Well, I’m glad my ramblings were of some use to someone, somewhere!
I’ve pondered a little bit more as to why this occures, so I’ll detail it here as an addendum to my last post, for anyone who cares (there’s also what I see as a 100% effective solution to this issue included at the tail end):
I am certain that the reason the DSP4000 doesn’t interface well with modern computers (i.e., a machine produced in the last 10 years) is because the 4000’s MIDI buffer gets overloaded. It’s processor just cannot cope and the data buffer gets completely obliterated. It’s expecting a stream of data arriving at the speed that a sequencer or computer from the mid-1990’s was able to send at. When you hit ‘Send sigfile’ on VSig, your modern computer and USB interface just spits out the data as fast as it possibly can. There is nothing inside VSig that slows the speed of transfer to accomodate an older system like the 4000, so the buffer fills up almost instantly and the 4000 cannot cope.
The reason, I suspect, that this happens so frequently is because the 4000 is internally very close to a H3000, so I’m willing to bet that the MIDI implementation was pulled straight from the H3000 (which predated the 4000 by 6 years). That aside, I am confident that all it would take to wholesale fix this (admittedly rather obscure and esoteric) issue is for someone to implement a buffer within VSig that slows the stream of MIDI data being sent out, similar to mgregory’s fantastic software editor for the Yamaha TX81Z (from 1987, interface flawlessly with the Win10 Pro X64).
This unfortunately is not going to happen because Eventide seem entirely uninterested in doing anything with VSig2, let alone releasing the source code and frankly even if they did I don’t think this community has a big enough crossover of able programmers and VSig2 users to actualise this pipe dream!…ah well…
But to finish on a high-note; If anyone is stumbling onto this very obscure problem, here is a 100% fix: Find and buy a solid older laptop, like an old IBM Thinkpad running either Windows 98, or XP that is just about powerful enough to run VSig (even the cheapest 98/XP-era Thinkpads should eat VSig). Get an older interface, like a MIDISport 2×2, get VSig running and away you go. Set it up somewhere in your studio as your main ‘editing hub’ for your older Eventide gear, and maybe some other bits of older gear that have virtual editors like the previously mentioned Yamaha TX81Z, for example. This is something I have done (now with a H8000FW) and is the ONLY foolproof fix, and most importantly (to me, at least), is the only method with any sembelance of longevity. After all, even if someone managed to find a 100% effective way of getting VSig running on Win10, who is to say that method will work on Win11, or Win12 when it comes out? Who’s to say VSig would even install on future operating systems, just like how you can’t install Windows compatible DOS reliant .exe’s on Win10. It’s better to just cut out all this needless, mind-numbing busy-work and just cough up the $50 or so for an decent condition 98/XP-era laptop + interface and be set forever, programming away in VSig…heaven!
Yes, it is cumbersome and yes it’s annoying having a power-hungry older computer set up in your studio just for this one very specific task, but if you like the older Eventide’s then this is a must!
Or if you don’t want all the hassle, just download a modern module-based music programming suite like Reaktor 6 or Max/MSP, and do everything on a single modern laptop like a normal person 😉
Happy programming!
