cstoll
This post covers all three areas and I don't want to flood the forum...
1st - My Experience (General)
Got my TCVs yesterday and worked the club tonight. And for an Old School Vynil guy...
It was awesome to be playing MP3s by having the old school feel of vynil. As for the setup and configuration - just follow the posts is the forum and it's easy.
Also, I found that if you leave the default ASIO input volume settings for the Maya44 USB and simply tweak the gain and silence up a couple of notchs in VDJ you get really good quality and response from the TCVs. Left the latency at NORMAL.
Another thing - in the setup of the TCVs by VDJ it talks about grounding the TT to you case or you won't get past 0% on the signal quality -- well some posts have asked about Laptop users and their experience with the TCVs and questioned the grounding issue and I didn't experience any problems. 100% signal quality with the minor adjustments previously mentioned.
I also use the DAC-2 controller, and I will tell you a cool feature I discovered was if I left the TT at 0% (Flat) on the pich and used the pitch on the DAC-2 for the TimeStretching (Pitch) then I could get in and out of my mixes by taking advantage of the MasterTempo capabilities. Also, this comes in real handy if I had disengaged the TCV on the active deck then realized that I needed to adjust the pitch to get my next mix in. Pretty nice! There are some other advantages by using the two together that I will post later if anyone is interested.
2nd - the Tech Support / Bugs
I did experience the CRASH! Knowing I shouldn't of done what I did by reading some posts here in the forum, I started to CUE up a song, while it was loading and I pulled the song back past the beginning and BAAMM! total loss of current track playing and shutdown of VDJ. Luckily I was pretty quick on the mic, kept my cool and was able to pull VDJ back up and drop in a song while talking to the crowd. About half way through that song, I think everyone forgot about what happened - because the floor was slammin'.
So Tech Support I will drop an e-service to you just for you to chalk up another experience on your list and I would suspect the problem is very much the same as 'anewsome' has posted about his XP10s.
So the over all --
BEST investment!! Excellent experience!! Pay attention to what you read in the forums on know BUG experiences!! And can't wait till the next time, because I've got the TCV fever!!
Oh yeah, for those that experience any humms when using the TCVs or just humms in general, I strongly recomment using a GROUND LOOP Isolator from your audio card to the mixer especially if you are going into places where you plug into the house system and you may end up with have phase issues on the power side. What am I talking about? Go here to see an example of an isolator:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-054
Other then that... I could spend more time talking about other experience but I'll wait for the comments and questions. And if you are wondering about my setup then look at my blog.
cstoll
1st - My Experience (General)
Got my TCVs yesterday and worked the club tonight. And for an Old School Vynil guy...
It was awesome to be playing MP3s by having the old school feel of vynil. As for the setup and configuration - just follow the posts is the forum and it's easy.
Also, I found that if you leave the default ASIO input volume settings for the Maya44 USB and simply tweak the gain and silence up a couple of notchs in VDJ you get really good quality and response from the TCVs. Left the latency at NORMAL.
Another thing - in the setup of the TCVs by VDJ it talks about grounding the TT to you case or you won't get past 0% on the signal quality -- well some posts have asked about Laptop users and their experience with the TCVs and questioned the grounding issue and I didn't experience any problems. 100% signal quality with the minor adjustments previously mentioned.
I also use the DAC-2 controller, and I will tell you a cool feature I discovered was if I left the TT at 0% (Flat) on the pich and used the pitch on the DAC-2 for the TimeStretching (Pitch) then I could get in and out of my mixes by taking advantage of the MasterTempo capabilities. Also, this comes in real handy if I had disengaged the TCV on the active deck then realized that I needed to adjust the pitch to get my next mix in. Pretty nice! There are some other advantages by using the two together that I will post later if anyone is interested.
2nd - the Tech Support / Bugs
I did experience the CRASH! Knowing I shouldn't of done what I did by reading some posts here in the forum, I started to CUE up a song, while it was loading and I pulled the song back past the beginning and BAAMM! total loss of current track playing and shutdown of VDJ. Luckily I was pretty quick on the mic, kept my cool and was able to pull VDJ back up and drop in a song while talking to the crowd. About half way through that song, I think everyone forgot about what happened - because the floor was slammin'.
So Tech Support I will drop an e-service to you just for you to chalk up another experience on your list and I would suspect the problem is very much the same as 'anewsome' has posted about his XP10s.
So the over all --
BEST investment!! Excellent experience!! Pay attention to what you read in the forums on know BUG experiences!! And can't wait till the next time, because I've got the TCV fever!!
Oh yeah, for those that experience any humms when using the TCVs or just humms in general, I strongly recomment using a GROUND LOOP Isolator from your audio card to the mixer especially if you are going into places where you plug into the house system and you may end up with have phase issues on the power side. What am I talking about? Go here to see an example of an isolator:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-054
Other then that... I could spend more time talking about other experience but I'll wait for the comments and questions. And if you are wondering about my setup then look at my blog.
cstoll
Posted Sat 12 Mar 05 @ 10:10 am
anewsome
Congrats cstoll. Sounds like you've got a nice rig there, and sounds like you rocked the party at the club. The crash you experienced is EXACTLY the same kind I experience, it will happen to you again even if you don't touch anything while the song is loading. Hopefully we have enough reports of this now that it will be fixed. Beware though, there will be plenty of people on these forums that will tell you there is a problem with your PC.
I did my first really big gig last night at The House of Blues in Hollywood with my XP10s and I was carefull and had no crashes. Had some other issues I'll post about later, but no VDJ crashes, thank god.
I did my first really big gig last night at The House of Blues in Hollywood with my XP10s and I was carefull and had no crashes. Had some other issues I'll post about later, but no VDJ crashes, thank god.
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 1:26 am
djcel
Yes, most of the time it's a computer issue. The last problem that i solved on this website was a defectuous hard disk (difficult to find). When this last one became hot, VDJ didn't receive data and crashed. So any problems are specific and there is a way to analyse them to conclude if virtual dj is the root or not. But i don't say everything is perfect, even credit cards have defaults
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 2:32 am
cstoll
thanks for the comments - and would like to hear more of your House of Blues experience anewsome - shot me an e-mail if you want to -- it's in my BLOG.
I DJ as a hobby and have some steady gigs to keep my hobby fun!!
As for my everyday life - I have been in the computer hardware business for over 15 years and a software developer for about 8 of those years. So, I am not to worried about the "it's your hardware" vs. the "it's the software". I know exactly the differences and it this case the arrow point to a software issue.
I've been using VDJ since last Sept '04 and not experienced a crash. I get my TCVs and wham a crash that I can duplicate and it doesn't have to be a specific MP3 file either. So, is my hardware defective, I think not. And BTW, I don't subscribe to the 24bit and high bit rate clubs fighting it out in the forum - 99.9% of my MP3s are 128 or 192 kbs (And don't start slammin on the quality issues - would like to keep this thread to discuss the crash issue.)
Back to the point - only one of a couple of things could be the problem:
1. A problem in VDJ itself (software)
2. A problem in the ASIO drivers for the MAYA44 (software)
And, I will be honest - I would tend to lean in the direction of the interface between VDJ and the ASIO drivers because I can experience the problem with TCVs, anewsome you have experienced the problem with the XP10s and others in the forum have experienced similar problems with their DAC controllers and in almost all the posts I have read the CrashGuard module does not catch the problem, we experience a straight out shutdown of the software. Which if it was in the code of VDJ I would think CrashGuard would control the crash. [Getting to deep need to come back to the surface]
So, anyway, .... I'll shut up now and listen to the critics.
I DJ as a hobby and have some steady gigs to keep my hobby fun!!
As for my everyday life - I have been in the computer hardware business for over 15 years and a software developer for about 8 of those years. So, I am not to worried about the "it's your hardware" vs. the "it's the software". I know exactly the differences and it this case the arrow point to a software issue.
I've been using VDJ since last Sept '04 and not experienced a crash. I get my TCVs and wham a crash that I can duplicate and it doesn't have to be a specific MP3 file either. So, is my hardware defective, I think not. And BTW, I don't subscribe to the 24bit and high bit rate clubs fighting it out in the forum - 99.9% of my MP3s are 128 or 192 kbs (And don't start slammin on the quality issues - would like to keep this thread to discuss the crash issue.)
