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Topic: DIGICheck update on its way

Hello,

DC Win 5.22 and OSX 0.54 is now available for all who want to try. Windows is the exe only, just copy it over your existing 5.21. OS X is without installer, just copy into the programs folder.

Changes Win:
25 Hz Band in Analyser much improved
Max LR in Analyzer did not work correctly on right channel
Oversampling changed to new standard (4 x)

Changes Mac:
Bit Statistics and RMS/DC meter added
Select Channel and scrollbar added to Global Level Meter
25 Hz Band in Analyser much improved
Max LR in Analyzer did not work correctly on right channel
Oversampling changed to new standard (4 x)
OVS CPU load reduced
Denormalizing effect solved (less CPU load)

Thanks for any feedback!

https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/di … 42_mac.zip

https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/di … in_pre.zip

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

2 (edited by paviglianiti 2009-08-20 14:56:29)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Heaven sent!
Works great on X.5.8!

Thanks chaps!

Regards
Davide

3 (edited by paviglianiti 2009-08-20 17:24:41)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Saved a, let's call it an omnicomprehensive Workspace:   -Totalyser (whole) - 30-band BIQ
                                                                                                        - 0.5 dB res.
                                                                                                        - Medium Size
                                                                                                        - Rise T. 10ms
                                                                                                        - Release and Hold: 1.5 s
                                                                                                        - Level Meter & Goniometer: Default

                                                                               - 2 Windows of 2 Ch. level meters: Peak + RMS (both set for a snappy response)

                                                                               - 3 Settings windows opened: 1 for each function.

CPU % full blown music: floating between 19% and 24% !!! Used to rise up until 80% in version 0.53.

MORE: Spectrum Analyser graphic response to the music-beats (see the above settings): rock-solid and stable. Used to kind of slow down and visually "lose sync" when tweaking with other DC windows in v.0.53.

When adding a "Global Level Meter" window to the above workspace: Spectrum Analyser graphic response get slightly delayed. Workaround: you can use more columns of 2 Ch. Level Meters properly routed: less CPU load and Spec.An. is "back on track"!



It really looks like the hideous Denormalizing effect is finally solved. :-D :-D :-D

Thanks a lot.

Regards
Davide

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hey MC, thanks for the update! smile

MC wrote:

25 Hz Band in Analyser much improved

What exactly does this mean?

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Explained here, # 13.

"we reworked the 25 Hz band display in the analyser. It no longer works as low pass, but is a real 25 Hz band pass plus a DC band. This way it works much more as expected than it did before. Effects where the lowest band seemed to be boosted for no reason are gone."


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Ah, thanks alot! smile

7 (edited by laex 2009-08-21 14:12:23)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

... but is a real 25 Hz band pass plus a DC band ...

I think this is a great improvement, or at least the functionality of "25 Hz" is much clearer now!! But, well, where is this DC band to be found? I can't find it... HeadScratch

Or did I miss the point?

DC rules!

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Re: DIGICheck update on its way

You did. It is included in the 25 Hz bar.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Ok, I fear I somehow don't get it. Maybe my idea about DC offset is wrong... All I know is that the new behaviour makes sense to my eyes and I won't have to explain the boosted 25 Hz "band" anymore. ;-)

Still, thinking about it - having the low pass solution seems to have a benefit in comparison to a band pass. With the new band pass version you cannot detect some low frequency rubbish below the 25 Hz band anymore, can you?

(Maybe my intense work on a primary school choir and orchestra CD blurres my vision on the world these days. So excuse me if my questions are stupid... :-P)

Best,
laex

DC rules!

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

It's quite simple: The 25Hz BAR shows the maximum level of a 25Hz band pass and a separate low-pass filter for DC. Together they still have a response like a low pass filter, but with an upper edge matching exactly the other band pass filters. So you still can detect low frequency rubbish, without wind up of the 25Hz band for normal signals...

