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XStudio Voice Tracker

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XStudio Voice Tracker Audio Engine Registry Information

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The audio engine uses the Windows registry to store its settings, including registration information.  The base key for these settings is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine

There are several sub-keys containing information about audio channels, available devices, and audio stream configuration.

The base registry key is for 32-bit (x86) operating systems. If using a 64-bit OS (x64), you will find the entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\dcsTools\AudioEngine base key location.

All of the standard settings are automatically set and maintained by the engine with the exception of the registration information, which must be entered in order for the engine to run as a fully-licensed application.  As a default, the audio engine will run 5 days from first launch in trial mode.  After that, registration is required.

Some of the registry keys can be "tweaked" to correct or further diagnose problems. The following is a list of of registry settings used by the audio engine, along with a brief explanation as applicable.

Audio Engine Registry Settings

Key Name

Default Value

Description

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools

CodeTraceLevel

Key does not exist.

DWord.  This key is used to force the audio engine to create dump files for tracing codec problems. It is used primarily for determining why apt-X or MPEG errors are occurring, with messages like "codec not  available".

When the key is created and assigned a value of 2, dump files with the naming syntax GenCodecXXX.dmp are created, with a new XXX value each time the audio engine is launched.

Registration Key

Key does not exist.

REG_SZ. Contains the user-entered registration key, which enables full functionality of the audio engine. The audio engine as a default supports PCM, apt-X and MPEG encoding, although the apt-X encoding dll must be present and available.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine

Registration Key
(Deprecated)

Key does not exist.

REG_SZ. Contains the user-entered registration key, which enables full functionality of the audio engine. The audio engine as a default supports PCM, apt-X and MPEG encoding, although the apt-X encoding dll must be present and available.

TraceLevel

Key does not exist.

DWord. This key must be added manually.  It is used for troubleshooting and when present, increases the amount of information stored in the AudioEngine.dmp log file. To increase the logging detail, create this key as a REG_DWORD type and enter a value of 2.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine\Channels

PipeClock

44100

DWord. The clock rate for audio handling.  For Windows driver devices, this value can be changed, but for devices like the Digigram audio card, it must be left alone.

Valid values are:  32000, 44100, and 48000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine\Device_x

(There could be more than one of these entries if a Digigram or AudioScience card is installed in the PC in addition to standard wave devices.

DeallocateIdlePipes

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 1

DefaultRecordInput

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 0

EnableWatchdog

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 0

PlayPipeMask

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 4294967295

PreallocatePlayPipes

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 0

PreallocateRecordPipes

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 0

RecordPipeMask

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 4294967295

StreamCount

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 3

WatchdogTimeout

Engine-maintained.

DWord = 500

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine\Devices

Device_1

0

DWord. 0 = WDM (WAVE) Driver. Device_1 contains wave device information.
(Value 6 = Audio Science ASIO Driver)

Device_2

4294967295

DWord. 2nd device record.

Device_3

4294967295

DWord. 3rd device record.

Device_4

4294967295

DWord. 4th device record.

Device_5

4294967295

DWord. 5th device record.

Device_6

4294967295

DWord. 6th device record.

Device_7

4294967295

DWord. 7th device record.

Device_8

4294967295

DWord. 8th device record.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dcsTools\AudioEngine\Streams

xxxBufferCount

8

DWord.  The "xxx" portion is "Play" and "Record". The number of buffers allocated for audio data handling. The larger the number of buffers, the more memory consumed.  If the BufferSize value is reduced, it may be beneficial to increase this value to something like 12.

xxxBufferSize

32768

DWord.  The "xxx" portion is "Play" and "Record". The size of each individual audio data buffer. Valid values can range from a low of 2048 to a high of 32768 (the default).

Recommended values in case of a need to change would be on 4K boundaries - ie, 8192, 12288, 16384, 20480, 24576, 28672.  General recommendation is to stick with 8K boundaries - 8192, 16384, 32768.

This value, by observation, can have an impact on audio play response time.  If the play source is a network drive and the buffer is the default, some delay in start of audio may be noticed as the buffer is being filled and decompressed.  To improve response, reduce the buffer size.  See the topic on slow play response.

Note: If using the Audio Science ASIO driver, these values should be set to 2048 (the minimum allowed size).

MpegCodec

2

DWord.

RateConvertQuality

1

DWord.

UseMpegCodec

0

DWord.