Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Serato DJ crashes randomly, sound cuts out

TheJ10000 5:24 AM - 6 October, 2017
If anyone has solved this issue, please assist.

I have been experiencing this issue for quite some time and have attempted fixes listed in a number of forums. During a Serato session intermittently the sound will skip for a beat and then totally cut out, all tracks that are playing will appear to be continuing playing, however nothing you do INT, ABS, REL will stop tracks playing, if THRU is selected the track will stop and be greyed out, however if you select any other mode they will start again and only resolved by restarting the application.

Some mixes last for 30 minutes, some last for 4 hrs, however eventually it seems this always occurs. This has always been an issue for me with Serato DJ, so I have been dealing with it for a while, this never occurred in ScratchLIVE.

My current system is Macbook 2.7GHz i7, 8GB RAM, Yosemite, SL4, Technics 1210s, slicers, playing off USB drive, etc. Notably I could even play through network on ScratchLive, however was forced to change to USB.

I have had numerous attempts to resolve this issue over the years, including, but not limited to: disabling WiFi, airport, bluetooth, screensaver, different ports, different drives, hubs, software upgrades, power settings, etc. and issue has been present since switching to Serato DJ, been using SL1 since it's original days and still love the product, just need the reliability.

Thank you for any advice, let me know if you need any more info.

Cheers
Jmoney$ 3:36 PM - 6 October, 2017
check your model see if this applies
support.serato.com
We are aware there is an issue with some of the 2015 Apple Macbook Pro model USB ports which may cause specific problems with USB audio devices. Symptoms will include a sudden extreme latency (1+ seconds) after approximately 5-10 minutes of use, requiring the device to be disconnected, then reconnected to temporarily resolve.

Here are the Model Identifiers for affected Macbook Pro models:

MacBookPro11,4
MacBookPro11,5
TheJ10000 3:55 AM - 9 October, 2017
Hi Jmoney$, thank you for your reply, however it is not one of these models unfortunately
DjSyndic8 7:10 AM - 9 October, 2017
im not sure you have already done this

Mac Optimization Guide for OS X
support.serato.com

also move your usb buffer slider up to 5 if its sitting on 2

see how that goes
TheJ10000 10:53 AM - 9 October, 2017
Thanks DjSyndic8, I had already applied most of this... have applied sms, appnap and auto brightness configs now too.

Buffer was already on 10ms, must have tried this a while ago.

Will see how it goes, cheers.
Jmoney$ 4:24 PM - 9 October, 2017
Quote:
Hi Jmoney$, thank you for your reply, however it is not one of these models unfortunately



Did I read right You are using a SL1 ?

I believe that is not supported its a usb 1.1 device
DJ Tecniq 6:36 PM - 9 October, 2017
What hardware are you using that supports Serato DJ?
TheJ10000 2:13 AM - 10 October, 2017
SL4 currently, been through all versions starting with SL1.

"My current system is Macbook 2.7GHz i7, 8GB RAM, Yosemite, SL4, Technics 1210s, slicers, playing off USB drive, etc. "
TheJ10000 2:15 AM - 10 October, 2017
SL1 with ScratchLIVE was always on point, never had an issue, however only 2 deck functionality
TheJ10000 3:46 AM - 8 November, 2017
Ok this is a major issue, this has now occurred twice in last week whilst in the mix, no pattern.

The sound just cuts out and channels are still running.

If I pull out the usb for Serato and plug it back in then it instantly starts again.

Please help! I have tried to stay with Serato, however this is a massive problem atm.

Thank you
DJ Tecniq 5:31 AM - 8 November, 2017
Quote:
Ok this is a major issue, this has now occurred twice in last week whilst in the mix, no pattern.

The sound just cuts out and channels are still running.

If I pull out the usb for Serato and plug it back in then it instantly starts again.

Please help! I have tried to stay with Serato, however this is a massive problem atm.

Thank you
Did you say you're playing off a USB drive? Have you tried playing without it and do you get the same result? Scanned for corrupt files?
monkeyfunk 10:20 AM - 8 November, 2017
Direct unit or usb hub ? Have you tried using a powered usb hub ?
TheJ10000 11:01 AM - 8 November, 2017
Definitely not corrupt files on USB drive, this has been occurring over numerous drives over the years and no pattern as to which tracks it will occur with. In last approx 30 hours mixed (in last week) it has happened twice over about 13 sets, once at 3 hrs 25 mins and then again yesterday at about 2 hrs 15 mins.

There is no way to play without a USB drive for such a long period of time as SSD installed in Macbook and does not hold anywhere near the capacity.

USB hub is powered (have tried different hubs). HDD connected directly to Macbook and Serato connected via hub, however have tried different combinations.

Appreciate your responses, any bug report, diagnostics I can collect?

Cheers
DJ Tecniq 11:17 AM - 8 November, 2017
Quote:
and Serato connected via hub
Serato connected to a hub or you mean USB port on Mac?
TheJ10000 11:20 AM - 8 November, 2017
Only 2 ports on a Mac, I have tried both combinations.

Currently Serato USB connected to a port on USB hub with hub connected to one port of Mac and the external hard drive connected directly to other port of Mac.

Thanks
DJ Tecniq 11:21 AM - 8 November, 2017
And if you're playing from an external they aren't always the most reliable esp if it's USB connected. A thunderbolt ext drive is the most reliable way for playback.
DJ Tecniq 11:25 AM - 8 November, 2017
Quote:
Currently Serato USB connected to a port on USB hub
Serato is not supposed to be connected to a hub "at all" it needs to be on it's on separate port on your Mac. They do make 4 port USB hubs so why are you running your serato device on the hub? You will experience playback issues cause you're running too much data off 1 USB port.
DJ Tecniq 11:27 AM - 8 November, 2017
On = own*
DJ Tecniq 11:28 AM - 8 November, 2017
What kind of external drive are you running anyways?
TheJ10000 11:37 AM - 8 November, 2017
Yes USB devices, drives. Most controllers, etc. will take USB these days. Thunderbolt is limited to Mac and I switch between PC and Mac so not an option either.

I have tried both combinations previously and it seemed to happen less when Serato connected via hub. Yes current hub is 4 port.

I will swap again so that data drives are routed through hub and serato directly connected (limitation of the Mac only 2 ports)

Thank you
TheJ10000 6:43 AM - 28 November, 2017
FYI for anyone else that experiences this issue, it appears to be well and truly resolved as it has not occurred since with SL4 plugged directly into USB port and drives plugged into hub.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

Cheers
DJ Tecniq 1:14 PM - 28 November, 2017
^ The main reason you were having issues is cause you had the Serato hardware connected to the hub...this is a no no as it’s just sharing data with other devices on the hub. Not a good idea. You want your Serato hardware connected directly to the Mac. Use the hub for your other devices. How many usb devices do you use?