Serato crashed infront of 3,000 people

DJ WILLIE 2:53 PM - 21 August, 2006

Just had my "first real gig" using Serato (sat aug 19th) and to my expectations it was to a crowd well over 2,800 people at Roxy nightclub in Boston..

I was in the middle of a hip hop/reggaeton set when into a 1/2 hour while using Serato it crashed on me, not once but 3 times during the whole night

I am using a g4 512mhz an a external HD 400gs connected while using version 1.6.1 and was using denons 3000's with Serato

Have the buffer set all the way and the cache set all the way on this way it performed a little better, also had laptop fan and also did a rehearsal on it 1 hour prior to the club openning

I am switching to a HP pavilion with intel centrino duo with 1g ram and 160g hd - buying it this week -

And I am selling my g4 just got it for Fathers day 2 months ago and lst sat was the first time in use -

Alot of people are telling me to use Serato with turntables instead of cd-djs -

Next time it crashes I will save the report file -

DJ WILLIE
-----------
www.djwillie.com
encendioblast.com

Canaris 3:06 PM - 21 August, 2006

Hey...

Well what can i say...I am with you my man...it didn't happen to me yet, but I am sure it's not a good feeling.

But nevertheless I really need to ask:
WHY DO PEOPLE USE SSL WITH CDJs ???????????????????

To me this makes absolutely no sense. I mean if you dj with CDs anyways its not a big problem to burn your songs on a CD and thats it. I can see the whole Turntable - SSL thing, because I use it that way, too. But since I already have 2 CDJ-800 I burn all my songs on CDs. Haven't even tested SSL with CDs yet...
If you have em on actual CD it's faster (due to actual 0 latency) and it NEVER crashes on you. Well at least it's veeery unlikely.

This was not meant as an offense though!! Just wanted to ask you guys and didn't want to open a new thread...

BriChi 3:23 PM - 21 August, 2006

I use cdj's because I can control SSL with cd players while mixing club music. I think it would be pointless to burn your songs to a cd just to play in the CDJ when you can leave the song on the laptop and use the CDJ to control it, You wouldn't even notice any latency. I do a little scratching and it is right on. Why have SSL and still have to carry cases of cd's? I can see the clubs using turntables still, but most mobile companies out there have switched all over to cd players and got rid of the heavy turntable coffins. Plus with CDJ's Vs. TTables controlling SSL, cdj calibration is pretty much not needed, you don't have to worry about bass rumble, dust on the needles, bad ground wires, Usually with cd players, you plug in SSL and it just works.

johndaj 4:22 PM - 21 August, 2006

August 21, 2006, 4:14 PM
hey guys please out,i have a mac os x10.3.9 with processor550 MHZ PowerPC G4,Memory 256 MB SDRAM..i have this problem of the pointer in the virtual decks always stop for some sec everytime i load track into any other deck,the revolving pointer in the virtual deck is slower when playing both deck,and it move slower and stop evertime i roll back the vinyls...please help

Zach S 6:40 PM - 21 August, 2006

DJ Willie,

Have you built your overviews and gotten rid of your corrupt files?
It sounds like that would be the culprit.
Download the beta version of 1.6.2 (it is the most stable version thus far) here>>>scratchlive.net

Zach S 6:41 PM - 21 August, 2006

Jonhndaj,

Please post your issue in a seperate thread so we can better help you, and keep the current discussion organized and on track and don't double or triple post.
We are usually very fast about our responses so one post will do the job. Thanks:)

skinnyguy 6:52 PM - 21 August, 2006

and with cache set "all the way"....was it all the way to the left or right?

DJ WILLIE 12:34 AM - 22 August, 2006

Zach, one thing regarding "Building the overviews" the night before the gig, It was about 9pm I clicked on "build overviews" and I left for a gig in nyc, when I gat back at 4:30am the 3 bars were still moving, which was very wierd -

I didnt build the over views the night of the event -
BUT the tracks that I played are the same tracks that I did a dry run on during last week without no problem -

One thing the laptop was kinda' warm -

Also I only have Serato installed inside the ibook -

Skinny guy - the cache setting was at 30 then I move it all the way to the right -

Also to DENON users I've noticed if you have the "key adj" button set on, then the tracks running off of Serato tend to skip/jump

DJ WILLIE
-----------
www.djwillie.com
encendioblast.com

Konix 1:40 AM - 22 August, 2006

Quote:

Also to DENON users I've noticed if you have the "key adj" button set on, then the tracks running off of Serato tend to skip/jump

That's a big no no. Can't use key lock/master tempo or effects on CD players with SSL. Those mess with the control signal and SSL does not like it.

mArtian! 1:57 AM - 22 August, 2006

Yo Willie, instead of buying a wole new laptop, why not just upgrade your RAM? 512mb is prety small, and I wouldn't dream of running SSL without at least 1gig. I know it doesn't need a whole gig, but from my experience upping it from 512mb to 1024mb has made a dramatic improvement on performance. That and ditching my USB external drive in favor of firewire. And also plugging the SSL USB into the first slot on the powerbook made enormous differences in performance.

