James

I don't know BAE at all, as I came to this forum from a different route. I DO have BA1 running an HD core successfully, and I can take you through those steps. Basically leave everything as the default except the necessary input and output selections and you should get something. Fine tuning can come later.

This is a potted version which may help.

First, select your HD Core.
Main Configuration > Audio Processing Cores > HD Cores and drag the slider until it says "1".

Now configure the core.
Main Configuration > HD Processor > Core Feat – at this stage, leave all these options off.

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Input > Interface > Select Kernel Streaming (if there are problems later, you might need to change this, but it is the best option).

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Input > Select Breakaway Pipeline 1 (This is the device you will need to select as output in your playout software).

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Input > Sample Rate > (I use 48000).

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Input > Block Size > (I use 960, but click on the "Auto-Configure Block Size" button and accept the recommendation).
Click on "Run Test" and aim for the lowest jitter rate. Usually the auto test option is best.

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Output > Interface > Select Kernel Streaming.
All other output options can remain OFF

Main Configuration > HD Processor > Speakers > Select Kernel Streaming
All other speakers options can remain OFF

Now, setup ASIO.
Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Main > Select your ASIO sound card from the drop down.

Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Main > ASIO Driver Control Panel. This should open your audio device interface. set sample rate, buffer size etc in there, exit out of it and then select "Reload Driver". This will map any changes back into BA1.

Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Main > Set Device Sample Rate. I turn this on and then select 48,000.

Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Inputs > Both Left and Right can stay OFF.

Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Outs > Common Monitor Output. I have both L/R OFF.

Common Audio Devices > ASIO > Main > HD Processor > Select your usual sound device outputs e.g SPDIF 1/2. These would be the channels you would select in software if not using BA1.

No, I don't believe that is the case. Your announcers should be listening to the source (straight out of the mixing desk, or wherever your mic processing output is). In the good old days, before all the processing that occurs these days, we used to listen "off air", meaning that we heard what the listeners heard. However, that only works if the STL is not far away and therefore the difference between the input signal and the returned (broadcast) signal is only milliseconds, which our brain cannot detect. This was an advantage because we could detect instantly if the broadcast chain went down (as in a transmitter or STL failure).

Nowadays, there are many delays between the studio and, in the case of (say) a terrestrial FM broadcast (which might be almost straight out of the studio console) but also streamed through (say) Icecast, listening off the Internet would confuse even the most seasoned broadcaster.

It's very hard to make an in-depth assessment from such a small grab of the logs, but my first reaction was that the warning on jitter rate seems to be quite regular, so, maybe BA1 hits a trigger point where the jitter is considered to be too high, and this forces a restart of the service.

Although I have seen jitter rates up to 100% without audible glitches, I try to get it down to less than 20%. Sometimes the recommended buffer size is not actually the best, and it does require a little experimentation between the ASIO buffer size of the actual sound card, and the internal I/O buffers.

I don't stream, but I believe it is where you define the connection, username, password etc to your external streaming service.

Latency has nothing to do with sample rate. It is the delay between the original signal source (for example – your spoken word) and the final signal ater processing. If there is no processing, the two are the same. If the ASIO buffers are very small, the delay will be minimal, but there may be artefacts, so the trick is to increase the buffer size just enough to get rid of any glitches.

Alternatively, listen to the unprocessed signal straight out of the desk.

Your strategy is sound.
There are several variables here, each of which can be the problem, or may contribute in some way.

1) The OS. Although Win10 has been around for a while now, it does not have the same track record as Win7. If it were easily possible, a solution could be to downgrade the Win10 PC to Win7 so the OS platform is the same. Maybe a corollary of this would be to update the Win7 PC to Win10 to see if that introduces issues that are not present or are masked in Win7.

2) The hardware/drivers. Unless the two PCs are identical, there can be a variation of components or drivers influencing the final results. It would be great if both devices were the same – ideally based around the more stable unit.

3) The BA1 Management Package. I'm not convinced that this is a game changer, but Leif is on record as saying that running BA1 as a service uses less resources and therefore may be more stable.

4) There may even be a hardware issue, such as bad RAM in the PC which fails. Simply replacing the RAM with the best you can afford might save a lot of frustrating testing to achieve nothing.

In my experience, there can be a delay of up to an hour between nags, so, if the update wasn't that long, you might get lucky. Even if you do get the nag, it is not that bad. It extols the virtues of Breakaway, but sounds a bit like a radio commercial. Most people wouldn't notice to be honest.

If you had both your playout PCs going to a mixer, it would be a simple matter to cross fade between the two so that the backup PC was playing whilst you update Win10. Once it comes back online, you can cross fade back the other way, or wait until the end of a track and start the upgraded PC.

The config files can be backed up (there is an option within BA1) and moved to the other PC as a complete folder. It is also possible to include the config address in the command line (ini_folder=c:/blah) so you can have it stored almost anywhere that is accessible to the PC.

I run BA1 on Win 10 with no stability problems, but I DO have the Management package, and therefore run BA1 as a service. I'm not sure that running as a service is the entire answer, but it certainly works for me. I have, on occasions, run Breakaway directly (not as a service), but only for relatively short periods. I never had a crash, but the running times were not very significant.

Do you run the TX version as a service?

Having said all of that, I would look at possible driver or code bloat as the culprit. Look at all unnecessary programs and processes and shut them down permanently. Also check for scheduled tasks. A lot of updates are now set up as a scheduled task and, if you delete them, they magically come back. This includes things like Adobe updates. I run a very "skinny" version of Win 10 (64 bit) and it seems very stable.