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[Primare Knob]

Hi,

Is there a list or a white paper about which services and libraries JRiver needs to be able to function on a Windows PC
I am testing JRiver on a Windows Server R2 core machine and things seem to run reasonably well, but not all functionality is there yet.

It would help if I had a list of services and libraries for trouble shooting directions to make life a little bit easier.

Cheers

[JimH]

No.  There is no such list.

[Primare Knob]

Can someone explain to me what happens when JRiver wants to playback a file with Kernel Streaming?

It looks like JRiver is communicating with the DAC to check which formats the DAC supports?

If JRiver recieves a fault or a 0 it will simply stop the script and won't playback the file.?
Is it possible to disable this check and force playback if the problem is not with JRiver or the DAC but with a broken communication between the two?

What service is responisble for this format check?
Could this be connected to the Microsoft Management Console?

Kernel streaming is working with JRiver in Server Gui and Server minimal Gui mode, but not in Server Core mode. In Server Core mode it is giving the pop up that the format is not supported by the DAC. I think the format check is recieving 0 because of a missing Windows feature or a missing service and I suspect it is the MMC feature.
A little light here would be appreciated.

Cheers

[JimH]

Kernel streaming is working with JRiver in Server Gui and Server minimal Gui mode, but not in Server Core mode.

That seems like a Windows issue.  Is WASAPI available?

We don't often see Windows Server.

[Hendrik]

The Server Core lacks several multimedia components, and we can't really support that much.

[Primare Knob]

Wasapi isn't working in Core mode. I think this has to do with the audio services being disabled in Core mode.
ASIO is working fine in Core mode and also Kernel Streaming.

I do believe that the problem is on the Windows side of things due to a missing service or a missing Windows feature.  The question is which one. I don't think it is a big problem but more of a needle in a haystack kind of thing.
I have already made a comparison list with services between the different server modes and the problem seems to happen when un installing WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra. MMC and ActiveX are part of this feature. What I try to find out is, which service is related to the format check in JRiver and to  Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra as well.

You won't be able to install JRiver on Windows Server without the Gui, but this is not a problem since you can switch back and forward between Gui, minimal Gui and Core mode.

In the end it won't matter to much which OS you use but it will come down to the minimal required services to make it all work.  With less services running I find the SQ to be better and you also need less recources if you just want to use JRiver for playback with the server running on a different machine.
I would like to have a local server that does the big job and have smaller machines in an audio network for playback to a usb dac.

[Primare Knob]

Oke, funny thing is happening.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Gui Mode, kernel streaming is working in JRiver.
Windows Server 2012 R2 minimal Gui Mode, kernel streaming is working in JRiver.
Windows Server 2012 R2 Core Mode, kernel streaming is not working in JRiver.

When I start with minimal Gui mode and delete all services that are not present with Core mode, kernel streaming is working in JRiver.
So I now have Windows Server 2012 R2 minimal Gui mode scaled down to Core mode, and kernel streaming working.
It doesn't look like services are the problem but more likely that some dll's get deleted when changing into Core mode.

[d_pert]

Would it be possible for JRiver to list, here, the minimum Windows 10 network-related Services which are required for MC's Networking features to run properly? I have one lower-powered playback system with many Services disabled to discourage untimely background activity; am wondering if the services I've disabled are causing the same system to appear/disappear in my main MC 'server's list of network playback zones. Have read/tried everything else (e.g., LAN infrastructure / router config is all good as far as I can tell).

Thank you so much.

[JimH]

It's not possible, and we strongly recommend against tweaking Windows in this way.  It's asking for trouble and has no impact on sound quality.

[d_pert]

Hi JimH:

Thanks. Agree 100% re: no relationship to SQ. It's only to do with playback stability on some older systems.

On some dedicated 'single purpose' playback PCs that are lower-powered (e.g., tablets), one can sometimes drastically improve latency, DPCs and ISRs, and hard pagefaults by reducing as much as possible background Windows activity as is practical/safe to do. This can 'flatline' an otherwise horribly 'busy' Windows background environment that correlates -- verifiable through testing* -- with passing glitch 'storms', interruptions and other interferences, especially when dealing with higher bitrate PCM files, or DSD. The stability and responsiveness of the VST stack can often improve too: e.g., fewer clicks, glitches, etc., when flipping between files of different sample rates.

The approach of just summarily turning off Services or other Windows processes is not entirely satisfying because one generally prefers to know what one is doing and/or sacrificing. However, it does have a respectable background and supporting literature descending mostly from the commercial DAW/studio industry and from years past. In more recent years, however, systems have become so powerful/high bandwidth, and production applications so good at mitigating the impact of background processes on audio process stability, that it's become less or no longer relevant.

Still -- on an older/limited PC -- even one running Windows 10 and using ASIO/WASAPI and with all the usual suspects eliminated (e.g., Defender) -- one can still easily go from a tsunami of latency/DPC spikes every few minutes to a quiet paradise where one can run a test for two hours and barely get a single spike, by disabling some Services and other Windows components. Take, for example, my bare bones MS Surface Pro 4 which makes a great dedicated audio/MC play console in one room. Going 'old school' and killing off assumedly unrelated/superfluous Services and other Windows components moves that system from 75-80% stable to 99.9%.

I would understand hesitation to publish any 'recommended Services to disable' (although some DAW manufacturers used to do this). However, specifying under Specifications '...depends on the following MS-Windows Services...' could help some of us who want to optimize older/lower powered PCs do so with a little more awareness.

*References:
https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon