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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Major database problems

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Hi guys,

Wonder if anyone can help here, I'll try and explain things best I can.

I had been using VDJ Mac version for a while on my Macbook Pro, but because the mac version has some features missing I decided to go back to the Windows version on bootcamp with XP 32bit.

I have all my music and videos in directory C:\Music\ and then in subfolders by year from 1970 to 2010 and another 10 folders with videos and misc songs. There are 51 folders in total with 4125 files so it's not a large collection by any means. To keep things simple, I have added the whole C:\music\ directory to the DB, then set up filter folders by year, file location etc. I have then scanned all the files for BPM and time so everything is up to date and correct in the database.

First thing I notice is when I search for a certain song it's not there. When I go to config>browser it says I have 3708 files when in fact there are really 4125 that have been added and scanned. So if I go back to C:\music\ and add to DB, I then get 400 songs that need to be rescanned and retagged which is a major pain at the start of a gig. It works fine for a while then the same thing happens all over again. It also says I have files hidden from search, but that can't be the case if I have added the whole directory and not hidden anything manually.

The database is not stable, and for some reason keeps losing songs.

At least if VDJ allowed the writing of BPM data back to the tags they could then be reloaded and not have to be scanned all over again.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious with how the DB works, but it would be appreciated if someone can please help me with this.

Thanks

Keith
 
Posted Sun 05 Sep 10 @ 3:40 am
Just to be clear which point release of VDJ are you using. There was an issue with an early version of v6 that had db issues.

Roy
 
Hi Roy,

I'm on 6.1.2 at the moment, I don't recall this being a problem on older versions though!
 
Oh .....

I forgot to mention that the current DB was originally a VDJ 5 Windows one which I changed the file locations for Mac then back to Windows again.

I wouldn't think that would cause any issues, however I don't want to create a completely new DB and have to scan everything again.

Keith
 
Maybe a problem of <cr><lf> (carriage return, line feed). Try another Editor to copy and paste everything from the old DB to the new one.

http://www.pspad.de

Greets, Heiko
 
I had this problem with the VJ version. Recreating the DB was the only effect solution. Now that I have VDJ, the db tools help keep it clean and stable. I'm still on version 5.2.1. So I'm not familiar with any change in 6+.
 
There was an issue earlier on with 'white space' being saved in to the database which would artificially truncated it. Any tracks after the white space would just be ignored.

Try a 'fix' just to be on the safe side. Just remember to backup the current db first.

Another idea may be to rename the v6 file and have VDJ rebuild the db from the old v5 file if you still have it.

Cheers,

Roy
 
Hi Roy,

I have already tried the fix but the same problems occur.

After I've tried Heiko's suggestion above (and if it doesn't work) I will probably just take some time this week and create a brand new DB and scan all the files again. Another problem is in BPM detection, as the VDJ BPM scanner can be wildly out in a lot of cases. I have tried playing about with the BPM<80 setting but it doesn't help much. Most of the problems relate to 120-130 BPM tracks being scanned as 60-70 and ballads being the other way round. It's infuriating when you have adjusted the BPM to the correct value then it disappears from the database and then rescans incorrectly.

Does anyone know of an external BPM scanner that writes to tags as the unwillingness of Atomix to allow a write to tag feature is a major putoff for me. At least if the tags were up to date there would be a quick way of rebuilding the DB from the BPM tag in case of problems like this. It also really annoys me that tag info can't be changed from within VDJ and that mass changing of file info is still not supported.

I may have a go at the Traktor demo and see what it is like, as another problem for me is that I have a £2000 Macbook Pro and have to use VDJ on a windows partition due to the Mac version of VDJ having quite a few bugs (sorry, features) that I just can't live with any more.

It would be a shame to give up on VDJ and move somewhere else but the hassle I've had lately is getting to me. I had BPM Studio from 2000 to 2008 and it was pretty much faultless.

Keith
 
I tried one of those scanners what was it now... Mix Meister.

Scanned the BPM's great, but truncated all the other ID3 tags to 30 characters. Luckily I only ran it on a select few files...

Roy
 
OK

I downloaded pspad as recommended by Heiko.

I then moved the old DB, reinstalled VDJ to create a new empty database then used pspad to cut the tracks and folders from the old DB to a new one and saved it.

The problem now seems to be gone and all the songs are now showing correctly, however I will test it more this week and see if everything is OK before my gig on Saturday.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Keith
 
No Problem ;-))
 
More problems tonight ......

I have been checking the DB periodically and it's been fine, 4111 files all the time.

Now with no file changes it's saying 4150 files with 39 present but hidden from search. I know there are still 4111 files so why has it invented 4150 and what does "present but hidden from search" mean?

I closed VDJ and reloaded and now it says 4111 files but still 39 present but hidden from search. If I add my root directory to the search DB again I will now have to rescan those 39 files which is where the problem has been all along. Those 39 songs will also be missing from a DB search. I have not changed anything to hide them, so why is the DB changing?

I have just spent ages updating some files with correct BPM values so I hope it doesn't go all to **** again!

Please help!!!!!

Keith
 
Hi all,

I've finally found the problem!

When I had converted my tracklists of previous gigs I had changed the file locations from the Mac drive locations to Windows, I had converted them incorrectly. Instead of C:\music\directory I had changed them to c:\music/directory.

Because the slash was the wrong way round, whenever I clicked on a previous tracklist, VDJ would not find the files and automatically remove them from the search DB even though the files existed in the correct location in Windows.

It's a strange one but at least I've got to the bottom of it. Thanks for everyone's help.

P.S. If you want to look at the files that show as "present but hidden from search" then create a filter folder with the parameter "insearchdb=0"

Keith
 


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