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cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO

41.183.0.21
Posted on May 5, 2008 at 12:31:58
cics
Audiophile

Posts: 1320
Joined: November 9, 2006
cPlay

The open source high-end audio player using ASIO

May 2008

cPlay delivers high quality audio playback using ASIO 2. Playback is achieved using any ASIO compatible soundcard. cPlay is a minimalist audio player using the latest high quality SRC resampler (Best Sinc SNR 145.68db or 121.33db) or SoX (VHQ or HQ). cPlay's design offers state-of-the-art ASIO-only playback and caters for touch screen users. Installation, setup and use is easy. cPlay is built in c/c++ and operates on Windows XP SP2 Professional (32 bit).

FEATURES

  1. Resampling is sourced from LibSampleRate (version 0.1.5) and SoX 14.2.0 under GNU GPL license. LibSampleRate is aka SRC (Secret Rabbit Code) and supersedes the version as used in foobar2000. Best Sinc converter now offers a SNR of 145.68db or 121.33db (versus 97db). SoX VHQ offers better than 170db SNR. Resampling is bypassed when input rate matches output.

  2. Supports Steinberg's excellent ASIO 2 and is backward compatible to prior ASIO versions (as required by ASIO drivers).

  3. Offers high quality 64 bit double precision digital volume control (in 0.5db steps). This can be bypassed.

  4. Playback is achieved through .cue, .wav or .flac files. cPlay loads entire .wav or .flac (decoded) into RAM before starting. Playback is done directly from cPlay's internal buffer. Cue playback requires .cue files as created by EAC (single or multi file standard).

  5. Ensures efficient CPU resource utilization allowing for low specification processors or high levels of upsampling. This means CPUs can be underclocked / undervolted.

  6. Supports up to 3 ASIO soundcards with each having up to 100 output channels.

  7. Advanced optimizations are applied (if available from ASIO driver) during playback.

  8. Best results achieved when using cMP (i.e. cMP²). This allows for low level Windows optimizations. Use cMP release 1.0 final or later as this allows for bypassing RAM load in cMP (set RAM Load in cMP Settings to No) otherwise wav file is RAM loaded twice. cPlay allows for both svchost and lsass to be suspended during playback thus reducing the Windows footprint. Only exception is EMU's ASIO driver which requires both (svchost and lsass) to be operational. Set cMP's Optimize setting to Critical.

  9. Full remote control is achieved with cMP: offering volume control, track navigation, next/previous and stop/eject via (wireless) mouse.

USER MANUAL

Visit cMP² website (http://www.cicsMemoryPlayer.com) for more details and setup.

Screen Shot




GETTING STARTED

Download cPlay's installer here (1.3MB). Installation and startup is straight forward.

If you don't have an ASIO compatible soundcard, use ASIO4ALL. Note that ASIO4ALL does not support channel mapping (use default) and rarely handles above 48k sample rate.

Your feedback will help guide cPlay's future development. Source code (4.1MB) is available via email.

 

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8 Gb or smaller ssd...where buy now, posted on February 29, 2012 at 09:57:16
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Cant seem to find any.

 

RE: 8 Gb or smaller ssd...where buy now, posted on February 29, 2012 at 10:24:36
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 8 Gb or smaller ssd

I've just Googled "Kingston 8GB S100 SSDNow" - it seems they're to be had over here.

HTH

D

 

Amazon, posted on February 29, 2012 at 11:07:56
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 Though I think I prefer the small OCz for a little bit more.

The Kingston gets unusually hot in service.

 

RE: Amazon, posted on February 29, 2012 at 12:24:28
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Thanks just ordered one. How's the 47kb shell doin'?

 

It is doing fine, posted on March 1, 2012 at 08:16:44
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 In fact, better than ever thanks to you know who.

 

Just returned from holiday down in Fla..., posted on March 1, 2012 at 09:26:55
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 ...and while it was a great time I visited another old friend who is an audiophile of super pedigree. We listened to high end digital, analogue and surround sound on his wonderful home theatre. I had a great time. His 2 channel system is uber high end with no degree of system tweaking left undone. I can post what I am about to say here because he does not read AA. What was suprising was the degree of shortfall his front end exemplified versus a fully maxed out CMP^2 system. We listened to many discs I have and it wasn't even close not even the vinyl (about $10K worth). So for those who have labored through the CMP machinations of the Serge's, Jack et al... you have the best front end I have ever heard. I believe computer audio has now surpassed all other front ends. Its no longer a convenience feature ...its a performance must today.

 

Win 7 Starter & AWE, posted on March 2, 2012 at 08:34:36
chevron
Manufacturer

Posts: 8
Location: Derby
Joined: November 25, 2009
 If you have Win 7 Starter you can install gpedit.msc from URL below so that AWE can be enabled in CPLAY.

First you need to install & run gpedit.msc the follow CPLAY/GUIDE 'how 2 set lock privaledges' steps 7 - 16.

Then in cplay setting enable AWE
Chevron

 

RE: New Version of Cplayrun batch file plays MP3 and APE files using Cplay, posted on March 2, 2012 at 13:16:17
Ken Stuart
Audiophile

Posts: 134
Location: California
Joined: December 27, 2011
 Original post's download link was just updated with bug fix version 0.3.1

(The bug is that the folder was not correctly set for an individual file that was chosen to be played with cplayrun.bat )

 

RE: New Version of Cplayrun batch file plays MP3 and APE files using Cplay, posted on March 3, 2012 at 12:36:05
Ken Stuart
Audiophile

Posts: 134
Location: California
Joined: December 27, 2011
 Original post's download link was just updated with bug fix version 0.3.2

(The previous bugfix exposed some syntax errors that can cause problems for certain combinations, for example if parentheses are in a folder name. I also corrected the syntax of the foobar2000 start line. )

 

RE: Win 7 Starter & AWE, posted on March 3, 2012 at 16:07:44
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 With a bit of work it is possible to implement AWE in Win 7 Home Premium.

It's explained here but it needs to be Google translated:
http://www.nexthardware.com/forum/cmp-cmp-cplay/76567-privilegi-di-lock-win-7-home-premium-sp1.html

 

RE: Win 7 Starter & AWE, posted on March 3, 2012 at 23:26:38
chevron
Manufacturer

Posts: 8
Location: Derby
Joined: November 25, 2009
 Thanks for that info, the gpedit.msc URL I posted also claims to work for Win 7 Home editions but I have I tried it with Starter.

The cplay instuctions set Lock Privaledges for Adminstrators so you would need to login to the PC as a user with administrator right for AWE to work in cplay.
Chevron

 

RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO, posted on March 6, 2012 at 23:55:38
zoran.obrad@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Joined: March 6, 2012
 CMP WITH THUNEAU ALLOCATOR INTERACTION
Cics, I am a newbee,have cmp2-cplay from the very start and want to use Thuneau allocator as final touch.
What causes the problem when using CMP with ALLOCATOR (must to restart), is is Cplay or CMP.
I am asking this because if it is Cplay than maybe using FOOBAR as a player
will solve the problem
Thank you in advance
Zoran

 

cMP with Allocator, posted on March 8, 2012 at 15:31:21
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Hi Zoran,

What is the problem ?
Can you please explain more detailed.

