#331 Voicemeeter Client crashes when adjusting parameters on Equalizer APO (ASIO usage on both programs)

[Avith]

I have been using Voicemeeter with Equalizer APO for some years, and there is still this issue. I use Voicemeeter ASIO with Equalizer APO (EAPO), and I make audio adjustments on EAPO such as turning on/off filters or adjusting equalizer parameters. However, sometimes the audio suddenly changes, and the change in the sound is because my audio calibration just stopped working.
After some research I found that the thing that stops working is a process that you can see in Task Manager as "Equalizer APO Voicemeeter Client" (VoicemeeterClient.exe). This process stops working randomly when I make changes on EAPO, and I can't make this program to run again when I reset Voicemeeter, EAPO, or if just try to run the .exe file.
There are only 2 annoying ways of making this process to appear again:
Restarting the computer/PC
Reinstalling EAPO.

Both ways are just temporary fixes, since the process can randomly stop working again after it. The good thing is that the method No. 2 is fast. To reinstall EAPO you have to open "Equalizer APO Device Selector" that comes with EAPO, it allows you to install or deinstall EAPO on any audio/sound device you have on your PC, what I have to do is to uncheck my main output device, click apply, then open it again and check the mark again to reinstall, so now the VC process runs again.
I have been doing this workaround for years, but it's still an ongoing annoying issue.

2025 state: It has become even more annoying and unusable. Now have to uninstall the EAPO and reinstall it again every 2 changes I make in the Editor.....
1. I add 1 db
2. deactivate a peaking filter
3. VoicemeeterCliente.exe crashes (no more effect of my EQ in my EAPO Editor)
4. Uninstall EAPO in my main Output A1
5. Reinstall EAPO on A1 again
6. I continue to change 2 different things in the EAPO editor (changing dBs, Frequency filter, type of filter, activate/deactivate filter, or anything else)
7. VoicemeeterCliente.exe crashes (no more effect of my EQ in my EAPO Editor)
8. Uninstall EAPO in my main Output A1
9. Reinstall EAPO on A1 again
10. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again

[Avith]

TITTLE UPDATE: This problem is not related to ASIO, as I discovered and reported in a future comment here.

Seems like I never opened a ticket for this issue before, so despite of me creating a Discussion Topic in the past, there has never been a solution for it, and now that the issue has become even more problematic then I think its now worth creating a ticket for it.

[Peter Verbeek]

I understand you making a ticket. However, it seems that the developer of Equalizer APO doesn't solve many of them or even respond to tickets.

Btw. Looking at your screenshot I see you're showing the properties of VoicemeeterClient.exe. As VoicemeeterClient.exe is an essential process it should be in your startup menu folder
c:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs/Startup. If some overactive anti-malware app or Windows itself deletes the VoicemeeterClient.exe file and/or kills its process then things may start crashing or at least stop working. Although I'm not working with Voicemeeter I do have it installed. The VoicemeeterClient.exe file does disappear from my startup menu folder from time to time.</username>

[Avith]

Hi Peter. Yes I am aware there is rarely an answer, however I think its worth reporting and documenting such issues so more people suffering the same can also tell their experience and hopefully the developer or someone else finds or creates a solution.

Thanks for the suggestion of VoicemeteerClient to be in the Startup windows folder, however it has been already there, the issue is still it crashing after.

[Peter Verbeek]

I see that the startup menu folder in my previous post wasn't shown correctly (due to the italic text style) so I've corrected that.

I totally agree that it's important to report and document.

I didn't expect that the startup thing was the culprit or at least the main one. But one never knows.

Looking at the screenshot of your main post I see that you're using Voicemeeter Potatoe. Although a long shot have you tried Voicemeeter Banana?

[Avith]

Yeah I also tried Banana but its also random, sometimes crashes immediately after I change anything in the Editor, other times it doesn't crash for the whole day.

[Peter Verbeek]

So banana or whatever doesn't make a difference. This random crashing makes it so annoying. I guess you have also tried Equalizer APO 1.4.2? I see in the release notes there are some fixes but probably not on this (unknown) issue.

[Avith]

That's correct, I have been updating Equalizer APO for the last 2 years, and currently have 1.4.2 with the latest Voicemeeter release too (and Windows 11).

[Peter Verbeek]

I wish I could have something to offer. Like you I'm in the dark.

Have you tried something else than ASIO? As Equalizer APO is basically WASAPI/PCM perhaps the buffering of Voicemeeter between this and ASIO is problematic, especially knowing that a crash is likely when Equalizer APO's audio engine (the APO) is renewing (rereading the config.txt and processing it) at any change you make in the Configuration Editor/Peace.

[Avith]

I will have to test for some days/weeks until I can confirm if it doesn't crash when not using ASIO since its unpredictable. But if I get 1 crash using a non-ASIO audio device then I will report it here.

[Peter Verbeek]

Thanks. And good luck trying.

[Avith]

Ok so after some testing I can confirm that it also crashes when using a non-ASIO device.

Something else I have noticed is that everytime it crashes and I reinstall EAPO,a new "R" letter turns on in Voicemeteer (I normally have 3 "R" turned on, but with the tests I was doing the VC.exe crashed 5 times, so now all the "R" in this screenshot appear turned on):

I shutted down Voicemeteer and reopened it to see if they went off but they still appear there, that's also weird, may be useful info or not for future fixes.

[Peter Verbeek]

After starting the VoicemeeterClient.exe process I get 1 R(emote API connection). Btw. Again something deleted VoicemeeterClient.lnk from my startup menu folder. But this (obviously) gave me no R's so that's easy to spot once one knows these R's. Anyway, I guess 1 R should be present, not all R's. That could main that internally something goes wrong (crash?) and the process is automatically reinitialized, well until Voicemeeter runs out of R's, probably causing a crash or at least a disconnection between Equalizer APO and Voicemeeter. The question is what is crashing, VoicemeeterClient.exe or a part of Voicemeeter. And why this happens. Seemingly not ASIO related.

[Avith]

By the way, I forgot to add this:
Every time I open the Editor, an alert window appears that says "APO not installed to device: Equalizer APO has not been installed to the selected device,. Do you want to run the Device Selector application to fix the problem?"

But this is wrong since I already installed the device.

Other than that, the original problem I posted in the beggining of the ticket still persist today.

[Peter Verbeek]

Thanks for this post. I've seen this a few times before. A device can be manipulated (for instance by Peace) and still the Configuration Editor (and probably Device Selector) detects that Equalizer APO isn't installed. This is already a clue in itself. Unfortunately, I'm not the programmer so I don't know what this clue is really saying.