Multimedia Keys

[ZacSan]

Hey I have been using MusicBee for the past few months and have had no problems across my devices. But just recently the multimedia keys are not functioning properly across multiple devices. Originally throughout those months I have been using MusicBee using multimedia keys works perfectrly fine while minimised or in the application. But now for some reason pressing the 'Pause/Play' acts as a double pause or a double key press(Pausing then after a second playing again). Same thing goes for the 'next song' and other multimedia buttons supported by my keyboards. All the forums that I have read are quite outdated from around 2011-2012 and are not helpful towards my problem.
Thanks Zac

[phred]

a) What version of MB are you using (help > about)?
b) Does the problem happen only in MB or with your other media applications also?

[ZacSan]

Hey man.
I am running the latest version music bee 3.0.6132, and have recently done a reinstall of Music Bee.
But after checking with other media players I found it was functioning fine with other media players.
While using Winamp or WMP (Windows Media Player) they Play/Pause buttons works fine, pauseing while minimised and while in the target view.So from this the issue is only generated via Music Bee.

[Contrail]

I'm experiencing the exact same issue (version is the same too, 3.0.6132). No issue with other media players, just this one.

[ZacSan]

Good to hear that someone else came across the same issue as me. Recently I did an upgrade of hard drive space so had to reinstall my computer and seems to work fine now. If we can find a better fix than having to reinstall a computer that would be far better.

[MechTa]

I had the same issue a few months back and narrowed it down to Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center misbehaving with my Sidewinder x4 keyboard. I noticed that if I killed the itype.exe running process, multimedia keys would function, but of course I lost my macro key assignments on keyboard. I ended up just reverting back to IntelliType software, which has been working perfectly.

[ZacSan]

I can confirm that it is the itype program creating this issue. I can repeat this experiment by using my tablet instead of my pc (which is fixed). This is bugging me that there is no easy way to get around our problem without disabling some functionality to our peripherals. Can we get some advice from the moderators or admins for better ways or some insight to solve our problems?

[phred]

I don't speak for Steven or the other moderators, but maybe you're not getting much of a response to your post because others aren't experiencing the same issue as you. Or aren't using the same hardware as you. I don't use a multimedia keyboard, so therefore I don't have anything to offer.

[Contrail]

Three people already reported the bug and I'm sure that we all have different hardware. The issue is clearly there. If it can be solved fine, otherwise I just won't use the mediakeys with MusicBee anymore. It's not a big deal.


EDIT. I think that the problem might be related to having both a mouse and a wireless keyboard. I can assign media controls to my mouse too and when I use the multimedia keys on the keyboard, the player doesn't respond anymore to the gestures with the mouse. (The problem with the play/pause button persists anyway).

[phred]

Three people already reported the bug and I'm sure that we all have different hardware.

Again, not speaking for Steven - three people out of thousands (or probably tens of thousands) doesn't make this a high priority, in my opinion. Remember that Steven develops MB in his spare time and for no money. He has to set some personal priorities. If you can't accept this, then perhaps you should look for another application.

[Steven]

i wont be able to help with this simply because i dont have the time available to investigate uncommon issues and i dont have the environment that causes the problem ie. multi-media keys work fine for me tested on multiple machines.

[Contrail]

Thanks anyway for your reply.

Three people already reported the bug and I'm sure that we all have different hardware.

Again, not speaking for Steven - three people out of thousands (or probably tens of thousands) doesn't make this a high priority, in my opinion. Remember that Steven develops MB in his spare time and for no money. He has to set some personal priorities. If you can't accept this, then perhaps you should look for another application.

You obviously didn't read this...

If it can be solved fine, otherwise I just won't use the mediakeys with MusicBee anymore. It's not a big deal.

[CritterMan]

I think it's worth pointing out why this issue didn't get much of a response. In a situation like this, the issue is very specific to your hardware and software environment. There is almost nothing a developer can do because the software receiving the signal to pause or skip a track will always do it if the signal is received. Essentially, the command never reached MB.

Probably everyone who read the OP who has media buttons tried theirs out in an attempt to replicate the issue. When they had no problem, they simply declined to post "I have no idea what's going wrong or how to help you." because that would just serve to clutter the thread and possibly prevent someone who could actually help you from realizing you hadn't been assisted yet. Please remember that everyone here is a volunteer, and we're all just helping each other out as best we can.

[ZacSan]

You guys are right it can be very hard to reproduce an issue that has happened on very few PC's and therefore cannot be reproduced easily.
My main desktop originally had the issue but then I reinstalled and it seemed to work fine, so I thought as it was without the iType.exe software I would install it again to see if it would reproduce again. I downloaded the Intellitype Pro software seeming as that was what was causing the issue (iType.exe) which is packaged inside Windows Mouse and Keyboard Center, but still no issues here allowing me to use my multimedia functionalities. Although while using my tablet (Surface Pro 4) I still have the issue and it is completely related to the iType.exe or Intellitype Pro software (ending iType.exe fixes the problem) so it is somewhere within the Intellitype program which I cant seem to reproduce on my main desktop for some strange reason. The issue seems to be happening no matter what keyboard you use which uses multimedia keys so therefore must be software related.

For those who have the time (as it is becoming a stressful part of the year), they can either download these programs and see if they are reproducible and then test it themselves. This problem is most likely up to the community to fix.
Here is some software downloads that you can try:
https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-nz/downloads/mouse-keyboard-center (Mouse and Keyboard Center)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=26950 (The Software Itself)

Also I read around that there is some sort of patch for musicbee if I am correct? 3.1 I believe, I would be interested to try that patch is there a download link to this, because musicbee does not auto update to it?

Anyways I am completely unsure if this is helpful to any of you, but I hope that I have provided a better insight for you guys to test yourselves and see if you can reproduce the issue when you have time. I can understand it is coming up to Christmas and I will give you guys some time which you clearly deserve, especially you moderators and admins who devote their time to these forums.

[CritterMan]

3.1 is in early beta, use at your own risk.

Close MB, make sure your 3.0 installation is up to date, then unzip the 3.1 files and copy them into the directory that currently contains your musicbee.exe file: http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip