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Topic: bad sound quality from one turntable - Page: 1

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hi guys so my next problem is this

my left TT works fine no problems..but my right hand TT sounds reall bad..ive so far

moved the timecode to the oposite deck....had no effect the vinyal played great on the left deck...

tried a new needle and cartridge with the same timecode...still no effect

fiddled with all my wires..still nothing

fiddled with my audio controlls..nothing changed..

does anyone have any suggestions?? im stuck now..it did cross my mind that it could be a roblem with the tone arm but these are new TT's also tought it could be the belts so ive ordered some now ones..
 
Posted Fri 01 Jan 10 @ 9:06 am
What do you mean exactly when you say it sounds bad? Does it sound 'warble-ee'? Distorted? Static? Choppy?
 
it sounds dull ,kind of a worble but with a crackle over the top... ill see if i can get a recording tonight and upload it in the morning.. theres so much distorsion i cant clearly hear what track is playing.

do you think it could be interference from somewhere??? my monitor has speakers on the sides and they are about 6-8" from my tone arm.. hmm think ill check that later when i go home.
 
Can you post an image of the timecode config screen?

if you have swapped needles and/or decks from either side and it still happens, its one of 2 things.

the soundcard or the settings. Its sounds like an issue on the PC side.

post the image and we can see the signal
 
well today ive tried several other things.

re configured the timecodes, still nothing..

measured my drive belts, discovered the belt on the drive in question is stretched by about 8mm. so that explains the warble and my bpm fluctuations..

unplugged all my cales one by one, found one faulty cable, replaced it but..still i get the crackeling sound..

disconnected and checked all my speaker cables..

fiddled with the system audio on the pc..made a little difference but as soon as i turned up the gain on my mixer it was just as bad.

tried a huge anount of EQ settings on my hifi to see if it was something to do with that..btw its a technics sc-dv290 so superior quality system.. it is however 5.1 dolby pro logic. it had crossed my mind that it could be something to do with the dolby surround. i then proceeded to drop it into stereo sound.. this seemed to solve the crackeling, but to be sure i put it back into pro logic and then back to stereo and what do you know.. the crackeling is still there..

my next step is to try a different amplifier..

there is one thing i have noticed though, the crackeling seems to only come from the right hand side of the system as a whole. i at one point thought it could be the speaker, however i put a cd into the player and i get the usual smooth sound that the hifi produces.

so im now more confused than ever..if its not

the needle
timecode
cables
amp
speakers

then all i can think of is its the sound card, pc setup or the mixer..

the soundcard is brand new fresh out of the box and factory sealed..so cant see why that would be the cause.

the mixer i cant test because i dont have another to try..but cant see why the mixer would create a crackeling..

the pc i dont really know what to look for as ive only had my soundcard for like 4 days..ive tried adjusting the volumes and settings in the esi interface that sits in the taskbar but still diddnt get a change.

so its back to the drawing board and also to the shop for some new needles and belts.

oh and i moved my TT's away from my speakers just incase but its not that either.

is there a possibility it could be something to do with the tone arm???

is there a way i could test each component seperatley without too much hastle??

or is it a matter of plod on untill i find out whats wrong and look at it as part of the learning curve??


@listen2

ill post a pic of the timecode config tomorrow as im not home at the moment
 
Hi mate

The first thing I would have done is to swap the whole deck left to right and see if the fault moves. If the fault stays with the same chan then you have eliminated the decks from the problem. If you are using the maya 44 then post your setup info so we can have a look.

The Music audio quality should not be affected by the decks when you are using timecode. The timecode is only controlling the transport(Stop/Start/Pitch and so on) not the audio file itself.
Do you get good sound on both VDJ decks when not using timecode?
Another deck check is to plug the deck directly into your HIFI amp (if it has a phono input) and play a standard vinyl disc. The disc should obviously sound the same on both decks.

Daz
 
Just an idea.

If you want to check wether the problem is comming from your mixer or the computer side. Swap the outputs on the sound card left to right and again see if the problem stays with the mixer channel or swaps. If it swaps the problem is at the soundcard/computer end. If the problem has not swapped then the problem is with the mixer channel.

Let us know how you get on.

