Hi folks,
I found out about this wonderful bit of software yesterday, but I’m finding that it crashes within 3-5 mins of opening it.
I am just sticking with VCV modules at the moment, with a very basic patch
This is the crash log generated
And my computer specs are here
Would anyone have any idea what might be wrong? Would be amazing if I could get this to work
your laptop looks newish, but you don’t say what graphics chip is in it.
some nvidia’s have been acting up afaik.
I suggest use GLView to make a report, and submit a question to VCV - Support
edit: I see now, that the Thinkbook 14-IIL i7-1065G7 uses Intel Iris Plus Graphics - I think it should be “good enough” for rack.
The system requirements say:
- Graphics: Dedicated Nvidia/AMD graphics card from 2013 or later with recent driver update
- Integrated (non-dedicated) graphics such as Intel HD are not recommended and may cause significantly increased CPU usage.
While you wait for an answer from support, you could give OpenGL software rendering a try - maybe it will let you at least use rack without crashes.
Make sure you have no other programs open such as e-mail etc. If something tries to use the windows system sound such as an e-mail alert it could cause problems as only 1 program can access the Asio drivers at a time. Also make sure your laptop is set to high performance mode not the default settings. Open Settings and navigate to System > Power & sleep > Additional Power Settings. Under ‘Choose or customize a power plan’, select 'Ultimate Performance. Im a mac user so this may be incorrect but it’s worth a try If it doesn’t help I’m sure some more seasoned windows users will be able to analyse the crash report and tell you what to do. I have found that VCV Rack users are very helpful it’s like belonging to a sort of online club of like minded individuals. Also to get you started go on YouTube and watch some of Omri Cohens tutorials he is excellent at teaching the basics of VCV Rack as well as showing what can be achieved when things get a bit more advanced.
Hi Andrew. I run Windows 11 with a Focusrite USB sound device. I always use either WASAPI or DirectSound as I have had problems using ASIO Audio Device in the past. You might try both of those as an alternative and see if your situation improves.
On a laptop, that setting might be hidden from you. Here, a bit down the page, is how to enable it.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I’ve raised a support ticket so hopefully someone will take a look at it soon (I thought support was only available for the paid version).
@k-chaffin this was my first thought too, but it crashes whichever audio output I use - my focusrite scarlett, computer speakers, webcam speaker, all of them
@lawnland and @purf my laptop is currently in ‘high performance’ mode with max CPU set at 100%. I can’t se how to enable ultimate performance yet (I can’t see the ‘hide additional plans’ mentioned on that page you linked) so I’ll look into that and see if it helps
But I really appreciate the replies. As lawland has suggested, you seem like a lovely bunch. The reason I’m so excited for this is I’ve always been a preset user in my synths (no hardware, just VSTs in FL Studio) so I figured getting my head round VCV would really help me to understand synthesis and sound creation - something I’ve really struggled to get to grips with. A lot of sources point to Omri Cohen, so I very much plan to get stuck into his videos once I get VCVup and running
I would say that your graphics interface on this computer is very underpowered, and in the long run you will not have a great Rack experience on it. You really do need a dedicated GPU in the machine (or Apple Silicon). Have you searched the webs to see if there are updated graphics drivers for it?
You could try a couple of things:
I’m sure you have most likely tried this but if not, delete the VCV2 application and the user folder which is located at the location My Documents/Rack2/ and reinstall the program again just in case some of the files in your user folder have got corrupted somehow.
Have you tried this Shell command?
I know it feels arcane, but being able to use “Ultimate Power” made a huge difference on my machine. (Nothing related to crashes, though, just a fantastic fix for dreadful performance issues in both VCV and Ableton)
Please be aware that this will delete all your saved patches, if you save them into the default location!
It’s a good idea to move that folder aside, rather than deleting it, if there’s any chance you might have something in there that you don’t want to lose.
I was making the assumption that as he was just trying to get it to work with a most basic patch that he most likely would not have created any other patches than the one he was trying to get working.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Sorry for the slow reply, busy with work over the weekend.
I got a reply from support.
Apologies for the bad news, but the most likely answer for this issue is that you are using your onboard (not dedicated) GPU which we don’t recommend in our System Requirements.
Does your machine have another graphics card?
If it doesn’t, you may struggle to get VCV Rack working well, but as a first attempt, I would try and reduce the framerate significantly under the View menu > Frame rate.
Here are the relevant recommendations from the VCV manual available at - Frequently Asked Questions - VCV Rack Manual
- Decrease Rack’s frame rate to the smallest tolerable value. See Frame rate.
- Use a dedicated (discrete) graphics card, such as Nvidia or AMD. Rack is not designed for integrated graphics such as Intel HD/Iris. See System Requirements.
- Make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date.
I have reduced thew framerate to 12Hz and it’s pretty stable. I just can’t watch Omri’s videos at the same time - any other graphics-using program means an immediate crash. But at least it’s enough to get me going!
I did try reinstalling VCV Rack, and ultimate performave mode, but no dice - I just think my GPU isn’t up to spec. I do find it weird that I have no problem with anything else, including games which I would have thought would need far more GPU ‘power’.
Hi,
By launching VCV Rack 2 v2.2.2 preview, after I’ve ran then closed Komplete Kontrol standalone (v2.8.0 R0), I get a crash message, even if the rack was empty. Even many minutes/hours after I’ve closed Komplete Kontrol software. Doesn’t occur after DAW open/close (Bitwig Studio, REAPER, Renoise) however, only Komplete Kontrol standalone.
Nothing indicated in log.txt file.
Platform:
Anybody have this issue, or am I alone?
