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pitch drift Please help!
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pitch drift Please help!

Product
Scratch Live
Version
-
Hardware
Rane SL1
Computer
PC
OS
Platform
-
ChrisHitt 2:01 PM - 12 September, 2009
Product: scratchlive
Hardware: scratchlive-sl1
Computer: pc
---

When using serato scratch live my pitch drifts. On regular vinyl I can hold a mix with minor pitch adjustments for as long as I need. and i used to be able to do this on serato. I could keep this going on and on as long as I make both records the same speed. however now, on Serato I get both records to beat match but then within 30 seconds or so they are off beat again, and I continue to have to adjust the pitch every couple seconds. It is very annoying. You cannot let the mix just ride by getting that perfect beat match because it just keeps changing pitch or speed. I was in the process of recording a demo cd to get a new dj residency, however that has no had to be put on hold due to this problem which is very annoying. I am using Technic MK3'DS, Pioneer DJM 500 mixer. I have tried to calibrate my decks, however they do not seem to be calibrating correctly ( the threshold slide moves to the far right. All my connections are fine and my decks are earthed correctly.)When the decks are on and spinning i do get 100% signal strength.
the extend of my problem is detailed and discussed in this thread: www.serato.com on the serato forum however none of the solutions appear to solve my problem.

Please help me!
Thankyou,
Chris Hitt
FatiusJeebs 5:42 AM - 13 September, 2009
I'm so glad you posted this...I have the exact same problem with ITCH and my NS7.....you just saved me a lot of typing but in the end....how will this be corrected?
ChrisHitt 8:56 AM - 13 September, 2009
Ive seen a previous post on it, however no real fix was suggested. just different fixes worked for other people..none worked for me. and i don't how it can be fixed... it needs to be done though, its rendering my serato scratch and the 100's of pounds i spent on it useless!
Rane, Support
Chad S. 3:21 PM - 14 September, 2009
Quote:
I'm so glad you posted this...I have the exact same problem with ITCH and my NS7.....you just saved me a lot of typing but in the end....how will this be corrected?

please post in the itch forum. We don't do support for that program on the ScratchLive.net site. Thank you :)
Rane, Support
Chad S. 3:26 PM - 14 September, 2009
Turntables have a natural "flutter" which causes slight variations in pitch. It will continue to be there.

A few things that can make it seem worse would be poor tracking. If you notice the grey bar next to ABS / REL / INT getting a bit of red in it, Scratch Live is not receiving the full tracking signal. It can be caused by worn needles, worn record, dust on the needles, dust on the record, internal wiring on the turntable ect. When you are getting these moments of "extreme" drifting, look at that indicator and see what it tells you.

Might try new control records. If the groove is off cut, it can cause some drift in the signal too.
daniel b 1:47 PM - 17 October, 2009
Hi
I have the same drift problem, its suddenly starts driftin in the middle of the mix no matter how much I correct it and the mix doesn't stay together for more than 4-5 seconds..
I have used two sets of contol vinyl both were warped (one side is harder to move than the other) and its loose in the middle... I have my needles clean, vinyl callibrated, use mk2's and have no problem with real vinyl. Is it posibble that the vinyl is causing this? Its strange to get two totally different sets of vinyl and both are warped...
daniel b 12:13 PM - 18 October, 2009
actually, as I was mixing today and the records started drifting, I was thinking that maybe my needles are faulty and they scratch the timecode vinyl which eventually causes it to drift? In the setup the tracking percentage is 100% and the circles are clear so I'm not sure, this is just an idea, I am going to get a pair of new vinyl tomorrow...
daniel b 2:41 PM - 22 October, 2009
Hi, I just went into a store and tried 3 different sets of vinyl (6 pieces) and all were a little bit warped, is it possible that its not the small warping thats causing the drift but something else? Can someone please help?
Rane, Support
Chad S. 3:24 PM - 22 October, 2009
Have you calibrated your decks?

Where are your threshold sliders set to?
daniel b 4:02 PM - 22 October, 2009
hi, yes I have callibrated the vinyl, threshold is: -27.8 and -56.0
Rane, Support
Chad S. 4:50 PM - 22 October, 2009
If you run a song and then instant double it and let it play, do they go out of time?
daniel b 5:23 PM - 22 October, 2009
yep..
Rane, Support
Chad S. 5:36 PM - 22 October, 2009
Could just be your decks man. There is a natural flutter to turntables but it could also be your tables drift, it happens.
daniel b 5:43 PM - 22 October, 2009
Actually I had this problem with omnitronics dd2250's and now I'm having the same with technics 1210 mk2s. Its so strange...nobody can figure this out, and I don't have any problem with real vinyl... hmmm
Rane, Support
Chad S. 6:13 PM - 22 October, 2009
Can you try plugging into a different power socket? The flow of electricity is waht causes the flutter. Maybe your current socket or power strip is sending out the power in an odd cycle pattern causing it to drift more so than it typically would.
daniel b 6:16 PM - 22 October, 2009
Chad: I really appreciate your help, you are the first one who actually tries to sort out my problem.
Unfortunately I don't thinks its the power socket, because I had my omnitronic in a different country, so I tried more than one power socket :(
But keep telling me your ideas, and I will try everything.
Rane, Support
Chad S. 6:43 PM - 22 October, 2009
Do you have access to cdj's?

I want to find out if those drift too.