Back to the point - only one of a couple of things could be the problem:
1. A problem in VDJ itself (software)
2. A problem in the ASIO drivers for the MAYA44 (software)
And, I will be honest - I would tend to lean in the direction of the interface between VDJ and the ASIO drivers because I can experience the problem with TCVs, anewsome you have experienced the problem with the XP10s and others in the forum have experienced similar problems with their DAC controllers and in almost all the posts I have read the CrashGuard module does not catch the problem, we experience a straight out shutdown of the software. Which if it was in the code of VDJ I would think CrashGuard would control the crash. [Getting to deep need to come back to the surface]
So, anyway, .... I'll shut up now and listen to the critics.
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 4:58 pm
TechnicalDJ
Hey- I use TCV and was wondering- Cstoll how do you duplicate your crash? I was spinning on the radio, and it crashed on me. For the FIRST time. Same crash as everyone describes. I tried duplicating it, and doing what everyone else was doing to make it crash...but it won't. I would like know, so if I can make it crash, then I know it's not COMPLETELY random. Thanks. You could post it here, or just email me. (blog)
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 6:06 pm
cstoll
TechnicalDJ - even though it can be duplicated it is still random. However, I found that the quickest way to duplicate the crash is to have the following:
1. A song playing that was just analyzed by VDJ when added to the deck and then cued and started using TCV and still tracking via the TCV. Approx time length of track 6:00
2. A song added to the second deck, being analyzed and has a strong beat intro that starts with about 1 or 2 beats of blank dead space before the first beat. Approx time length of track 6:30
3. While the second song is loading/analyzing start queing up the song using another TCV. Don't pay attention to the waveform (you tend to stop before you really hit the beginning of the MP3 file).
Now it was not immediate, what I was doing at the time and this was only for a second, was rocking on that initial beat like a 'baby scratch' and I pulled back on the TCV and pulled back to far and hit the beginning of the MP3. Now the one thing you must know is that I don't believe that the needle position in the TimeCode was in direct alignment with the position of the MP3. As you have seen in a couple of other posts the accuraccy of the TimeCode Needle/Track position wonders off from the actual position of the MP3 file. See:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=10763 [Bad Backspins with TCV and Maya] So next thing I know is that the music stopped, I look at my laptop display and the track I was loading/queing was at the beginning, about 2/3 analyzed and BAAMMM my desktop wallpaper.
My reason for saying it can be duplicated is when I was in the club before the night got started and making sure everything was going to work and get my configuration settings worked out - sure enough it happened - twice as described above.
I'll be honest I wish I could remember the two songs I had playing in all cases, the two that happened during setup and test I blew off because of reading the earlier posts on this forum and said I won't be rushing it tonight. And when it happen towards the end of the night, I was rushing it when I had no need to and wanted to slap myself.
But, I will say this -- for using VDJ nearly 6 months and not having a crash, then 3 crashes in one day and only while using the TCVs -- there is definitely a problem that needs to be looked into. I am going to try to get to the club today and see if i can duplicate the problem and take better notes on what I am doing to make it happen.
cstoll
BTW: Thanks for the vids TechnicalDJ, they are what got me the itch to by my TCVs and get back to Old School, but don't get me wrong, I like my DAC-2.
1. A song playing that was just analyzed by VDJ when added to the deck and then cued and started using TCV and still tracking via the TCV. Approx time length of track 6:00
2. A song added to the second deck, being analyzed and has a strong beat intro that starts with about 1 or 2 beats of blank dead space before the first beat. Approx time length of track 6:30
3. While the second song is loading/analyzing start queing up the song using another TCV. Don't pay attention to the waveform (you tend to stop before you really hit the beginning of the MP3 file).
Now it was not immediate, what I was doing at the time and this was only for a second, was rocking on that initial beat like a 'baby scratch' and I pulled back on the TCV and pulled back to far and hit the beginning of the MP3. Now the one thing you must know is that I don't believe that the needle position in the TimeCode was in direct alignment with the position of the MP3. As you have seen in a couple of other posts the accuraccy of the TimeCode Needle/Track position wonders off from the actual position of the MP3 file. See:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=10763 [Bad Backspins with TCV and Maya] So next thing I know is that the music stopped, I look at my laptop display and the track I was loading/queing was at the beginning, about 2/3 analyzed and BAAMMM my desktop wallpaper.
My reason for saying it can be duplicated is when I was in the club before the night got started and making sure everything was going to work and get my configuration settings worked out - sure enough it happened - twice as described above.
I'll be honest I wish I could remember the two songs I had playing in all cases, the two that happened during setup and test I blew off because of reading the earlier posts on this forum and said I won't be rushing it tonight. And when it happen towards the end of the night, I was rushing it when I had no need to and wanted to slap myself.
