Does the Acoustic Bridge trial deliberately cut output periodically?

from Stardock Forums

If not, then something's going wrong...

I've just come across Acoustic Bridge, and it's perfect for what I need. The trial works great, except that the receiver stops playing the audio every so often. Four times so far since I started the trial this afternoon (so about once every hour).

To get it working again, I just click 'Change receiver passcode' on the receiver PC and then press Enter without changing anything. The sound immediately starts again, so I guess the issue is with the receiver, not the transmitter.

The software is explicitly permitted in my software firewall (and the firewall is not showing any denied connections in the log) and the PCs are on the same subnet with static IP addresses on a wired gigabit network. Nothing different is happening on either PC when the playback stops. It just stops suddenly and seemingly without reason. I'm playing Witcher 3 on the transmitter PC if that helps.

Anything I can check to see what's going on?

I'll gladly buy the software if I can stop it from stopping. It's exactly what I need.

49,633 views 18 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi, I have exactly the same problem.

Did you find a solution to this?

I would also gladly register the software if there is a solution or if this is intended trial behavior only.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

No, and I haven't had any help with my other thread on the subject either.

It's a real shame because, when it works, it works perfectly and is exactly what I need. I would pay double for it! It just cuts out far too often for no apparent reason.

The cut-out is completely random. I've had it work for eight hours without cutting out, and I've had it cut out only minutes after starting to use it and several times in an hour.

I've searched the event logs for anything that might be related - nothing. The service and app are still running when the sound cuts out. All power saving options are disabled. Resetting (not really, just pressing enter) the passcode immediately starts the receiver again, every time.

Seems it's just flaky software with minimal support. Real shame.

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Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

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Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Regretably, Acoustic Bridge is not as easy for me to test, but Mutiplicity is.  Since you are both on the trial, and MP has the same functionality (sending sound), would you consider installing the trial for it and we can work on it?

You can get the MP trial from here:
https://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/

For MP, it has a 'Primary" / 'Secondary' designation for controlling PCs but that is independent of its sound capabilities (either can be the sender or receiver for audio).  Also, the interface for the sound options will look very familiar to you as they are near identical to AB.

I know one of you said you were on Ethernet; I would really want that to be the case for each test and to remain that way.  I also want you to use the HostName when connecting, not the IP, if you are using DHCP.  If you assign your PCs static IPs, its ok to use IPs when making the connection - example:

Let me know....

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

OK, I'll give that a go over the weekend and let you know. If needs be I can run a packet capture or whatever you need, but I have a feeling it's not network related.

The PCs in question are wired Ethernet, same switch, same VLAN, static IPv4 addresses everywhere. IPv6 is SLAAC on those PCs but I guess IPv6 is not relevant.

I did find that I could get the sound working again by re-entering the passcode on the sending PC (previously I had only done it on the receiver) so that widens the possibilities greatly.

I checked that because, on occasion, the loss happens when I do something in the game, like drop out of the game into its menu. Not always though, most often it's just seemingly random and I've not seen any reliable trigger.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

It's happening with the MP trial too. I uninstalled AB before installing MP.

It happened after a few hours, then again just a few minutes later. Both seemed randomly caused. Re-entering the code (on the source PC this time) restarted the sound as usual.

My setup is this; at least the relevant parts:

  • An HP mini PC with keyboard, mouse, monitor and external audiophile DAC and headphones. This is the sound receiver.
  • A gaming PC, also connected to the above monitor's 2nd input. This is the sound source.
  • USB switch to swap the Kbd/Mouse between the two PCs (not a dedicated KVM, just a 'dumb' USB switch)
  • Everything on Windows 7x64 Ultimate, carefully updated and mostly current. The gaming PC had a clean reinstall and had the sound issue before and after.
  • As stated: wired LAN, static IPv4, and MP set to use IP addresses. When using AB I tried both host names and IP addresses with no difference.

So, when I'm playing, the USB switch connects to the gaming PC and I switch the monitor to that input.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting foxyrick, reply 7

USB switch to swap the Kbd/Mouse between the two PCs (not a dedicated KVM, just a 'dumb' USB switch)

Incidentally, Multiplicity would allow you to eliminate that switch - that's what it was designed for.

Quoting foxyrick, reply 6

I checked that because, on occasion, the loss happens when I do something in the game, like drop out of the game into its menu.