I´ve used Allocator with cMP2 for years and it runs absolutely perfect.
Please describe your hardware too.

kind regards


Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

cPlay - With Async USB2 sound impressions, posted on March 11, 2012 at 19:34:54
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Bucking conventional wisdom, I gone with USB rather than the Julie etc sound card route. Recently switched to USB2 Asyncronous with really good results. Asyncronous protocol puts makes the PC a slave to deliver the bits to the converter. For sound, this is the way it always should have been. I chose WaveIO, XMOS based card. Beautiful design and execution. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/188902-xmos-based-asynchronous-usb-i2s-interface.html It also brings up to 24/192 resolution.
To get the drivers loaded, I needed a clean install. This card completely removed the USB conversion as the weak link from the system. It made the recent sound quality improvements outlined by our inmates via XP slimming even more apparent.
Starting with a base XP Pro Nlite install and minlogon + CMP optimisations the improvement from the WaveIO card was apparent.
I did the Steppe 1- 15 + Mihaylov tweeks. At this stage, sound was very clean and crystal clear with great sound stage etc. But it was not something I wanted to listen to. Compared to my well modded Rotel CDP I far preferred the Rotel. Simply more involving and natural.
I thought the WaveIO card might be the issue. However, for completeness I carried on first doing the Resource Hacker slimming of the remaining DLLs in Sytem32. Unbelieveable!! Now this rig exploded with natural texture and toe tapping involvement. Then I added all the registry slimming. Again a huge jump into that 'I am there' and involved with the performers who are real breathing humans. Instruments are made of wood, brass and other natural elements.. not some digital reproduction.
Now this thing is truely high end. Now no comparison with the Rotel CDP. It is useless by comparison.

Summary. USB2 is a viable alternative. If you have not ventured into the ultra level of resource hacking and registry hacking, you have no idea what is possible in PC based sound. I am no where at the level the core team has achieved. I think I am hovering around 23mb in Windows with a 600k registry. Even without the extremes the CMP based system can beat anything out there.

Thanks again to the trail blazers that have made this possible. Now its time for me to get back to building my OTL 6c33c monoblocks and see where CMP2 can take me.

 

async & cMP2, posted on March 12, 2012 at 03:25:07
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Hi wlowes,

Congratulations to your achievement.

Is the WaveI/O card using ASIO ?
- I have the feeling you´re tricking the system to run async via WASAPI...(This will compromize the dedicated ASIO/buffer design of cPlay)
And to an extent, explain that your interface protocol gains quality from the software mods on Windows/cMP side.

To run cMP2 with async ASIO protocol, it will always require an ASIO driver software to use the full benefits of bulk mode data transfer in an external DAC.

It is my experience that true external (async or iscochronous)clocking via ASIO does (almost) completly eliminate efforts on the Windows OS.
-so if you experience improvements, my guess is that some sort of jitter is allowed to influence the DAC via the protocol on the WaveI/O.
In other words : the protocol you´re running is the "weak" point, and could possibly gain even more quality if it could run ASIO.

kind regards


Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

WaveI/O card uses ASIO..., posted on March 12, 2012 at 05:48:13
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 WaveI/O card uses ASIO...
As it output I2S I would be interested to know which DAC you connected it to.

 

RE: WaveI/O card uses ASIO..., posted on March 12, 2012 at 06:48:00
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Dear Bibo01

hmmmm....see, ASIO is a software protocol, and I2S is not a protocol at all, ey ?

One can start wondering why cics implemented tiny, small, medium & large communication buffers, and drew so much attention to buffersizes, as in theory, when it comes to pure playback, long buffers should be as good as small ones.....

I´m not really convinced that just because USB is async and derives its clocking from the DAC, that everything is as straightforward simple as that....

I always come to think of how much difference a new Lynx WDM driver can improve sound quality and how much time & effort cics put into cPlay´s ASIO/DSP optimization.....

I seriously believe that driver software is the most underestimated part of any digital enginering and that it is too easy just claim that async is the blessing of the holy grail.

kind regards
Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

RE: WaveI/O card uses ASIO..., posted on March 12, 2012 at 08:11:37
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 ASIO is a software protocol and I2S is not a protocol at all, ey ?

Correct. ASIO is a soundcard driver protocol; I2S is an interface standard, not a protocol.

The Thesycon drivers used by the Wave I/O device and other USB-based ASIO drivers (e.g. the Ploytek/AQVOX driver) bypass the Windows USB Audio drivers to transfer data straight to a device (using the PCM270x, that XMOS something-or-other or the TAS 1020) which in turn pass the data over the I2S bus to the DAC. They do so asynchronously (Thesycon) or (if I have the term right) adaptively (Ploytek).

This ground has been covered before - see link and the replies, esp, as ever, the one from John Swenson.

I seriously believe that driver software is the most underestimated part of any digital enginering

I'm sure you're right but reports are that the Thesycon drivers used for Wave I-O device are particularly robust. IIRC, Thesyon supplies drivers for some of the much-respected Ayre products. Its people do know what they're doing.

it is too easy just claim that async is the blessing of the holy grail.

Also correct only I'm not sure that anyone does claim it's a Holy Grail. Again, reports have it that the protocols work well in many implementations - including cMP^2/cPlay. If you take a few moments to visit the thread wlowes linked to, you'll see that a number of cMP2 users are already successfully using the Wave I/O device.

. . . the protocol you´re running is the "weak" point, and could possibly gain even more quality if it could run ASIO.

It doesn't "run" ASIO, it conforms to the ASIO standard.

 

RE: async & cMP2, posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:54:51
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 I was kind of expecting async to be immune to our tuning efforts. Not so in my case. WaveIO uses ASIO 2.1 drivers from Theyscon. per the author's site.. "Since this board is entirely based on XMOS / Thesycon work (SW speaking) you can see details directly on XMOS web site: "USB Audio Class 2.0 is natively supported by Apple OS X version 10.6.3 and above. Support for Windows is provided via XMOS partners, Thesycon and Centrance. The drivers are configurable and provide support for WDM/Direct X and ASIO 2.1."
Cplay sees it as an ASIO driver. There is no trace of Direct X left in my slimmed XP.
I am toying with the notion of trying running it from a unix appliance as an experiment, for even slimmer hdw/softw than we achieve with CMP2.

 

Good results USB-async, posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:45:34
Douwe01nl
Audiophile

Posts: 71
Location: Amsterdam
Joined: September 29, 2011
 Recently i stepped over from Juli@ to USB-async using a modded M2tech Hiface. This unit gets 5v from USB-bus and 3,3v from Lifepo4 batteries.
CMP2 setup: nLited small install of XP-pro, minlogon.
Hiface beats Juli@ in this setup, and equals SQ of my Marantz CD63 cdplayer.
Don't have time (yet) to slim xp, but your results make me eager.

I'm very curious about your results if you would try on a Unix-based SO. As i read Voyage-MPD and MPDpup produce great SQ.
http://linux.voyage.hk/voyage-mpd
http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=70052&sid=a211e2cab717aebc13cd5c51416918e9

If SQ on MPDpup is equal/better than CMP2 it could be a great experiment to run it on a very small ARM-based unit like Raspberry Pi (700MHz ARM), or (not so small but very tweakable) Alix-boards (500MHz AMD-Geode). And for me it could be interesting to change to XMOS (Hiface doesn't come with linux-driver)
Please keep us informed! tia!
Douwe

 

RE: Good results USB-async, posted on March 12, 2012 at 16:28:38
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 There is a new HiFace Two with ASIO and Linux support that will be out soon.

You can find info at their site...

 

RE: WaveI/O card uses ASIO..., posted on March 12, 2012 at 17:17:02
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Hi Dave,

Pardon me, but I did read the two links you´re refering to, but I´m still not convinced that it´s irrelevant how cPlay connects to the DAC.
It´s however not a question of that an async USB DAC can work with cPlay, but rather how.....

Apart that I´m very sceptical to how well all these newish async DACs actually "eliminate" the (jitter-) influence from the computer.

The theoretical thesis is that when cPlay (i.e. the PC) is slaved to the DACs masterclock, jitter becomes irrelevant, right ?

So how can wlowes experience a difference then ?
-is it only ground-noise that makes the difference ?

According to cics (and many others) it is jitter that alters soundquality (bit-perfect transfer granted), so it does not make sense that there should be any perceptible SQ difference.

When I first switched from internal Lynx Two-B (fully optimized cMP2)to external Lynx Aurora via isochronous FireWire, I was somewhat surprised that switching from cMP2 to regular XP, did hardly make any difference at all....I did expect at least a little.

Second, I´ve witnessed several software upgrades on the Lynx drivers and a lot of us have marvelled about cics work on cPlay´s DSP and ASIO software.....

My point is that software is an essential part of a devices performance and most manufacturers have a very "casual" attitude to this.....
Surely, it´s cheaper, easier, faster and less complicated to licence al sorts of "asynchronous USB" circuits and advertize it as "immune to jitter".....
Infact I have the impression that manufacurers just pick´n mix design features from a catalogue. And where this is perfectly acceptable in order to implement well-enginered technology at a price-point, I feel it´s problematic to claim that only because it´s "async" it eliminates all jitter issues.

-it seems that there are ways of "async" that do not capture the benefits entirely....

kind regards


Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

RE: Good results USB-async, posted on March 12, 2012 at 19:15:20
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Douwe
It was in fact the Voyage Store that caught my eye. It strikes me that a small ALIX board acting as a headless network appliance serving up the bits is an interesting proposition. Also very simple to build a single 7V linear power supply and it is completely isolated from HDD. Will be a while before I take this step but will post results when/if I get to it.
Walter

 

RE: WaveI/O DAC, posted on March 12, 2012 at 19:39:10
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Bibo01,
My Dac is a DIY TDA1541a based DAC with a 6n2p tube output stage. I started with the audio board from an Arcam Alpha CDP. There is not much left from Arcam but the box. Power supply is all BG and Oscons with Burson regs. Tubes have choke supply on B+. DEM reclocking per Grundig design. Separate Plitron transformers for DAC and tubes. I use mBNC connectors for the I2S signal. Not perfect, but seems to pair well with WaveIO.

 

cics web site hacked ?, posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:58:32
Ken Stuart
Audiophile

Posts: 134
Location: California
Joined: December 27, 2011
 The google search results for the cics cmp2 web site warn that it is contaminated with malware, and going to the web site yields a 404 error.

 

Just Checked It Now... Works Fine For Me (Firefox 10.0.2) - nt, posted on March 13, 2012 at 22:07:54
gjwAudio
Audiophile

Posts: 160
Location: Toronto
Joined: March 11, 2006
 .
That's not a Toy... IT'S A TOOL !!

 

RE: Just Checked It Now... Works Fine For Me (Firefox 10.0.2) - nt, posted on March 14, 2012 at 04:59:53
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 Works Fine For Me

Not for me, last night or this morning. Sure you're not getting a cached hit? I've dropped cics a line though I've no idea if he'll respond.

D

 

RE: cPlay - With Async USB2 sound impressions, posted on March 14, 2012 at 05:38:07
kclo
Audiophile

Posts: 68
Joined: August 21, 2010
 Hi wlowes,

Very interested in the XMOS card, Can you give more detail in your implementation? e.g.

-- do you need a power supply for the card? or
-- do you just plug it in the USB port at one end and the dac at the other?
-- does the ASIO driver bundles with the card? or just the demo version (with the beep)?

Thanks
KC

 

It happens...., posted on March 14, 2012 at 06:39:07
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 This has been reported a number of times. Especially the InternetExplorer is prone to this warning on the cMP site.
Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

Absolutely Sure..., posted on March 14, 2012 at 09:26:40
gjwAudio
Audiophile

Posts: 160
Location: Toronto
Joined: March 11, 2006
 ...or as absolutely sure as can be when you:

1) update Firefox to current release

2) clear cache via Options panel

3) shut down machine to stone cold, inanimate lump

4) restart machine, Firefox and navigate to http://www.cicsmemoryplayer.com/

5) upon arrival, display several pages using the index of topics in the left side column

It seems as though it's there. Unless my ISP has it cached on their servers, I can't think of any other explanation than... it's there.

However, I've been wrong before (just happened yesterday, in fact). So that's the report from this corner of the world-wide-wiretap.

Cheers,
Grant



That's not a Toy... IT'S A TOOL !!

 

RE: cPlay - With Async USB2 sound impressions, posted on March 14, 2012 at 12:29:49
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 KC
You don't need an external PS. There is a jumper that sets power from USB or from external. On board handling is very good. In my system external was an improvement, and for the ultra in transperancy, you want that supply to be clean. With USB power it was still a big step up in SQ over a very good pcm2706 implementation it replaced.

You plug in USB at one end. I2S at the other. 2 choices for I2S. mBNC cables for non isolated signal, or a multi pin header for an isolated signal. USB also has choices. On board USB socket, or a header to allow you to run USB to a socket on your case away from the bd. Allows you to place the board close to the DAC. Your main challenge is to ensure you can connect I2S on your DAC. I just solder to the pins on the tda1541a.

The builder has customized the Theyscon driver. It is fully licensed without beeps. I paid as much just for the AQVOX asio driver on my last rig.

This thing is a steal. Allow 6 weeks for delivery as this is another DIYer with a day job, and he is a perfectionist.

 

RE: cMP with Allocator, posted on March 15, 2012 at 06:18:38
zoran.obrad@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Joined: March 6, 2012
 I din`t yet install Allocator,but on the Thuneau forum there is a guy who installed CMP with Allocator and announce there is a small bug that every time he changes the album he have to reinstall again Allocator.
That`s all.

My hardware is Gigabyte moth. Intel e7500 Kingston 2.5 ssd for software
and 2.5 wd hdd for music storage,linear psu for cpu, and linear over pico
for motherboard,granit digital psu for each ssd and hdd separate.
Monitor is 17 inch LCD classical spdif over Juli@ to upgraded Behringer DCX2496 ( Frank Oettle input,akm4396 jensen jt-11-emcf to Poor Sebian Man Attenuator-http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/diyaudio-com-articles/168796-poor-serbian-mans-optical-attenuator.html)over Neotech silver cables to Korato ONE for high/mids and Korato KTA100 for low.Than over Neotech coax braided speaker cables to DIY made 60 inch wide range ribbon and Diy Woofer in closed box.

