Agreed ......

Dont wanna have to go back to FS .. the mere thought makes me wanna puke.

How if FS2 working for you ... is it trutworthy to take on the road with no backup ?

s42000, well, I havent tested it thoroughly, but I am really baffled. They _did_ their homework!
* Scratching sound great, from my subjective perceiption I would say they sound even better than with SSL. Slow scratches sound better, and the signal is much more cleaner than with SSL.
* Power Off sounds better than with SSL.
* Pitch stability etc. will be tested later, right now the pitch goes a little up and down, due to the record holes which are not centered correctly.
* Tracking is really good! I cant make FS2 to loose its tracking while fast forward/back cueing.
* CPU usage is ok.
* Installation went ok (cant believe it :) )
* Key Lock still sounds not good. Esp if you scratch. SSL should have a function so that the key lock does not apply to scratches. Also you hear audible artifacts, whoever says key lock sounds great on FS1/2 should visit a doctor and check his ears :D
* I had one crash after five minute, after that nothing.
* After using SSL, I gotta say FS has an awkward GUI, though I really like the large overviews (hint!), plus it has a much better "allready played list" compared to SSL.

These are just my first impression.

Anway, back to my primary two suggestions... Anyone else?

about 1st point, i totally agree. i am not really sure what is the reason why SSL loose tracking when backspinning insanely fast... as you said, the zoomed partial view cant keep up.

is it due to lack of computer power? or is it a SSL issue?

about 2nd point, i have not tryed FS2...

Thats what I thought as first too, but its not due to computer power. I run FS2 and SSL on the same machine, and SSL cant keep up, while FS can. Hell, I got FS2 and SSL running at the _same_ time, and FS2 does not break while you backcue.

mmm interesting...

Seems like they went overtime ... and are closing the gap .. scary man. At the moment (even though still devoid of many necessary features) SSL does it for me due to

1*Stability (Though FS may be about 2 yrs closer now)
2*Support (Don't think FS will ever get there)
3*GUI

btw, Mixvibes DVS aint that bad. I had a glance over the weekend and was impressed.

nik you're taking about gui slowdowns right?

as for sound quality, i tried the sine wave test (440); i maybe heard a couple pops using my old worn v1 record; using v2, i didn't much of anything maybe a pop or so but it wasn't any different than one the music was playing at 0. btw a sine wave isn't really a valid test in my book because it's not music.

No, sound cuts off if you backcue like its hot... backcue like its hot.


It is music I think. ;-) Anyway, no need to agree here, but using a sine wav gives an idea how good and clean the audio reproduction is. As said before I have very funny results, I get all kinds of "phantom" sine signals at various frequencies. This does not apply to cd... UNTIL it gets to the 8 minute mark, then you get the same phontom sine signals. This does sound like a bug.

Also, I have ABX'ed a recording in internal mode vs in absolute mode, and with pretty good accuracy I can tell which sounds good (internal mode) and which not.

I was just thinking that the POPS were getting a bit more noticeable and much more prominent. I have noticed that my control vynal is getting much more play than any other record I own!!! Like HOURS more logged time than ANY OTHER RECORD, even the favorites and classics!!! I swapped back to regualar vynal and played an old set. I noticed how rich it sounded and NO POPS. I try my best to keep the control vynal clean but, when you play, play and play it some more it's getting dirty regardless, and thus the POPS are being created? Is the digital domain being thwarted by dirt build-up?

Nik - is you FS2 still pretty fresh and will it soon to be ailed by POPS on the over used, never leave the table abuse? Time will tell.

Didnt get what you were trying to say :(
BTW, I have tested it with the old FS records I own for about 2 years... So they have been abused allready, if that is waht you mean ;)
And I have still fresh unused SSL vinyls and I still experience little drops and bad sound quality (relatively bad... better than FS1 but worse than FS2, I would say). Plus, the issues I am talking about also happen with clean clean aka CD-sourced control signal, after a certain point (Read above).

I feel you man ... those records dont last long, they seem to be taking a lot of beating song after song after song and just cave in at some point particularly the 1st minute. I almost have about 30 of these things so far.

A new vinyl technology for digital/vinyl needs to crop up soon or the suggested methods here for two tracks a side ...

Damn...... Sorry if I worded it a bit funny, but you covered my question none-the-less. This really sucks then... I'm gett'n bummed out.

One thing I liked about the FS2 scratch amp was the passive power - makes sticking it in the setup at a gig while someone else is playing real easy.

Power downs were probably better as well - I would agree, SSL cuts to zero noise much quicker on sensible dB settings.

