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Audio Dropouts
A read-only archive of old serato.com help threads.

Audio Dropouts

Product
ITCH
Version
1.7.1
Hardware
Numark NS7 +
Computer
PC
OS
Platform
-
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 2:55 AM - 21 March, 2011
Product: itch
Version: 1.7.1
Hardware: numark-ns7||no-fx-controller
Computer: pc
OS Version: win764
---

Audio Dropouts happen randomly whether im in the club or doing a live show, computer freezes, usb lights turns off, the whole NS7 flashes for at least 10 seconds, them it restarts again, very frustrating spoke to you guys before, you told me to buy a new computer, spent $800 on a new laptop and its doing the same thing. Have followed steps from other blogs in the forums and here is the attachment of the DCP report and the specs for my computer....
Satellite A665-S5170 Laptop Specifications
Spec Sheet download detailed spec sheet PDF
Performance

Processor*
Intel® Core™ i3-380M Processor*
Operating System*
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)*
Graphics Engine*
Mobile Intel® HD Graphics
Graphics Memory*
64MB-1696MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory

Memory and Storage

Memory*
4GB DDR3 1066MHz memory
Hard Drive*
640GB HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive*
DVD-SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash™ drive

Audio and Video

Display Size
15.6" widescreen
Display Type*
HD TruBrite® LED Backlit display with Intel® Wireless Display Technology
Display Resolution
Supports 720p content, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366x768 (HD)
Audio
harman/kardon® stereo speakers, Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono), Built-in microphone

Communication

Webcam
Webcam and microphone built into LCD bezel
Wireless LAN*
Intel® Wi-Fi® Wireless networking (802.11a/g/n + WiDi Capable + Intel® 4G WiMax™ Capable)*
Bluetooth
No Bluetooth (No Antenna)
Modem*
No Modem port
LAN
10/100 Ethernet LAN

Power

AC Adapter
65W (19V 3.42A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input
Battery
Li-Ion (48Wh, 6-Cell)
Battery Life*
Up to 4.2 hours......

i know its long but here is the dcp report, also uninstalled wireless card also uninstalled audio soundcard only sound card is serato ones.









2:55 AM, 21 Mar 2011
DjNice_WorldWideENT. attached a file: NICE-PC-dpcisr-report.txt
Download· Permalink
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 2:16 PM - 21 March, 2011
im trying all usb ports all bufer size and not even scraching com one this is not even kool
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 9:40 PM - 21 March, 2011
Hi DjNice WorldWideENT..

Before looking at the Trace report, can I get you to please go to this article and follow all the instructions on getting your computer ready for performance audio use:
www.serato.com

Other than this, these are the problematic modules in your computer causing latency and USB interference:

USBPORT.SYS (USB port driver)

* Try connecting to a different USB port.
* Use a different USB cable.
* Go to your computer manufacturer's website and check if there you are using the most up-to-date drivers.
* Try using an external power supply for your hardware.

portcls.sys (Soundcard driver)

* Try updating your soundcard driver.
* Try disabling your soundcard.


It might be a good idea to go to your laptop manufacturer's website and see if there are driver updates for your computer in general and update as well as just the above.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 4:59 AM - 22 March, 2011
ive done did all that evenruning with out battery like mention still
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 5:23 AM - 22 March, 2011
Can you please take another DPC trace report, and we can see what is happening now.
Cheers.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 1:03 PM - 22 March, 2011
ok but im sure nothings change ive spend 3 hours on toshiba website no drivers for usb at all no drivers for audio update at all ..now im woundering if there is a generic driver i can get for my usb if there is can u link me to it
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 2:07 AM - 23 March, 2011
Were there any other drivers? Try updating everything and give it a go, there may be some poorly designed driver that is interfering somewhere.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 5:17 AM - 23 March, 2011
no but likei said isthere a generic driver i can get some were for my usb
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 1:29 PM - 23 March, 2011
???????????????????????????????????????????????? generic driver ?????
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 5:36 PM - 24 March, 2011
ok so i put a total of 6 gig ram and still nothing i need you guys tohelp me withthis i seem to get ignore from serato y ? i took out the baterty to disable that from being the problem i havea total of6 gigs ram wats going on cani do something to lesserthis efect from happening i mean is sukxx dude my comp dosent supourt firewire but i was thinking if there any other way i can do like sata or something ???? ucan understandmy frustration as this is a brand new pc
hornsmaniac 7:47 PM - 28 March, 2011
I feel your pain DjNice. I too get this. Its VERY EMBARRASSING. The manager of the bar I dj at is getting tired of it also and has already told me to get it fixed soon or he is getting another dj.
taterwulf 8:43 PM - 28 March, 2011
Hey DJNice,

I had the same problems with running ITCH with Windows7 64Bit and an NS7FX controller. i did everything they asked and even ran some tweaks of my own (i'm also a PC Tech) to no avail.