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

The update for OS X feels much more solid to me, especially in the settings dialogs.  On a sad note however, I am getting out of sync windows.  For instance, I have 2, 4-bar level meters.  One is for my CD transport input, and the other is my monitor output.  When playing a CD, the meters are not even close to being synced.  Sure, I understand there being a tiny bit of latency from input to output, but that's the thing... The OUTPUT meter was perfectly in sync with the sound and the INPUT meter was about a half of a second behind...  This never happened in .53, but happens every time in .54.

Upon further tests, I am sure that this has to do with the input settings.  I use oversampleing on all of my input meters, so I must choose core audio in the input settings.  Anytime I am using core audio, the meter is half a second behind.  I never noticed any latency before the update.  I'll check and see if my buffer settings have any effect or if this is just something RME is still working on.  I am so happy with the global meter select that I don't even care about the latency right now...

Thanks for the update.

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

nice! this is my first version of digicheck on the mac, and I have a question: is it possible to analyze the sound playing from the computer, not only the input of my FF400? thanks!

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Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Only when using the Hardware Level Meter. See other thread.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

14

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

bmdaugherty wrote:

On a sad note however, I am getting out of sync windows.

bm, thanks for the detailed feedback. This happens under high CPU load. We think we were able to improve DC's performance, or better responsiveness in such a situation greatly. Please try version 0.541:

Link no longer valid!

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hi,

DigiCheck 0.541 for mac is not nearly as fluid as 0.51 for me and i'm just gaining 6% cpu power. Do others experience the same?

Will DigiCheck be as fluid as it was in future versions? At the moment i'm stuck at 0.51 because the newer version seem to choppy for me. It feels like comparing 15fps to 60fps.

Regards

16

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Did you see the same with version 0.54?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

mks82 wrote:

Hi,

DigiCheck 0.541 for mac is not nearly as fluid as 0.51 for me and i'm just gaining 6% cpu power. Do others experience the same?

Will DigiCheck be as fluid as it was in future versions? At the moment i'm stuck at 0.51 because the newer version seem to choppy for me. It feels like comparing 15fps to 60fps.

Regards

the same me on macbook pro at 0.54 and 0.541. So I stay with 0.52 which works smooth for now.

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hey guys.  If you are hating the "framerate" of the latest digicheck, try deleting your pref file.  Seriously, when MC said hey we fixed it, grab the latest, I did.  Upon opening it, I was getting completely frozen meters on anything using core audio input.  The totalizer would update about once every 2 or 3 seconds... I deleted the preferences and bam, the best performance I'v seen yet.

A couple things though... one is that after deleting my prefs, everything works fine until I try and load a workspace that was created with a previous version of digicheck.  At that point the problem returns and the refresh rate falls to below a frame a second.  My 8 core macpro is sitting idle during tests.  I am not encoding video or even recording audio.  There is NO cpu load besides the load generated by digicheck.  Something with the old preferences and workspaces just doesn't jive with the new build.  Also, I can't load a workspace without having at least one digicheck window open.

Here are my preferences which cause the low frame rates: Digicheck plist file

Also, here is a troublesome workspace which should effectively demonstrate the phenomenon: Sample Workspace

Upon loading the workspace, the bottom meter should be relatively frozen; updating at a max of a frame a second.

When installing a new build, I think we should all be starting from scratch.  Thats the only way to really know the full potential of the new build.

Since we are still in beta, I'm expecting stuff like this.  I think we all need to remember that and do our part as users to do a bit of troubleshooting.  After all, digicheck is a FREE addition to an already great product and RME seems to be listening to user input very well.  Especially in light of the fact that there really isn't a cent to be made...

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Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Tanks bm, we'll download and investigate.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hi,

i deleted the preference file and 0.51 is still smoother. The 0.51 goniometer with release 1 set to 0.05s looks like an hardware goniometer, 0.541 looks like a vst plugin (dunno if there are any smooth vst goniometers, i have never seen one).

