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1ms audio dropouts
A read-only archive of old serato.com help threads.

1ms audio dropouts

Product
Serato DJ Pro
Version
1.6.0
Hardware
Rane SL4
Computer
Mac
OS
Platform
-
hmastet 4:48 AM - 6 February, 2014
Audio dropouts occur at 1ms randomly, audible as clicks in output.

Audio dropouts occur when nothing is happening (no audio loaded into decks, no inputs touched whatsoever)

Audio dropouts also occur if NO AUDIO is loaded onto deck and the input is randomly getting control signal
(e.g. scratching with no audio loaded onto deck.)

Mac specs

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.68f99
Serial Number (system): C2QFN537DH2G
Hardware UUID: F373B499-D067-5DF9-971E-53EAACF1ABE8
hmastet 5:44 AM - 6 February, 2014
I have appeared to have found the culprit although not a solution - SL4 when set to 96khz causes dropouts while 48khz is fine.

Can someone please confirm this.
hmastet 5:57 AM - 6 February, 2014
Also changing the buffer settings in the System Preferences page in seems to have solved the dropout problem however latency suffers.

Can I get an explanation of how the internal Serato DJ and the external system preferences Buffer Settings interact with each other?
hmastet 6:00 AM - 6 February, 2014
Apologies for the post I am experimenting and updating my findings

My final settings are

SL4 @ 48kHZ
SL4 System Preferences Latency @ 2ms (1ms causes massive dropouts)
SDJ Latency at 1ms

It has been fine for the last 30 minutes. can we get an explanation please?
longuich 2:08 PM - 7 February, 2014
I've been battling with latency issues as well. I cannot wrap my head around dual latency settings and how they interact. Some kind of explanation (in the SL quickstart guides) would be VERY welcome. DJ is almost worthless without the direct feel scratch live has. It feels like i'm back fighting with Torq..
Konix 4:45 PM - 7 February, 2014
Rane recommends setting the device panel driver to 8ms, then put the SDJ buffer slider to whatever you want (e.g. 1ms).

See, serato.com
longuich 6:07 PM - 7 February, 2014
8ms ? Is that a "safe for even the oldest systems" setting? I think my cat eats its food quicker than that.

Anyway. Tried that and it doesn't even come close to how SSL responded. fiddling with the settings has made dj somewhat usable. But DJ is really very sluggish compared to SSL. I can't think of a way to quantify its latency but there is a definite delay.
hmastet 6:17 PM - 7 February, 2014
I tried the 8ms thing. Didn't work with internal 1ms setting - still got the telltale clicks and pops coming through. 2ms feels like wading through honey or molasses.
hmastet 6:20 PM - 7 February, 2014
Whereas in comparison a properly calibrated deck with 1ms in SSL feels almost like it should
djcrap 6:31 PM - 7 February, 2014
Quote:
Whereas in comparison a properly calibrated deck with 1ms in SSL feels almost like it should


Have a read through this thread it will shade some light onto some un answered questions

serato.com
longuich 8:10 PM - 7 February, 2014
Thanks man. You were actually quite helpful and I think I'm on track. 4ms system/2ms sdj seems to work for me.

hmastet: serato.com is a nice scheme to fiddle with.
hmastet 5:08 AM - 8 February, 2014
Can't get click free performance at either 4/2 or 8/1 or 8/2. It's not an obvious drop out, nothing set crashing - sounds like dust on records more than anything.

However 1ms on SSL is still perfect - can I get some information on what the total roundtrip latency 1ms on SSL equates to and see if I can get that to translate across to the new SDJ?
hmastet 7:34 AM - 8 February, 2014
New Update

After many trial and error attempts I have managed to get 2ms SDJ and 1ms CoreAudio control panel and it's rock solid so far.

However I can't get 1ms SDJ and 2ms CoreAudio.

Can anyone shed some light on why the application itself won't allow for 1ms operation on lower end MacBooks?

And can someone link or reply to the equivalent SSL round trip latencies on 2ms and 1ms including SL3 and 4 delay?
hmastet 7:37 AM - 8 February, 2014
Sorry, 2ms/2ms is the setting.
longuich 10:56 AM - 8 February, 2014
There is a definite difference in sound between SSL and SDJ. I can't really put my finger on WHAT the difference is. As I understand it the SDJ latency is app to system latency. The system pref latency is sys to hardware. So that might account for the why 1/4 works but 4/1 doesn't.