Finally i decided to downgrade my PC (a DELL XPS m1530 2.2Core2Duo, 4GB RAM) from W7Ultimate64 to W7PRO32bit.

I'm amazed at the difference... i have run my system this way for a couple shows and haven't had a drop since. you might want to try that!
Tr3v 10:26 PM - 28 March, 2011
Dude, for some reason, 64 bit just doesnt work lol

32 bit is the way to go, and also, Windows 7 Home Premium is the better choice rather than ultimate, etc. It uses less resources. Also make sure when you are DJing, your antivirus is off and all other background programs.

Simply put, you want your computer to just focus on Itch. Be sure to do virus scans AND malware scans. Malwarebytes is a good program for antimalware.

CCLeaner is a good program to clean out your computer, and also clean your registry. Cleaning the registry of errors can significantly speed up your computer.

One other thing is to defrag your drives. YOu can use a program called Defraggler for that, it has a better interface than the one Windows provides.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 11:04 PM - 28 March, 2011
thankx you guys I bogh a mac use I'm using that till I reboot my toshiba to vista like you said I hope it works cause I can't stand mac to much it's good do but I pay money for a new laptop I should be able to use it
Tr3v 11:05 PM - 28 March, 2011
Dude, Vista is the worse thing you can use.

Like I said, reformat to Win 7 Home Premium 32 bit

I have a 2ghz laptop with 4gb RAM and it runs decent.
Tr3v 11:06 PM - 28 March, 2011
Although Mac is probably the best way to go wen it comes to Serato
DJ BossSounds 11:07 PM - 28 March, 2011
DjNice_WorldWideENT.

There is nothing we can do. I've tried everything. The MacBook Pro is the ONLY solution.

Satellite C655-5132
4GB, 250GB, Win 7, ETC....
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 11:14 PM - 28 March, 2011
DjNice_WorldWideENT.

Did you try running a new trace report?

Poorly designed drivers or damaged parts for your laptop are something that is quite out of our control unfortunately. We can try (and are trying right now) to help you figure out how to get your computer up to spec, but there is a limit sometimes. We aren't technicians for your laptop (as much as we'd LOVE to know every single thing about every single machine, it's just not possible) so in this regard we can only try our hardest to help guide you in finding out how to get your computer functional.

In saying that, once you've taking another Trace report we can see what else is causing issues or if it's the same modules, or if there is some change in the way the modules are responding.
DJ BossSounds 11:33 PM - 28 March, 2011
Matt-

With all due respect, I think, for whatever reason, that you guys don't want to ADMIT that SERATO/NS7 doesn't run on Windows. If you provide this disclaimer to your client base BEFORE they spend g's on their setup & BEFORE they go LIVE!!!!

Apple is a superior product- point blank. I shouldn't have to disable everything to run my NS7 & then re-enable to use my computer.

So instead of receiving steady income streams- I'm forced to increase my investment in the DJing business & to add insult to injury- take a hit on on the cash outlay for the clearly inferior Windows based cpu.

%#@$^T%#$@
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 11:41 PM - 28 March, 2011
I'm sorry you feel that way, it always sucks when you are faced with technological hurdles that frustrate and consume time and energy.
However, 99.9% of our user base are working fine on Windows. We have a small (very small, maybe a handful) of users who have below spec machines.

What the DPC Trace report is showing us is that the computer is not computing at the right latency, regardless of what is going on in the ITCH software.

We are aware there have been some users with USB dropout issues with ITCH 1.7, but that is a different issue, and one that getting the DPC Trace report clean hasn't resolved (again, this is a minority of users, however it is an annoying issue).

No audio company can force your computer's main board to do anything like this, we'd love to be able to switch things off left and right to get clean latency for high performance audio use, but unfortunately, users need to do this for themselves.

Windows isn't the culprit here, it's the laptop manufacturer who can be using poorly designed drivers, poor parts, or just poor design of their architecture. We recommend Apple because they don't do this, their parts and drivers and architecture is premium. However, you still need to tweak Apple products for best latency performance.
DJ BossSounds 11:42 PM - 28 March, 2011
Revision- I can use this stupid Toshiba to run my drops.......since SERATO wont allow me to do it myself. Oh, let me add $400 more for the Roland/IPAD if I choose not to lug around this stupid windows based machine!!!!!!!!!