Besides the 'smoothness' difference i noticed something else, the goniometer in 0.541 looks different.

Here is a screenshot of both, 0.51 is on top, 0.541 at the bottom. For me the 0.51 goniometer looks better and more useful.

Regards

[img align=L]http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7792/picture3enf.png[/img]

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Working great here guys!!! Hey, I see a greyed out Global record function...... that wasn't there before! :-) Mmmmm ... it's coming I guess!

----------------
Matt McKenzie-Smith (UFXII, UFX, Babyface) MacStudioUltra OS13.2.1
----------------

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

bmdaugherty wrote:

Hey guys.  If you are hating the "framerate" of the latest digicheck, try deleting your pref file.  Seriously, when MC said hey we fixed it, grab the latest, I did.  Upon opening it, I was getting completely frozen meters on anything using core audio input.  The totalizer would update about once every 2 or 3 seconds... I deleted the preferences and bam, the best performance I'v seen yet.

A couple things though... one is that after deleting my prefs, everything works fine until I try and load a workspace that was created with a previous version of digicheck.  At that point the problem returns and the refresh rate falls to below a frame a second.  My 8 core macpro is sitting idle during tests.  I am not encoding video or even recording audio.  There is NO cpu load besides the load generated by digicheck.  Something with the old preferences and workspaces just doesn't jive with the new build.  Also, I can't load a workspace without having at least one digicheck window open.

Here are my preferences which cause the low frame rates: Digicheck plist file

Also, here is a troublesome workspace which should effectively demonstrate the phenomenon: Sample Workspace

Upon loading the workspace, the bottom meter should be relatively frozen; updating at a max of a frame a second.

When installing a new build, I think we should all be starting from scratch.  Thats the only way to really know the full potential of the new build.

Since we are still in beta, I'm expecting stuff like this.  I think we all need to remember that and do our part as users to do a bit of troubleshooting.  After all, digicheck is a FREE addition to an already great product and RME seems to be listening to user input very well.  Especially in light of the fact that there really isn't a cent to be made...

Not working for me sad I've trashed pref file and totalyser works ok but only when one window is using coreaudio. when I open another window with hardware level meter it start to respond with 2 or 3s latency. I tryed to switch nominal update time to 45ms and it started working but still worse whan 0.52v sad

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Ah, that sucks.  The preferences may or may not still be an issue.  Trashing it did help me... maybe I had messed with the nominal update time or something and deleting the file reverted to a better performing setting.  I dunno. Anyway, the sample workspace I attached has a core audio meter on the input, and a hardware meter on the output.  They should see the problem instantly and be able to fix whatever is causing it... 

Upon further testing, it does appear that pabloscotty is correct.  The slow refresh seems to start whenever multiple windows are open and a mix of core audio and hardware meters are used. 

Another thing I noticed is that when I have multiple meters open (a hardware/core audio mix) the core audio meter performs terribly, BUT when I open the input settings dialog (for the core audio meter), the hardware meter freezes and the core audio meter responds great.  As soon as I confirm or cancel the input settings dialog, the hardware meter comes to life and the core audio meter freezes again.

Like I said, I NEED the global meter select so I'll be keeping the latest.  Ill do a few more tests in a bit and see if I can find any other issues.

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

MC, is there a version of DC with trace and a console output?  I thought if I could get the (probably worse performing) developer, build I could send the logs in when I have a problem...

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Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hi all,

here comes version 0.542:

https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/di … 42_mac.zip

Changes:

- higher update rate and better scaling with CPU load as previous 0.54x versions

- less CPU load in Spectral Analyser

- 2 step update rate scheme for Vector Audio Scope

In this version the current update rate is shown in the window title, helping to identify the real problem.

