Amarra 3.0

[AnotherSpin]

I use playlist mode. That cured my problems.

Never tried iTunes mode either. Another tip - use XLD to convert any album to designated folder on a desktop. It permits fast cache operation and better sound.

[Amarra_Support]

Hopefully this will help some using itunes integration so that the Remote app can be used to access your music library. Most has been noted already in the various threads, but these are the process steps I am using.

 

1. Open VNC app on iPad to connect to the Mac and start Amarra

 

2. Navigate to File ---> Extras ---> Quit Finder

3. Navigate to File ---> Extras ---> Purge OSX Memory

4. Click cache button, make sure green light is showing

5. Click Amarra button, make sure green light is showing

6. Click in the iTunes screen, and click on Album column header until It is sorted by Album by Artist

7. Navigate to Amarra Symphony --->Preferences

8. Under Launch I only have launch/quit Amarra with iTunes checked, others unchecked

9. Under Playback, Click Preload Tracks and select Album for count and 3GB Cache memory amount. Crucial settings.

10. Under Dither I have auto-dither unchecked

11. Under Processing only gain bypass is checked and all others are unchecked

12. Under Hardware follow audio midi is unchecked

 

13. Disconnect from VNC

 

14. On the iPad/iPhone open the Apple Remote app

15. Do NOT use Playlists except for perhaps finding what you want to listen to

16. Use Artist followed by Album, or Album tab and click on the first song in an album

17. Only click ONCE on the first song of the album

18. Be patient and wait until the whole album is loaded into cache and playback starts

 

Once loaded in Cache, you will notice harddrive activity has stopped, and you can click through the songs within the album with quick response since it is all in memory.

 

One note on searching for music on the Playlist tab of Remote. If you do click on a song from Playlist, immediately go the the Album tab and click on the first song of the album again. This way the songs are loaded in the correct order. Do not use Remote Playlist any other way as you will get frustrated!

 

This is as close as I could get enjoying Amarra (for the most part) gapless with the audible benefit of Amarra's playlist and using an iPad Remote to access my library.

 

I like the sound of Cache mode as it turns off the spinning harddrives or TBolt drives and the files are loaded into memory. Same exact reason Playlist sounds better. But Amarra's Playlist without a proper app is shite for a user.

 

Cheers

 

Hi All,

Thanks for all the continued discussion about Amarra and we're happy to hear that most of you are not having any issues with playback.

 

The information above is pretty much correct, however I'd like to offer a little clarification as there are many concepts that are being rolled up in the same discussion. I assure you it is not that complex to playback gapless tracks in Amarra/iTunes mode. If you are having continuing environment-specific issues, please let us know via our Amarra Support Portal so we can understand if it's an issue with Amarra that needs fixing or offer suggestions as to what may be an issue in your specific environment.

 

So here goes:

1) There are some initial setup items that can aide in providing the best sound quality.

a)The Mac OSX Optimization script does a good job in shutting down processes that are not generally needed for playback. That said, if you are using your Mac for other things, disabling all of the apps in the Optimization script may have unwanted effects. Please be aware of what you are trying to accomplish when using the Mac OSX Optimization script. You can always access the script either from your Amarra->Extras->Installers folder or by clicking the Optimize button on the Amarra Preferences window.

 

b) Within Amarra or Symphony, from the Menu bar, select File->Extras to selectively purge OSX inactive memory and turn off Finder if desired.

 

c) In Amarra or Symphony Preferences - select EQ Bypass if you are not using any EQ including IRC and the DSD Filter. If using EQ, IRC, or the DSD Filter, you'll need to leave EQ Bypass de-selected.

 

d) In Amarra or Symphony Preferences - select Gain Bypass if you are using your external device for volume control. This will leave Amarra feeding a full volume signal to your external device.

 

Note: Auto-dither is disabled unless you are using the Amarra volume slider. If you have Gain Bypass selected or the Amarra Volume slider is at 0.0db, Auto-Dithering is disabled automatically. We recommend leaving this item selected - if you don't use the volume slider, it is disabled, if you do use the volume slider, it's automatically enabled.

 

e) Using Cache mode - CACHE playback is available in both Amarra/iTunes mode and Amarra Playlist mode and is designed to minimize disk access during playback resulting in better performance and better sound. The amount of memory set aside for CACHE is set in Amarra Preferences, we recommend using no more than 1/3 to 1/2 of your available memory for CACHE playback. When you click on the CACHE button (green light), the next track(s) loaded will be loaded into CACHE prior to playback. If you turn off CACHE, the next track loaded will not use the CACHE for playback.