Daz
 
thanks daz ill go home shortly and give everything a try..ill get back to you guys later on today.
 
hi guys, so ive done what daz suggested the TT's were fine and i changed the outputs onthe sound card to eliminate the mixer. both of the sugestions came up trumps and neither the TT's or the mixer are to blame. i did however discover that which ever cable was plugged into the output 3/4 on my sound card crackled...

i went into the esi settings from the quick bar and turned downthe db output levels on each side. this has seemed to solve the problem but im still a bit unsure..

heres some screen prints so you can take a look

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr8/bluilte/Untitled3.jpg

before config

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr8/bluilte/Untitled.jpg

after auto config

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr8/bluilte/Untitled2.jpg


i do notice though after the auto config for my timecode, the setup states that i still have 0% timecode quality. is there any reason for this??

btw the db levels on my esi settings were at 14.0db when the distortion was around. since turning down to 6.0 db it seems to have stopped. still not convinced thats all it was though as i cant work out why it was only distorted on one side when both were set the same..
 
OH MY EFFING WORD! ITS BACK!

so all settings remain the same but the crap is back... whats even stranger though is after about 3 mins of playing a track it goes again then comes back again..

i have also discovered now that the noise is still there if i dont use TC's. it is also still ther when i play tracks through media player. now it cant be the sound card.

i worked this out because when i play a track through media player (which outputs via out1/2 on the maya44) i still get the distortion. so my dj side of things seems to be all eliminated.

so onto the pc. i connected direct from the soundcard into my hifi and still got the crackeling. ive also tried different inputs on my sound processor. and i still got the same effect.

so after a lot od searching and seeking and plugging and unplugging i decided to try a few cd's seeing as i dont tend to listen to cd's i havent played one for a while. well. what do you know? its still there. so my half a grand hifi is causing the problem though i cant understand why??? its been fine up untill i setup my dj equipment. do you guys think i could have damaged it with incorrect settings on my pc??

later im going to try another amp and see what happens.. if its my hifi then im going to have to work out which part. i have a feeling its the sound processor unit.

now another thing is my speaker cables. as i lost the origional speaker cables during a move i replaced them with some telephone cable. this cable has 4 single core wires inside a shielding. the sheilding around the 4 cores is quite thin. so i think ill change that cable to proper speaker cable and see what happens before i get the hifi sorted.

man im getting pissed with this now.

is it possible the four signals going to my speakers are breaking due to the 4 cores being so close together?

another thing i cant work out is why i got good sound quality from from one side of my tt's but not the other. and now with a cd i get complete distortion.

ill let you guys know how i get on..
 
rite then, ive changed the speaker cables and still got no results...soooo it looks like my hifi is buggered..gonna buy a new sound processor unit for it from ebay and see if that sorts it out. or then again i might just buy a whole other system, that way ill be able to check several componants and also have some spares for future times..

cant understand why its suddenly gone like this. maybe the technics tech support will be able to help. wonder if its still under guarentee.
 
so after yet more testing i tried another amp, which still i got the same results.. so next i thought "speakers" .. well i changed the speakers and guess what???? still the fucking same.. aaaarrggggg... what the hell is going on

so now im thinking its on the pc side of things.. but that doesnt explain the distortion on the hifi itself. now i know for a fine fact that all my equipment diddnt just break at once with the same problem...

"edit"

ive just plugged the output cable from my pc direct into the hifi and got great sound plus the radio works fine sound quality wise. so after another hour of plugging and unplugging and stressing out and forgetting where i was ive come to the conclusion its the mixer..

which i cant test cuz i dont have another one to test it with...

soo many tests and deliberation leads me to this one thing. so i suppose tomorrow ill have to go out and find another mixer. i really really hope that solves the problem. cuz im at my wits end..

AND PLEASE IF ANYONE HAS THIS SAME PROBLEM ANYTIME SOON, DONT ASK ME HOW I SOLVED IT. lol .

well ill let you guys know if the new mixer idea works... if not then im lost and might just take my entire setup down to a dj shop and say, fit that crackeling.

poor guy wouldnt know what hit him..lol. especially after what ive just been through.. and still am going through..
 
ok so i got my new mixer, its a gemini ps-676, and guess what????

STILL THE SAME

so after more testing and plugging and unplugging,ive come to the conclusion its the 3/4 output on the sound card.. ive tried all sorts of settings and havent managed to solve it so it looks like im going to have to send it back and get a new one..
 