But, I will say this -- for using VDJ nearly 6 months and not having a crash, then 3 crashes in one day and only while using the TCVs -- there is definitely a problem that needs to be looked into. I am going to try to get to the club today and see if i can duplicate the problem and take better notes on what I am doing to make it happen.
cstoll
BTW: Thanks for the vids TechnicalDJ, they are what got me the itch to by my TCVs and get back to Old School, but don't get me wrong, I like my DAC-2.
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 8:27 pm
Man-Tk
latency work better if you click on "Highspeed" , Bid difference for me
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 9:36 pm
cstoll
Man-Tk -- I will look into the latency setting for the tracking of needle position accurracy. But I don't think it will solve the issue of hitting the beginning or end of an MP3 using the TCV and causing a crash of the system. But I definitely will look into it.
cstoll
cstoll
Posted Sun 13 Mar 05 @ 10:29 pm
steve_djdawson
I tried mine on both extremes of latency settings, and the Highspeed is by far the best, and try for the life of me to get it to crash, it just wouldn't... i even tried beat juggling @ the start of a track and it kept going and going! Tried back-cueing both at the same time, and it got a bit confused.. but i think my needle jumped.. I'm going to keep looking into it, see if i can recreate the same crash, then i can contribute to a "Mass E-Mail to E-Service" =D hehe
Posted Mon 14 Mar 05 @ 1:09 pm
cstoll
steve_djdawson - I will try what you and Man-Tk have suggested and that may be part of the key to this problem. I know that I had it set at Normal when my crash occured.
TechnicalDJ - what is the setting for you on the latency?
anewsome - for the XP10s is there such a setting for you to adjust, I'm not familiar with the XP10 setup?
I'll change my setting and see if I can recreate the problem with the Higher setting.
cstoll
TechnicalDJ - what is the setting for you on the latency?
anewsome - for the XP10s is there such a setting for you to adjust, I'm not familiar with the XP10 setup?
I'll change my setting and see if I can recreate the problem with the Higher setting.
cstoll
Posted Mon 14 Mar 05 @ 3:41 pm
TechnicalDJ
I have my latency set on highest
Posted Mon 14 Mar 05 @ 8:10 pm
TechnicalDJ
Yes C-stoll- please do post everything you know about using TCV with the DAC-2. Does it work well? what are the advantages and disadvantages...would you recommend it? I'm seriously considering picking up a dac2 and using it with my TCV. just don't know exactly how it works. I actually just made a thread about this...you can post there or post here...whichever. Thanks alot for the info! Really appreciate it.
Posted Tue 15 Mar 05 @ 8:57 am
djcel
Yes go on like that guys. We can only find the solution of the problem like that. Share your experiences and try to isolate the defectuous part (in Virtual DJ or /and external). I'm with you
Posted Tue 15 Mar 05 @ 4:25 pm
anewsome
cstoll, sorry was away for a few days. all I have to add is that I don't think it's ASIO drivers causing the crash as there are none for the XP10s. There is actually no driver at all for the XP10. The VDJ recognizes them naturally. I did however also experience the crash with my HDJC which does use it's own ASIO drivers.
Posted Tue 15 Mar 05 @ 5:25 pm
cstoll
@ TechnicalDJ - I'll post some info in your thread to answer your questions.
@ djcel - Thanks for the support, brah... do you have any insights (experiences)?
@ anewsome - Ok, maybe not ASIO drivers. However, what about my Time Code comment. I would think that the XP10, HDJC, DAC-2, DMC-1 all use some kind of TC signal for controlling the positioning within the file. Some additional comments have been made in your Bugs post if you haven't read it yet -
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=10074
@ Developers [if they ever read the forums]
Would like some insight on what we might be able to try so a solution to this BIG problem can be resolved in the next release.
cstoll
@ djcel - Thanks for the support, brah... do you have any insights (experiences)?
@ anewsome - Ok, maybe not ASIO drivers. However, what about my Time Code comment. I would think that the XP10, HDJC, DAC-2, DMC-1 all use some kind of TC signal for controlling the positioning within the file. Some additional comments have been made in your Bugs post if you haven't read it yet -
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=10074
@ Developers [if they ever read the forums]
Would like some insight on what we might be able to try so a solution to this BIG problem can be resolved in the next release.
cstoll
Posted Tue 15 Mar 05 @ 6:27 pm
cstoll
OK, here is my latest based on some good suggestions and attempt on recreating the problem.