 

An EASY way to insert JW watchdog.sys, posted on March 18, 2012 at 00:26:31
steppe
Audiophile

Posts: 641
Joined: September 28, 2006
 Hello, everybody. If You have problems inserting watchdog.sys from Jack Wong's collection, You can now easily do it this way: Insert it TOGETHER with his vga.sys AND videoport.sys.
Also, if anyone wants, You can e-mail me to get the smallest and very good sounding winspool.drv and! drmk.sys. PLEASE take attention, these files will be slightly renamed but do NOT need to unpack them after extracting from zip.
To Wlowes: I AM sorry, I was trying three times to send You the registry settings, but I had been inattentive and missed You alternative mail address.
Serge.

 

RE: An EASY way to insert JW watchdog.sys, posted on March 19, 2012 at 20:18:35
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Serge
winspool.drv and! drmk.sys are fantastic. they remove a lot of clutter and really open up the sound. big improvement thank you. try again to send jack's registry setting. now I am totally intrigued.
many thanks from canada
walter

 

Comparison of Async USB2 converters, posted on March 19, 2012 at 20:31:17
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 There is a comparison of USB2 boards taking place. WaveIO wins first round,
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/208834-usb-i2s-m2tech-vs-xmos-vs-open-source-qnktc.html
Too bad they don't have an ultra slim CMP2 rig!

 

An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 20, 2012 at 06:07:55
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Edit: I have under estimated the complexity of this project and the difficulties this would present to beginners, In order not to give any false hope to inmates, I have amended this post to such effect. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

"After switching to XP Home few months ago, I've started creating my own XP installation, not NLITE though. After some learning process, I have successfully incorporated registry slimming and tweaks into an XP HOME ISO. The ISO offers a big jump in reduction of registry size upon first boot. After implementation of tweaks, I am extremely satisfied with the sound quality produced by the current installation.

During my lone journey, I have invited a couple of experienced inmates to try the installation. After they did they unequivocally agreed to the supreme sound quality offered by the ISO and have parted with their beloved NLITE XP PRO.

Sadly, the current ISO is custom built for exclusive use with Juli@ and possibly LYNX L22 & AES16 series sound cards, there is no NETWORK or USB function either. The Windows does not Plug and Play in a traditional manner because too many functions have been removed. As such, it may not work for non-Juli@ sound card.

Due to complex nature of the current project, it is considered that only those who have good experience in computing can successfully achieve the desired results. As such, I am only inviting interested inmates who have sufficient knowledge in computer to join the trial, preferably Juli@ users. Upon request, I will send him an invitation to join “Dropboxâ€.

Please bear with me that I cannot walk one through or spoon-feed beginners to do such complicated task. This ISO is not for everyone, in particular beginners.

Although I have tried my best to make things clear, the installation was produced during my leisure and is by no means professional. As such, the ISO is offered as is without any guarantee that one will successfully install or implement.

To safeguard my interest while offering the download, I will only make it available for a limited period of time and shut off accounts to access my Share Folder."

 

This is it!!, posted on March 20, 2012 at 07:44:24
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 This is the one....I know you have all hreard this before. One thing I have learned through help from both Serge's, Rick is that slimming the registry is a key enabler to better sound. When I was using XP PRO I was able to get down to a System hive of about 350kb which sounds great. With Jack's system I (and remember I am not a computer expert) have been able to achieve a 28kb system hive. All other hives are 8kb. This is coupled with files from prior xp levels mostly I believe from XP Home early versions. Remember when we all slimmed shell32 from 9mb down to 2mb how great it sounded. This system has a 45kb shell32!

Enough tech talk. What does it do for the sound. It deepens the soundstage, improves dynamics and imaging. The tone is perhaps the best part. It is warm but detailed, crystal clear in the highs and not bright. When you use the default hive provided by Jack to get a black, black screen when you minimize the screen during cplay playback you simply have the best highs in the business, period!!. It is the best I have heard ims and perhaps all systems. As many of you know I use Martin Logan Monolith 3's with very good (but not distinguished) electronics. Recently I heard vinyl through stellar electronics playing through the latest Summit X's (for anybody local it was @ Alma's in Birmingham. Mi)and I'm sorry this front end (I'll call it the Jack System) smoked it!!! Not even close.

There are a few pioneers in computer audio. We have Cics, Serge (Steppe) and Serge Mihaylov and now we have JackWong96. I worked in the auto industry for many years and we had an expression in powertrain that when something was so designed and implemented well it reached the 'end of the box' of its cycle. WE have the end of the box with respect to cplay/cmp. I am sure of it. Yes I know some of you out there will beat it with other tweaks but in the here and now, this is the state of the art!! Well done Mr. Wong you have have spun a masterpiece!

 

A perfect way, posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:42:25
steppe
Audiophile

Posts: 641
Joined: September 28, 2006
 Hello, everybody! This is a great leap forward for everyone, who has gone this far and is seeking for a perfect way in computer audio! The first major step I am going to take. Jack Wong Has DONE A GREAT JOB!!! I really say, I hope it will help many other inmates to join us, as it GREATLY simplifies things, and we are getting closer and closer to CMP3.
Serge.

 

Synthesis and innovation (along with good ears), posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:39:59
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 Jack has pulled all of the major threads of cMP/Windows tweaking with major innovative insights into how WINDOWS works that results in an extraordinary package that with patience one will be able to hear good computer-based audio.

It was easy for me but then I have been playing around with this and had got a pretty good feel for the tasks. It does look like Jack's new instruction sheet does a much better job of guiding the installer than the notes that came with the early release.

This is not for the squeamish. It will take time and you will be making multiple trips back and forth between the cMP machine and your "other" machine. Nonetheless, Jack's disk will reduce the number of these trips significantly. Most importantly, you will not run into as many dead ends as you would if going at this blindly.

This is a reference work that gives us the new baseline to work from.

Time does not stand still and there will be suggestions on how to improve this. But for now this is the benchmark and a fine benchmark it is.

Even from the first listen (in the rawest state) I was amazed at how different the atmospherics were. Before I was listening to a 18mB XP Pro installation that I thought sounded spacious. Even in its raw state it exceeded my old install in this quality.

As one goes through the optimizations for this install the tonality will increase and quickly exceed that quality one could get with the XP Pro install. At least until someone comes up with a better way to use XP Pro.

So this is a gift. In the tradition of cMP/PLAY ...

If you are looking for the silver platter, this is not it since you will have to work to bring this to its highest state. But, as with all things cMP this is a good excuse for learning more about computers and this helps you to understand what to do when something goes wrong. Do not shy away from this. I have found this process addictive. It is actually fun once you get going!

One is left awed by Jack's global knowledge of WINDOWS and the fact that he has very finely tuned ears. Both are in great evidence with this disk.

 

Thank you Jack for this extraordinary Windows Installation, posted on March 20, 2012 at 15:39:38
hfavandepas
 Hi Jack,

Thank you for all the hardwork and creativity.

Can't wait too try your version.

I send you an email too get the download instructions.

Mark

 

Thanks and compliments, posted on March 20, 2012 at 16:03:01
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 Thanks for your work. You have my most sincere compliments.

One question:
do you know if asyncronous USB can work (normally it needs a .sys from SP3)?

