Hi chaka.
The power adapter is to help in case your laptop's USB ports aren't supplying enough power to the unit. But is also used to allow the VCI to be on when playing an external source.

As for swapping out Laptops, you still need to break the ScratchLIVE unit's internal output source. ie. go to a CD, or record or ipod while you change laptops. Same applies to the VCI, similar limitations apply.

You can switch to THRU on the back of the unit while it's powered and play an external source (ie. ipod) to make a transition if needed, so have a play around to see how the transition would work for you.

Thats the problem matt - you can't do this seamlessly

On the SL you can - meaning you can have the unit powered with a PS, remove the USB - the through contines to work until you reconnect the usb to another laptop

It doesnt work on the VCI-300. If you are running on external power - as soon as you disconnect the USB - the entire VCI-300 controller freezes rendering it useless - even for the throughs.

Basically what im looking for here is to be able to use external power and be able to use the VCI-300 with a through/external audio source so i can enough time to switch laptops via USB - with the Unit freezing completely up after simply disconnecting USB, this makes an interuption in your set inevitable.

Another use for this would be if your Itch locked up and you needed to reboot your laptop - in this senario - you would want the option to be able to run the through with an external audio device while your laptop is rebooting - but once again- if the USB is disconnected from the unit while on external power - the entire VCI-300 freezes

This sounds like a simple firmware fix - i have also sent this to Charlie at Vestax

I guess with the SL, you are using a mixer, and that is what you will be using with a CD player or turntable, so if you were using a normal club setup this wouldn't be a problem with the VCI, and I guess chances are the majority of users will fall into this category. The times that you'd run straight to an amp with no DJ mixer would be smaller house parties and bar work I guess.

But you can use the THRU on the back when using an external power supply to transition, it's not as good as another channel, but for a small transition, it will do the trick with a filler track or you are a bit anxious about their computer failing at some point. The only problem will be a very slight click when switching over from PC to THRU, but it should work ok, just used it now.

So what happens to your VCI-300 when you disconnect the USB from your laptop?

Mine freezes

If you don't have it set to 'adapter' power, or the THRU switch, the unit still thinks you are trying to use the computer for either power, music source, or both. So get it set to power by adapter.

What I do is to get the ipod ready, play it, fade out the ITCH track, then fade in or drop the ipod track, then switch the back of the unit to 'THRU' (small slight glitch), then unplug the USB cable. You can then plug the USB cable into the new computer, and then switch back to 'PC' on the back, then mix the next track when you need to.

Have a play around.

Ok,

Im going to film it for you - i have the unit set to "adaptor" of course. Have you tried to disconnect the USB from you machine while the power is set to Adaptor?

Try it - your VCI-300 will freeeze up

I will film this and post it here so you can see what im talking about

Hi Matt,

So here is a video showing you what i'm talking about

Watchwww.youtube.com

I also spoke to Charlie at Vestax and he believes this is something you guys can fix with a software upgrade. Bottom line - the unit should never freeze from simply unplugging the USB when plugged into 9 V power.

Hi chaka,
I reproduced your problem with my VCI300 this morning. It seems like the some part of the VCI300 does not reset itself until either the thru switch is turned back to PC or the power is cycled. From what I can see this seems like a firmware bug rather than a software bug (unfortunately, software is quicker/easier to fix), I'll talk to Vestax and see if we can make a fix for this :)

In the meantime, try this sequence of actions - it worked for me:
1. Switch to thru
2. Quit ITCH
3. Unplug USB
4. Pretend your computer is a different computer :P
5. Replug the VCI300
6. Restart ITCH (you can probably switch steps 5 & 6 with no problems)
7. Get set up and switch back from THRU to PC

Cool - will try it tonight. Thanks for the reply - much appreciated

I actually have 4 laptops to test this with. Will try this on them