aade07


Additional Notes:
  • Deleting the staves "Dynamix, Inc.", "Piano", and "Bass" before pressing play allows the playback to proceed fine so perhaps the issue lies within those staves. Unfortunately, there seems to be a larger issue because when I save it as a different file (after deleting the staves) and then try to reopen it I get the "file could not be opened according to its expected format" error.
  • Another reproducible error using this file is as follows. Open the file and scroll to the very end of the song. In measure 126 select the super high A-flat note (the highest note in the measure) of the "Dynamix" staff by clicking on it. Then press shift-down arrow to attempt to move it to the next staff down. This results in a "Command is unexpectedly complex" warning. The issue is that notes in measures 129 and 130 gain additional flat symbols. Doing this a dozen times leads to a dozen additional flats on each note. Showing concert pitches (qscp) cleans up the mess.
  • How I got to this point - I'm not sure what I did along the way to get to the state where my .not file appears to be teetering on the edge of doom but I started off with importing a midi file (BAKGM1B.MID) and then proceeded to re-bar, modify time signatures and tempos, etc. to bring order to the chaos that was the original transcription. After a fair amount of work I came back one day and found that it was crashing on me as described above. As I didn't want to start from scratch I'd try a variety of things such as re-transcribing, updating tempos, rebarring, modifying note durations, etc in hopes that it'd fix the brokenness. With a bit of luck the program would start working again and I'd be able to proceed with the process of converting it to clean piano sheet music. I came back to the project after some time away and an upgrade to Windows 8 but alas it's still crashing. I was able to get around it the other day but the crashing persists. So close yet so far away from completion... As this is my first project using Composer, the idea of shelling out $90 for a buggy program is not very appealing.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 05-28-2013, 03:44 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
Product Manager
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bad Axe, MI, USA (The Tip of the Thumb of Michigan)
Posts: 2,556
Default Re: Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

Hi,

You've definitely been putting Composer through it's paces! That's a lot of work that you've done to a really complex file (which started out with no regard whatsoever to barlines nor time signatures) - well done!

Regarding the bug problem, thanks for including both "before" and "after" files - that should prove helpful in tracking down the problem(s). I've written it up and have both files on hand.

For your continued work, though, here's what I'd recommend trying.
  1. Delete any staves that you no longer need. In other words, include only the staves that you want for further work.
  2. Now use File/Export MIDI (rather than the typical "File/Save as") and give it an appended name to help you remember where you were in your work. This will export a .mid file of your work, and eliminate any "junk" that has been created in the .not file as part of the bug. I don't see any annotations or such, so you won't lose your already-done work, just the junk
  3. Now reopen the saved .mid file and continue with that.
Thanks again for the report - this type of reporting helps us make things better!


ttfn,
Sherry
__________________
Music is to the soul like water is to green growing things.
__________________________________
http://www.beanfieldcastle.net/music.html
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 06-03-2013, 03:27 AM
Crash N Burn Crash N Burn is offline
Active User
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 3
Default Re: Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

Sherry,

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't able to do exactly as you said as I kept getting errors but I managed to export to XML, import it into a different program, export as midi and reimport. That route for some reason added in additional rests periodically throughout the piece (mayhaps because of the other program I was using -- MuseScore) but it was better than having the program constantly crashing on me. If you're interested here are some of the errors I saw when trying to export to midi:

* Internal Program Error: c0000005 address: 98be85
* Command is unexpectedly complex (C:\NSver2.6\NOTATE\EnSnd.cpp:316)
* A temp file was created and not cleaned up in the output folder. Attempting to export multiple times leaves multiple temp files in the folder.
* Attempting to bypass the "unexpectedly complex" error I tried deleting all but the first measure but I still got the error. After the error occurs I can no longer delete staves: Command is unexpectedly complex (C:\NSver2.6\NOTATE\Location.cpp:51)

Or something like that. I had a few different .not variants I was trying and I'd get either the internal error or the complexity error. Anyway, you mitigated the original problem. Thanks!

