File analysis doesn't stick

djmt99 10:13 PM - 5 February, 2014

This issue isn't particularly a hardware issue, but there is no software "Get Help", so this will have to do. Please move to a more appropriate area, if necessary.

When I drag my library, which has already been analyzed, into Serato DJ (1.5.2 and 1.6), the track length does not appear. When I reanalyze, it does show up, however when I delete the _serato_ folder, the information disappears. It does not populate when I initially drag the files (or playlists as crates), nor does it repopulate when I Rescan Tags.

HOWEVER...

When I fire up Scratch Live (2.5.0) said information appears when I initially drag the SAME files into the library -or- if I Rescan Tags if I've already built the library in Serato DJ.

I started a thread in the Serato DJ General Discussion forum, however there have been no replies in over a week.
Thread: serato.com

Since I've started that thread, I've done some SERIOUS troubleshooting and believe I have found the issue to be related to Serato DJ and the rebuilding of the _Serato_ folder (probably the databaseV2 file)

I've indicated that this happens on a Windows 7 machine, but it also happens on Windows 8 AND Mac OSX 10.6.8.

While this may not be an issue for many, it is for me. I use an external drive (although for all of my troubleshooting, I used the same 25 files, located on a local drive on whatever computer that I was testing with) and also use multiple Serato-enabled products. Depending on my set-up I'm always using Scratch Live or Serato DJ, so the 2 need to be consistent with each other.

R_D_Cline 10:28 PM - 5 February, 2014

so... you are using an ext HDD. are you sharing that ext HDD between all 3 comuters you are using? also you know that not all HDDs are compatible with Mac? If you have the wrong format of HDD then your Mac will use those files as "Read Only" and will not write cue points or any other info you try to save. i am just kind of thing out loud... are you using itunes to manage your playlists in SSL and SDJ? Oh yeah and if in serato programs you have the "protect library" option checked you can not make changes or add data to your files.

djmt99 10:48 PM - 5 February, 2014

Quote:

so... you are using an ext HDD.

Nope, see below...

Quote:

I use an external drive (although for all of my troubleshooting I used a local drive on whatever computer that I was testing with)

Even though I'm confident it's not related, since I'm using test files on a local drive, I am aware of NTFS issues on Mac's. My drives are exFat formatted, and I've never had an issue. This all started when I recently switched to Serato DJ from Itch 1.5. (Hey, 1.5 was the most solid Itch I've ever run!)

I don't use iTunes, but I do use Media Monkey. MM does not touch anything Serato, and vice-versa. I export my MM playlists and drag them into Serato as crates. Again, I don't think that this is an issue because analysis info doesn't stick no matter if I drag files, folders or playlists into the library.

Protect Library is un-checked.

R_D_Cline 11:00 PM - 5 February, 2014

Yeah, no like i said thinking out loud.... trying to help.

R_D_Cline 11:20 PM - 5 February, 2014

So you are dragging files or folders from MM correct? Is that from the ext HDD that you would be dragging them from?

djmt99 1:02 AM - 6 February, 2014

For the sake of ruling it out, pretend like I never said I'm using an external drive. Haha.

The files I'm importing into Serato DJ & Scratch Live is coming from a folder on my local drive. I have dragged the whole folder, some and all files, as well as loaded internally from the files tab.

R_D_Cline 2:06 AM - 6 February, 2014

Ok. no worries. Where I was going with all of that HDD stuff was file protection? "Read Only" is unchecked for your local drive? out of all of those machines, which one do you use the most? what are those spec on that computer? Processor type, processor speed, ram?

djmt99 2:23 AM - 6 February, 2014

Specs are listed above and in the thread that I linked. However, it's not a computer issue. It works fine with Scratch Live.

R_D_Cline 2:32 AM - 6 February, 2014

if you are talking about your general discussion link I did not see any specs there. My gear works with itch but I was not able to use SDJ after 1.3 because I had an ADM processor. i am at a loss with your issue. hope a rep can help you out.

djmt99 2:12 AM - 7 February, 2014

MP4 (Video) tags do NOT rescan with this process, as I'm just finding out. Just MP3's.

For those of you that want to replicate this:

Rename your _Serato_ folder to _Serato_old
In Serato DJ:
Drag a few MP3 tracks that you know have *already been* analyzed
You should see them in your library with an empty time/length. Do NOT re-analyze!
Close Serato DJ
In Scratch Live:
Rescan ID3 tags, and the length column should re-populate
Close Scratch Live
Re-Open Serato DJ and the length column should still be full.

djmt99 2:15 AM - 7 February, 2014

To reiterate a little on my post above, I just analyzed about 2000 video files, deleted the _Serato_ folder, and dragged the same 2000 video files back in to Serato. They all have no length/time.

The 'rescanning through Scratch Live' trick will not repopulate the length column.

Very disappointing.

R_D_Cline 5:15 PM - 7 February, 2014

Here is the first issue that i have seen almost the same as yours: serato.com

R_D_Cline 5:16 PM - 7 February, 2014

except they are using a mac

djmt99 5:21 PM - 7 February, 2014

Thanks. I did mention in my initial post that it happens on both platforms (Windows, Mac) for me. I've linked this thread in the one that you mentioned.