I'm on an SL3.
1ms SDJ settings give me pops as well. On both newer and older macs. on both mavericks as well as ML.

System vs SDJ I can go to 3/2 or even 2/2 without pops. But the sound quality is awful. And there doesn't seem to be much difference in the feel between the lower latency settings. 4/2 seems to work for me on mavericks. If there's any difference on a mountain lion machine i'll jot that in here later.
hmastet 11:08 AM - 8 February, 2014
SSL used serato audio research proprietary drivers, SDJ uses core audio/audio drivers depending on OS. That is the only way I can account for difference in sound all other things being equal.

I am holding quite well on 2/2 as of now although that last paragraph you wrote explains a lot.

But I'd still need to know what the original SSL 1ms slider represented
longuich 12:25 PM - 8 February, 2014
on a newer machine (2011 i7 ML) I can easily run system @ 3ms and serato @ 1ms. Soundquality is fine with an occasional crackle. 4/1 runs fine without any crackles or pops. Haven't tried with any fx or sp6 tho. just running a track on the first deck and scratching on deck2. response is tight.
hmastet 12:37 PM - 8 February, 2014
I can get the system down to 2 but I definitely can't get 1ms in sdj. I guess I miss the technology bus this one. Will need to find a 2011 mbp
longuich 12:42 PM - 8 February, 2014
can't say that I'm happy with the fiddle-factor versus SSL's extremely tight PlugnGo. But at least it isn't as bad as my initial experience. I'll keep SSL around for a while.
hmastet 9:58 PM - 8 February, 2014
SDJ is going the way of traktor. That's just how tech progresses
hmastet 1:07 AM - 9 February, 2014
Unfortunately try as I might I can't get SDJ to feel like SSL in terms of personal subjective responsiveness.

I need to know what the round trip time for SSL with 1ms and then try and get that on SDJ otherwise it's back to SSL for me :(
nik39 12:20 AM - 10 February, 2014
Round trip for SSL at 1ms is around 8ms.
hmastet 12:26 AM - 10 February, 2014
Brilliant. So my sdj settings are faster than my SSL settings. No wonder why the scratch timings felt off
nik39 12:29 AM - 10 February, 2014
Almost. You have to add about 3ms for the latency caused by the devil itself. So at 4/2 you'll have a round-trip latency of about 4+2+3=9ms.
hmastet 12:30 AM - 10 February, 2014
Actually I got it steady at 2/2
hmastet 12:36 AM - 10 February, 2014
Wouldn't it be 2/2/sl4? Is the sl4 latency of 1.7 something one way or two ways?

And for gods sake if the old drivers were tighter why did rane decide to go ASIO/CA?
nik39 12:38 AM - 10 February, 2014
Yes, 2/2/sl4. I can't recall the exact latency for the SL4.
hmastet 1:31 AM - 10 February, 2014
In the above thread sl3 latency was 1.79 or something. Was that one way or both ways?
nik39 1:32 AM - 10 February, 2014
Roundtrip.
hmastet 1:34 AM - 10 February, 2014
So 2 + 2 + 1.27. Yeaaaaaaaaaah. Back to practice and less with worrying.
nik39 1:35 AM - 10 February, 2014
:)
Serato, Support
Sam GG 8:46 PM - 10 February, 2014
Hey Guys,

It looks like you have sorted out your buffer settings. The thread that was linked above with posts by Roy at Rane is a great read for understanding buffer size configurations, I highly recommend reading it: serato.com

Kind Regards,

Sam
hmastet 8:48 PM - 10 February, 2014
Yes it has. I will mark it as fixed. Before I do so is there any reason why the previous proprietary drivers were dropped in favour of the core audio/ASIO ones for be sl interfaces?
gfella 10:21 PM - 10 February, 2014
@hmastet
SSL serato driver= SSL only, no other programms could use the SL2/3/4 and Rane mixers while SSL is open.

SDJ= Rane driver, so other programms have access to the device while SDJ is open, atleast in OSX.
hmastet 10:27 PM - 10 February, 2014
Fair enough