Composer is a handy program for sure, and I really want to like it. It's got a clean interface that isn't klunky to use compared with others I've seen. However, the random bugs I run into ruin the fun. :/

I don't know if someone else has pointed this out yet or not but when combining two measures tied notes are broken. Or rather, they are no longer tied:

1. Create a new song with 5 or so measures.
2. Change the time signature of the second measure to 1/4. Change the third measure back to 4/4. (The last measure in the song is converted to 3/4 to account for the oddball 1/4 measure.)
3. Add a whole note in the second measure. It will span 4 measures. Err... wait a second that's ANOTHER bug. It should end right before the 4th beat in the 3rd measure. (The piano roll appears to be right but there's a misconnect between that and the notation.) Anyway moving on...
4. Combine the second and third measures by clicking on the barline separating the two and pressing the delete button. The second measure is now 5/4 time as expected but the tie with the following measure has been deleted, leaving two audible notes instead of one. (Note that this bug occurs for any note duration as long as it ties to the measure after the ones you're merging.)

Example ready for step 4: combine_2_3_breaks_tie.not
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 06-04-2013, 08:23 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Jan 1970
Location: Utting am Ammersee, Germany
Posts: 584
Default Re: Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

Hi "Crash N Burn",

just want to introduce myself shortly. My name is Reinhold Hoffmann and I am becoming the new guy on board of Notation Software after the transition of the company in August this year. (please see our recent announcement).

First of all, I would like to thank you for tracking all the issues you have found recently and carefully put them down into writings. This is going to help us a lot in fixing them.

We definitely will have a close look on all and take care as part of our quality activities we have started.

With regards to potential new issues which might come up, I would like to encourage you and others to help us to make our products better. Definitely the product suite of Notation Software is worth this effort and we will do our best that you and others will further enjoy its handiness.

Again, thanks for your help.

Best,

Reinhold
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 06-06-2013, 06:23 AM
Crash N Burn Crash N Burn is offline
Active User
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 3
Default Re: Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

Hey Reinhold,

So how many bug reports do I need to submit before I get a free software license?

Here are a few more bugs to add to your list. These can be reproduced with Song1.not.

1. The 8va starting in measure 2 begins on the 3rd beat and ends on/after beat 2 of measure 4. Attempting to add notes in measure 4 after the 8va ends causes the notes to be added one octave higher than they should be.
2. Deleting the bar line between 2nd and 3rd measure (to combine measures) results in deleting of 8va, ties, and repeats. (Repeat start barline is changed to normal non-repeat start barline and the end barline is changed to a normal barline... though the repeating dots are kept for the following measure.)
3. Rebar deletes 8va and ties. (keyboard shortcut: ||es) The tied notes in this case are truncated from quarter notes to eighth notes. I've seen the note completely disappear before too!
4. Adding in a single measure repeat (measure 4) causes the play button to error with "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0" when pressed after the song has played to the end. Removing the repeat avoids the problem. The following two issues (5 and 6) seem to occur because of this same bug.
5. Rewind to the start of song (ctrl-home) and press the play button (spacebar). Attempt to jump to the last measure by clicking on it. The song will stop with error "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0". Rewind to the start of the song, press play and attempt to jump to the measure after all of the repeats (measure 5)... none of the notes in that measure play but the following measures play fine.
6. Restart notation composer, and open the file. Play the song to the end (spacebar) and then go to "Review and edit repeat instructions" (qri). Click on the second row. Select "Insert Above". Enter in 1,2,4,test. Press Okay and then press the spacebar to attempt playback. Result will be "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0 (hit esc to clear message.)" and the following crash information:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Composer.exe
Application Version: 2.6.3.0
Application Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Fault Module Name: Composer.exe
Fault Module Version: 2.6.3.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0016b97f
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.256.103
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 4ee8
Additional Information 2: 4ee8c24e5f4695cb729117cc0e688c61
Additional Information 3: 10ee
Additional Information 4: 10ee0c82268cf75b8f7938f0f8aade07
Note that I was also getting similar crashes when trying to insert measures at the end of the song but it seemed to happen non-deterministically.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 06-06-2013, 01:38 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
Product Manager
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bad Axe, MI, USA (The Tip of the Thumb of Michigan)
Posts: 2,556
Default Re: Composer 2.6.3 Crashing on Play

