Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Forum
 Serato DJ Pro General Discussion
Latency running Serato DJ with Macbook Pro (w/ touchbar)
Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Latency running Serato DJ with Macbook Pro (w/ touchbar)

mister_wilson 1:17 AM - 19 January, 2018
Has anyone observed an issue where they are running SDJ DVS just fine (on either CDJs or vinyl) and then a large latency develops where movements of platter (or even cue point triggered through dicers or anything else connected to laptop rather than an "on mixer" cue point). Basically everything I do via vinyl, cdJS, dicers or Pioneer SP1 is delayed by anywhere from about .25-1.00 seconds? Over the last 8 months since purchasing my Mackbook Pro I have run into this issue on a Rane62, on a pioneer S9, and on a DJM900SRT. It has only happened a handful of times but it is highly unnerving. The DJMSRT and Rane62 issues may have been due to old firmware as I have not been able to re-create the issue, but it happened most recently on an S9 running the latest firmware. Usually nothing makes the issue go away once it emerges in a live situation except for completely relaunching SDJ. As a work around, I almost always plug a 1/8" microphone to RCA jack into the back of any mixer in case i have to reboot software.

I have seen a somewhat similar issue where my CDJs (pioneer nexus 900 with usb or cd) start tracking poorly when connected to my DJM900SRT.

Both of these issues are hard to re-create to submit to support staff, so I was wondering if anyone had observed something similar and knows the cheat code to cause it so that i can send video/screen captures to the SDJ team.
DJ Snuff One 2:18 AM - 23 November, 2018
Happened to me tonight.. massive latency in the headphones.. on the right hand channel.. 2018 MacBook Pro . . Rane62.. had to shut down and reboot.. then it happened again bout an hour later..
DJ-XL 8:40 AM - 23 November, 2018
I have a 13" 2017 MBP Touchbar and a 13" 2018 MBP Touchbar running DVS on SDJ 2.0.5 with a Rane Sixty Two, Pioneer S9 and Pioneer 900 Nexus. In the past a huge latency would happen when I have WiFi and or Bluetooth on while starting SDJ, toggling on/off Wifi and or Bluetooth while SDJ is running and plugging in headphones into the headphone jack on the MBP then unplugging the headphones.

It's been running steady with no latency issues or tracking bar both turning red simultaneously if I turn off WiFi and Bluetooth before starting SDJ, not toggling WiFi and or Bluetooth while SDJ is running (leave it off) and not plugging in and then unplugging anything into the headphone jack on your MBP while SDJ is running. I have tested with Sierra, High Sierra and Mojave on the 2017 MBP w/Touchbar and Mojave on the 2018 MBP w/Touchbar and get stable results when I follow the steps above.
DjSyndic8 3:32 AM - 24 November, 2018
wow all these issues with WiFi and serato is about to release streaming through the software, dunno how that's gonna pan out with some DJs
Dax 7:24 AM - 24 November, 2018
serato.com
MarcAdams 7:06 PM - 24 November, 2018
From Serato:

"The latency issue you're experiencing is the result of a work-around within macOS/OS X, that prevents USB audio & MIDI from failing.
In very simplistic terms, the load (audio + MIDI data) being placed on the USB port is exceeding what it can handle, so to prevent the audible stream from crashing completely, the OS is resetting the audio (and therefore introducing a significant delay) on the USB port to ease the load.
Theres no way to fully prevent this from occurring unfortunately, as this is a being caused by macOS/OS X - and is somewhat out of our control.

There are some 'triggers' we're aware of that can result in this behaviour occurring more frequently, so I've listed them below so you can try and avoid them, which may mitigate / or prevent the issue from occurring.

Unplugging USB devices while a USB audio device is connected and playing audio (this can also be triggered with firewire, thunderbolt & HDMI)

Plugging in / unplugging headphones from the headphone jack on the laptop when a USB audio device is connected

Changing the WIFI &/or bluetooth state from off - on / on - off

Sadly this can also triggered 'randomly' (outside of the above situations) when the load exceeds what the USB ports can handle.

This issue affects all audio software (and not just Serato software), and we have reproduced this in house with Traktor, Logic Pro X, Garageband and even iTunes. Serato has invested considerable time and resources into developing a work-around for this issue, but due to the low-level nature of the issue, we are very much at the mercy of Apple."
Dax 9:13 AM - 25 November, 2018
Quote:
From Serato:

"The latency issue you're experiencing is the result of a work-around within macOS/OS X, that prevents USB audio & MIDI from failing.
In very simplistic terms, the load (audio + MIDI data) being placed on the USB port is exceeding what it can handle, so to prevent the audible stream from crashing completely, the OS is resetting the audio (and therefore introducing a significant delay) on the USB port to ease the load.
Theres no way to fully prevent this from occurring unfortunately, as this is a being caused by macOS/OS X - and is somewhat out of our control.

There are some 'triggers' we're aware of that can result in this behaviour occurring more frequently, so I've listed them below so you can try and avoid them, which may mitigate / or prevent the issue from occurring.

Unplugging USB devices while a USB audio device is connected and playing audio (this can also be triggered with firewire, thunderbolt & HDMI)

Plugging in / unplugging headphones from the headphone jack on the laptop when a USB audio device is connected

Changing the WIFI &/or bluetooth state from off - on / on - off

Sadly this can also triggered 'randomly' (outside of the above situations) when the load exceeds what the USB ports can handle.

This issue affects all audio software (and not just Serato software), and we have reproduced this in house with Traktor, Logic Pro X, Garageband and even iTunes. Serato has invested considerable time and resources into developing a work-around for this issue, but due to the low-level nature of the issue, we are very much at the mercy of Apple."



I've had a similar reply.my reply was A.but SSL works fine & B. you're saying a thunderbolt port can't handle the load Serato puts on it.
DJ Barticus 3:12 PM - 25 November, 2018
do we need to petition apple to fix this? or what’s the version of osx we downgrade to before this safety feature was introduced?
The Dj Bob Marino 8:50 AM - 5 October, 2019
I have a 2018 13 in. touch-screen and have had similar problems. But they're not consistent. Sometimes the lag begins after hours of playing fine, then out of nowhere it happens. Sometimes an audio pop happens right before. Ive noticed it happen when I started with wifi off, then turned it on. But have also had it work fine while going from no wifi to having wifi.very frustrating.