I took all the examples from this and the New Laptop, Same Crash thread by anewsome and tried my hardest to recreate the CRASH and for the 2 hours or so tonight that I messed around specificly on this issue, I could not get the system to CRASH!!!!
Now what was different tonight from last time:
1. The biggest difference was I used the 'HIGHEST' latency option as suggested by djcel and input from TechnicalDJ who have said they have yet to experience the CRASH.
2. I went into my 'Config' for each deck and bumped my GAIN and SILENCE up just alittle to get a stronger signal into the software. I am about 1/4th from the left on both GAIN and SILENCE, BTW the TT are Technics 1200M3Ds; and I get 100% TC signal. Also, my Input level in the ASIO settings window is about 75%.
So what did I try:
1. Did the baby scratch on tracks that had a solid first beat right at the beginning of the track.
2. Did the same with tracks that had maybe 1/2 second to whole 1 second of dead air at the beginning of the track.
3. Tried the Loop with the big backspin on the TCV
4. Retried my own experience with Deck A playing a song with heavy beat and then doing a baby scratch on Deck B with a beat right at the beginning of the track.
5. What else...? You name it I think I tried it.
So, what does this prove??
1. Well it proves that with the TCVs the 'HIGHEST' latency does improve upon the problem not occuring as quickly as I experienced it.
2. There is still a bug that does occur and it is not as easily traceable as I thought.
3. I need to go back and set the latency back to 'NORMAL' and see if I have any luck at making the CRASH occur.
4. A big apology to the community, especially anewsome; for thinking that the CRASH was more predicable on it's root cause.
Hopefully, we all can keep posting our experiences and compare notes on this problem.
I will post more after this FRIDAY when I will get another chance to try out some other ways of making this thing crash again.
cstoll
I took all the examples from this and the New Laptop, Same Crash thread by anewsome and tried my hardest to recreate the CRASH and for the 2 hours or so tonight that I messed around specificly on this issue, I could not get the system to CRASH!!!!
Now what was different tonight from last time:
1. The biggest difference was I used the 'HIGHEST' latency option as suggested by djcel and input from TechnicalDJ who have said they have yet to experience the CRASH.
2. I went into my 'Config' for each deck and bumped my GAIN and SILENCE up just alittle to get a stronger signal into the software. I am about 1/4th from the left on both GAIN and SILENCE, BTW the TT are Technics 1200M3Ds; and I get 100% TC signal. Also, my Input level in the ASIO settings window is about 75%.
So what did I try:
1. Did the baby scratch on tracks that had a solid first beat right at the beginning of the track.
2. Did the same with tracks that had maybe 1/2 second to whole 1 second of dead air at the beginning of the track.
3. Tried the Loop with the big backspin on the TCV
4. Retried my own experience with Deck A playing a song with heavy beat and then doing a baby scratch on Deck B with a beat right at the beginning of the track.
5. What else...? You name it I think I tried it.
So, what does this prove??
1. Well it proves that with the TCVs the 'HIGHEST' latency does improve upon the problem not occuring as quickly as I experienced it.
2. There is still a bug that does occur and it is not as easily traceable as I thought.
3. I need to go back and set the latency back to 'NORMAL' and see if I have any luck at making the CRASH occur.
4. A big apology to the community, especially anewsome; for thinking that the CRASH was more predicable on it's root cause.
Hopefully, we all can keep posting our experiences and compare notes on this problem.
I will post more after this FRIDAY when I will get another chance to try out some other ways of making this thing crash again.
cstoll
Posted Wed 16 Mar 05 @ 6:58 am
TechnicalDJ
Correction- I HAVE experienced the crash. It was when i was the radio, and it was RIGHT before I was about to cut mix into another song, and I was rocking the song to cue back and forth around the beginning...don't know if thats it...i just PRAY and HOPE and goddamit WISH that htis problem gets fixed in the next update (which i also pray, hope, and wish comes very soon)
Thanks for all the input cstoll. I'll be posting some stuff also whenever i get the crash. Only had it once so far...but thats one to many times.
Thanks for all the input cstoll. I'll be posting some stuff also whenever i get the crash. Only had it once so far...but thats one to many times.
Posted Wed 16 Mar 05 @ 8:03 am