If you are seeing unexplained odd behavior when MEAP is working, you may have an application running in the background that is interfering with the clipboard process or the key command process.
Symptoms of this could be:
MEAP is getting the track name but then pasting %t_name% or 1_%t_name% into the Export Audio Dialog
You have all the MEAP key commands set correctly but the keys don’t seem to be getting to Cubase/Nuendo
The Stop Track name is ignored
The solution to this is very simple:
Disable your Hotkey application while running MEAP.
Or add an exception so that the Hotkey or Clipboard application does not interfere with MEAP sending key commands to Cubase/Nuendo.
Windows Tray – Where you will find most conflicting applications
Examples of applications that may interfere with MEAP:
AutoHotkey
Nostalgy
Ditto (No issue with Ditto here but potentially could interfere with clipboard)
Phrase Express
Further to this, as with many sensitive applications, it is always a good idea to stop any background tasks that may conflict, when you are running MEAP.
If anyone has any other examples of applications that are known to interfere with MEAP, please let me know and I will add to the list.
Using two (or more) monitors with MEAP can be problematic.
This is because many of MEAP’s functions require scanning your screen to find images or buttons. For example the Export Audio Window or the Transport Bar etc. If any of these items open on your second monitor, (or in other words if any of these items do not open on your main monitor), then MEAP may fail and halt as it cannot find the required items.
MEAP could be forced to scan all monitors but this would take a very long time, cause big delays and lead to other unexpected issues. So there are no plans to introduce support for this.
The simplest way to deal with this, if you are using more than one monitor, is to setup a Workspace in Cubase (or Nuendo) that brings everything onto your main monitor.
You can save your default workspace first.
This way you can simply switch to the single monitor Workspace before running MEAP and then switch back again when done. The switching of Workspaces takes about 1 second once setup.
Having trouble with MEAP getting track names in Cubase 8 (or later versions)? Especially if it has been working fine in earlier Cubase versions?
The symptoms of this could be that you notice the mouse move to the Inspector instead of to the track that is active. Or that you notice MEAP entering odd things instead of the track name.
This is most likely because you have your Inspector open and the Solo button and background in the inspector looks very similar to the Solo button and background on a selected track.
Simple solution – CLOSE THE INSPECTOR when exporting with MEAP using Cubase 8.x (and onwards).
Solo Button looks similar in Inspector & track list
More info:
MEAP gets track names by finding the active Solo button on the selected track and moving the mouse over to get the actual track name.
If MEAP sees something that looks like an active solo button on a selected track it will move to the first image is sees. In Cubase 8 the background in the Inspector has become very similar to the background colour of a selected track.
The second setting (def_coef_skip_tolerance=0.97) is for finding a the Mute button (or the folder open / close) on a selected track. If this value is set too low, MEAP may think an ordinary Mute button is a match and skip every track..
Note: If you are having trouble with this area (skipping muted tracks, folder tracks or odd behaviour when using frozen tracks) the best way to resolve it would be to get an exact capture of your setup’s Mute Button, Folder Open / Closed and Frozen Solo on a selected track. Then set the values to 1 (exact match). The easiest way to do this is to use the MEAP SHOTS application. If you are unsure how to do this please contact support.
More Info:
The reason it is happening is that a little while ago a new way of recognising the buttons was introduced which is really clever as it allows for a large amount of tolerance. the number 1 trouble users have had over the years with MEAP was that Graphics Not Found error because their screen was not set up exactly the same way as when the MEAP buttons were captured.
Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this is:
MEAP has to scan the entire left side of the screen – on the first export only – to find that first selected Solo track. After that MEAP will only look around the previous track that was exported. But the problem is on the first export, it may find a Mute button even if not selected. This will only happen if the Skip Muted Tracks or Folder Tracks option is selected.
In the latest version of MEAP the tolerance for the Skip Selected area is much higher so it will only find an almost exact match for a selected Mute Button.
Of course the problem may now arise that your Selected Mute/Folder Button looks different from the original and will not be recognised at all. In which case we will nee to make custom graphics as mentioned above.
The second setting (def_coef_skip_tolerance=0.97) is for finding a the Mute button (or the folder open / close) on a selected track. If this value is set too low, MEAP may think an ordinary Mute button is a match and skip every track..
Note: If you are having trouble with this area (skipping muted tracks, folder tracks or odd behaviour when using frozen tracks) the best way to resolve it would be to get an exact capture of your setup’s Mute Button, Folder Open / Closed and Frozen Solo on a selected track. Then set the values to 1 (exact match). The easiest way to do this is to use the MEAP SHOTS application. If you are unsure how to do this please contact support.
More Info:
The reason it is happening is that a little while ago a new way of recognising the buttons was introduced which is really clever as it allows for a large amount of tolerance. the number 1 trouble users have had over the years with MEAP was that Graphics Not Found error because their screen was not set up exactly the same way as when the MEAP buttons were captured.
Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this is:
MEAP has to scan the entire left side of the screen – on the first export only – to find that first selected Solo track. After that MEAP will only look around the previous track that was exported. But the problem is on the first export, it may find a Mute button even if not selected. This will only happen if the Skip Muted Tracks or Folder Tracks option is selected.
In the latest version of MEAP the tolerance for the Skip Selected area is much higher so it will only find an almost exact match for a selected Mute Button.
Of course the problem may now arise that your Selected Mute/Folder Button looks different from the original and will not be recognised at all. In which case we will nee to make custom graphics as mentioned above.
Many Cubase 6 and 7 users may not be aware that since Version 7.67.141 of MEAP – The Export Button is actually pressed by a Key Command. This was done in order to make sure MEAP does not have to scan your screen for the Export Button on every export, hence saving time.
Some users miss how important setting up the Key Commands is. Everything MEAP does is controlled by a specific set of Key Commands that must be installed into your audio application.
Make sure you save your existing Key Commands (and Macros) by going to Cubase Key Commands dialog and saving them.
It is absolutely vital that you then select the MEAPKeysVx (where x is your audio application version) set of key Commands in the same area.
Obviously if you have any MACRO keys set up – these may interfere with MEAP’s key commands so they should be removed temporarily (this is why we saved everything above).
Once you have set up the MEAP Key Commands, do a small dummy export and see if it works.
The new Key Command for Export Audio is Ctrl+SHIFT+K and it is included in the new MEAPKeys files.
If for some reason it is still failing or you wish to revert to the old method, you can change the way MEAP presses that button:
Go to the meapdefs.ini file and look for the line:
[other_options] press_67_button=KeyCommand
Change this to
[other_options] press_67_button=Button
This will force MEAP to use your button graphic instead of the Key Command.
The most common problem that stops MEAP working is the Graphic Not Found Error.
This happens when MEAP is looking for a particular graphic (for example the Solo button) and because the button may not appear the same on all systems, MEAP may not be able to find it.
This is easy to fix. And as you probably know, if you send a message and Support Zip File to MEAP Support, you will usually receive a custom graphic specifically for your system within a few hours.
However, if you are in a hurry or even just a little interested, you can do it yourself.
So here’s the steps:
Finding What Went Wrong
MEAP has already tried to give us a clue which graphic it could not find, in the error message.
Graphic Not Found – Argggh!
In this case it was the Solo button. It was lit up within Cubase but for some subtle (or sometimes obvious) reason, MEAP didn’t recognise it.
You can access the ZIP file that MEAP has created directly from this message by clicking the ZIP button.
The ZIP button
Or if you have already closed the message, you can go to the place that the ZIP file is stored:
ZIP File located
Usually this file can be found in the following location:
Windows Vista: Windows 7: C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\zip\ Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\zip\
Open the Zip file and you will see a group of files. One of them should be named final.bmp (Note: If the final.bmp does not exist, simply use any screen shot that contains the graphic areas you need).
ZIP File open
If you look at this screen shot you should see the button or area that MEAP was looking for. To your eyes it may look OK but sometimes computers can be very picky.
MEAP’s final screen shot
Making Your Own
So now we are going to make our own version of the graphic – So it is exactly matched to your system and MEAP will always see it.
First, make some copies of the final.bmp so that you can rename them correctly before editing. The new graphic must be a Bitmap and stay in the same format that MEAP used.
Locate the MEAP graphic folder. In this case Cubase 6 graphics:
Windows Vista: Windows 7 – C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\graphics\c6gfx\ Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\graphics\c6gfx\
Decide which graphic you are going to make and rename one of your final.bmp copies to the same name as that graphic. In this case the name would be c6solo.bmp
MEAP’s original graphics
Open your favourite photo editing software and load in the final.bmp
We now need to look at the original graphic (c6solo.bmp) and roughly crop a similar graphic from the newly created c6solo.bmp that came from you final.bmp
Zoom in so that you can see how the original graphic was cropped. It is important that the graphic is cropped in the same way, especially for the Path graphics.
Roughly cropped button
Then we can start to crop down the new graphic and zoom in until they look similar.
Cropped a little more
Finally you should end up with a graphic that looks almost identical to the original. But remember this has been made from your own screen shot so it will match your setup exactly.
The Final Cropdown
Now – Save the file. Do not change the file type or make any adjustments to colour or contrast, brightness etc. This is why we renamed the final.bmp to the button name before we started editing. So you can simply save the new file.
When you have saved the file and repeated this procedure with any other graphics that may have caused errors you can now copy your new graphics over the original. (Don’t worry the originals are all backed up should you ever need to restore them). Copy the new graphics here:
Windows Vista: Windows 7 – C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\graphics\YOUR AUDIO APP\ Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Phil Pendlebury\MEAP\graphics\YOUR AUDIO APP\
In this case YOUR AUDIO APP would be c6gfx
You now have a set of graphics that are totally matched to your current system. Keep them safe! If you ever re-install MEAP or install an update, you will need to copy these graphics over the originals again.
