check your calibration, and look at the percentage fluctuation on the virtual deck while its playing. usually it flucated a couple points.

Works fine for me and I hold mixes a LOT longer than 4 bars...

maybe it's an earwax thing.

Works fine for me...and i think it's easyer than using regular vinyl, since you have hints like BPM and the beatmatching graphics.

www.djstuart.com.ar

g-son maybe your BPM's are wrong...

Does it seem like the track jumps after a few seconds?

This happens to me too actually. Not sure why but mixing regular records seems much easier then mixing tracks in serato. The percentages in the virtual decks constantly fluctuate. Up & down...0.0%, +0.1%, +0.2%, +0.3%, +0.2%, +0.1%, 0.0% .... etc... I can rarely ever seem to get tracks to stick even though I could easily do it with real records. The smallest of adjustments to the pitch slider seem to be too much sometimes. Say a track is slightly too slow so I'll make the slightest adjustment to speed it up (so slight that it almost feels like I'm not even moving it) but then despite that its suddenly too fast. I'm not sure what is causing this as I've never had this issue in the last few years of my spinning with regular records, it just started when I got serato.

i've read other threads regarding this issue on the forum and it seems to be affecting a lot of people, but not all. Everything is callibrated, connections are tight, control records are around 4 months old. Everything seems fine...it's very confusing and somewhat frustrating as well.

sounds like you guys need to learn how to count beats... :)

My pitch also changes like you said + - 0,1 0,2... sometimes i also think there should be something wrong because after some time they are no longer matched

But if you put a track playing in both decks at absolute mode and make them start at the same time, let they play until the end and then you can see if they keep playing one over another or if one of them gets slower or faster, if they keep playing the same for some minutes at absolute mode then everything is ok. am i right? Please confirm because i also think i got some problems with some tracks that change

would be interesting what tables you have...

Back when I first started mixing I learned that the key to a perfect mix is tapping and adjusting the record. I knew how to mix before I even knew how to count BPMs. I'd just listen by ear and adjust the pitch accordingly then keep tapping the record until its on point. Sometimes it would go off but I'd just keep adjusting it. Your BPMs will never be always perfect even if you use Mixmeister to count them for you. You can give or take a few beats just tapp the record or platter to keep it on point.

Tap = say to yourself 1..2..3..4... beats? you really do count them to do beatmatch? i'm trying to do just hear them, maybe i should try that.

Trust your ears...

:-)

No problems beat maching here!

bpms are a guidline.....use your ears. nothing works better

By tap I mean nudging the record until it is perfectly in sync. You wont always drop the song over the over and have it perfectly in sync. You have to nudge or slightly slow down the record by lightly touching the record or platter to get it on point.

You on point Phife?

All the time Tip!

thanks johnnym! lol!

I couldn't resist!

it does fluctuate...especially if you're in a really loud club...i think that's just part of it...fuck with your settings tho and see if you can make it work.

qualifying statement. i am an electrical engineer and so this might get a little technical...

fluctuations in the pitch of the record don't mean much if they mean pitch is still 33 1/3 rpm. in other words if you see the record jumping up to +0.1% and then down to -0.2% and then back up again, the average of the fluctuations will still be fairly close.

now if one of your records is fluctuating between +0.0% and +.2% then it might have an actual average pitch offset, but you should be able to account for this with the pitch slider (and a specialist should be able to recalibrate your turntable so that it doesn't do this when you have your pitch slider at 0.0%.)


assuming a song is 96 bpm...four bars is 10 seconds. In ten seconds, a pitch offset of 0.1% is 10 milliseconds, which is barely audible when doing beat matching.