 

Note: when using CACHE, the last thing that happens before playback begins is the amount of CACHE used is updated in the UI. Please wait until you see this number updated before beginning playback for best operation.

 

Note2: Using CACHE mode is not directly related to Preloading Tracks for Gapless playback. They are 2 completely independent concepts within Amarra. CACHE can be used in both Amarra/iTunes and Amarra Playlist mode. The Preload Tracks preference is specifically for loading gapless performances from your iTunes library. The next version of Amarra will clarify the preferences window.

 

f) 'Follow Audio Midi Settings' is de-selected in Amarra Preferences - when you initially launch Amarra, it will look in AMSU to determine what device is initially set for output and set that device accordingly. After that, use the Amarra ADP window to change your output device.

 

Note: We have found with some DACs that setting the device for sound output in AMSU to something like Built In Output and setting your DAC for output in Amarra's Audio Device Preferences window can eliminate some unwanted issues. Having Core Audio (AMSU) set to Built in output for the Output device with Amarra using your DAC for output avoids any conflict in accessing your device.

 

2) Gapless playback - we have a new tutorial video available on gapless playback, available at the following link:

 

Sonic Studio Amarra Music Players

 

Some notes:

a) At this time, only uncompressed files (AIFF, WAV, BWF) play gaplessly without issue. We've had success with some FLAC and ALAC performances, but cannot guarantee anything at this time.

b) When using Amarra Playlist mode, Amarra will attempt to play all tracks gaplessly. Preload tracks should not be used in Amarra Playlist mode.

c) In iTunes mode, Preload tracks must be used for gapless playback. Set the desired number of tracks or Album in Amarra Preferences, we recommend Album.

d) The Sort order of your iTunes library while in Songs or List View is critical. Amarra will load your tracks based on current sort order from this view regardless of the tab you are currently viewing (albums for instance). We have found that sorting 'Album by Artist' is the best method of sorting iTunes for Gapless playback.

 

Assuming you have your iTunes library sorted correctly, you have Preload Tracks selected and Album count chosen, you should be able to click on an Album in Album view or click on the first track of an Album and Amarra will load all of the tracks in the album and begin playback gaplessly.

 

Note: Ensure iTunes Shuffle mode and Repeat mode are turned off when using Preload Tracks

 

Note2: Reminder that using CACHE is completely independent of Preloading tracks, they perform 2 different functions.

 

Note3: Trying to playback gaplessly from an iTunes Playlist requires that the iTunes playlist is a true gapless performance sorted in the correct order. Preloading tracks should not be used to load an iTunes playlist of random tracks in an effort to eliminate unwanted gaps. It is used for playing back tracks that actually don't have a gap between them.

 

Sorry for the long note, but hope this helps to clear some things up.

[KnockKnock]

That all would be nice if A would play some music, which it doesn't at all. It just doesn't respond

 

 

Hi All,

Thanks for all the continued discussion about Amarra and we're happy to hear that most of you are not having any issues with playback.

 

The information above is pretty much correct, however I'd like to offer a little clarification as there are many concepts that are being rolled up in the same discussion. I assure you it is not that complex to playback gapless tracks in Amarra/iTunes mode. If you are having continuing environment-specific issues, please let us know via our Amarra Support Portal so we can understand if it's an issue with Amarra that needs fixing or offer suggestions as to what may be an issue in your specific environment.

 

So here goes:

1) There are some initial setup items that can aide in providing the best sound quality.

a)The Mac OSX Optimization script does a good job in shutting down processes that are not generally needed for playback. That said, if you are using your Mac for other things, disabling all of the apps in the Optimization script may have unwanted effects. Please be aware of what you are trying to accomplish when using the Mac OSX Optimization script. You can always access the script either from your Amarra->Extras->Installers folder or by clicking the Optimize button on the Amarra Preferences window.

 

b) Within Amarra or Symphony, from the Menu bar, select File->Extras to selectively purge OSX inactive memory and turn off Finder if desired.

 

c) In Amarra or Symphony Preferences - select EQ Bypass if you are not using any EQ including IRC and the DSD Filter. If using EQ, IRC, or the DSD Filter, you'll need to leave EQ Bypass de-selected.

 

d) In Amarra or Symphony Preferences - select Gain Bypass if you are using your external device for volume control. This will leave Amarra feeding a full volume signal to your external device.