If you see slow behaviour don't forget to check the overall update rate setting of DIGICheck, and if necessary reduce it.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

This version is running great here.  I have a mix of hardware and core audio meters with OVS, a totalyser, global input meter, vector scope, bit statistic, and spectrum analyser all operating simultaneously at 35-40 fps at a nominal 15ms update time.  Currently, this is taking about 56% of one of my 8 cores, meaning that digicheck is using about 5% of my system resources.  Just fine with me.  I'll never be using that many digicheck windows at the same time anyway.

Hey, MC, one thing I noticed is that for a second when I launch a new window, the system somehow was able to split the load between 2 of my cores.  Is there possibility of allowing each meter window it's own thread, thus allowing multicore support?  Right now, most of the time, I have one core burning at 50% instead of all cores burning at 6-7%. 

Not complaining, it is working really well here, just asking.  Oh and the FPS in the title bar is a nice touch.

Thanks,
Brian

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Running great here as well on my iMac, Core 2 duo, 2.4 GHz, 4Gb ram, OsX 10.5.8, FF400.

Major improvements in few weeks: thanks.

Once again, this forum turned out to be very useful for it's based on a respectful, efficient communication between developers and users, or better: people who make music at any given level.

cool

Regards
Davide

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

DIGICheck 0.542: on my recent 13' mbp (2,26 ghz; 4GB ram) it feels stable.. I am running totalyser  (nominal update time 15ms) with default settings: CPU is at 25-28%.
fps are quite constant at 57.4, but it drops to as low as 45 every few seconds just to go back up immediately.

now that I figured out how DIGICheck works I am looking forward to global record on the mac wink

29

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Now that looks promising! Just waiting for pabloscotty and mks82 to report.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

30 (edited by Timur 2009-08-27 08:22:32)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

I have to admit that I didn't really use Digicheck on Mac yet, so here are my first impressions:

CPU load:

CPU load on a 2.8 gHz C2D for "Hardware" based level-meters is around 3% when the CPU is clocked to maxed. When Speedstep clocks down the CPU to 1.6 gHz CPU load rises to around 4%.

According to the helpfile DigiCheck should only use around 1% for calculating the graphic-display. But the relatively "high" CPU load even happens when DC is minimized or hidden.

Measuring Playback/Output:

Do I understand right that DC on Mac can only measure playback/output for level meters because CoreAudio doesn't allow to chose playback/output? For me that's a big drawback compared to the Windows version, because I'm mainly using the Spectral Analyzer.

Sure you can workaround that restriction by routing the output back to an input via Totalmix, but I'm using the Fireface for live effects, which means I'm going from input -> DAW+FX -> output. So I cannot just route outputs back to inputs without major feedback problems (ouch).

Also according to the helpfile using Totalmix and DC at the same time leads to wrong level metering.

Settings Dialog:

In order to switch a button of the Settings window you first need to move the mouse-pointer away from the button. It is not possible to just switch a button on/off while the mouse-pointer hovers over the button.

The "AUTO" setting for "Top Level" on the Analyzer switches the display only upwards (towards 0 dB) but not downwards (towards -140 dB). That's a problem I had with the Windows version in the past, too.

Helpfile:

Please include a shortcut to the Table of Contents / Index that's permanently displayed at the top of the helpfile window (like seen on Apple's Preview and ITunes applications). Or maybe just turn the Index into the startpoint/homepage instead of the Overview.

Starting in "Overview" then scrolling all down to reach the Index is quite inconvinient. And after clicking through several links having to hit the back button several time or returning to Overview just to scroll all the way down again isn't perfect neither.

The help on Bit Statistics & Noise is missing btw. fryingpan

Hope my "rant" (you know me, they ain't rant, but constructive criticism) help to make this a better product. wink

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Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Timur wrote:

tting for "Top Level" on the Analyzer switches the display only upwards (towards 0 dB) but not downwards (towards -140 dB). That's a problem I had with the Windows version in the past, too.

You missed the point. The top level will follow when the music slowly reduces overall volume, as expected. But when it drops too low too fast then DC realizes that the music stopped and any adjustment would be unwanted, inconvenient, confusing and getting on one nerves. It works perfect this way.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Ah, fair enough. I can still use manual settings then. :-)

What about the other points?

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

MC wrote:

Now that looks promising! Just waiting for pabloscotty and mks82 to report.

This version runs really smooth to me 57.4fps on all windows no matter if it's hardware or coreaudio. This one eats the same amount of CPU versus 0.52 on macbook pro 2.4GHz sad

ps. spectral analyser works great now smile great job, thank you

34

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Timur wrote:

According to the helpfile DigiCheck should only use around 1% for calculating the graphic-display. But the relatively "high" CPU load even happens when DC is minimized or hidden.

This is still the Windows help. Under Mac OS the same simple graphics routines work with a really bad performance. We could improve this for drawing bitmaps as in the SA, but the Level Meters work differently and can not further be optimized. A complete rewrite is in order, which will be done later.

Timur wrote:

Do I understand right that DC on Mac can only measure playback/output for level meters because CoreAudio doesn't allow to chose playback/output?

DC on Mac can only display Hardware output levels. The Windows function that allows for displaying software outputs is a special driver feature not available under Mac. Therefore this feature needs more work to be added, a totally different solution, means later.

Timur wrote:

Also according to the helpfile using Totalmix and DC at the same time leads to wrong level metering.

That is the same under Mac, yes.

Timur wrote:

In order to switch a button of the Settings window you first need to move the mouse-pointer away from the button. It is not possible to just switch a button on/off while the mouse-pointer hovers over the button.

No one else ever reported this, so either your description is misleading or this only happens on your machine. (?)

Timur wrote:

Please include a shortcut to the Table of Contents / Index that's permanently displayed at the top of the helpfile window (like seen on Apple's Preview and ITunes applications). Or maybe just turn the Index into the startpoint/homepage instead of the Overview.

We will rework that, thanks for the reminder.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

pabloscotty wrote:
MC wrote:

Now that looks promising! Just waiting for pabloscotty and mks82 to report.

This version runs really smooth to me 57.4fps on all windows no matter if it's hardware or coreaudio. This one eats the same amount of CPU versus 0.52 on macbook pro 2.4GHz sad

ps. spectral analyser works great now smile great job, thank you

did you compare it to 0.51 with both (0.51 and 0.541) running side by side?

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Thanks for the informations, Matthias! :-)

Therefore this feature needs more work to be added, a totally different solution, means later.

Too bad. Seems like I have to get my hands on some good OS X spectrum analyzer then.

No one else ever reported this, so either your description is misleading or this only happens on your machine. (?)

This is how it happens here:

1. Move mouse-pointer over a button and click -> button changes state.
2. Click again -> nothing happens.
3. Move mouse-pointer away from button and then move it back over the button and click -> button changes state.

37

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Aha, repeated button clicking. Checking...

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

38

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Works as always. It seems you simply click too quick, which will be seen as double-click by DC then.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Oops, sorry, yes I obviously clicked in too short succession because I wanted to turn some feature on/off quickly.

Didn't know there was a "double-click" detection also didn't expect it because double-clicks don't do anything on those buttons anyway.

It's kind of unusual behavior, but I understand the intention and can live with it.

Thanks for the quick support and sorry for not having tried it more slowly myself. ed:

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

mks82 wrote:
pabloscotty wrote:
MC wrote:

Now that looks promising! Just waiting for pabloscotty and mks82 to report.

This version runs really smooth to me 57.4fps on all windows no matter if it's hardware or coreaudio. This one eats the same amount of CPU versus 0.52 on macbook pro 2.4GHz sad

ps. spectral analyser works great now smile great job, thank you

did you compare it to 0.51 with both (0.51 and 0.541) running side by side?

yes. v. 0.52 versus v. 0.542 and looks promissing.

41

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Mac version 0.6 is now available as official release:

https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/dc_06_mac.zip

Changes to 0.542 pre-release:

- double click is seen as single click (buttons in settings windows)

- online help restructured for quicker access and less scrolling (long pages stay long, sorry)

- Bugfix sample rate switching when multiple windows use the same device

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

pabloscotty wrote:
mks82 wrote:
pabloscotty wrote:

This version runs really smooth to me 57.4fps on all windows no matter if it's hardware or coreaudio. This one eats the same amount of CPU versus 0.52 on macbook pro 2.4GHz sad

ps. spectral analyser works great now smile great job, thank you

did you compare it to 0.51 with both (0.51 and 0.541) running side by side?

yes. v. 0.52 versus v. 0.542 and looks promissing.

I said v0.51 not v0.52.

And to MC, what do you say about the goniometer screenshots? Shouldn't they look the same?

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

I installed 0.6 over 0.54 (nice looking installer), but the helpfile is still version 0.5! HeadScratch

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Ok, next thing I did was uninstalling DigiCheck via AppCleaner (which deleted the DigiCheck application + a corresponding plist file. Then I ran the installer again and now the helpfile version is 0.6!

Is this an installer issue or an issue with one of OS X caches (is there a cache for helpfiles)?

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

One more thing: The windows show a "Resize" marker at the botton right edge even when they cannot be resized (only by selecting a different font. Guess that should be removed then?!

46 (edited by fl 2009-08-31 13:59:10)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

I tried to install the new Mac digiCheck software (0.6), but the installer tells me that it won't install because there is a newer version of the software already installed.  It tells me this even after I have deleted the old copy of digiCheck from my Applications folder, along with its preference (plist) file.  How can I force the installation?  Does the Fireface need to be connected to the computer and turned on to make this work?

Frank Lockwood
https://LockwoodARS.com
Fireface 800, Firmware 2.77
Drivers: Win10, 3.125; Mac, 3.36

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

Hi fl,

try deleting the Digicheck.pkg file, if there's one, in Hd>Library>Receipts folder and re-run the installer.
To install Digicheck you don't need to have yr FF connected or switched on.
Hope it helps.

Regards
Davide

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

I noticed I missed the 0.542, I still had 0.541. Nevertheless 0.6 seems to be working fine. Nice update, thanks.

49 (edited by fl 2009-08-31 18:19:02)

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

paviglianiti wrote:

Hi fl,

try deleting the Digicheck.pkg file, if there's one, in Hd>Library>Receipts folder and re-run the installer.
To install Digicheck you don't need to have yr FF connected or switched on.
Hope it helps.

I have looked in my HD/Library/Receipts folder and there is no file named Digicheck.pkg.  There are, however, fireface.pkg, firefacemidi.pkg, firefacemixer.pkg and firefacesettings.pkg - would deleting any of these have any effect?

In the meantime, I was able to drag the 0.6 application into my Applications folder from my other Mac (and the .plist file to ~/Library/Preferences/), and it seems to run fine.  However, when I tried to re-install with the most recent (fixed Help version number) installer, I still get this error and am unable to proceed.

Frank Lockwood
https://LockwoodARS.com
Fireface 800, Firmware 2.77
Drivers: Win10, 3.125; Mac, 3.36

Re: DIGICheck update on its way

fl wrote:

I have looked in my HD/Library/Receipts folder and there is no file named Digicheck.pkg.  There are, however, fireface.pkg, firefacemidi.pkg, firefacemixer.pkg and firefacesettings.pkg - would deleting any of these have any effect?

No, no, keep those files, they have nothing to do with your DC's problem.
I'm sorry, but I really can't figure out what the culprit could be.
I'm sure there are no DC related shown or hidden files other than the app. itself and the preferences file.
One last suggestion: try repairing disk permissions via disk-utility or Onyx and install from scratch.
Good luck. :-)

Regards
Davide