Walk me through TotalMix 2.x installation for new Win 11 DAW Build

Thank you!

I do appreciate it.

Cheers

VP

This inevitably raises the question of why this has to be necessary. All software programmers in this world should write behind their ears that every - really every - personal setting in a software program must be automatically saved, and the respective storage location must be made accessible in a uniform form as far as possible. For example, when reinstalling the operating system and the required programs. Software programmers are generally highly specialized professionals. Unfortunately, these specialists are obviously not able to recognize the everyday 1 + 1 of the users. This is a serious occupational disease of all software developers in the world. What a pity.

I also did not want to address RME alone with my suggestion. Rather, this phenomenon affects all software developers in the world. These computer specialists are sometimes so intelligent and talented that they can no longer understand the simplest concerns of the users. The interface between the software programmers and the actual computer users must be significantly improved. All over the world! Who doesn't know this? As a Windows user, you almost get tendonitis on your wrist because you have to move opening windows on the screen with the mouse every day to correct them. An insanity! And here the circle closes again.

In the new TotalMix 2, for example, the Room EQ keeps opening unreadably between my two monitors. So I have to move this image surface of the Room EQ with the mouse every time to correct it in order to be able to make the settings clearly visible. Unfortunately, TotalMIx 2 cannot remember my image corrections, let alone save them sustainably. For example, during a new installation. This also affects some other settings windows within TotalMix 2. These are such basic things that programmers in general simply won't have on their radar anymore. The computer must enable people to carry out their concerns more quickly and not make them unnecessarily difficult. All software developers still have a lot to learn about this. Starting with Microsoft and Apple to all the other companies in the computer world.

Maybe I didn't describe the problem precisely enough for myself. With multiple screen monitors, the Room EQ always opens into the second screen monitor in the Control Room Section on the right side of the main screen. To use this dialog properly, I have to drag this dialog into the primary monitor with the mouse every time I restart, because TotalMix 2 can't remember the desired window position. This inevitably raises whether RME will test its software with multiple screen monitors.

This behavior should not be normal.

If you think about the millions of bugs in the respective programs, the above statement could even be true.

Just returning to this thread for an update.

Finally completed the new DAW Build - and for those who are wondering about restoring settings - YES - it is critical. If one does not backup everything before decommissioning an old build - you will be recreating everything from scratch

Some observations on my experience - during the first pass of this build - TotalMix 2.0 threw a VERY LOUD VCRUNTIME140.dll error when installed to a clean Windows 11 25H2 build - this needs to be addressed quickly as this library should ship with the installer.

For the second pass of the RME install - I did not install Total Mix 2.

Secondly - when restoring my backed up settings from my prior build - my saved "workspace" file - seemed to want to pan ALL 8 channels of my UCX-II to the extreme right and left - when in fact these are all mono channels and I would expect them to "stay" centered in mono upon a restore.

I also disagree with this statement:

"So, Snapshots are a subset of a workspace, no need to restore install them."

The only way I could actually fix the above condition was by reloading the saved Workspace file AND the saved Snapshot file.

Over here - Snapshots are most definitely not a part of a Workspace and do need to be restored for correct restoration in a new build.

I have paused any use of TotalMix 2 for now as that runtime message is annoying (might be fixed now after Windows 11 is up to date) and I am unsure about how adding this into my environment now is off any value. OR what it may do to my existing workspaces and snapshots - which I do not want to compromise.

VP

I have a quite complex setup and also installed multiple times from scratch.
Products: UFX, RayDAT, UFX+, UFX III, HDSPe MADI FX.

I migrated from UFX+ to UFX III which are from I/O ports the same.

All that is needed is to restore some general TM FX settings (F2, F3) and then the workspace and done.
There is absolutely no need to restore snapshots, as snapshots are included in the workspace.
This is no guessing; I know this for sure from daily work with devices and trying many things out.
Not only for me, also for other customers in the forum.

The missing DLL case is rare; it seems to affect only a few driver packages where this particular DLL is missing.
But it can be fixed easily by installing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 14.50.35719.0 (x64).
Most systems have this installed already anyway due to other software, which has a dependency on it.
Therefore, it was undetected for a long time, as nobody stumbled over it.

C++ runtime libraries can be downloaded from Microsoft.

See my answer above to RME Admin.

When I install workstations - there is no software installed at all. It's drivers first (motherboard and then audio specific) and then everything else.

With respect to the driver install - a special focus on what is "last" - which is the network driver.

All workstations here are installed offline to ensure Windows does not pollute the workstation with it's basic (substandard) drivers. So there is no possibility to go get a Visual C++ package until the network is available.

So this missing DLL is not rare when there is nothing on the machine yet. This is an odd oversight from RME - plain and simple.

VP

Well - I did that. But beyond that thread linked by RME Admin - there is not a lot of chatter on this. I can 100% confirm that this is an oversight - becuase when it happened to me the first time - I immediately performed a search of the entire machine - and that runtime .dll is non-existant.

All I can surmise is that while RME tested this - they tested this within a Windows 11 environment that already had that runtime available. And yes - as soon as one installs the required VC++ package - all is well.

But there are other use cases - like mine where having the installer either supply the required package (No network yet) OR go get it if not detected (AND network is available) - would cover all use cases.

As far as this advice goes - it made sense to me - right up until it didn't.

For reasons that I do not understand - restoring JUST my workspace file - did not give me the snapshot that I needed.

Only when I restored the workspace AND the actual snapshot (taken just before the old machine was decommissioned) did everything return to normal. So your advice was solid - but not for me.

Finally - I did want to address the side discussion in here about "settings". I find it both fascinating and massively frustrating all at the same time that we have to go through this "manual" cobbling of settings to maintain continuity on a new build.

Many of us construct complex routings, specific views and all the rest of the stuff that goes into our Go-to view of the TotalMix world.

With RME's worldwide pedigree (at the top of the pro audio interface mountain for me) AND with the skill and effort their team appears to have put into TotalMix 2.0 - it is staggering to see that not a thing has been done in the way of giving us a proper (elegant) method of exporting ALL our settings on a regular cadence - and then being able to import that file into a new build.

This is one company (and one pricepoint) where I expect better - hopefully someone will consider this in the future.

There has to be a way to make File->Export Settings a reality for the end user.

VP

Of course - we all know the solution to this. But in all my software days (35+ years now) - if an app needs a specific library - it is either bundled in the installer OR the installer goes out to the net to get it. This did neither that I could see.

And I can't be the only guy in the universe that sets up a pro Windows workstation with no connectivity until much later in the process - this is standard knowledge.

Another key concern - there are literally 10 or 20 different Visual C++ installers out there right now - which one is the one? Nobody would know that either if this error suddenly dropped in their lap this early in a Windows build.

This could have been done so much better - surprising from RME to be honest.

VP

This is the DRIVER package - NOT the standalone TotalMix 2.0 installer (tmfx_203_1991_win.zip)

It is this file (tmfx_203_1991_win.zip) that threw the error.

Now - this file (driver_usb_win_1276.zip) may very well have a Visual C++ library bundled - but whatever library it is -  doesn't make the TotalMix 2.0 standalone installer work any better.

And - the entire v1.276 driver package was installed PRIOR to me starting the TM installer. Even did a reboot as well.

Do not know what is going on here - but the loud error that I received when installing Total Mix 2 Standalone - is absolute.

VP