Serato DJ Lite / Intro General Discussion

Forum
 Serato DJ Lite / Intro General Discussion
Help! (Distorted Sound Playing MP3's in Serato)
Talk about Serato DJ Lite / Intro software and controllers.

Help! (Distorted Sound Playing MP3's in Serato)

OKJoy 6:11 AM - 8 January, 2020
youtu.be

I'm on SL1, using Serato 2.5.0.

So at first I thought this was due to bass resonance from having my decks too close to the speakers at a gig. But I brought them home and this problem still crops up. Sometimes I see that dust builds up and after I clear the dust from the needle it plays arlight.

Check out the vid above so you know what it sounds like.

I bought 3rd party m44-7 needles from Ebay and they have this same distortion the whole entire time, the worn out shure ones I'm using sound better.

I got a 2 day gig coming up on Saturday and Sunday, I would hate to have to be in INT mode the whole time

I'm gonna be buying new control vinyl and needles tomorrow to see if that fixes this.

I haven't been DJing gigs that long, really more of a producer. if anyone got any advice it would be much appreciated!
Laz219 6:26 AM - 8 January, 2020
What do your scopes look like?
OKJoy 6:57 AM - 8 January, 2020
So at first it looked like this, it was just a dot but when I zoomed in, it turned into a circle on the left and a weird shape on the right, the right one was screwing up more

imgur.com

Then I used a different control vinyl, one that I found in the dollar bin but much less worn out than mine, I'm thinking this might be the problem but not sure, it looks like this now

imgur.com
Laz219 4:43 AM - 9 January, 2020
Why are you using line input over phono? Doesn't look like your turntables output at line level.

Switch to phono input, drop those zooms down and you'll have a way cleaner signal.
OKJoy 6:24 AM - 9 January, 2020
my dude, I wanted to thank you for your help. I solved the problem, my control vinyl was worn out. bought new ones and even the 3rd party shure needles work now.

so I tried changing to phono, the scope image was much stronger like you said but the sound was distorted no matter what I did. oh well it sounds alright on line, so it's all good i suppose.

anyways, thanks again!
Laz219 8:37 AM - 9 January, 2020
What turntables are you using?

Even with fresh vinyl, you're going to get way better signal on phono if that's what your turntables are outputting.
If you're running on line with phono input, you're potentially working on a worse signal (especially if there's interference)
Switch to phono, get the zoom so your scopes just fill the screen and you'll be able to set your sensitivity more accurately- which will really help take out any drifting or rumble.
OKJoy 1:26 AM - 10 January, 2020
Using a pair of Technics SL1200 M3D's

I use phono for sampling real vinyl, but it says in the manual that serato is to be connected to line right?

But yeah, every time I try phono with Serato it's crazy loud and distorted. I will say that the image improves on the scopes though.
Laz219 3:31 AM - 10 January, 2020
Your input should be phono- which is just the button you can press in the right hand side of the photos you uploaded. The output from the SL box should always be going to line in on the mixer.
Laz219 3:32 AM - 10 January, 2020
Change that button to phono, drag the zoom sliders down to 1x or 2x and you should have a nice big scope showing.
No need to touch the wiring at all.
DJ Tecniq 1:46 AM - 11 January, 2020
Word of advice...try ortofon needles instead. Shure's are great but they have a bad reputation of collecting lots of dust, gunk etc which will cause tracking issues. I used to love Shure's but I soon found out the more I scratched the more I was cleaning and wiping off needles every song...this is not convenient and it's a nuisance. I honestly have no idea how Shure became so popular considering Ortofon does a much better job and collecting dust, particles I also felt scratching with Ortofon's just suited me better. Just my opinion.
DJ Tecniq 1:46 AM - 11 January, 2020
not* collecting gunk. I meant