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Topic: Safe Mode detailed explanation - Page: 1

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I was wondering if someone out there can give me a detailed technical description of exactly what "safe mode" in the performances tab of config does.

I see sometimes people recommending to turn it on or to turn it off to attempt to solve sound glitches that can occur... but I'm never certain as to what the best setting to start at is.

My crude understanding of it is that setting safe mode on somehow limits the performance of virtualDJ, perhaps increasing latency or reducing sound quality in order to help prevent audio dropouts.

If there isn't a noticeable difference in sound, is it better to leave "safe mode" off?

I'd appreciate any info I could get about this.

While on the subject, I'm also somewhat curious as to what the "overclock" checkbox does... does that affect the audio interface or the PC?
 
Posted Sat 28 Mar 09 @ 11:19 pm
That is a really good question. I never new what they were for so I always left them in the default setting....anybody know what these really do?
 
Safe Mode – When using a DirectX mode setting (like Simple, Dual, Mono or 4.1), VirtualDJ is less likely to produce glitches and pops if your CPU is momentarily busy. The performance trade off is scratching and pitch adjustments will use more CPU, especially with advanced algorithms. So, if using advanced Master Tempo this will probably need to be disabled, unless the computer is very fast.

NOTE: this option has no effect on ASIO or Low-Latency modes

Overclock – This setting can make your computer run faster (especially on laptops) and therefore be compatible with lower latencies.


pg 38-39 of the User's Manual.
 
so in other words RTFM lol.

Personally I dont think that adequately explains what overclock does
 
Okay, so Safe mode is only a DirectSound setting and doesn't affect ASIO. It seems a little counter-intuitive, but alright.

Does the "overclock" option turn off Intel Speedstep and related technologies so that the PC always runs at its maximum speed? That's kind of the jist that I'm getting from this explanation.
 
i had 30 minutes set running on deck a , when i load a song in deck 2 i get some glitches on a external song (i mean the 30 minutes song that was hearing outside), then i click on safe mode, in this way i did the same and i didnt have the glitch in the sound, but when i put an effect with safe mode, it take like a 0.5 seconds to start (the effect) instead inmediately (like without safe mode check). maybe if you try wit this thing can explain what safe mode is for
bye
 
im more curious about over-clock most of use id say are using asio so safe mode really is not an issue
 
Overclock is a special function made only laptops that have the possibily of choosing how to use the CPU; since laptops have the possibility the reduce the clock frequency of the CPU in order to increase the running time of the battery, this function allows to set the max frequency as much as possible.
 
So then overclocking is really a misnomer. It should be called "Maximum Clocking" or perhaps "Disable CPU Throttling" or something.
 
Yes, exaclty.
 
Overclock in VDJ has nothing to do with changing the CPUs throttling capabilities. It's more to do with thread prioritizing of VirtualDJ to demand more CPU attention - hence overclocking of the software and not the CPU.




Btw OT - laptops are not the only ones that can overclock their CPUs. But that is not what this discussion is about....
 
cstoll wrote :
Overclock in VDJ has nothing to do with changing the CPUs throttling capabilities. It's more to do with thread prioritizing of VirtualDJ to demand more CPU attention - hence overclocking of the software and not the CPU.
..


Would u recommend overlocking if u have a high spec machine but the graphics card is not as powerful?

Vista - Intel Core Duo 2.00 and 2GB Ram.

I have only got 128 of dedicated video ram
 
So then overclocking is really more like going into task manager, and setting a "high" priority on the virtualdj.exe process?
 
cstoll wrote :
Overclock in VDJ has nothing to do with changing the CPUs throttling capabilities. It's more to do with thread prioritizing of VirtualDJ to demand more CPU attention - hence overclocking of the software and not the CPU.


In an old post dj-in-norway explained overclock function in a different way hence I replied at this post because I was sure about the right answer :(
 
@sischo - find me the old post ... we may be saying the same thing just differently.

@VOG - no, not in the situation you are describing. there would be no benefit - if anything just more headache - low ram in a video doesn't mean increase the CPU clock to get better performance -- you should be fine with the option you have - or look at a better video card.
 
And really to be all honest -- if you have a Duo or Dual core system - neither one of these options should be checked. Only time you would possibly use them is with some OLD single core systems like P4s or early P5s. And they should only be used when all the other PERFORMANCE settings are at their lowest defaults.

For example; setting the Master Tempo to Advance and a Complexity of 3 doesn't mean if it sounds bad you OVERCLOCK to gain more performance.

The old saying you can't get blood from a turnip comes to mind ... but in this case you are already bleeding the system with a complex algorithm and asking for a lot already - then you want to OVERCLOCK it ? Think not.... just as an example.
 
So... the overclock option is just sort of intended as a last resort if you can't get things to sound decent by reducing your other settings.
I really appreciate the explanation cstoll - this is helping to clear up misconceptions that I've had for a long time.

Maybe while we're on this sort of subject, would anyone care to explain what "Ultra Latency ASIO" is? My understanding is that this option enables an old driver that was in version 4 and prior of VirtualDJ. How does it actually affect latency and sound quality?

In my particular setup, I seem to get much better results by leaving this option unchecked.
 
That one also is a 'miss understood' option -- prior versions always used Ultra Low Latency. The problem is that there are some really crappy ASIO cards out there now that the algorithm in VDJ was lets say "too fast" and always waiting on the card's driver. So, by disabling the Ultra Low Latency just tells VDJ to use a different method to work better with the slower cards.
 
dj-in-norway wrote :

Overclock on can work miracles on some laptops..
Its basically a power mode, where it make sure your laptop runs on full use.
 
sischo wrote :
dj-in-norway wrote :

Overclock on can work miracles on some laptops..
Its basically a power mode, where it make sure your laptop runs on full use.


I think he was being very vague in his reply... but I see why you came up with the conclusion you did... no harm. Not sure he meant 'power mode' as in related to 'power savings modes' like you described. But like I said - no harm done.
 
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