That is the second time you have noted that - something about it is tripping the sound sending.  I know you have talked about other random times but MP / AB only sends what it hears (so to speak) - if it stops hearing, it stops sending.

There are some controls that may help if it is anything else, however:

I am also including a batch file that will restart the MP service and should save you from your understood remedy of changing the passcode (that is really only working - I am almost certain - because you are forcing MP to reconnect by doing so):

http://sd.stardock.com/Support/uploads/mpRestart.zip

Let me know if any of this works out for you, 

 

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

I'll give the service restarter a go next time it happens. It's being awkward today and hasn't stopped the sound yet, lol.

I already have that setting ticked.

For clarity, when I do something in the game which seems to coincide with the sound stopping, the sound in the game (its background music) is still supposed to be playing continually. It doesn't actually stop in the game.

 

And yes, I realized what MP does. I've always had a complex, multiple PC setup here. I've used Mouse Without Borders for years along with hardware KVMs and RDP from my main workstations. I've always found a few issues with virtual KVM though, in some specific applications, and affordable hardware KVMs don't work well with complex gaming mice let alone my 6-axis controller... hence the 'dumb' USB switch.

When I get this issue dealt with, I'll give MP a try properly.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Right...

When the sound stopped, running your batch file on the source PC did not restart the sound. I ran it twice and it completed successfully. I also saw the service stop and start in the event log, which showed nothing else of interest.

Running the batch file on the receiver PC did restart the sound.

If it's of interest, I noticed before that re-entering the code on the receiver PC always restarted the sound almost instantly I pressed Enter. If I did it on the source PC instead, there was a delay of a second or more after re-entering the code and pressing Enter, before the sound restarted.

 

Edit to add:

Second time the sound stopped, I did exactly as above with the same result.

Third time, I only restarted the service on the receiver PC, and the sound started working again.

 

ETA2:

Several more stoppages confirm the above: Restarting the service only on the recevier PC works.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Any suggestions? The sound is stopping frequently. Restarting the service on the receiver starts it again, but it's a pain keep having to exit the game and swap consoles to do so.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

The only other recommendation I can recommend is to do a clean boot to see if any other service, app or setting is causing any problem:

  https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#cleanboot

I understand that you may need to, because of your game and companion apps for it, enable other services but I ask that you run MP audio through its paces - try to make it fail under the new Win Admin account / clean boot - before you do.  Perhaps as you enable them, then use it, you can see what is making it fail.

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Sorry for the delay replying. I got called away for a while.

Unfortunately it seems my MP trial is about to end so this is probably as far as I'll get :(

I did try installing MP into a clean virtual machine (on VMWare Workstation) which I could keep running on the receiver PC. That introduced a half second delay in audio though, so was not appropriate for the game use.

If I get chance before the trial expires I'll try a 'clean' user account.

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

Me too.

Has anything happened as a result of all this?

I have started trialling AB, and have run across a similar situation very quickly.

I am using Input Director as my KVM (having tried several others and found them very similar.  My main reason for choosing ID is that it is very simple to see the current arrangement of master and slave via the icon colours in the tray).

I just re-installed AB, for reasons which aren't relevant, and played a couple of tracks of music as a test.

The music played well on the target PC.

But when I played another track, it 'gurgled'.

This continued each time I started a new track.

I rebooted the source PC and the problem continued.

At that point I found this thread.

I changed the Passcode on the target PC (to the same value that it already had), and played another track.

Voila!  The music was clear.

I'm using the trial software of AB downloaded within the last few days.

I will probably buy if I'm convinced it's been fixed.

 

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your question to Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

 

Basj

Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

Just for the record, I bought AB and installed the non-trial version, just in case there was a difference. I still have the random cutting out issue.

I haven't had time to troubleshoot it much, although I did try a clean user account. The cut-out still happened. Restarting the service on the receiver PC always restores sound.

Sometimes I can go a full day without it happening, sometimes it happens several times in an hour. There is no pattern in what I'm doing, running, etc. on either  PC, other than something that has sound. That includes my previous comment about dropping out of a game to a menu... it really seems just a random coincidence that it did it a few times there. It does not just happen in games either.

It happens so often that I've programmed a mouse action to remotely trigger the service restart on the receiver PC from the source PC. Saves swapping back to that PC to restart it.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

If you are connecting via wireless, please try Ethernet.

Also, much like Multiplicity, AB should have buffer controls that may improve quality:

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Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager