MM2026 34.0.0.6 VST instruments causing severe audio problems

Leonard-Pennock wrote on 7/5/2025, 11:16 PM

I have an issue where all forms of sound from VST midi instruments stop functioning normally. They become distorted, slow, glitchy and cut out. This happens in all methods of playing the VST sounds: Keyboard play while the arranger is not playing, "Piano Roll" when making notes or playing the note preview on the left pane keyboard, or during full playback of arrangements on the Arranger screen.

Additionally, while this is happening, on playback on the arranger NO sound comes out normal - It comes out slow, distorted, and chopped up into inconsistent speeds, playing back anywhere between 25% of normal speed and normal speed - fluctuating during playback.

When the full arrangement is exported to an audio file, the VST midi instrument and all other sounds play completely normally.
Removing all VST instruments from the tracks stops the problem. Re-adding a VST instrument, even while leaving the track blank, returns the issue immediately.

 

Troubleshooting I have done to try and isolate the problem:

  • This happens when ANY VST instrument is added to a track, irrelevant of there actually being an arrangement on the track (e.g., a newly added completely blank track causes this). The number of tracks does not matter - this will trigger from the addition of ONE completely blank VST instrument track.
  • Removing ALL VST instruments from the tracks immediately stops the problem, and all forms of playback function normally.
  • Restarted the computer including fully powered off does not fix the problem.
  • Uninstalled and reinstalled the application.
  • Tried every audio available driver in the settings AND every buffer setting for each driver including MME, Music Maker ASIO, Music Maker Low Latency 2016, and FL Studio ASIO. Regardless of driver, the problem ONLY happens when a VST Instrument is added - again, regardless of the track being blank or not. Each time I changed buffer setting I would try and play a vst instrument or an arrangement and received the same problem with no difference in severity. Restarted the application after every time I changed which driver was being used - no change.
  • VST instruments worked fine with no issue on the previous version I was using (labeled as "31" in the musicmaker directory on my system). There was no delay or audio artifacting even when using complex note arrangements on eight tracks of VST instruments with applied track and segment effects. This problem started instantly upon going from the latest update of the previous software I had to a fresh install of Musicmaker 2026 premium. I can't figure out where to get the installer to reinstall the old software I had.
  • Upon full power cycled reboot, launching MM2026 with no other applications running, and creating a brand new blank project: Added one VST track and no other tracks. Was able to play the keyboard and work with piano roll with no problem. Pressing "play" on the arranger - The artifacting immediately started and the keyboard and piano roll no longer played without artifacting regardless of playback state. Added a new blank track, deleted the first track, added a different VST to the new, blank, singular track: Artifacting persists in all methods of playback. Removal of VST track, add a soundloop sample to a newly created track: With no VST present, no artifacting during playback or previews. Add a VST instrument to a new track, leave track blank: Artifacting returns in all forms.
  • Tried outputting audio to three different types of audio devices connected in different ways; Headphones via Bluetooth (realtek HD), Speakers via audio cable port (realtek HD), monitor via HDMI (nvidia HD). Tried iterating through each driver option (and their buffer sizes) for each audio device as well.

 

I'm frustrated because I spent a good eight hours playing around with VST instruments in the previous version with no issues, no artifacting, no problems at all, liked the platform and wanted more than eight tracks, so I purchased the 2026 MM Ultimate. Played around with the new VSTs unlocked with the purchase - realized I was still in the previous track-count-limited install, and then installed the 2026 MM Premium application. VST instruments have not worked - ever - with this new install. It practically feels like I was bait-and-switched with this purchase.

 

Let me re-iterate and be perfectly clear before we start blaming hardware: Before updating to the latest version, this software and the VST's worked 100% perfectly and excellently. No delays, no artifacts, no problems. Reviewing system resource monitor during new versions' problems, system resources are being used at 15% or less by MM2026, and less than 25% of overall resources being used by all applications in total for CPU, Ram, and GPU. There is no indication of hardware performance issues - in fact while MM2026 is experiencing significant problems and nearly locking up, other audio applications are able to run smoothly with no performance problems or artifacting whatsoever including during MM2026s heavily artifacted attempt at playback. And, again - Removing ALL VST tracks immediately resolves all performance problems and the software functions perfectly. Adding a single VST track, that is **completely blank** returns severe playback performance problems and audio artifacting of the VST and all audio. Removing the track that was added resolves the problem. Adding the blank vst track back returns the problem. Replicated on demand, 100% of the time.

Windows 10
Processor    AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor              4.01 GHz
Installed RAM    32.0 GB
Storage    466 GB SAMSUNG HD502IJ, 1.82 TB SSD Samsung SSD 870 EVO 2TB, 1.82 TB HDD Hitachi HDS723020BLA642, 466 GB SSD Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Graphics Card    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (4 GB)
System Type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

No added audio hardware (integrated audio) - Realtek HD Audio

 

Any ideas on how to repair this issue or pick up the installer for an older version so I can actually resume using the VSTs I bought that were working?

Did I miss any troubleshooting?

Is this a known issue that I'm experiencing just because MM2026 released so recently?

Comments

SP. wrote on 7/6/2025, 7:57 AM

@Leonard-Pennock I believe this link should give you the installer for Music Maker 2024 (version 32): http://dl03.magix.net/musicmaker.exe

If this older version runs perfectly fine, the problem is caused by the newest version of Music Maker. If both versions have the same problem, there might be something wrong with your system.

Old installers may also be archived under C:\Users\*YourWindowsUserAccount*\Documents\Magix Downloads\Installationsmanager\

You can also find old installers from your customer account at Magix.com.

I think your processor is from 2012 and seems not to have AVX support. This can be problematic for certain modern software. But I don't know if Magix changed something in that regard in the newest version. For example, Ableton 12 requires a processor with AVX support. First AMD processors with AVX came out in 2015. As far as I know there is no special requirement for Music Maker 2026.

Nvidia will also phase out graphics support for GTX cards after driver version 580 but that shouldn't be relevant for now.

Leonard-Pennock wrote on 7/7/2025, 1:57 PM

Thanks @SP. that installer link worked fine. I did check the directory you mentioned, but all that is in that directory is 2026 premium (and now the one I installed with your link). It may or may not be worth mentioning when checking "My Products", it says I registered Musicmaker (29) on 3/1/2023. There is no product key or download link at this location, but there is for the other products I have.

 

I have some testing results from using this download, they're a little odd. I uninstalled MM2026 Premium, full power cycle reboot, and installed 2024 that was linked. The installed VSTs work again, but with some other strange behaviors. Some initial testing I've done:

  • New project, single VST track, no other tracks: VST works in keyboard and piano roll screens. Making a quick arrangement, and pressing play in the arranger - the VST continues to work, playback is normal. After pause, VST works normally still. However;
  • Opened up one of my previous project files - VST keyboard and piano roll function normally. Playback in the arranger is choppy. After pausing arranger playback, VST keyboard/piano roll still function normally.
  • As testing before - Deleted all VST tracks in the project: Arranger plays normally.

 

Now here's where it gets weird....

  • Re-added single VST to project: VST keyboard and piano roll works normally.
  • Playback in arranger with newly created blank track that has had a VST added to it but no composition added to the track: Arranger playback normal.
  • Add a generic midi composition through the piano roll to the VST track: Arranger playback normal... until the midi composition in that track ends, at which point artifacting starts. Arranger plays normally, but only where a midi composition exists in the VST (this is different than what happened w/ 2026 version). Artifacting is only on arranger playback - keyboard and piano roll do not artifact.

Further testing on this behavior:

  • Artifacting occurs whenever the midi composition is not "playing" a note. Put one long single note, an empty bar, and then one long single note: Artifacting occured before the midi section started, stopped during the single note, resumed during the empty bar, stopped during the single note, resumed at the end of the midi section.
  • Once this artifacting behavior begins, deleting all data on the track but leaving the VST in place: Artifacting continues.
  • Deleting the VST track: Artifacting ends.
  • Re-adding the VST track, but leaving blank: No artifacting during arranger playback.
  • Adding a midi object of any length, but leaving the midi object empty: No artifacting
  • Adding any note of any length to the midi object: Artifacting resumes, but only when the VST is not playing a note in this midi section.
  • Adding multiple midi objects with notes: Artifacting does not occur when VST is playing, but occurs between the sections where the VST is not playing.

 

I haven't yet gone through the full sequence of driver/buffer iterations to see if this goes away, but I figured the update on the behavior would be worth posting in case it pointed at a specific issue to test.

SP. wrote on 7/7/2025, 2:55 PM

@Leonard-Pennock

It may or may not be worth mentioning when checking "My Products", it says I registered Musicmaker (29) on 3/1/2023. There is no product key or download link at this location, but there is for the other products I have.

Music Maker was free between Music Maker 2018 and 2024. It seems like you registered a Free Edition back then. Then you will not see a download link in your products. The idea was always to download the latest Free Edition installer from the website, which is currently Version 2024.

Add a generic midi composition through the piano roll to the VST track: Arranger playback normal... until the midi composition in that track ends, at which point artifacting starts.

Which VSTs are you using? Are you also using Magix' own Vita Instruments? As far as I know, VST3 plugins can suspend processing to save resources. So maybe this points to a problem with suspension after the MIDI has ended.

Since problems occur on Music Maker 2024 and 2026 I assume there could be a problem with your Windows installation.

I always recommend a restart without using the Shut down option. Windows will store it's currently corrupted state and restore it after turning the computer back on. This is done to speed up boot times. Selecting the Restart option will reinitialize all drivers, services and memory.

Additionally, here is a step-by-step guide to check Windows integrity and to repair it:

System File Checker is a utility in Windows that checks for problems with files on your computer. To run it, follow these steps:

Make sure you've installed the latest updates for Windows, and then restart your machine. To find out more, read Update Windows.

In the search box on the taskbar, type command prompt, and right-click or press and hold Command Prompt (Desktop app) from the list of results. Select Run as administrator, and then select Yes.

Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (note the space before each "/"), and then press Enter. (Note: This step may take a few minutes to start and complete.)

After you see a message that says "The operation completed successfully," type sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/") and press Enter.

After you see a message that says, "Verification 100% complete," type exit and press Enter.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-365e0031-36b1-6031-f804-8fd86e0ef4ca