I just don't understand how Serato is responsible for the beatmatching problem. First of all Serato is only reporting back the speed at which the turntable is spinning (if its tracking at 100% or close to it in either absolute or relative mode). Assuming your set-up is well calibrated, it sounds like your turntables are not rock solid. My turntables do the same thing, but I can stay on course for a 32 bar transition with minimal interference if I get the initial pitch settings accurate regardless of the fluctuations. In other words, you don't need rock solid turntables, especialy with Serato which only enchnces the techniques you used for beat matching by ear before. If anything, maybe you noticing the fluctations in pitch you see and over-compensating with the pitch slider, whereas you used to only touch the pitch slider if you "heard" a track falling behind rather than "seeing" a track falling behind(kind of like oversteering in a car). Another thing you could be doing is assuming you have your pitch well matched because of some visual information you get from Serato where as you used to have to do this all by ear before. If I have enough time I will usually count at least 16 bars in my headphones on the upcoming track before making any final minute adjustments to the pitch slider prior to bringing in the second track. True with Serato you can "see" things going "off" even sooner than you can hear them going off, so maybe Serato is making you a little lazy...?

misterwilson

qualifying statement. i am an electrical engineer and so this might get a little technical...

fluctuations in the pitch of the record don't mean much if the mean record speed is still 33 1/3 rpm. in other words if you see the record jumping up to +0.1% and then down to -0.2% and then back up again, the average of the fluctuations will still be fairly close.

now if one of your records is fluctuating between +0.0% and +.2% then it might have an actual average pitch offset, but you should be able to account for this with the pitch slider (and a specialist should be able to recalibrate your turntable so that it doesn't do this when you have your pitch slider at 0.0%.)


assuming a song is 96 bpm...four bars is 10 seconds. In ten seconds, a pitch offset of 0.1% is 10 milliseconds, which is barely audible when doing beat matching.

I just don't understand how Serato is responsible for the beatmatching problem. First of all Serato is only reporting back the speed at which the turntable is spinning (if its tracking at 100% or close to it in either absolute or relative mode). Assuming your SL interface set-up is well calibrated, it sounds like your turntables are not rock solid. My turntables do the same thing, but I can stay on course for a 32 bar transition with minimal interference if I get the initial pitch settings accurate regardless of the fluctuations. In other words, you don't need rock solid turntables, especialy with Serato which only enchnces the techniques you used for beat matching by ear before. If anything, maybe you are noticing the fluctations in pitch you see and over-compensating with the pitch slider, whereas you used to only touch the pitch slider if you "heard" a track falling behind rather than "seeing" a track falling behind(kind of like oversteering in a car). Another thing you could be doing is assuming you have your pitch well matched because of some visual information you get from Serato where as you used to have to do this all by ear before. If I have enough time I will usually count at least 16 bars in my headphones on the upcoming track before making any final minute adjustments to the pitch slider prior to bringing in the second track. True with Serato you can "see" things going "off" even sooner than you can hear them going off, so maybe Serato is making you a little lazy...?

misterwilson

learn to pitchride. It's much less noticable than touching the record or platter in any way - especially in longer blends.

Yeah I can agree with what djcrono_ says. It really does jump around from .0 to .4. I have done a whole lot of things like changed the height adjustment and everything. With a pair or CDJ-1000's on the other hand, you don't have this problem. I think it just has to do with the turntables I have or maybe the needles I am using. Any suggestions?

slipmat's too slippery...
more needle weight...

It's not the turntable, it's not the needle or the mat. It's the VINYL! The record hole could be too wide causing the record to be more loose than it supposed to be. Another explanation would be that the vinyl is warped. So find a way to straighten the vinyl or to tighten the hole in the middle of the record. Hope this helps...

Oh yeah, FYI...now you know why people with CDJ's never have this problem. Even if you use the INTERNAL MODE in Serato, the pitch doesn't fluctuate.

learn to pitchride. It's much less noticable than touching the record or platter in any way - especially in longer blends.