 

Note: Auto-dither is disabled unless you are using the Amarra volume slider. If you have Gain Bypass selected or the Amarra Volume slider is at 0.0db, Auto-Dithering is disabled automatically. We recommend leaving this item selected - if you don't use the volume slider, it is disabled, if you do use the volume slider, it's automatically enabled.

 

e) Using Cache mode - CACHE playback is available in both Amarra/iTunes mode and Amarra Playlist mode and is designed to minimize disk access during playback resulting in better performance and better sound. The amount of memory set aside for CACHE is set in Amarra Preferences, we recommend using no more than 1/3 to 1/2 of your available memory for CACHE playback. When you click on the CACHE button (green light), the next track(s) loaded will be loaded into CACHE prior to playback. If you turn off CACHE, the next track loaded will not use the CACHE for playback.

 

Note: when using CACHE, the last thing that happens before playback begins is the amount of CACHE used is updated in the UI. Please wait until you see this number updated before beginning playback for best operation.

 

Note2: Using CACHE mode is not directly related to Preloading Tracks for Gapless playback. They are 2 completely independent concepts within Amarra. CACHE can be used in both Amarra/iTunes and Amarra Playlist mode. The Preload Tracks preference is specifically for loading gapless performances from your iTunes library. The next version of Amarra will clarify the preferences window.

 

f) 'Follow Audio Midi Settings' is de-selected in Amarra Preferences - when you initially launch Amarra, it will look in AMSU to determine what device is initially set for output and set that device accordingly. After that, use the Amarra ADP window to change your output device.

 

Note: We have found with some DACs that setting the device for sound output in AMSU to something like Built In Output and setting your DAC for output in Amarra's Audio Device Preferences window can eliminate some unwanted issues. Having Core Audio (AMSU) set to Built in output for the Output device with Amarra using your DAC for output avoids any conflict in accessing your device.

 

2) Gapless playback - we have a new tutorial video available on gapless playback, available at the following link:

 

Sonic Studio Amarra Music Players

 

Some notes:

a) At this time, only uncompressed files (AIFF, WAV, BWF) play gaplessly without issue. We've had success with some FLAC and ALAC performances, but cannot guarantee anything at this time.

b) When using Amarra Playlist mode, Amarra will attempt to play all tracks gaplessly. Preload tracks should not be used in Amarra Playlist mode.

c) In iTunes mode, Preload tracks must be used for gapless playback. Set the desired number of tracks or Album in Amarra Preferences, we recommend Album.

d) The Sort order of your iTunes library while in Songs or List View is critical. Amarra will load your tracks based on current sort order from this view regardless of the tab you are currently viewing (albums for instance). We have found that sorting 'Album by Artist' is the best method of sorting iTunes for Gapless playback.

 

Assuming you have your iTunes library sorted correctly, you have Preload Tracks selected and Album count chosen, you should be able to click on an Album in Album view or click on the first track of an Album and Amarra will load all of the tracks in the album and begin playback gaplessly.

 

Note: Ensure iTunes Shuffle mode and Repeat mode are turned off when using Preload Tracks

 

Note2: Reminder that using CACHE is completely independent of Preloading tracks, they perform 2 different functions.

 

Note3: Trying to playback gaplessly from an iTunes Playlist requires that the iTunes playlist is a true gapless performance sorted in the correct order. Preloading tracks should not be used to load an iTunes playlist of random tracks in an effort to eliminate unwanted gaps. It is used for playing back tracks that actually don't have a gap between them.

 

Sorry for the long note, but hope this helps to clear some things up.

[wdw]

H

Yes, I have. On my system it stutters, tracks cut off early and randomly blasts full volume white noise. I opened a trouble ticket with my my detailed system info and their rote response was to delete preferences. I followed their advice and it has actually gotten worse.

 

Their tech support is as useful as their program.

 

Feel your pain...demoing a trial of 3.0.3 and my system crackles and pops on high res material. Frustrating as it sounds so good when not sputtering along. Using playlist, cache with 3 Gb memory, and no EQ...dammit. Then the next post will be something like "...all is fine with me..." Computer Audio....sheesh!

