virtualbox.org

Hello, all.

I have an old sequencer that I use to write music in. Since I upgraded to 10, my computer won't run it anymore because it's too old, so I used VMBox to use the sequencer once more. It plays MIDI files fine, but then when I use my USB piano, it slows down and the tempo is kind of "glitchy". I have tried messing with the processors and memory, but it doesn't seem to work. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I changed the title so we know we're talking about a piano, not a regular computer keyboard.

Start the VM from full power off, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set.

Please right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log and the next tab over (the hardening log), zip both files, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

Thanks for your quick response, and for changing the subject, I realized that might sound misleading after posting it.

I let the problem run for a few seconds then chose to Shut Down the machine from within the OS. I saved both the log files that you told me to.

Thanks again!

You have 8 processors in the VM, and more processors than necessary slows down the VM. Reduce to only 2 processors.

An extra USB device is attaching, but only runs at USB 1 speed. This is because the Extension Pack is not installed, see http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. Then configure your VM to use USB 2. FWIW forum gurus prefer USB 3 even for USB 2 and 1 devices, since the USB 3 stack is re-written and better. However, Windows 7 needs drivers to use USB 3. If USB 2 does not work well, see USB basics and troubleshooting post #6 "USB3 with external drivers" for Windows 7, install the recommended drivers, then configure the VM to USB 3.

I doubt the VM will need 48.8 GB of RAM, either, but that may or may not influence the problem. I'd go with 8GB.

Thanks for the response! It still has problems, but I don't know how to install the extension pack, as it's in a file my computer (Windows 10) doesn't recognize.

EDIT: Got it installed. I changed it to USB 3 and USB 2. However, the problem still persists. It seems the more notes are playing, the slower it runs.

Again, any help is appreciated.

Could it be that your computer is old and there is a problem with the connection?

Hello. Thanks for the response.

No, I just got this computer last week. It has Windows 10 with a powerful video card, processor, the whole 9 yards. My previous computer was Windows 7 which was having issues, but always played music on the same sequencer/piano perfectly fine.

I have read that USBs can be slow in the emulator, and have heard that the VMBox team does not plan to improve it. I hope that's not true, and that's not what my issue is stemming from.

I have heard that the USB 3 stack was supposed to be lean and mean, so USB 3 in the VM should provide the best capability. If it doesn't provide good enough performance (and I am big on good audio so 'good enough' must be perfect), then a virtual piano might not be the correct path. A refurbished PC that the refurbisher backs up with a year's warranty and running the special software might do you better.

Thanks for your response.

The problem is that when I use the USB 3 option, the program doesn't recognize my piano. VMBox still sees it, though.