Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

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 Serato DJ Pro General Discussion
Serato DJ software lag/stutter issue
Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Serato DJ software lag/stutter issue

djcaba 7:29 PM - 26 December, 2014
So my guess is that this issue is probably related to my PC specs or a possible SDJ memory leak/hog - but I could be wrong... Just wanted to see if anyone else out there is getting the same problematic symptoms....

Here's the situation: My setup consists of my Rane 61, Pioneer DDJ-SP1, and a DELL XPS 15 L502x PC laptop (note that there are no turntables connected and I am running internal mode on the left and right decks). My PC specs are well over the recommended requirements: i7 2.2 Ghz quadcore, 8GB memory, and even a Nvidia GT 540m 2GB video card - though I haven't tested serato video just yet.

Anyways, usually around an hour of playing (or 20 mins into recording), SDJ will lag/stutter. The stutter is on all audio (both decks) and causes the soundwaves to move really slow. Although hardware response is still on point from the Rane 61 and DDJ-SP1, the SDJ software seems to hog up plenty of memory. I've tried ejecting a track and loading a new one - but this does not fix the issue since the lag/stutter still persists within the software. I'm aware of the crash reporting in the SDJ software, but it never runs when this lag/stutter happens.The only real solution for me is to restart SDJ.

Also note that the hardware response of the Rane 61 is set to 15ms. I've tried setting it to 20ms, but the midi response makes all my cues off-beat - plus it would still lag/stutter about 30 mins into a mix.

I've tried SSL and it runs so smoothly - even when recording well over an hour! I can even set the Rane 61 hardware response to 2ms and no problems whatsoever.

I would really love to use all the capabilities my DDJ-SP1 with SDJ - but this recurring issue is making me contemplate whether to return the SP, then get a Vestax VFX-1 and just stick with SSL.

Thanks! Hopefully we can solve the problem here!
djcaba 10:43 PM - 28 December, 2014
So I've submitted a ticket regarding this issue...

For those wondering what the "lag/stutter" sounds like, here's 2 MP3 snippets from my mixes:

soundcloud.com
* "lag/stutter" clearly audible at 0:03 through ending

soundcloud.com
* "lag/stutter" clearly audible at 0:10 through ending (notice the slight tempo drop)
The Return of Dj Sparky 11:57 PM - 28 December, 2014
from my expeience of serato specs don't mean much on windows based pc's, once you're over the minimum of course,

serato blame the windows drivers and other drivers but if they spent the time to develop better drivers i'm sure a work around could be found, also if that is the case serato wouldn't waste their time developing better ones as there is no money in it for them,

install osx on your dell and you will solve your problems
djcaba 3:09 AM - 29 December, 2014
I would really like to hear from people who have done the above (install OSX on a PC).

Right now I'm thinking that it's just not worth it for me at the moment. I mean, in order to install OSX on my current laptop, I would need to do a fresh install and set the partition to the right size. Additionally, I would need to re-transfer my backed up 35,000 tracks (261.17GB) into iTunes (since I use it to organize songs into various crates/folders) - and that will take days, not to mention the part when I need to analyze all the tracks. If Serato can confirm that this will 100% fix the problem, I just might take that chance. But right now, it just doesn't seem reasonable to me.

I like to listen to iTunes in windows too - so wouldn't that mean I would need to make a complete duplicate of all my songs onto the OSX partition too?! Or can OSX read files from WIndows? At the moment, I have 70.4GB of 465GB free space on my HDD.

I would seriously hate to do a fresh install only to find out that the problem still persists.
The Return of Dj Sparky 3:34 AM - 29 December, 2014
well all your tracks will be the same and will not have to be moved or re analysed again,

there is a program you install then you can read and write windows ntfs, osx by default only reads ntfs but cannot write

if you are going to attempt this I would recommend freeing up about 20gb's at least for the osx partition and defragmenting the hdd before you create your mac partition,
djcaba 4:11 AM - 29 December, 2014
Thanks for the info/clarification DJ Sparky. I'll look into this but I definately need to do some more research. There is a ticket under review as of today. So until I get a response from Serato, I'll just wait for a solid solution/recommendation.
djcaba 12:10 PM - 7 February, 2015
Ok so i've come to the conclusion that the addons such as remote and video may be the culprits here. Moreover, if the wifi is on, i tend to get these lag spikes (memory/processor issues) more frequently. What really helps is simply disabling all the addons and wifi.
The Return of Dj Sparky 1:07 AM - 16 February, 2015
Why don't you just install OSX mountin lion on it,

its been over a month now and you don;t seem to have resolved the issue