I gave Alpha7 a test run on the my two laptops again (4810mq & 430m), here's a couple of obversations:
Upon first vms launch after installation, I'd sometimes get either a crash or non-working audio. I've un-installed and re-installed Alpha7 a couple of times and noticed this behaviour on most of the re-installations.
Performance issues from other alpha releases are definitely fixed, now being the same level as the latest stable build, as follows;
---- at 500 voice limit, synth lightly bottlenecks the MIDI player; as VMS's thread appears to use ~2-3 times as many cpu cycles as midi program's thread
---- at 100 voice limit, synth notibly lags/stutters a little before the point where the midi player lags; as VMS thread appears to use ~3-7 times as many cpu cycles as midi program thread
The audible lag/stutter in this build seems to be a a bit of a more toleratable mild half-hybrid between the unpleasent static of the stable build and the slowdown alpha6 had. I don't expect this to be smoothed out if this introduces cpu usage increases of any kind.
I find the end section of Bad Apple 3.5 mil to be one of the easiest tracks to benchmark CPU usage/efficentcy with. (3:00 onward)
Additionally, just as a little suggestion, instead of relying on a optional checkbox option within the vms installer to send the user to your user-friendly "get new soundfonts" page, you should consider replacing that with a link or button inside the soundfonts tab of the configuration window. And, a popup systray balloon that tells the user to restart VMS to apply changes when the user presses 'ok' or 'apply' to change something would also be nice.
ps: I'd still be interested to see a realtime voice counter incorporated within the midi mixer if possible and easy to impliment
- Main laptop: Sager NP4658, Intel i7-4810MQ, 2*8GB DDR3 (PC3-10700), 512GB+512GB SSDs, Intel HD4600/NVidia GT840M