 

2nd that!!! Thanks Jack, posted on March 20, 2012 at 17:25:16
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12587
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 and to Bibi01s question, what about usb mice? It says in the instructions:

There will be no CD ROM and USB function for the current installation


So are you using a keyboard for control? And if so I thought cics preferred usb powered separately.

Also when you say "Burn the JW_HOME_SP1_2.ISO on a CD as one would normally do." I am assuming that that means making an iso disk with something like image burn (http://www.imgburn.com/) and not just putting the file on a cd??

And the concept of a "work" os is new to me. If I already have a partition with xp cant I just install the iso on another partition? Do I have to put the iso on c where the current install is? I am assuming I am going to be switching back and forth right??

When you write: It is important that “System Restore†is turned off in the Work OS or removed entirely during Nlite process, so as to avoid creation of “System Volume Information†in the cMP² HDD. Is that where you use Nlite to turn off WF "something" that you need for minlog??

I am seriously playing catch up here and that doc was written for someone who was paying attention.

Anyhow thanks for your work!! This is the kind of thing that will be great for the ho hum inmates like myself.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

Hi DR, posted on March 21, 2012 at 02:56:29
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 "So are you using a keyboard for control? And if so I thought cics preferred usb powered separately."


No basically you use a ps2 mouse for control.

"Also when you say "Burn the JW_HOME_SP1_2.ISO on a CD as one would normally do." I am assuming that that means making an iso disk with something like image burn (http://www.imgburn.com/) and not just putting the file on a cd??"

Yes just use a good burner, I think Jack has a recommendation in his dropbox.

It took me a few days to get the system to play music well and a about a week or so to get it to the best front end I ever heard.

"And the concept of a "work" os is new to me. If I already have a partition with xp cant I just install the iso on another partition? Do I have to put the iso on c where the current install is? I am assuming I am going to be switching back and forth right??"

All that is meant here is have another pc (preferably one with xp on it) so you can do the hive editting.

"When you write: It is important that "System Restore" is turned off in the Work OS or removed entirely during Nlite process, so as to avoid creation of "System Volume Information" in the cMP² HDD. Is that where you use Nlite to turn off WF "something" that you need for minlog??"

No much simpler than that. Once launched and you start the hive editting process turn off System Restore in your 'work pc'.

 

Without networking or usb how get to music files?, posted on March 21, 2012 at 08:04:22
riboge
Audiophile

Posts: 675
Joined: June 25, 2008
 This may just be an issue for me using a laptop instead of a cMP box, but what connection are those running this jw os using for their music library--perhaps,sata or esata? I have recently been using network to nas and earlier external usb drive so am wondering how I could use this os without either. I use firewire to connect to a Weiss dac, so would not want to use firewire for external drive simultaneously--to say nothing of problem of adapting jw os for firewire to begin with.

 

RE: Hi DR, posted on March 21, 2012 at 08:52:57
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12587
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey Theob,

Thanks for the answers.

On the mouse thing. Are you using a wired mouse? Or wireless??

Is there an advantage to shutting off all usb???

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

I made mistakes as always and am trying to fix them, posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:26:31
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Hello inmates,

Sorry for my late turn up and my mistakes made during preparation of the ISO! I tried without success reviving USB when I found that the Intel Chipset driver was not properly installed and that I've put some over-hacked font into the ISO.

Both issues have been fixed. I've uploaded an update version of the ISO, named "JW_HOME_SP1_2 (Jack Wong 2012-03-21).iso", and put two original fonts into a folder named "XP Original Fonts". Please don't hesitate to download the update version.

I must apologize to Richard (riboge) for give him false hope about the installation, as I didn't make it clear in my post that there will be no USB function (I only mentioned that in the Installation Notes). I did start with a Musiland 01US USB converter but gave up as it needed SP 2 to work with. As such, I switched to Juli@ and chopped off all USB, leaving such function available for use only during setup.

Thanks Ted for responding to the questions of Dawnrazor. I would like to add that, USB will be functional only during the installation period and it was my personal choice to remove the function because I want to remove all unnecessary things including devices and registry.

Yes, if one decide to start the installation, be prepared to switch back and forth. How many time? It must have been well over a thousand times for Serge, Rick, Ted and myself, can't remember. I have over 130 successful hive backups, some are accumulative and the unsuccessful rate is much higher! Fortunately, the current installation will ease the efforts. One can slim Default hive entirely in one single step and Software in 3-5 steps to 12kb. When one starts with the system hive and first deleted ControlSet002, the hive will become less than 250KB, a value once some pioneers cannot achieve even after months of work.

One can use any Windows as the Work OS, but there are benefits installing the Work OS on the same HDD as the cMP Windows and on the same mobo. Firstly, no jumping up and down. Secondly, it's a must to look into the Device Manager in order to identify devices that are useful for retention and those unnecessary that should be deleted. One must be able to read the cMP hive when he compares the details(long list of number!) in the Device Manager! Do one really want to plug another HDD onto the mobo to do that? One may partition the first partition into 2 viable ones, e.g.1st partition 300 mb for cMP and the second take up the rest of the spaces.

 

Caution about the Share Folder and Files, posted on March 21, 2012 at 11:36:36
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Just a warm reminder. Now that about 18 inmates have joined the Dropbox, and some still pending, to access the Shared Folder, I should remind inmates to take care when downloading the shared files, as they are needed by everyone.

Thanks

 

Also my congratulations !, posted on March 22, 2012 at 05:17:19
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Dear super-inmates,

This all looks like a milestone in the history of cMP2, but for those of us, who have not followed the hive/.dll mods in all details, it seems that we´re close to what we could call a : "ultimate cMP2 installation disk"

There are of course those who do use other DACs and have certain specific requiremets, but maybe we will (in time) assemble a number of versions catering for different setups : USB, Firewire D/A converters, VST capablillity etc.

Just a few questions :

The ISO file needs to be copied on a DVD/CD disk, right.
Will this be enough to run a proper installation upon inserting the DVD/CD in an attached drive ?
-how and why the disk media, and not just "imaging" the ISO ?

Does the ISO have specific CPU/MB requirements, or can it be installed on any PC...?

Sorry, but there are just a few basics I need to get my head around before digging into an attempt.
Maybe someone feels for writing up a summary on all these facinating developments.
I´m sure this is necessary to let the advancements apeal to a wider group of cMP2 fans.

Kind regards
Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

USB functionality, posted on March 22, 2012 at 10:20:44
fmak
Audiophile

Posts: 13158
Location: Kent
Joined: June 1, 2002
 Is it possible to rstore usb functionality? They can be disabled individually later.

 

RE: Hi DR, posted on March 22, 2012 at 12:00:35
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 It is my understanding that this is set up for a wired mouse (ps2 version). Yes there is huge advantage to shutting off usb but that is not peculiar to this setup. It was true of the xp pro set up too.

 

RE: Also my congratulations !, posted on March 22, 2012 at 19:32:42
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Thanks for your appreciation!

Here my reply to your questions:

The ISO file needs to be burned to CDR disk with software, such as Nero, Deepburner free or Easy CD Creator. This will allow a proper installation upon inserting the CD in an attached CDROM drive which is set to boot in BIOS.

"how and why the disk media, and not just "imaging" the ISO"
Not quite understand this question, would you please clarify?

The ISO have been successfully installed on H61 and G31 mobos. I have no reason to believe it would not work on other modern mobos or a regular PC?

