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Distorted noise when playing the time-coded vinyls!
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Distorted noise when playing the time-coded vinyls!

Product
Scratch Live
Version
1.9.2
Hardware
Rane SL1
Computer
PC
OS
Platform
-
mhietala 9:38 AM - 4 March, 2010
Product: scratchlive
Version: 1.9.2
Hardware: scratchlive-sl1
Computer: pc
OS Version: vista
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Ok, so I have been DJing for about a year now and decided to purchase the SL1 from a good friend who has switched to only playing vinyls.

I set it up a few days ago, and right away got a very distorted sound, a problem which I have seen here in the forum.

I am using two Technics 1200s with a Ecler Hak 360 mixer and fairly new Ortofon Concorde Scratch needles.

I have a Toshiba PC bought last year with 4GB RAM and in great condition. Music files are mostly 320kbps and in mp3 format.

What should I do, I am now thinking it is a problem with maybe an old driver that I installed for the USB controller through the install CD??

Help please!
Laz219 1:47 PM - 4 March, 2010
Are you using the phono inputs on the mixer?

If so you shouldn't be, the signal out of SSL is Line Level and should only be connected to line level inputs.
mhietala 4:02 PM - 4 March, 2010
Yes I have the phono going to thru and the lines 1 and 2 going to line.

I cleaned my needles today and got a bit of a better result...

Could it maybe be the vinyls, if my friend had them for 1 and a half years before.

I also turned down the master gains on both the serato screen and on my mixer, that helped a bit too. Now I am getting mostly distortion with the bass.
Rane, Support
RafaelM 7:15 PM - 4 March, 2010
Dirty old and worn needles and Vinyl can cause different issues like this. What kind of readings are you getting in the calibration screens? Is it 100% or close to it? And are you getting circles?
mhietala 8:35 PM - 4 March, 2010
If i use the edges of the vinyl, which i havent cleaned yet and are rather dusty i get readings that vary a lot and very quickly from 70-100. I am getting circles, but it is more like 2 or 3 circles overlapping. This is normal right, and how small should the green lines be? Mine are a bit fuzzy (quite thick also)...
Rane, Support
RafaelM 9:27 PM - 4 March, 2010
Yes thats how the circles should look. They can be different sizes it all depends on the output of the control source.

Sounds like you may just need new records -- possibly needles.
Laz219 11:53 PM - 4 March, 2010
Definitely does sound like worn records, the edge will usually be the first to go because it gets the most use.
mhietala 5:49 PM - 5 March, 2010
ok, yea when i use the center of the records I get 95-100 percent but there is still distortion, and quite a lot... Cleaned the needles and it helped a bit, but not enough??? reccomendations???
Rane, Support
RafaelM 6:24 PM - 5 March, 2010
Set the decks in the program to INT mode. Then play some songs - do they sound normal?
mhietala 3:32 PM - 6 March, 2010
Ok, tried putting the decks in INT mode, same distortion... However, today when i was testing certain songs, I found one that works well with the decks, it is in .mp3 format like all the other songs I tried so I am quite confused. It seemed to have a "softer" overall tone, as the bar on the serato screen that shows the song progress was green and blue most of the song. It still had quite a lot of bass (dubstep).

Maybe my soundcard cannot handle the output??

What are people thinking about this?
Laz219 10:35 PM - 6 March, 2010
The SL-1 is your souncard, it has nothing to do with your internal soundcard.

Where are you getting your mp3 files from and what bitrate are they encoded at?
mhietala 11:31 PM - 6 March, 2010
Ok. mp3 files are from my internal hard-drive and most are 204-320 kbps....
mhietala 8:04 PM - 7 March, 2010
Any ideas people?? Still not working, could it have something to do with my mixer?
Rane, Support
RafaelM 5:52 PM - 8 March, 2010
Could be the mixer - do you have another you could try? Are you trying both decks in INT mode or just one deck? What type of processors does this computer have? Are they AMD?
mhietala 6:35 PM - 8 March, 2010
I can try another mixer at some point, but not for a while... I tried both decks in INT mode and nothing changed, same distortion in the sound, tried a bunch of songs, I have dual Intel Pentium T3400 (@2,16 Ghz). What should I try next, I think now I will check my other usb ports...
Rane, Support
RafaelM 7:20 PM - 8 March, 2010
Yes check the other USB ports. Also try other file formats - see if the ones which distort have something else in common.
mhietala 8:17 PM - 9 March, 2010
Damn, its my mixer. I asked the guy i purchased it from and he said the line-ins are blown, he mentioned this when i bought it but i had forgot. Fuck!

Well, gotta spend another few hundred euros to get this fixed...

I'm gonna ask a friend to borrow a mixer to make sure the SL1 is working, im sure it is.
Rane, Support
RafaelM 8:54 PM - 9 March, 2010
Sounds good. Let us know
1:21 AM, 2 Aug 2010
This help request has been closed due to inactivity.