I had a similar thing when I was using SSL on radio (kind of similar - there seemed o be some issue with the mixer dropping a channel when SSL was plugged in), but fortunately I bring with me some trusty vinyls and a few CD's.. Hope you fix it man..:)

Canaris 12:27 PM - 22 August, 2006

Well ditching the External USB drive for a Firewire drive is a VERY GOOD idea. I am running a Firewire Lacie drive and that is just perfect!

But upgrading the RAM from 512 to 1Gig is not gonna help much. CPU Power is much much more important than RAM - at least for SSL.

LukeMcD 2:32 PM - 22 August, 2006

Canaris, is this true was about to update my Ram as I have under 400 but it sounds liike it wont help????? I cant get Serrato to work without crashing at all. luke@48records.com

DJ WILLIE 4:29 AM - 23 August, 2006

I am gonna take martians' & canaris' advice using firewire & also plugging in the firwire cable into the first slot to see if that helps -

-------
DJ WILLIE

Canaris 10:38 AM - 23 August, 2006

Let us know if it made any difference or not.
Good Luck! ;-)

danield 12:17 PM - 23 August, 2006

mArtian!,

i don't think his problem is RAM. i run serato with 512 MB without any problems. if you open the task manager, you will see serato itself does not use so much ram.

Canaris 1:23 PM - 23 August, 2006

@danield: I agree.

mArtian! 4:33 PM - 23 August, 2006

kk, thats cool, I just found that things seems to run a lot smoother with the RAM increase. But then I guess the extra RAM is better for multitasking between programs?

I used to run serato with only 512MB and yeah Danield I had no problems at all. But then I wasn't using an external drive at the time either, so it could come down to the whole USB drive vs. Firewire drive issue. I would say that apart from maybe a mouse if really needed, to keep all USB slots empty if possible to avoid any mishaps..:)

Good luck Willie! :)

Zach S 5:20 PM - 23 August, 2006

djwillie,

It takes a long time to build overviews when you have a lot of songs.
Also know that often times a corrupt file will play fine 9 times out of 10 but getting rid of them so it never happens is the best thing to do.

Check here>>>scratchlive.net for more information on building your overviews.

DJ WILLIE 6:34 PM - 23 August, 2006

Thanks for all the great tips and advice from everybody -

Zach - Thanks I thought it only took about 10 mins to build the overviews - I have about 14,000 tracks on the external -

Dj Karl-R 8:31 PM - 23 August, 2006

10 min seems really fast to build 14000 tracks i takes me all day but im using 1.4 still and i have 8000 tracks....

might wanna make sure they all were built.

also willie dont get ride of you powerbook dude just upgrade your ram you will regret it later if you get rid of it.

DJ Limelight 9:29 PM - 23 August, 2006

Sorry that happened to you man. mArtian! is right. Upgrade your RAM instead of buying a new computer. Build your overviews even for the songs you AREN'T planning to play. I had a corrupt file that that would make SSL crash when even when I scrolled over it - when I had no intentions on playing it. Like everyone else said, you really need to upgrade to firewire because it's a lot faster.

DJ Unique 2:22 AM - 24 August, 2006

DJ Willie...
I agree with everyone on this board.
Upgrade your ram.
Build your overviews.
Switch to Firewire HD and keep USB dedicated to SSL.

I use a 300 gig HD enclosed in a Firewire case and everything works well for me. The only difference is my laptop is a Toshiba.

DJ WILLIE 8:04 AM - 24 August, 2006

Unanimous decision - firewire does !!..lol...

I might and might not sell my mac...Still have my eyes set on this nice HP I'm feeling though...

txs to all

DJ WILLIE

DJ WILLIE 8:04 AM - 24 August, 2006

Unanimous decision - firewire does it!!..lol...