Perhaps the trial users can help writing up a review of the current XP installation in order to make a wider appeal to cMP2 fans.

 

RE: USB functionality - Explained, posted on March 22, 2012 at 21:10:47
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 To fmak and inmates using USB soundcard etc:

The current Windows installation lose so much of the functional abilities that it no longer PnP or respond to changes. In fact the system account, which is always in chagre of Windows, is no longer present in most areas of the registry. That is why one can comfortably delete the registry without undue struggle or facing a lot of dead screens.

Despite I've successfully restored USB ports in an recent attempt, the Windows was incapable of PnP or any installation action, not even a HID mouse was detected. It is apparant that a USB device needs to be attached during set up. However, even when I did, my HID mouse did not work smoothly. One may recall that there was a major update on USB from SP1 to SP2, and I also recall that the usb in SP1 did not respond positively if chipset driver is installed. The USB on SP1 is not mature.

There are two ways to make a USB soundcard work:

(a) Inject the working USB registry entries to the current registry, same as what I did to revive a ESI MAYA soundcard after instllation;

(b) Compile a new installation capable of PnP and USB.

A new instllation will take time to compile and test, but I will certain try one. With network? Most likely!

Injecting registry entries is a viable option that one may try with the current installation. To this end, I will to try to revive a Cmedia USB converter during this weekend and let you know the results.


 

More Questions to be answered, posted on March 22, 2012 at 21:48:21
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Inmates have questions about the recomended Work OS.

I am suggesting to run a dual boot PC with:

C drive = cMP Windows with my modified XP iso installed
D drive = Work OS with a regular or Nlite XP(no specific requirement but system restore function should be turned off.)

The above requirement is not mandatory. One may use another computer to perform the optimiztion on the cMP Windows, which mostly involves file substitution and registry deletion.




 

RE: More Questions to be answered-Can I, posted on March 22, 2012 at 23:08:15
fmak
Audiophile

Posts: 13158
Location: Kent
Joined: June 1, 2002
 ask why you have chosen SP1 and not SP2 or 3?

 

RE: More Questions to be answered-Can I, posted on March 23, 2012 at 00:08:59
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Apart from SP1 and SP2, I have also auditioned SP0 and some earlier beta versions of Whislter Personal. In fact, Cicsplay.exe sounds best in Whilster 2457 > Whilster 2526 > XP HOME SP0 > HOME SP1 > HOME SP2 > PRO SP2. However, Cicsmemoryplayer does not work in SP0 or earlier verions because it does not meet the requirements of Dynamic Link Library for the eariler OSes.

Not only does the earlier Windows verions sound better, I found that the earlier hives (config folder) also sound better. By saying this I mean I have migrated config folder from eariler Windows versions to SP1 and SP2 to make comparison.

Each service pack upgrade added additional security features and updated Windows with more features, in particular security, and software compatibility, all of which are not needed but detrimental to music playback.

 

RE: More Questions to be answered-Can I, posted on March 23, 2012 at 01:13:58
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12587
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey Jack,

I always used sp1 until the recent hardware with the i3 or whatever cpu and mobo. But I recall that it wouldnt install with sp1 and I had to install sp2 with the new hardware.

Are you using the latest hardware or the older hardware and will I have a problem with installation?

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: More Questions to be answered-Can I, posted on March 23, 2012 at 02:22:51
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Hi Douwe,

It installed successfully on H61(Rick and mine), H67(mine) and G31(Ted & Grant) mobos without problem. i3-2120T, G620T and Celeron G440 were used.

Why not clear your doubts by installing on an unused HDD?

 

Eight hours to download ISO before cut off sharing, posted on March 23, 2012 at 08:47:59
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Someone has warned me about offering pirated software over this forum. He is right, I will cut off file sharing in eight hours.

Moreover, I have amended the first post to reflect the limitation of the ISO and the difficulties involved in the implementation. Sorry to have caused such confusions.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 25, 2012 at 07:45:08
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Mouse went missing after booting into cMP Windows. Any help would be deeply appreciated.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 25, 2012 at 08:34:27
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Are you using PS2 mouse? Try this.

Download http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64313985/CriticalDeviceDatabase.reg

Load your cMP System hive in the name of "Test" and then execute CriticalDeviceDatabase.reg.

Don't know the cause of no mouse. Might perhaps due to massive removal of CriticalDeviceDatabase.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 25, 2012 at 17:54:59
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Thanks for the prompt response.

I had check the contents in the downloaded file CriticalDeviceDatabase.reg and compare them to my cMP system hive. All the entries are already there.

Let's see how it goes with the two new amended files.

Best Regards

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 26, 2012 at 07:31:48
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Sadly after replacing the 2 amended files still got just black screen and no mouse. Start Menu is there though.

Any thought on this?

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 27, 2012 at 06:32:01
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Oh Well! The answer an be found here!

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/10/105820.html

Amazing! even with just the fresh install. Set no paging file. Disable error reporting. Adjust for best performance.

Many thanks to JW.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 29, 2012 at 02:09:08
andy222
Audiophile

Posts: 17
Joined: February 3, 2012
 Did you make any progress with your PS2 mouse issue? I have exactly the same problem at the moment and I’ve had to re-load my original cMP/cPLAY installation while I search for a solution. My hardware is Gigabyte GA-G31M-E2SL /Intel E7300 which I think is fairly standard-issue for cMP.

For myself, I think that a compromise between ultimate sound quality and usability might be needed. Restoring the USB capability might be my only way forward.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 29, 2012 at 06:58:47
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Hi Andy

Yes! Mouse problem resolved. Your mobo have both the P/S2 sockets for mouse and keyboard so I don't see any issue with your installation. Devices need to be present in the installation for them to work later in this case so you have to plug in the p/s2 mouse during installation.

My H55M UD2H board have a shared socket for the p/s2 mouse & keyboard so I have to enable USB in BIOS and make use of a USB keyboard.

But I am now having problem with the substitution of the micro shell32.dll. Error msg. ordinal 644!


Good luck.

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 29, 2012 at 07:26:34
andy222
Audiophile

Posts: 17
Joined: February 3, 2012
 Your information about the need to connect the PS2 mouse before installation points me to where I probable went wrong. I connected it afterwards. I’m going to try again.

Thanks for your help. It could save me from going around in circles!

 

RE: Help! PS2 mouse-No mouse pointer upon booting to JW_Home XP SP1_2 , posted on March 29, 2012 at 07:34:55
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Another thing-get into cMP mode(Start cMP) before you star deleting folders and files in Windows else you would have lost the start Menu.

 

Slim Software hive before file subsitution., posted on March 29, 2012 at 11:41:26
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 One should always stay in cMP mode after the first boot. One should be able to substitute all files at once in cMP mode and with the software hive reasonably slimmed.

The error described will appear when the micro shell32.dll is substituted and some of the conflicting entry points relating to shell32 are still present in the CLSID of the Software hive.

The error described may also appear when the micro shell32.dll is not substituted together with some associated files.

 

RE: Slim Software hive before file subsitution., posted on March 29, 2012 at 20:22:08
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Thanks Jack

What are the other associated files to be substituted with the micro shell32.dll? shlwapi.dll?

 

RE: Slim Software hive before file subsitution., posted on March 30, 2012 at 00:09:18
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 .
.
.
.

