There has been a bug for many users with their CPUs maxing out at 100% or totally freezing their system. At first I thought it was a 64-bit OS thing but it isn't. As far as I can tell it isn't dependent on an OS.

It affects users that have the following combination:

Multiple Core/CPUs
SAMv4 (Ever since the encoders were split from mp3PRO)
MP3 (Normal) Encoder Selected

Here is the workaround:

1. Download the latest LAME ACM Codec. I recommend v3.98b6. Some people may have it already installed depending on what other audio software programs installed on the machine.
2. Install it by right-clicking the LameACM.inf file and clicking install.
3. Restart SAM.
4. Add Encoder > Legacy MP3 (ACM Codec) > Choose Format > Lame MP3
5. Finish entering the rest of your data.

That should do the trick! Feel free to add any more info.

Awesome. You deserve heaven. Thanks man, it's working just super.

Thanks again.

Marcos

Sweet Jeebus.... what's in the water up there in Richmond? Go Go juice I assume cause this did the trick. CPU just went in half.

Good to finally see that there is/was motion on the S/A gerbil wheel. Thumbs up Jeric et.al. --whomever ciphered this bug out.

[hindsight]...here's to a slower mod quickdraw on locking threads.

Mad props, Jeric! This should make quite a few posts on this issue null and void.

Just in case....

Is there an easy "step back" to uninstall this?

I'm just being cautious before any changes are made.

JERIC,

Can you make a Wiki article on this since you have a Wiki login.

http://www.spacialaudio.com/wiki/

Thanks, you rock!

I suppose if you want to be cautious, don't delete your old encoder yet. Change it so it doesn't auto-start. Add the new encoder. Then after a few days of stability delete the old encoder. Installing the LAME ACM should not interfere with anything.

I wasn't sure you would want a workaround to be in there. I will do it later when I can present it in a more professional manner.

Also, I would suggest that on the next version of SAM that Legacy MP3 encoder be renamed so something like MP3 ACM (3rd Party Encoder). I think people see "Legacy" and steer clear due to it having a somewhat negative connotation in the computer world. Also a small blurb about the ability of adding LAME, Radium, etc. would be useful.

I'd also like to thank Louis for helping me out with this major breakthrough!

Jeric, you are a life saver. I built an AMD Athlon X2 system a couple of weeks ago and this issue was driving me crazy. I am going to try this fix tonight!

I just installed a new dual core Opteron Server and wondered why performance was so much worse than on my dual core Intel desktop.

I have tried this fix and it worked for me. I'll still need to listen to the sound quality to see if I want to stay with the LAME encoder.

Two things here...once I download it and right click on the file to install it, all I get is that windows can't open this file ya-da-ya-da! What am I missing???

Also, which one do we really want to download...the 3.98b6 - mirror or less stable???

You need to right click on the configuration file that comes in the lame package and select install. Personally I would stick with the stable version as I tried the less stable version on my system and had some crashing.

One other note to add, you really should set up the Lame codec in the windows sound properties so that it is used instead of the fraunhofer codec. You need to set the priority in the properties.

go to: control panel/sound and audio/hardware tab/select audio codecs/ then properties button/properties tab/Lame ACM MP3/properties tab again and set it there.


I did this last month but not due to a dual core problem. It was suggested to me that the Lame codec would produce slightly better sound quality than the mp3 codec that ships with SAM.

1. You may need to be logged in as an administrator on the machine you are trying to install it on. Also, if that is some kind of Vista "feature" I wouldn't know what do to.

2. I got better results from the beta 6 but you can try them both. "Mirror" is just a different link to the same file.

Dude you are going straight to heaven, you will never die, you will just be lifted up on wings of angels.

same problem seems this doesnt resolve it completely..still froze........