R_D_Cline 5:27 PM - 7 February, 2014

i thought since the rep did respond to that thread it may help you out with your issue. i want to see your issue resolved, i want to understand what is causing it and i am hoping that it is not a simple setting that we some how over looked.

djmt99 5:54 PM - 7 February, 2014

Oh I understand that. I was just pointing out that it happens to me on both platforms. I appreciate your concern. And I'm certainly as anxious as you to get this resolved. Unfortunately, as a troubleshooter and a techie, I'm confident that this isn't a setting issue. And if it is, it's hidden and shouldn't even be an option. LOL

If you want to try it, I think you can still run Serato DJ on an AMD processor. Unless things have changed, it's the hardware that isn't compatible with the processor. My work laptop used to be AMD and I did a lot of crate preparation on it. Follow the steps I provided a few posts up ^^^

R_D_Cline 6:09 PM - 7 February, 2014

Yeah. I still have my my HDD that i had in my AMD computer which was running windows 8 and now the HDD is installed into a toshiba intel duo. sadly it was an HP and so it had motherboard issues. i reflowed the motherboard like 4 times and the last time the mother board went out i said enough a bought a new back up computer. the toshiba is now a surf the internet computer.

David Wood 10:32 PM - 9 February, 2014

Hey djmt99,

Thanks for getting in touch. I'll do my best to help you out.

Quote:

When I drag my library, which has already been analyzed, into Serato DJ (1.5.2 and 1.6), the track length does not appear. When I reanalyze, it does show up, however when I delete the _serato_ folder, the information disappears. It does not populate when I initially drag the files (or playlists as crates), nor does it repopulate when I Rescan Tags.

Is the issue here that when you are not seeing your track lengths show up in Serato DJ after deleting your _Serato_ folder? I've read the whole thread but i'm a little confused to exactly the issue. If you reanalyse your music in Serato DJ does these tags reappear?

Regards
Dave W

djmt99 7:15 AM - 10 February, 2014

Quote:

Is the issue here that when you are not seeing your track lengths show up in Serato DJ after deleting your _Serato_ folder? I've read the whole thread but i'm a little confused to exactly the issue. If you reanalyse your music in Serato DJ does these tags reappear?

Hi Dave. Call me Joe.

The issue is indeed that track length is not showing upon a fresh library rebuild. See my post from 2/6 @ 9:12. The tags do reappear when I reanalyse, but that's not the point, and frankly, I shouldn't have to reanalyse thousands of tracks everytime I rebuild the library, which is several times throughout the year.

As I indicated, this ONLY happens in SDJ, and not Scratch Live. As I also said, when I rescan the tags in Scratch Live, all of the blank info repopulates.

Try this on your end and see what happens. I have it happening on 3 of my own machines here (2x pc, 1x mac) as well so 2 other djs using mac.

David Wood 8:38 PM - 10 February, 2014

Yeah there definitely is a change in the behaviour here. I've been able to reproduce this myself. I've logged it as a bug, hopefully we can bring a fix of this in a future release.
Best thing to do as a workaround for now is to go back and rescan your ID3 tags in Scratch Live and then they should all show up in Serato DJ when you reopen it.

[b]Note: We don't recommend having more that one Serato application open at any one time.. This is because they share the same Database therefore library or preference changes may not be saved on exiting.[b/]

djmt99 9:28 PM - 10 February, 2014

The work-around is what I've been doing for the past 3 weeks! I've been posting here in several threads, but no one has acknowledged the issue for whatever reason (until now, thank you).

As I noted also earlier in this thread, the work-around is great for MP3's, however for anything else (MP4, videos), SSL does not repopulate the track length. I'm not sure if that's a different bug in itself or not, because it's happening in both SSL and SDJ. Perhaps you can look into that as well?

David Wood 9:41 PM - 10 February, 2014

I'd double check that your Metadata folder is not full of that information, it maybe that those files need to be reanalysed as the tags are actually not attached to the files themselves.

I'll look into it also.

Regards
Dave W

djmt99 10:06 PM - 10 February, 2014

If I delete the _Serato_ folder, doesn't the Metadata folder disappear with it? Are you saying that MP4's handle tag info differently than an MP3? From what I've read here, MP3's store data (cue points, analyzing info) in the track itself.

David Wood 11:45 PM - 10 February, 2014

Generally yes they do store information in the ID3 tags on the MP4 file but if for whatever reason they can't (this happens a lot with .MOV files) they data can be store on .xml within the Metadata folder within your _Serato_ folder's.

djmt99 12:56 AM - 11 February, 2014

I'm no software engineer, but this doesn't sound like a reasonable process, in the event the entire database needs to be moved or rebuilt. Reanalyzing thousands of music tracks is time consuming; video tracks take nearly twice as long. Definitely make sure that the MP4/video is looked at. Please keep this thread up to speed.

DJ Yaitanis 3:25 PM - 14 February, 2014

is there anything new on this, the only way i can get song length to show up is to play the song, you don't have to play the entire song just the beginning. Song length shows up then. I would hate to have to go to every song and play them briefly.

Using Serato DJ, Itch and Scratch on Retina Mac with Mavericks 10.9.1.

djmt99 6:20 PM - 14 February, 2014

Hi Yaitanis. I've found that if you rescan (under the files tab) in Scratch Live, the track length will reappear and "stick" when you close and reopen Serato DJ. It's just a workaround until the issue is solved.

DJ Yaitanis 1:26 AM - 17 February, 2014

djm

Quote:

Hi Yaitanis. I've found that if you rescan (under the files tab) in Scratch Live, the track length will reappear and "stick" when you close and reopen Serato DJ. It's just a workaround until the issue is solved.

This is what I did I grabbed all files and copied them to the Analyze Files button which caused a reanalyze but its sticking now...

David Wood 2:09 AM - 17 February, 2014

Thanks guys, no updates yet as it has just been logged late last week.
I'll close this thread for now, but feel free to reopen the thread if you need any further assistance or have nay more questions.

Regards
Dave W

djmt99 9:35 PM - 30 June, 2014

The issue still exists in 1.6.3

David Wood 1:56 AM - 2 July, 2014

Unfortunately not, i've bumped it for you.

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