Trouble with the Syrinscape Fantasy Player

Support
#1

Hi there to this small and nice community,

I bought a subscription to the Syrinscape Fantasy Package about a week ago. Since then I’ve been trying to set up a small number of moods for a three part oneshot, scheduled tomorrow. As we play at my place, I thought I could use a tablet (that I also bought right for this purpose). So I went on to download your very special app and hoped for the best.

Sadly I must admit that I do feel rather disappointed.

I don’t want to go on a rant or anything like that. So here are my three points:

  • The app keeps freezing, becoming unresponsive for more than 5 minutes. (The sound is still working, the app just doesn’t react.)
  • While downloading the speed slowly dropped to 0 kbit/s the last 5 tries. The app then froze.
  • The overall performance is very laggy and until the app becomes responsive after launch it takes about 5-10 minutes.

I tried the app on my smartphone as well, getting the same result.

My new tablet is definitely not a workhorse but I would still expect it to be able to handle an app like this free of major lag. I do come from Europe anyhow. Maybe this does have some effect.

So I am asking you what I could do myself to improve performance.
Also I would like to ask, whether this might have to do with out of my control.
The last update to the Syrinscape Fantasy Player has happened in 2018. Are there still any improvement planned to the app?

I hope you might help me in this or at least give me the feeling that something is going to be done. I would really love to use this app and Syrinscape in general. But under the current circumstances it might not be worth worth the effort of waiting for the lag to end.

Happy to hear from you
Aethrist

Tldr: app laggy, are there going to be some performance improvements or can I do something about it myself?

Edit:
Processor Quad-core 2100 GHz
2 GB DDR2 SDRam
Android 8.1

#2

I am sorry you have to experience this, @aethrist. A little more detail regarding your devices would be nice. The basic specs you have given for your tablet suggest that it is a bit outdated. Especially the memory could be an issue. So - the more detail you can provide the better we will be able to help. :wink:

Syrinscape is a tool, that works more like a multimixer than a soundboard, playing 20+ different tracks simultaneously, creating real-time reverb effects and 3D sound distribution. It does require a powerful device to run it smoothly.

How do you connect your speakers? I would guess you’re using Bluetooth to distribute the sound? That could also add to the strain you put on your system. If so, could you try to hook some cable bound speakers to your device and see, if there is any improvement?

About the downloading - especially at the weekend there can be some lag. Additionally, there is the PAX unplugged show this weekend, and many new people are trying to use the app. So, sorry for this current inconvenience. We are always trying to ensure a great experience by providing enough servers to cope with the need.

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#3

@aethrist I think the download speed being reported needs some smoothing applied to give a better indication of the speed. Downloading a soundset downloads many individual files (not one large file), and many of these files are small, so the speed can appear to fluctuate wildly at times.

The files are all hosted on Amazon S3 in US West coast region, so this should generally be very reliable and performant, although international connectivity to Europe may be degraded at times.

The Fantasy Player is designed to work offline (for up to 1 month), once soundsets have been installed. So as long as your device is capable, using the app while offline with installed soundsets should be very snappy. While it is online, it does a do a periodic check for new content, and this can be slow to update, but should not be impacting your use of the app. You could try turning off WiFi on your device to confirm if the lag you are seeing is related to the network, or your device capabilities.

We have spent a lot of time since the last Fantasy Player release working on Syrinscape Online, but we do indeed have plans for improvements to the Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Boardgame players.

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#4

Hello there,

Thanks a lot for the quick and (mostly) helpful answers. I am sorry that I didn’t answer after the whole ordeal but I still took your advice.
So now after about 2 month of somewhat frequent use, I wanted to give a quick update on my issues.

@new_vision was totally right about the event and the power of my device. In the past two month I made the experience that the servers are always a little strain on the weekend. So I took up the habit to prepare my sessions during the week by downloading the soundsets. This works fine, but fast last-minute updates are sometimes a bit tedious.
Concerning the tablet I used: Sadly enough, my recently-bought tablet broke after only one month of use (should’ve bought a case). Through one of my players I bought a new one as replacement of slightly better quality (Huawei Tablet T5 with 2GB RAM and more importantly a stronger CPU). The Syrinscape Fantasy app (SCF app) works better on it. Smooth would be an overstatement, but the downloads work properly and all the sounds display with only very little lag.

I haven’t had the chance to try out the cable-connected method by the way.

Thanks to both of you again. It is very nice to get fast and helpful support for a change. :relieved:

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