[johnwilk]

It has been such a joy to release myself from Amarra. I brought into this software from the beginning, and constantly upgraded in the hope that this upgrade would be the one that at last would mean, if a visitor were to ask to hear music, I wouldn't be anxious as to whether Amarra would smile. There would be months when our affair seemed a happy one, but unpredictably Amarra would turn on me and sulk and refuse to play. Perhaps it would be a maintenance upgrade of Apple OS, or of Amarra itself, or even more troublingly, nothing would account for a sudden change in behaviour. Sonic Studio would cajole Amarra remotely and puzzle and drop away, unable to explain. Since I abandoned Amarra for Aurender my life has changed. I don't even miss setting parameters for the room. It just sounds good and it works every time. In earlier years I loved my Atari ST in part because it needed such love to give of its best. But I no longer have time to lavish on electronics. As for the cost, well, when I think about the endless time and pains invested in making Amarra sing, I think an upfront investment and the pleasure of pressing play, and hey, it plays beautifully, represents a real saving. Sorry Amarra.

 

H

 

Feel your pain...demoing a trial of 3.0.3 and my system crackles and pops on high res material. Frustrating as it sounds so good when not sputtering along. Using playlist, cache with 3 Gb memory, and no EQ...dammit. Then the next post will be something like "...all is fine with me..." Computer Audio....sheesh!

[wdw]

N

It has been such a joy to release myself from Amarra. I brought into this software from the beginning, and constantly upgraded in the hope that this upgrade would be the one that at last would mean, if a visitor were to ask to hear music, I wouldn't be anxious as to whether Amarra would smile. There would be months when our affair seemed a happy one, but unpredictably Amarra would turn on me and sulk and refuse to play. Perhaps it would be a maintenance upgrade of Apple OS, or of Amarra itself, or even more troublingly, nothing would account for a sudden change in behaviour. Sonic Studio would cajole Amarra remotely and puzzle and drop away, unable to explain. Since I abandoned Amarra for Aurender my life has changed. I don't even miss setting parameters for the room. It just sounds good and it works every time. In earlier years I loved my Atari ST in part because it needed such love to give of its best. But I no longer have time to lavish on electronics. As for the cost, well, when I think about the endless time and pains invested in making Amarra sing, I think an upfront investment and the pleasure of pressing play, and hey, it plays beautifully, represents a real saving. Sorry Amarra.

 

Funny to me. I received the obligatory 'trial' period email extolling the program with mention of sale pricing but also a link to support. Sent a query why my system wouldn't play beyond 44.1 without pops and clicks as I am very interested in this program working. The short period that it did the sound was so seductive and delightful (suspect it is EQ'd somewhat) but, nevertheless, no reply. Clearly we, their customers, are below their radar.

Looking at Aries or Aurender. Which model are you using?

Cheers,

WW

[tgdinamo]

I'm a new Amarra user and have a few observations and questions (not sure if this is the best thread/forum but I can't find anything else that seems to have more recent conversations about this software).

My feelings so far after about a week of using Amarra is that the SQ is quite an improvement over Audirvana Plus which I have been using for about a year or so (was happy with it and did not expect something else could significantly improve on it but I' happy to report I was wrong - stage, instrument separation, and detail are clearly a step up with Amarra). However the user interface and stability of the app is a very different story - Audirvana is much more stable. I find that I had to turn off Amarra cache completely to make it stable, as well as not loading playlist by default (I don't care about itunes integration and wish it was not even there but that's another story altogether - Audirvana seems to be better in terms of keeping itunes out of the way if you select not to use it in preferences). The most annoying Amarra issues for me is very poor display of meta-data. I mostly listen to wav files and it's very frustrating Amarra playlists only list song names and resolution but don't list the album and artists. I'm sure someone will say that wav's don't support this, but when I load the exact same folders with wav files into Audirvana all this info is clearly displayed - so it's there and Amarra could also use it if developers chose to do some work to make it happen. Other annoying issues are that once you add songs to playlist it seems individual tracks can never be removed - the only solution seems to be to clear the entire playlist! If there is a way to delete individual tracks (or blocks of tracks) from the playlist and I'm missing something please can someone let me know how this can be done. Also, I wish blocks of tracks can be moved up and down the playlist all at once (like Audirvana). And finally where is the random function (to randomize tracks in playlist)? So my overall impression is still very positive about Amarra (SQ is most important), but I find it strange that the developers got the most difficult stuff worked out perfectly (SQ), and seemingly very trivial to implement functionality is missing or unstable.

By the way, my system is a very recent Macbook Pro (2014) with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD (and I play all tracks off of that SSD - had some issues when I tried playing off of network drives, or even regular external USB 3 connected hard drives). My dac is a very nice Hegel HD12 and is connected to the Macbook via USB interface (using Nordost Blue Heaven cord).

[KnockKnock]

I'm a new Amarra user and have a few observations and questions (not sure if this is the best thread/forum but I can't find anything else that seems to have more recent conversations about this software).