Can't describe the files, it consist of multiple tiers, just too long to list. If interested, go check for yourself with PE Explorer. All-at-once substitution is recommended.
.
.
.








 

System Hive slimming, posted on March 30, 2012 at 07:42:10
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 I could not use Jack's ISO as I am USB based, but am using it as a best practices template to create an XP SP3 Home platform on FAT32 with USB.

I am well down the path. Sound improvement of Home on Fat32 nothing short of spectacular. Couple of questions on System Hive slimming.

1. In Jack's guide, #53 removal by Name and Type:
I can safely remove:
Class
DisplayName
Description..
Can I also remove:
Group
ErrorControl (assuming value 0)
Mfg
Service
LocationInformation?
Anything else?

2. I seem to get a lot of things reappearing under Control in System hive even tho I have /mininit specified. A whole host of things like Watchdog for example reincarnate on demand. What am I missing here?

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on March 30, 2012 at 07:59:51
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 What am I missing here?

Just in case it's not a typo, the correct syntax is /minint, not /mininit.

Out of interest, why SP3? As you know, fairly soon, I'll be using the same USB-to-I2S card as you so I'll be following your efforts with considerable interest.

 

Have you done all of the file deletions?, posted on March 30, 2012 at 08:44:26
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 My guess is you still have those folders in there that restore stuff.

Make sure the System Volume Information has nothing in it but logs.

Remove all of the folders in WINDOWS but config and drivers. Many of those folders contain what is needed to replace what you delete.

Have you done this?

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on March 30, 2012 at 09:20:55
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Deleted entries reappearing is normal in a regular Windows.

The most important thing in successful registry slimming is to get rid of the system account. You need to go into each and every key, sub-key and sub-sub-key to remove "System". In the meantime, retaining "Everyone". Do this not only to the system hive, but also to all other 4 hives.

When you arrive at a certain point or sufficiently small system hive, the system will give up struggling. How small would that be? I believe when the system hive is near 100kb.

Yes, you can remove:
Group
Mfg
LocationInformation
ErrorControl (except for PlugPlay. For USB device and your USB soundcard , you need to check whether the entries can be removed, these cannot be removed from my PCI and soundcard serivce)

More, you can remove:
tag
all entries inside GroupOrderList
all entries inside ServiceGroupOrder except Video Save

You should not remove Services inside CriticalDeviceDatabase

There are much more that you can remove but I don't know what state your system hive is. Therefore, I've uploaded my config folder for reference by those who are engaged in registry slimming.

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:11:10
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Thanks Guys, very helpful as always
Jack, thanks.. I am using your hive as a best practice reference. These additional tips are helpful.
I find that System stays at 512 for long time and then drops to 256 once enough is removed. I'm using NTREGOPT as the compression. Is this normal?

Rick, I have removed the rest of the folders and all the deletions in steppe 1-17 etc but so far have had alot more trouble getting to your level of slimming. I had no trouble in XP Pro, but getting lots of BSOD in XP SP3 home. I'll keep at it, but it looks like many things can kill it. Also very easy to lose the mouse cursor with USB mouse.
Did not realize importance of System Volume Info. Luckily its empty.

Ryelands.. Not a typo.. I had the /minint wrong. Worse, somewhere recently on a recovery of a partition I lost this from Boot.ini and did not realize it. This likely explains the reincarnation of lost entries.

BTW look forward to compare notes on WaveIO. I think its awesome. It too likes good power. I now use a choke and a big can cap as the first filter with BGs on the board. Last nite I exchanged the choke and got to new levels. What was the choke? I used the primary winding on the 1.5kv transformer from a cast off microwave oven. Basically a huge chunk of iron with very low resistance primary. Free and awesome upgrade. I was about to order a Voyage MPD to drive it when Jack came up with this new XP approach. So I want to perfect this first and then compare to minimalist Linux.

 

Files Deletion in JW_Home XP SP1_2 - Do we need processr.sys?, posted on March 31, 2012 at 00:14:30
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Without processr.sys in System32/drivers/ cPlay was unable to function properly-like there isn't enough processing power.

Do we need this processor driver?

 

Never had any problem, posted on March 31, 2012 at 01:22:25
steppe
Audiophile

Posts: 641
Joined: September 28, 2006
 after deleting this file. Do You use flack? I use only wavs, but I think, it's not the cplay problem. After You delete all unnecessary files You will get a 16 mb windows that will fly like a butterfly.
Serge.
There can be something in the registry, that is "holding" to processor.sys
search and try to delete this entry

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on March 31, 2012 at 07:07:36
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Never come across such drastic drop in size. If you have not check each and every subkey to remove the system account, you must do so. It's the only way to stop system intervention.

 

RE: Never had any problem, posted on March 31, 2012 at 07:07:38
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Hello Serge

Thanks for the response. I am using flac as well as wav. I believe it is not cPlay problem too, It is the CPU problem. Anyway, I am keeping the processor drive in the system for the moment.

Will try deleting it upon completion of registry slimming-still got system, sam and security left.

Now is at 30.8 mb so still got more work to do.

Regards



 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on April 1, 2012 at 06:14:34
wlowes
Audiophile

Posts: 112
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 18, 2009
 Thanks Jack. With all the subkeys with "everyone" in control and /minint specified correctly the respawning of keys has stopped. I have System hovering around 160k (config backup #62). Have not yet cracked SAM/Security without hitting 'hard error' on boot. I can't seem to get micro shell32 in, but have used resource tuner to strip everything possible. Have used some of your collection per Serge earlier recommendations. Will take another shot at the full collection.
The sound? Quite incredible actually. Just plain natural with great extension in high and low, crystal clear 3d. Just very natural. Find myself just listening to the music, not listening to the system.
Thanks for sharing your approach. I could never have gotten to this stage without your help and samples. You, Rick and Serge have been so helpful.
I have to figure out an issue with my I2S converter. On exiting CPLAY, it loses its ability to sync up. I have to power cycle it between cue sheets. It is as if it expects some kind of clean stop/restart that it does not receive in this config. No problem in other CMP configs. Likely an issue with Theyscon USB ASIO driver. It came at some point in registry slimming. I'll keep at it. Not possible to reinstall driver. I might try deleting and reimporting all the keys from the hive of the work partition.

 

Recommended File Substutution Steps for Micro-Shell32, posted on April 1, 2012 at 09:50:28
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Normally, one should be able to substitute all files in system 32 in one attempt and then all files in drivers.

If this can't be done, in the first attempt I recommend putting the following set of substitution file in system 32:





Once you've successfully substituted the bulk set for the micro-shell32, the rest is simple:

- authz.dll, basesrv.dll, bootvid.dll

- csrsrv.dll, csrss.exe

- the rest in alphabetic order.

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on April 1, 2012 at 10:22:22
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Hi Walter,

I've post some recommendations on file substitution.

At 160kb, you are only scratching the surface. Once get down to sub-100kb level, he would not want to listen to a 128kb system hive.

I recommend using Resource Hacker rather than Resource Tuner. The latter offers beautiful presentation on what it is actually not capable of - it hides things rather than removing them.

I always say the credits must go to Serge(Steppe). He is an inventor, I just rode on his wheels to try to improve things. Rick has always been selfless. He is always innovative with his unknown but effective methods in doing things, which helped get pass a lot of hurdles.