All that being said though - FS2 didn't work for shit for me in real play. I never did any sine wave tests or anything, but FS2 made really intrusive crackles, pops, glitches and stutters - that destroyed the audio. Absolutely drove me up the wall. It was driving me insane and I tried everything to sort it out. On the same laptop with the same audio files SSL audio output is rich, impressive and I cannot recall ever having any pops or crackles whatsoever - it sounds crisp. Smooth and in the groove with absolute clarity.

As for backspins - When I first tried FS2 I was impressed. However after the problems I describe above I took it back and got SSL. Likewise the backspins impressed me. It is possible to make the backspins on SSL drop - but then it is the kind of speed of backspin that regulaer vinyl cannot cope with properly either.

Of course any improvements will be great - I'm all for better. And there's always room for improvement.

The 'review' section should be improved - a colum with a little tick or something when a track has been played and maybe a different symbol if it has been put on the deck but not played would be good - like in FS.

Crates can be improved in both structure (subcrates) and stability - see other threads.

c-j, thanks for your input. Just some comments on some statements:


Hm, I have resolved those tiny little crackles I had with SSL. I might also had this crackles on FS2 with the older configuration, right now it works. Its just a short shot I had, didnt have time yet to do some exhaustive test. Might be that FS2 is not stable yet (... I bet ;) ) but I want the best of both worlds :)


If FS2 can track it properly this means that the vinyl _can_ cope with it as the vinyl controls FS2's output :) Sounds logical, or?

Yes you are right on the backspins....I thought about it logically and you are right. There have been backspins I have done that have raised my eyebrows and not impressed me because of drops.

SSL backspins could track better - when it drops I have tried to just equate it in my mind to one of those manic backspins on regular vinyl where the needle jumps and you get drops thru skating.

I think that's a bit generous.

I'm with you - tracking could be better in this respect.

Backcueing has been improved with the latest version, still cuts out sometimes, but it is much better than before, happens only in rare cases.

nik, do you notice that the backcueing is a lot better with the waveform zoomed fully in?

Thats what I said :-) It is better, but its still not perfect or as good as in Final Scratch 2, it happens from time to time that it still drops the sound in SSL while backcueing fast.

No, I meant do you find that when you zoom out the backcueing gets worse. On my setup I find that if I zoom fully in it's almost perfect, if I zoom fully out it's quite easy to make the system drop out.

Hm, you mean, the zoom setting has an effect on whether the sound cuts out or not? I mean audible cut out, not graphical cut out.

I'm on the brink of moving to FS for the simple pleasure of being able to choose "library mode" over "crate mode". I'm tired of having 200+ crates (40 gigs of music) to scroll through. And then when I get new tracks, I have to load it to the laptop, then import them one at a time to the correct crates. Just make it identical to a windows directory with synchronized updates for new files and be done with it, and I'll be a happy camper.

Have you tried using iTunes with SSL, Reverend?

yes, iTunes can save you a lot of work. you only have to build several smart playlist and reimport the whole collection everytime you add new tracks to your collection instead importing them one at a time to the correct crates.

anyways, i agree a better crate handling mode is a must for future versions.

BTW, this is a bit offtopic, isnt it?? :P

:) You will be back due to other problems ...

SSL's search feature is fantastic for searching. Click on 'ALL' highlight artist or song name and type (full library inquiry).... can't get much better or faster than that. Have a 80's crate, click on that and you're doing a sub-search within indiviual crates, again by artist or song name - whichever you've selected. As your digital library grows, I'm not sure how anyone can remeber 10's of thousands of titles, and diverifying your crates just makes your initail sorting more critical. You are essentially becomg a DBA (database administrator) - I'm sure you didn't think of it like that, but if you're gonna start to bitch about having such a collection, just remember how big your trailer full of records would be hull at your next gig!!!

iTunes might be ideal for you.


It is on the to do list for SSL has been said on this board.

why don't u just set up ur own filing system on the hd, put ur tunes where u like, then u can easily update crates by dragging them/files/folders into the crate window and erasing the old one.

I was up for subcrates, but not bothered now really, it's so easy to create crates as long as you have a decent hd filing system for the mp3s. I use my hd as my main music library organiser, and drag folders over as crates as you please.

In other words u don't need 200+ crates, you just drag over what u need when u need it and erase as u like too....like setting up real record boxes from ur collection of real vinyl.

c-j, that sounds like a lot of work.

utterly - it's dope - man I can come up with tunes and have em on the dex like lightning now...requests and all sorts...no digging around. The search function is fantastic

Also - goin back to my posts above. When setting up ur crates sysstem drag ur entire music folder over from the hd so u have it as a crate - then if u search it u will always find whatever u want, if u have it :)

It can... simply press "CTRL+F" and there ya go ;) No need to switch to the all crate.

Hm, anyone still recognozing any similar probs?