Howdy,

I'm going to jump in here since I've been the "keeper of the bug reports" for many years at Notation Software

First of all, thank you very much for the detailed reports, as well as supplying a nice short test file that demonstrates the problems. If all the reports that we got were as clear and succinct, it would make my life (and the developer's) much easier

Reinhold is taking over Notation Software after the loss of our founder and previous president/developer Mark Walsen (you can read more about that here, and the full announcement of the transition to Reinhold here.) I've been working with Reinhold for the last several months, and he is definitely the best guy we could have hoped for to move Notation Software forward. I'm excited

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crash N Burn View Post

1. The 8va starting in measure 2 begins on the 3rd beat and ends on/after beat 2 of measure 4. Attempting to add notes in measure 4 after the 8va ends causes the notes to be added one octave higher than they should be.
This is a known bug that is being addressed.
Quote:
2. Deleting the bar line between 2nd and 3rd measure (to combine measures) results in deleting of 8va, ties, and repeats. (Repeat start barline is changed to normal non-repeat start barline and the end barline is changed to a normal barline... though the repeating dots are kept for the following measure.)
3. Rebar deletes 8va and ties. (keyboard shortcut: ||es) The tied notes in this case are truncated from quarter notes to eighth notes. I've seen the note completely disappear before too!
These two are known and likely related, as well as being addressed.
Quote:
4. Adding in a single measure repeat (measure 4) causes the play button to error with "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0" when pressed after the song has played to the end. Removing the repeat avoids the problem.
Also a rare but known problem (rare only because single measure repeats are relatively rare )
Quote:
The following two issues (5 and 6) seem to occur because of this same bug.
5. Rewind to the start of song (ctrl-home) and press the play button (spacebar). Attempt to jump to the last measure by clicking on it. The song will stop with error "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0". Rewind to the start of the song, press play and attempt to jump to the measure after all of the repeats (measure 5)... none of the notes in that measure play but the following measures play fine.
6. Restart notation composer, and open the file. Play the song to the end (spacebar) and then go to "Review and edit repeat instructions" (qri). Click on the second row. Select "Insert Above". Enter in 1,2,4,test. Press Okay and then press the spacebar to attempt playback. Result will be "Internal Program Error: c0000005 Address: 5acab0 (hit esc to clear message.)" and the following crash information:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Composer.exe
Application Version: 2.6.3.0
Application Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Fault Module Name: Composer.exe
Fault Module Version: 2.6.3.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4cda2d30
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0016b97f
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.256.103
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 4ee8
Additional Information 2: 4ee8c24e5f4695cb729117cc0e688c61
Additional Information 3: 10ee
Additional Information 4: 10ee0c82268cf75b8f7938f0f8aade07
Note that I was also getting similar crashes when trying to insert measures at the end of the song but it seemed to happen non-deterministically.
These are probably related to a known bug in files that have multiple repeat passages, but it is very helpful to have the details.

Thanks again for the great report!

ttfn,
Sherry
__________________
Music is to the soul like water is to green growing things.
__________________________________
http://www.beanfieldcastle.net/music.html
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Composer 2.6.3 bugs elana_chan Questions or problems 9 12-19-2012 07:36 PM
Note Entry - Recording into Composer even if you don't play keyboard (Composer only) Sherry C Tutorial Videos 3 06-02-2011 12:11 AM
Tutorial videos for Notation Software products Sherry C Tutorial Videos 0 03-16-2011 06:45 PM
Invitation to beta test prerelease of Composer 21 Mark Walsen (markwa) Announcements 0 04-13-2007 06:24 PM
MidiNotate Composer 11 Beta Release now available Mark Walsen (markwa) Announcements 15 07-29-2005 05:47 PM


All times are GMT. The time now is 04:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Notation Software Germany GmbH www.notation.com/Imprint.php