My feelings so far after about a week of using Amarra is that the SQ is quite an improvement over Audirvana Plus which I have been using for about a year or so (was happy with it and did not expect something else could significantly improve on it but I' happy to report I was wrong - stage, instrument separation, and detail are clearly a step up with Amarra). However the user interface and stability of the app is a very different story - Audirvana is much more stable. I find that I had to turn off Amarra cache completely to make it stable, as well as not loading playlist by default (I don't care about itunes integration and wish it was not even there but that's another story altogether - Audirvana seems to be better in terms of keeping itunes out of the way if you select not to use it in preferences). The most annoying Amarra issues for me is very poor display of meta-data. I mostly listen to wav files and it's very frustrating Amarra playlists only list song names and resolution but don't list the album and artists. I'm sure someone will say that wav's don't support this, but when I load the exact same folders with wav files into Audirvana all this info is clearly displayed - so it's there and Amarra could also use it if developers chose to do some work to make it happen. Other annoying issues are that once you add songs to playlist it seems individual tracks can never be removed - the only solution seems to be to clear the entire playlist! If there is a way to delete individual tracks (or blocks of tracks) from the playlist and I'm missing something please can someone let me know how this can be done. Also, I wish blocks of tracks can be moved up and down the playlist all at once (like Audirvana). And finally where is the random function (to randomize tracks in playlist)? So my overall impression is still very positive about Amarra (SQ is most important), but I find it strange that the developers got the most difficult stuff worked out perfectly (SQ), and seemingly very trivial to implement functionality is missing or unstable.

By the way, my system is a very recent Macbook Pro (2014) with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD (and I play all tracks off of that SSD - had some issues when I tried playing off of network drives, or even regular external USB 3 connected hard drives). My dac is a very nice Hegel HD12 and is connected to the Macbook via USB interface (using Nordost Blue Heaven cord).

 

i agree 100%, it's a shame that Amarra with its glorious sound just can't cope with the bugs inside it. Sometimes it works, but not very often. The SQ is stunning, but what does that help, if it don't play, when you hit PLAY!

I switched to Pure Music, fabulous sound (but not as good as Amarra!), but stable and quick. And never looked back since.

[tgdinamo]

i agree 100%, it's a shame that Amarra with its glorious sound just can't cope with the bugs inside it. Sometimes it works, but not very often. The SQ is stunning, but what does that help, if it don't play, when you hit PLAY!

I switched to Pure Music, fabulous sound (but not as good as Amarra!), but stable and quick. And never looked back since.

 

I agree but in my case I'm sticking with Amarra since I did manage to eventually get it to the point where it is stable so I can hit play and just plays (reliably). But I should not have had to turn off supposedly recommended functionality (ie cache) to get there, and also move 1TB worth of music files to internal SSD to achieve this stability. Also, while it now plays and is stable it would still be nice to at least see the name of artist and album of the song it's currently playing - that should not be too much to ask.

At the end of the day the glorious SQ was just too much to give up so I decided to put up with these annoyances (however lack of stability if I could not have solved that issue would have been the deal breaker for me as well).

[wwaldmanfan]

They cut the price for Amarra from $189 to $99, and you guys are still complaining that it doesn't work ;>)

[tgdinamo]

They cut the price for Amarra from $189 to $99, and you guys are still complaining that it doesn't work ;>)

 

On the other hand I would happily pay $299 to have Amarra SQ married with Audirvana app stability and just the ability to display most basic metadata available in my wav files (ie song name,album,artist,resolution - Audirvana displays all of this from wav files I purchase from HDTracks while Amarra only displays the song names and resolutions).

[AudioDoctor]

I don't get this, I am currently running OS X Yosemite and Amarra works just fine...

 

ah nevermind, old thread.

[tgdinamo]

I don't get this, I am currently running OS X Yosemite and Amarra works just fine...

 

I'm running Yosemite as well and it works fine but only after I turn the cache off. If I have cache on then frequently when I launch the app I see long lasting spinning ball followed by application crash and asking me to send report to Apple (which I did several times as if that's ever going to make any difference - cause this is not Apple but Amarra specific problem).

[SteveS1]

I don't get this, I am currently running OS X Yosemite and Amarra works just fine...

 

ah nevermind, old thread.

 

Me too and I know several other users personally who have no issues. I suspect that is part of the problem, reading these threads distorts perception because understandably, the people with issues mention it. When you are chasing down problems that others cannot replicate, it must be frustrating for all involved.