I might and might not sell my mac...Still have my eyes set on this nice HP I'm feeling though...

txs to all

DJ WILLIE

Zach S 4:16 PM - 24 August, 2006

Our advice, if you have a Mac, keep it. Don't buy a PC. You'll have much more of a chance for things to go wrong. Trust me, working in tech support, Mac over PC is an obvious choice.

Prime-X 5:08 PM - 24 August, 2006

Can Serato just ignore the bad files to avoid crashing? This things happen to me too on pc I have a Centrino 1.73ghz and 2gb RAM. It would be great if it can really ignore bad files and automatically mark the bad files so we can remember them later on to delete and redo that file again.

Prime-X 5:27 PM - 24 August, 2006

PLEASE...never say Mac is better than PC. We are talking about application performance here just keep your product STABLE on both computers. Don't you think guys it should be application issue? Remember MAC & PC are using same INTEL CPU now...what's up with that? Before they were dogging PC and now they are using Intel...common now. Just keep it application issue, ukie please? Thank you.

Zach S 5:27 PM - 24 August, 2006

Prime-x,

No. At this point SSL needs to scan the files with the builder.
It would be nice if SSL could ignore bad files, ideally just be able to play them, but for now people have to take them out of the library.

Kool DJ Sheak One 5:39 PM - 24 August, 2006

Zach S
So even if you have a bad file and can play it fine on serato, it could still crash the computer?
Just get rid of all files with the crack in it?

Zach S 6:45 PM - 24 August, 2006

Yes. Get rid of all the files with the crack in it.

Prime-X 8:07 PM - 24 August, 2006

Yes, I know what you mean but sometimes when you are playing and it frooze up you need to do a cold boot, right? But when this thing happen on your gig you tend to be in a hurry to bring up the system back and sometimes you forget the last song you were playing or get confuse which of the two tracks did it.

DJ Highrise 7:25 AM - 25 August, 2006

I use CDJ 1000's with SL and I never have a problem. I have a G4 1ghz PW with 768 mgs ram. I noticed a big difference using a power supply for the box. Macs are better with SL because windows has a bunch of xtra unwanted stuff. Even if you take the xtras away, OSX takes less of a load on the cpu than windows. I play corrupted files without crashing (broken cd tracks).

Keep your mac, run CDJ's with it also and save the load of carrying stuff, tracking and bumps. Check my myspace. www.myspace.com I will put a pic of my setup that I've been using since I got SL and have had all of 2 problems with it. If you need help or anyone for that matter, PM me. I've studied SL and have it tweaked out to perfection.

nuwave_afro 4:29 PM - 28 August, 2006

Quote:

And also plugging the SSL USB into the first slot on the powerbook made enormous differences in performance.

Is this a fact? If so, why? At the crib, i use an external keyboard and never pay attention to which slot its in (i think i might favor slot 1).

I have yet to crash at a gig (knock on wood), but at home i do. I was assuming it was due to other applications hogging the cpu (at gigs i boot w/shift-key and have my airport off). I KNOW this doesnt help the situation, but at times i need to multi-task; if the USB slot choice is a factor, I'd like to know how major...

thanks
-af-

MSF 9:24 PM - 28 August, 2006

I heard that the older G4 Pbook's had a problem with one of their USB ports(1Ghz and under).... one of the USB ports wasnt supplying enough power or something like that... The problem was fixed with the newer Pbooks (last generation)... I have a 1.5ghz 12" G4 , and I dont see any problems.

MSF 9:25 PM - 28 August, 2006

it can supply power to mice/keyboards fine, but not to the SSL unit.

mArtian! 12:17 AM - 29 August, 2006

I couldn't really give an exact "measure" of performance increase except that well, I stopped having USB dropouts as much when I used the first USB port. But like you say, if that is an issue that has been resolved in later PB's then thats cool. I say hey, whatever works for you! :) I haven't actually ever had serato crash (knocks on wood too), but I have had a few USB dropouts. Basically I was just taking advice from somewhere else on the forums that said to use the first USB port, and it seemed to make a difference so I thought I'd repeat it here.

nuwave_afro 1:09 AM - 29 August, 2006

Quote:

it can supply power to mice/keyboards fine, but not to the SSL unit.

I can confirm that that is incorrect, at least on my 867. I get power to my box thru either jack, but I use a radio shack power adaptor anyway.

Today I've been running the box to usb jack 1, and havent had any problems. So, I'll stay using it setup this way and thanks for the tip mArtian.

I'll be doing some of my own research on this one.

-af-

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