Otherwise, it's the turntable, the vinyl or how you have the tone arm height adjusted or the anti skate on your turntable. Not having those set proper can cause tracking issues. Tracking issues can cause problems with an uninterupted stereo signal of control tone that Scratch Live needs to operate.
daniel b 6:47 PM - 22 October, 2009
I don't have access to cdj's, but then it still can be the vinyl can't it?
Actually the two things that haven't been completely replaced since this problem is my computer: Macbook black 13 inch, 2 gb ram and my ortofon om dj s pickups (I replaced the cartridge).
Weight is set to 3,5 tonearm height is 4 and anti skate is 0.
Rane, Support
Chad S. 7:09 PM - 22 October, 2009
I would try something other than the ortofons. Are they the banana style?

They are infamous for having poor contact over time. If this is the case and they are making solid contact one second and an ok contact the next second and back again, that right there can cause fluctuations in the control tone which ibn turn can cause pitch drift.

The contacts on the back of those are softer than the contacts inside your tone arm. After time, the contacts on the ortofons can get pushed in slightly.
daniel b 11:27 PM - 22 October, 2009
One of my turntables has a bad grounding (theres no ground cable) the thresshold is -27.8 and there's no humming or anything, everything seems to be working fine. Is it possible that the grounding is causing the problem?
daniel b 11:27 PM - 22 October, 2009
If its the ortofons: my signal is 100% can it still be the ortofon?
Rane, Support
Chad S. 11:42 PM - 22 October, 2009
does that number drop or your circle go wonky as you experience this pitch drift?

With no ground, the electricity flow is effected. You said this happened on both decks though yeah?
daniel b 11:44 PM - 22 October, 2009
yeah you're right, its on both decks so it can't be that... I don't know if the number drops I guess it fluctuates all the time (?) and haven't checked it while it drifted. btw its not such an enormous drift, its just that track wont stay synced and I have to adjust in every 10 seconds (which si a bit too much)
Rane, Support
Chad S. 11:47 PM - 22 October, 2009
Thats common for turntables, I'm pretty much always riding the pitch, always have regrdless of playing regular wax or Scratch Live.
daniel b 11:49 PM - 22 October, 2009
yeah but much slighter, every 5-10 seconds is way too much in my opinion
markeee 9:34 AM - 23 October, 2009
Hi guys!

i just posted a post today regarding sliding mixes and im using CDJ1000's from pioneer and a brand new laptop with plently of disk space etc. When i mix the mix goes out of time but not as extreme as Chrishitt worte. I just have to be totally on the ball all the time and im constantly re adjusting the mix slightly so it wont go out of time.. very strange. With the CDJ's playing normal CD's this was not the case.. Any idea's or is anyone else with CDJ's having this problem? Thanks!
Markus
daniel b 11:08 AM - 23 October, 2009
I think I've figured out my problem. The middle hole in the vinyl is a bit looser than the middle of my technics so the vinyl is loose, if I cover the hole with tape (how Q-bert suggests in the video) then it starts to drift. If I remove it and leave it loose than it doesn't drift but the needle skips when scratching... :D
ChrisHitt 1:40 PM - 23 October, 2009
Its deffinatly a problem with serato if it dosn't happen on regular vynall and its happening on cdj's however, I have found the cleaning my control vynall. Taking my stylus' apart and giving them a good clean helps. it only moves about 0.1% in stead of 0.3-0.4
and daniel b i don't fully understand you mate. can you explain that abit clear-er?

cheers,
Chris.
daniel b 6:55 PM - 23 October, 2009
you mean my last post? I'm just saying that the hole in the middle of the vinyl is a bit looser than it should be so when I place it on the turntable it moves a little bit, which causes my needles to jump when scratching, but if I place a sticker into it to fill up the hole a bit more, then my mixer start to drift.
ChrisHitt 1:48 PM - 24 October, 2009
ohh right, i dont have anything tapped round my spindle though :/
Im thinking its cummalitive off problems thats causing this.

does anyone know how to propperly set up serato scratch, like needle height, anti skate, and all that?
daniel b 1:51 PM - 24 October, 2009
I understand that, but if I don't tape anything there than obviously my needles jump when scratching since its loose...

needle weight should be around 3-4 anti skate 0 if you're scratching, if you're just playing than it should be the same value as the height and the height should be adjusted so the the arm is parallel with the record.
ScottyOhh! 2:36 PM - 24 October, 2009
Needle wieght should be what the needle manufaturer suggest's.... I read on another post, the one asking the difference about the difference b/t first and second edition control vinyl, that first edition vinyl was improperly time coded? Anyone know if there is any truth to that?
nik39 3:42 PM - 24 October, 2009
Quote:
that first edition vinyl was improperly time coded? Anyone know if there is any truth to that?

Yes, but it was corrected by a software fix.
T-bone 2:02 PM - 10 August, 2010
Looks like this thread is dead, but I have been experiencing a similar problem recently. I just got a new macbook pro (upgraded from G4). And ever since I started using it, I have noticed that my mixes seem less consistent than they were before, and I can see the pitch going up and down on the serato screen, sometimes as much as .5% (which is quite noticeable).
I will try "calibrating" and cleaning everything tonight, but I hope I can get this sorted... I don't wanna be a sloppy DJ !-?
The SMF 3:33 PM - 10 August, 2010
worn pitch faders sound like the problem here
markeee 7:54 AM - 20 August, 2010
My serato is now sold as i never found a way to correct this - i had the SL1 with a toshiba laptop and was using CDJ 1000's (DEF. not a worn pitch fader issue!!). I have since used both serato ITCH (with the Vestax controller) AND Traktor scratch with control CD's. Both work just fine with my laptop so the only conclusion i can find is that the technology on the combination SL1 with control CD's is not yet really up to the highest standards.....
The SMF 10:01 PM - 4 November, 2010
strange, i only ever use 1000's to play out on and never had the pitch drift ever, not possible from a digital pitch fader as it stays locked