Blulite wrote :
ok so i got my new mixer, its a gemini ps-676, and guess what????

STILL THE SAME

so after more testing and plugging and unplugging,ive come to the conclusion its the 3/4 output on the sound card.. ive tried all sorts of settings and havent managed to solve it so it looks like im going to have to send it back and get a new one..


have you used this same setup with another software?
Serato or Traktor?
Does it works fine?

With the latest builts of VDJ I have had no issues with Timecodes

2 technics 1200 MK2, Serato time codes

Which tables/vinyls do you have?

What does the VDJ timecode graphic shows?
 
thanks for the reply dj p, i posted a link, up the thread a bit, showing the timecode config. i am using serato scratch timecode vinyl, with gemini tt01 turntables (belt drive) with brand new belts.

i have spoken to chad at ESI tech support and he suggested plugging headphones into the card to see if i get the same result. well i dont get the crackeling when i play a track in WMP but i do when im using vdj, so the problem must lie somewhere between the vinyl and vdj.

its not the mixer as i only got that yesterday. ive tried new needles and different carts. put on new drive belts. and my leads although cheap things seem to work ok. i do have 1 good decent lead that i know works 100% since its off my living room entertainment setup.

this lead gets the same result although the distortion is slightly less.

another conclusion then is the timecodes are propper effed. i did purchase them 2nd hand so chances are they are screwed. cant afford no more for a week or so though.

i was thinking of sending my card to chad for tests on his setup just to rule that out. it will only cost a few quid to send and will be worth it for piece of mind.

oh and i plan to grab some regular vinyl to test the tone arms.
 
guys does anyone have any ideas at all???????????

this is doing my head in now. it keeps going and i think i fixed it but it just returns and i dont know why. someone must have an idea of some sort that i haven tried...

anyone??
 
Hi mate.

Sorry been traveling back to Saudi.

I think you are so wound up by this that your loosing track a little.

From what I have read you have eliminated the decks, mixer and hifi from this issue. They are of course all working in the analog world. The fault you are describing would seem to be comming from the computer/sound card side of things. Try working from a (keep it simple,stupid) angle.

Unplug everything and just have the computer and soundcard connected. Use a pair of headphones and go through each output on the sound card while playing a track normaly in VDJ. Is the fault stil there?

If yes then we are looking at the soundcard/computer side.

If no then add each bit of kit, one at a time and test untill the fault comes back. Take some time to list the order you do things so you dont get lost in the process.

As always let us know.

Daz
 
thanks for your reply daz, as it happens i have tried your suggestions already. i have even removed the maya from my pc and put it in another one. the result was quite surprising but a relief all the same. the sound card is effed. i moved it to another pc and still the prolem remained. i spoke to chad at esi tech support again today and he said i was welcome to send it down to him for further tests if i chose too.

however the seller i purchased it from has offered me a full refund or replacement. i think im going to go for the refund and buy a card from the uk so if i have any problems it wont take too long to get a replacement. plus i just found out the maya44 pci is discontinued due to the release of the maya44 pcie. so i think i should get the future proof pcie instead although it does cost more.

its just my luck that i should get a faulty card. ive been waiting sooo long to get one and when i finally do, its faulty.

there is one good thing that come of this, i got a new mixer for free and gained a fiver on top.. i traded in my numark dm1050 and paid an extra fiver for a stanton. when i tested it the stanton was faulty so i took it back and got my money refunded. so i had a mooch around and managed to get a gemini ps-676 pro 2 for £25 all working. so i gained a better mixer and a fiver. actually more in a way as the dm1050 only costme £10 in the first place and i got £30 trade in price. not bad if i do say so myself. lol.
 
Wow, very time consuming and mind boggling. Hope you get things fixed. I know i enjoyed reading this lol. im sorry, it really is kinda funny...
 
mate its took more than a week to find out what it was.lol. now i remember why i minimilised my living room system....

i did get a few new bits and pieces that i was holding out on for a bit though. but ive waited like 10 month to be able to get my soundcard...now look whats happened. im praying the next one i get will be good to go. youd be very sirprised as to how many times i kicked the dog trying to get this sorted. (not really i dont own a dog but you get my point)..
 
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