Thank you! Somebody had the balls to write it...
And I hope some new schoolers (and even some veterans) dont get butt hurt on this opinion of mine - but learning how to not only pitch ride and keep 2 records in sync for long periods of time (IMO again)is kind've a naturally given talent.. I've been in the business a long damn time - and I've heard so many damn DJ's new and old trainwreck the hell out of shit. I grew up around DJ's like DJ Dan and David Morales, who could hold long mixes just with pitch control alone - never once touching the platter with their fingers once in motion.. You either have it - or you dont. Now to keep myself honest - I cant scratch all that great, and will never be mistakened for Q-bert or Z-trip, no matter how much I practice.. Thats why I dont do it that often in the clubs - it isnt my forte. Bottom line is - you got to be smart enough to know your strengths and weaknesses as a DJ.. I mix fine with Serato - both long house mixes, and 32 bar intro's on everything else.. It aint the software.
IMO - of course...

i´d rather say its about what you practice the most... no excuses

Another vote for the Pitchride...

When I do Hip Hop, Rap, R&B, or quick mix Ghetto Tech, I WILL do platter drags and finger pushes because I am usually only blending for 16 to 32 beats max (and that crowd may not care or notice little TINY glitches or inperfections) BUT with House - it's usually all Pitchride.

You have a much longer time to get the mix in the "ballpark" before the blend and then usually ONLY need to do very minor corrections with the Pitch.

pitchriding on hiphop tracks is not advisable right?

the pitchride is advisory for all Djing in general. hip hop included.

why not? Unless you're just cutting in, or just mixing a bar, why wouldn't you pitchride in any kind of blend - hiphop or otherwise?

I'm not going to say that one technique is better than the other, but as a DJ, if you take the time to learn all the tools available to you, then the only thing that can happen is that you become a better DJ.

My fault guys. That statement was too general.

Pitchride takes so long sometimes when you quickmixing. Isn't it. I always find it takes a bit too long.

I can understand straight mixing but quickimixing is a bit different.

Blisk, that's what I was saying, on a quickmix, speed of dropping the tracks and keeping the flow comes before actually accuracy of the blend.

If you can learn to do pitch rides on a quickmix, then you are golden but there have been times where I blend an Instrumental at +2 with a song playing at +4 and then quickly drop in the vocal (now playing at +4 because I forgot to set the pitch). Now I quickly do a finger drag WHILE moving the pitch to +2 - two or three bumpy beats and I am on again but it is easier to do the finger pushes or drags instead of babying the pitch to get it back on. The crowd didn't blink probably because they were INTO the song/moment, not the journey like a House crowd.

The one thing I have noticed lately is that with a NON HOUSE crowd - especially Urban Rap crowds, the perfection of the mix is way down on the list. Usually other DJ only notice bad mixes unless it is a total trainwreck.

This is true - and not true (IMO)... Your not giving your crowd enough credit. Granted - half them people are hammered and dont give a shit about anything than whether the track is heat or they can sing their ass off to it, I'll give into that.. But... you put 2 DJ's back to back in a night - and I dont care if its 8bar - 16bar or a 32bar mix in - if one is super clean and smooth like myself and you have another that is technically sloppy and doesnt have a good musical ear (specially when they try to mix 2 songs with different tempos) its noticeable. I've had guests in the club (that were not DJ's mind you)that have literally started wincing at someones mix - 2 snares not going together, unless your deaf,,, never sound kind.

I have this problem as well and I use CDJ's it never used to happen with mixing solid vinyl. Or just CDJ's with out Serato. I also always have friends etc who Mix but haven't used Serato before, and when they mix on it they say the same thing

Wow - this thread is from 10 years ago....

I guess that technology FINALLY JUST caught up now that Serato DJ 1.9.6 has compensation for wow and flutter on turntables and make them more like CDJs now.

Pair that with almost all pools offering DJ intro and mixshow edits, less excuses for sloppy mixing.

I've been on turntables with Serato from 08 until now. This was never a issue for me. And I will ride long mixes and acappelas over beats. You just have to learn to ride the platter with your finger the old school way. The program can't do everything for you.

Good to hear the drift was addressed in 1.9.6, but not having to work at your mixing skills takes all the fun and skills out of it. IMHO

Lol - ride the platter and nipple twist the spindle - yep more fun!

Also makes you look like you are "working"

i enjoy riding the platter, i'm about to upgrade my serato dj to the 1.9.6, this isn't gonna effect all my crates etc is it ?