I too experienced frequent lost of Musiland USB driver in earlier setups other than SP1. You may want to import/retain the entries for PnP, USB, and the sound card and try deleting them carefully at the end.

 

Anyone adapting Jackwong96 .iso to add USB and/or networking?, posted on April 1, 2012 at 11:19:14
riboge
Audiophile

Posts: 675
Joined: June 25, 2008
 I hope someone is. I'm sure there are a good number of people now unable to use it without at least one of these added. It is too much for me to take on given that I will still have to adapt the result of that for firewire and Weiss dac driver.

 

RE: Recommended File Substutution Steps for Micro-Shell32, posted on April 1, 2012 at 20:18:51
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 I am able to substitue all the dll and exe files in system32 all at one go. Doing only the files associated would generate an unknown hard error either for lsass.exe or cicsMemoryPlayer.exe.

But I am unable to do SRC45 @192kHz. Even using sOX192kHz would generate pops and clicks. I suppose these are latency issue.Ok if I am at natvie resolution.

What would be the PCI latency setting using Ltfcy2.3? I am at 128.

Regards

 

RE: Anyone adapting Jackwong96 .iso to add USB and/or networking?, posted on April 1, 2012 at 21:07:22
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 I second riboge's request!

I believe that JW is perhaps working on it. I hope that both Serges can help him and achieve an ISO perhaps by using a XP SP2 (or whatever is necessary)...

 

RE: Recommended File Substutution Steps for Micro-Shell32, posted on April 2, 2012 at 02:29:10
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 I use H61M mobo and need not use Ltfcy to set latency. In addition,I do not use 192K and have not experienced the problem you encountered.

If it will work at 192K at native resolution, what's the problem? I recall that H55M-UD2H should be set to latency of 128.

You may want to download from the link. It contains settings for Juli@ service, Enum\PCI entry and Class\Mixer setting, where the latter (Mixer09) is necessary for Juli@ to run at latency of 48 sample. Perhaps this may be the cause.

 

RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO, posted on April 2, 2012 at 05:05:36
jimxing149@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 1
Location: Auckland
Joined: April 2, 2012
 Hi, I downloaded the sse4, when I opened it, there was a message:
No valid ASIO driver found.
I am using Windows 7, USB output to Peachtree audio decco2.
Anyone has the ideal how to set it up properly/

 

RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO, posted on April 2, 2012 at 16:23:08
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Hi jimxing149@gmail.com

I guess the Peachtree is not an ASIO capable DAC, so you have to install asio4all to get it working.


kind regards
Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

RE: Recommended File Substutution Steps for Micro-Shell32, posted on April 3, 2012 at 06:25:57
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Thanks for the files.

Just a small problem. Had latency set to 128 earlier when I was still in XP mode.

Now I only get a lazy mouse and a slow screen refresh.

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on April 3, 2012 at 06:29:38
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 I am down to 56kb for the system hive, but still can't delete controlset002/control/class.

What could be the problem?

 

RE: Recommended File Substutution Steps for Micro-Shell32, posted on April 3, 2012 at 09:25:22
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 It will get better in time.

 

Go to the root of the 2 subkeys and , posted on April 3, 2012 at 09:31:03
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 add "Everyone". Then delete from the bottom up for both entries.

 

RE: Go to the root of the 2 subkeys and , posted on April 3, 2012 at 15:38:59
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 That's exactly what I did but no success till now.

 

RE: Go to the root of the 2 subkeys and , posted on April 3, 2012 at 16:58:11
jackwong96
Audiophile

Posts: 219
Joined: April 20, 2010
 Can you send the hive to me?

 

RE: System Hive slimming, posted on April 4, 2012 at 03:52:38
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Hi Jack

Latest config folder that works sent.

Regards

 

How does one add new music folder from an external drive?, posted on April 6, 2012 at 17:09:40
smicyta
Audiophile

Posts: 125
Joined: February 19, 2010
 Now that explorer is not available in the 16mb JW Home Edition SP1_2, new folder cannot be added from cMP.

In cMP mode it would not be able to regconize a new disk, and further more pnp functions are disable.

 

New ISO ?, posted on April 6, 2012 at 23:55:29
play-mate
Audiophile

Posts: 948
Joined: November 21, 2008
 Dear Inmates,

Before attempting to install the JW-XP1 ISO and performing the nessesary USB reinstallation/adjustmenst, I wonder if it would not be easier to re-distribute the corrected OS on ISO again....

I should think we could end up with a few different ISO files for different cMP2 applications.

kind regards
Hysolid // Mytek Brooklyn // Spectron Musician III // Analysis Audio Omega

 

It's VERY SIMPLE, posted on April 7, 2012 at 02:24:02
steppe
Audiophile

Posts: 641
Joined: September 28, 2006



Hello! Get Yourself this thing - It's an external ESATA-USB hdd box from, say Thermaltake ($35-40). It allows You to attach Your hdd to cmp machine as the main or single hdd and AT THE SAME TIME attach it to USB of another machine - the one You rip or edit registry on. When You listen to the music, Your ripping (working) machine won't see this hdd, but soon as You power down Your cmp, the working machine immediately recognizes this hdd as another drive.
ALSO IMPORTANT: get Yourself a ESATA to SATA cable ($6-7) It will allow You to attach Your now externally powered cmp hdd to a sata receptacle on Your CMP mobo, which is important to further slim down the registry.
This combination works like a charm and is VERY convenient, as not only You will be able to add files to the library, but edit Your cmp registry and reboot immediately. Also works with NTREGOPT very well.
Serge.

 

Easy tweak ...sonic benefit of which is significant, posted on April 7, 2012 at 05:12:44
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Now that I have achieved a Jackwindows system (16mb windows and 32kb system hive) this tweak adds significantly to this already great sounding system. It is simply putting all the cues in a folder (call it cues) on your data disk(s) then setting your cmp to only look at this folder within your data disk(s). With this arrangement cmp is only storing cues (very small in size) versus storing cues and wav files (very large in size). This tweak was originally identified by Ryelands and is still an easy one to implement. The only work is putting an absolute path into the cue file on the file line. So for example lets say you have a cue file with this line and your data disk is the D drive.

File 'amos lee.wav' wave

It simply needs to be amended to

File 'd:\amos lee.wav' wave.

Try it on a few cues then amend your cmp settings to only point to the cue folder...you may be surprised.

 

It works for sure, but, posted on April 7, 2012 at 06:00:17
steppe
Audiophile

Posts: 641
Joined: September 28, 2006
 hello, Ted! Hello, everybody, Just like You had suggested BEFORE, I tried to do the following:
I renamed all my 5 folders, containing my library and made an experimental 001 folder with only one album folder inside:
D:\001\Diana Krall\The Look Of Love. Started cmp with a single cue.
The quality gain was great.
But now to Your current tweak. Do I only have to point to drive C: or do I have to change the line for EVERY ONE of my 10 000 songs like below:
FILE "D:\RIP\CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL\1970 Cosmo's Factory\06 Run Through the Jungle.wav" WAVE
If that's the matter, I'm afraid this tweak is not for me, unless I'll reRIP all my library...
Serge.
But the tweak WILL WORK, especially, if You have cue files pointing to smth like Image.wav

 

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