[AudioDoctor]

I'm running Yosemite as well and it works fine but only after I turn the cache off. If I have cache on then frequently when I launch the app I see long lasting spinning ball followed by application crash and asking me to send report to Apple (which I did several times as if that's ever going to make any difference - cause this is not Apple but Amarra specific problem).

 

I use cache mode and never have that happen.

[AudioDoctor]

Me too and I know several other users personally who have no issues. I suspect that is part of the problem, reading these threads distorts perception because understandably, the people with issues mention it. When you are chasing down problems that others cannot replicate, it must be frustrating for all involved.

 

I can imagine it must be.

[ckpiv]

I'm a new Amarra user and have a few observations and questions (not sure if this is the best thread/forum but I can't find anything else that seems to have more recent conversations about this software).

My feelings so far after about a week of using Amarra is that the SQ is quite an improvement over Audirvana Plus which I have been using for about a year or so (was happy with it and did not expect something else could significantly improve on it but I' happy to report I was wrong - stage, instrument separation, and detail are clearly a step up with Amarra). However the user interface and stability of the app is a very different story - Audirvana is much more stable. I find that I had to turn off Amarra cache completely to make it stable, as well as not loading playlist by default (I don't care about itunes integration and wish it was not even there but that's another story altogether - Audirvana seems to be better in terms of keeping itunes out of the way if you select not to use it in preferences). The most annoying Amarra issues for me is very poor display of meta-data. I mostly listen to wav files and it's very frustrating Amarra playlists only list song names and resolution but don't list the album and artists. I'm sure someone will say that wav's don't support this, but when I load the exact same folders with wav files into Audirvana all this info is clearly displayed - so it's there and Amarra could also use it if developers chose to do some work to make it happen. Other annoying issues are that once you add songs to playlist it seems individual tracks can never be removed - the only solution seems to be to clear the entire playlist! If there is a way to delete individual tracks (or blocks of tracks) from the playlist and I'm missing something please can someone let me know how this can be done. Also, I wish blocks of tracks can be moved up and down the playlist all at once (like Audirvana). And finally where is the random function (to randomize tracks in playlist)? So my overall impression is still very positive about Amarra (SQ is most important), but I find it strange that the developers got the most difficult stuff worked out perfectly (SQ), and seemingly very trivial to implement functionality is missing or unstable.

By the way, my system is a very recent Macbook Pro (2014) with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD (and I play all tracks off of that SSD - had some issues when I tried playing off of network drives, or even regular external USB 3 connected hard drives). My dac is a very nice Hegel HD12 and is connected to the Macbook via USB interface (using Nordost Blue Heaven cord).

 

I use Amarra and do not have any issues with Cache enabled. Are you using the Preload function as well? I have Cache enabled but do not use the Preload. Also you can delete individual tracks by highlighting and hitting delete on the keyboard.

[tgdinamo]

I use Amarra and do not have any issues with Cache enabled. Are you using the Preload function as well? I have Cache enabled but do not use the Preload. Also you can delete individual tracks by highlighting and hitting delete on the keyboard.

 

Thanks for the info about deleting individual tracks. Preload does not seem to make difference in my case - cache turned on seems to be the culprit introducing random crashes, regardless of other settings (although I also don't use itunes integration so have no direct experience regarding what effect that may have - my guess based on reading some posts is that it can also be very problematic).

[ckpiv]

Thanks for the info about deleting individual tracks. Preload does not seem to make difference in my case - cache turned on seems to be the culprit introducing random crashes, regardless of other settings (although I also don't use itunes integration so have no direct experience regarding what effect that may have - my guess based on reading some posts is that it can also be very problematic).

 

This is from the Amarra user manual under the Gapless Playback Section:

 

"NOTE: PreloadTracks is specifically designed for gapless playback in Amarra/iTunes mode. Using PreloadTracks to load tracks not part of a gapless performance into an Amarra Playlist may lead to unexpected results. We recommend disabling Preload Tracks,select the desired tracks in ITunes and click the ADD button on the Amarra UI in Playlist mode."

 

There are some other things worth reading in this section as well if you have not already. Just trying to help as I did have some crashes early on in my experience with Amarra. I had always had the Cache and Preload functions activated but finally understood the use of the Preload. The Preload function is only for iTunes integrated mode on albums that are gapless. It is not required to have gapless in Playlist mode. I would suggest you uncheck the Preload and enable the cache and see how things go. Better yet I would go into your Amarra folder under extras and run the delete Amarra Preferences script and start fresh with the above settings. Good luck!