It's been a random bug for the last couple versions, I get this once in a while too ... i48.photobucket.com

Yeah thats the one. -> www.flickr.com
Konix youre always on top of stuff :D

Hey WarpNote,

I'm pretty sure (I'll double check) the cause for this bug was fixed in 2.0 however the symptom is not i.e - Scratch Live won't make any new black tracks but it won't 'un-black' a track, so like you have been doing you will have to change the label colour yourself to fix it. Part of the bug is that the label colour for a track can be shown as a different colour or just the normal grey. If you find tracks that cause the blackout then either make the label grey (even if it already is) or make it a different colour then grey again.

Cheers :)

Thanks for clearing up Logan!

No problem I'll close this thread now but if you are still having problems and that doesn't fix it let me know and we'll sort it out :)

Id like to revisit this bug report, it is STILL in 2.3.3. and every version since 2.0.
Happens either using SL1, SL3, SL4 or Sixty Eight.
With the recent thu display, I believe the bug is more severe now...

I get this at least 5 times during 2 hour practice and probably a few times each gig these days.

Hey WarpNote,

Do you think that Scratch Live is causing this to happen to new tracks? Or is it just perhaps that this already happened to these files in an earlier Scratch Live version?

We don't see this bug too often any more to be honest but if you feel like it's 'blackening' new tracks in 2.3.3 then we'll look into it.

Cheers :)

It happens to both new and old tracks.
And it happens more often in 2.3.3 than it the previous versions.

Interesting I haven't heard this happening for a while, perhaps it's come back. Are you able to upload a file or two that you are sure have been 'blackened' by 2.3.3?

Does the workaround (above) still work for these tracks?

Workaround still works.

Just to explain my way of working,
I use the color codes for "general purpose genre tagging"
Hip-Hop & Funk: Red
Pop: Light Blue
Rock: Dark Blue (the harder, the darker color)
House: Dark Pink/Purple
Electronic & Indie Electronic: Green
Classic 60s R&B & Soul: Orange
Contemporary R&B: Pink
Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady: Yellow
etc.
Actually its a little more involved, but that's my main approach. I play a lot of different genres, have a large SSL library, so I also do my genre tags meticulously.. eg a soul track can be genre tagged something like: "R&B, Northern Soul, Uptown Soul, Motown, Girl Groups". This works wonders with the smart crates :D

So basically, all my tracks have color codes.
It's only after the track is actually loaded to a deck, that it "turns black".
At that point of loading the little dot will revert to white, and will show black on the virtual deck. Obviously I like to see the time & pitch info on the virtual deck, so I quickly click the little dot and choose my color again. After that everything is sweet & dandy. However, the same track might get "blacked out" in a later session.

I will look out for next time it happens, and make sure to upload the track before adding the color again.

Also, I suspect the reason you don't hear about this bug so much, is that many dj's actually don't use this super-useful feature. At least the SSL dj's in my city.

Thanks, Warp

Also, I will try to re-analyze my whole library, i just need to find time to do this. about 70k tracks on a dual core mac 2.4 ghz will surely take some time...

Might take the backup clone external drive, analyze this on my new mbp i7, then copy back to the dual core, as long as files are 320k mp3, the overview will stay within the actual files right?

Oh yeah, I've experienced this in all releases since 2.0. It's just a little more frequent now.

I thought the cause for the bug was random? Are you saying it's directly related to color labeling the files? That would make sense I guess.

Perhaps it might be a good idea to analyze a small number of songs first just to check if it works rather than your whole library?

And yeah if you can upload one or two of the files that will be good. I'll push for this to get looked at.

Random, as in it only happens once a while, not really a pattern to reproduce.
But, still directly related to color labels imo, as I can't remember seeing it happen to a file that was never color labeled. Remember, I color all my files...

Thanks for looking into this.
All in all, this bug is no deal breaker, but can be a little annoying when quick-mixing.

Yeah it can be annoying though right.


Did you try this?

Also please upload a track that this happens with and I'll attach it to the bug thread :)

Hi Logan!
Im In the process of doing this right now.
I'm slimming down my library, crate by crate, so I basically:
1. make sure every track in crate has id3 tag V2.3 (using media rage)
2. run every track in crate through mixed in key (will probably change to "keyfinder" soon though)
3. SSL analyze every track in crate
4. run backup for music collection disk (large external disk array)
5. listen through crate, update some cues & loops, delete obsolete tracks (physical delete from disk)
6. run backup for small mirror gig disk backup.
7. repeat for next crate...

As said, its a huge library so this is a long term process. Been through about 300-400 tracks now, no "black outs" yet :)

Will keep you updated.

Okay cool let me know how you go :)

So, its been longer between the "black hole tracks"... but here is one I just found.
Using 2.4 while practicing with 68 at home, gonna use 2.4 cause of internal dj-fx with SL4. Gonna leave for gig starting in about 30 min.

Thanks WarpNote I have attached this file to the bug thread. Hope the gig went well! I'll close this thread now, the bug will get looked at. If there is any news/workaround for this then I will jump back in this thread and let you know asap :)

Just wanted report back in this thread, seen it occasionally in all SSL versions since last post, and had an instance in 24919 today > serato.com

Snapshot from 2.4.3, same thing...