PaceMaker v2.x plug-in FAQ

Troubleshooting

3.1. PaceMaker doesn't seem to install to my PC

For example, you've downloaded PaceMaker installation file, run it, but PaceMaker doesn't seem to appear on Winamp player...

Please notice that you've to activate the PaceMaker plug-in in Winamp preferences. See the PaceMaker usage instructions for how to activate PaceMaker.

If this didn't help, then check which Winamp version you have. This can be done by right-clicking on the Winamp window and choosing "Nullsoft Winamp..." from the menu appearing on the display.

• If you've Winamp version 2.x or 5.x:

1. If the "PaceMaker tempo controller" entry is missing from the Winamp preferences plug-in list, check that the PaceMaker plug-in program file "dsp_pacemaker.dll" is present in your "\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins" directory (or wherever the Winamp have been installed in your PC). If the file "dsp_pacemaker.dll" is missing from that directory, it's possible that it's got to wrong place. Try to locate the file in your hard disk and copy it to the correct directory.
   
2. If your Winamp player version is way below v2.9, you may wish to download an updated version at Winamp classic site.
   
3. Check if there's an updated version of PaceMaker plug-in available at the PaceMaker site.

• If you've Winamp version 3.x:

Please notice the PaceMaker v1.3 plug-in isn't compatible with that version. No worry though, you may either:

1. Download Winamp player version 2.xx at Winamp classic site that's compatible with PaceMaker v1.3, or
2. Download another version of the plug-in, PaceMaker3, that supports the new Winamp3 player.

3.2. PaceMaker window appears on the screen but it doesn't seem to have any effect to the music

1. What kind of files are you playing?
   
   By default, Winamp can process sound with dsp plug-ins only when playing .mp3 and .wav files. Notes regarding other audio formats:
   
   • .WMA: The default Winamp .wma decoder plug-in bypasses dsp plug-ins altogether for some reason, and thus PaceMaker can't process the sound when playing .wma files with the default decoder. There are alternative .wma decoder plug-ins available though, installing one should solve the issue. See e.g. here for an older version of WMA decoder that still works with plugins.
     
   • Audio CD: On some PC's PaceMaker may not seem to work with audio CD's. This can be solved by installing additional plug-in, 'CD-Reader', for Winamp.  Please notice though that not all CD-ROM drives support reading audio in digital format, that's requirement for co-operation with PaceMaker.
     
   • MIDI: PaceMaker doesn't work with .mid files at all because the aren't actual digital audio data but instrumental sequence files.

    

2. PaceMaker doesn't seem to affect the mp3 files either?
   
   It should work with mp3 always. Check if you've got a version 2.63 of Winamp player as that version doesn't work with dsp plug-ins. Could it be you're using some special mp3 decoder?

3.3. Sound has breaks

What kind of audio are you playing:

1. Usual MP3's files
   
   Do you have a somewhat slow computer, say around 200Mhz processor or slower? It's possible the CPU load gets too high. Go to PaceMaker preferences and try if reducing the Quality setting would help.
   
2. Audio files in other format
   
   Do usual MP3 files work properly? In such case it's apparent that the other audio format decoder isn't compatible with PaceMaker.
   
3. Audio CD's with a CD-ROM drive
   
   Not all CD-ROM drives are capable of reading audio data in digital format ("ripping") with other speed than the usual 1x speed, but the audio start breaking e.g. if tempo is increased or decreased from the nominal value. This is a device problem so nothing much can be done, you may try other CD-ROM drive if available.
   

3.4. PaceMaker degrades sound quality when changing tempo/pitch by a large quantity

See section Known Issues for a note about sound quality.

3.5. PaceMaker crashes when trying to...

See section Known Issues for known bugs.