Who in the hell was your Focus group?????!!!!!!! Did they do a couple of sessions of Sour D & then gave you feedback. Who on earth told Nurmark/Serato that DJs don't need to do drops & record from various sources!!!!!!????????
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 4:36 AM - 29 March, 2011
im so tire of this serato dudes allways sugesting mac now let me ask u does that come include it on the purchase of the ns7 i mean is it include it for 1500 bukx ns7 and mac no is not so stop sudgesting that cause unfurtanaly un like ur famous djs some of us have real life jobs fmily and bills so wecant be droping 1500 on a hardware and 1900 on a mac to top it of my oldlaptop is not really old is only a year old this one is 4 months in the market so wats the excuse now listen serato not for nothing but ya got alot of catching up to do .likeno sampler on itch really ??? so here we go ...ya need a (sampler, a video plug in alot of people are video djs and we cant use virtual dj , and fix windows version of itchseriously or at east reealese and update just fr pc users for now i know yadont wana reales just nything but this is not kool //do u know how many use ns7 are on ebay and on craigslist .....cause its users got tire ..ive even seen peple go back to cds not cdjs cds u feel me so this is the end of my conversation wont bother no more so u guys get sme work done thankx and excuse all of us but this is no a joke is our money out hte window
taterwulf 6:22 PM - 29 March, 2011
you guys have to understand where the designers and engineers at Serato are coming from... they recommend that you use a MAC not because they are better, but because they can easier guarantee that the software and hardware will run correctly on it.

Why, you ask?

how many hardware manufacturers make apple computers?
Answer: "1" - APPLE
how many hardware manufactures make PC's?
Answer: over 200 companies make parts for or make whole computers.

why is this relevant?

It is impossible to test every type of pc with every type of configuration possible and make sure that not only will it work correctly with Serato products, but that the software drivers that run the various components in your PC are written with performance in mind.

with the Apple/MAC systems, it is a closed loop on who may manufacture hardware that goes into them and who may write software that can be used on them.
THUS, it is easier to engineer a piece of software and feel rest assured it will run smoothly on a MAC than on a PC.

I am by no means a "MAC" person, and i believe if your buying into Apple without thinking, or you are just buying one "cuz everyone else is doing it" then your foolish and wasting your money.

if you are a live performer, DJ, productions person, graphic designer, studio professional, then MAC is the way to go. they are built with raw processing power in mind, as where PC are not.

i hope this clears it up for you gentlemen.

My Serato System:
Numark NS7FX
Serato ITCH 1.7.1
Dell XPS m1530
2.2Ghz Core2Duo
4 Gigs DDR2 Memory
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Windows7Professional 32Bit.
(this is a downgrade from 64Bit after i realized ITCH will not run correctly in 64Bit mode no matter how much Serato loves to say it will)

Cheers!
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 6:43 PM - 29 March, 2011
dude stop kissing ass ok I've already said the end of this forum was that ok so get ur mac and stay with it ok .stop the talking delet the forum serato ...and do wat ya doo ok ...
taterwulf 6:47 PM - 29 March, 2011
Ain't nobody kissing anyones ass, and your ignorance is really showing. you can take the information i have given you, or you can blow it up your ass for all i care. if you came here asking for help, don't cry like a little bitch when you get the help you asked for, idiot.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 6:56 PM - 29 March, 2011
dude like I said stop the dam forum .firts of all you are da dum one that kept on the freaking mac this mac that dead it aint no one want to heare it if I spent 1000 in a new pc wat makes you or ur boys think I wan go to and spend another 1000 on a mac .dead it ok homie let them dudes get back to work and maybe by the time we notice you know wen we all get fired from the clubs and stuff serato will be stable ok budy budy now do you and go get some thing to do I can't be reciving and email on my phone evrythime you feel like it ok
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 10:56 PM - 29 March, 2011
DjNice_WorldWideENT. I'm not in any way saying get a Mac. I've just said that they are considered to be the best laptops for audio use.

You can get a good PC. It just seems that your PC isn't that good, all the tweaking and adjusting you have done still hasn't got the USB architecture to work properly so it may be that you need a new PC. I can only help so much as you help me, so if you don't want to continue to do more troubleshooting, then feel free to look at alternatives, but please believe me when I say that most PCs are working fine and the vast majority of DJs are having trouble free playback.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 2:07 PM - 30 March, 2011
every time I call supourt that's all you guys say mac mac is ok but like I said I prefer windows so wen is ready for windows it is ok so for now I'll use my imac
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 1:40 AM - 31 March, 2011
At Serato we don't say Mac, but we do know they are a safer bet for most users.
However, what I am trying to say to you is that your PC is having difficulties, so having a better PC or Mac would help, it's not the program that is having issues for you I'm sorry to say.
DjNice_WorldWideENT. 2:34 AM - 31 March, 2011
there we go you gonna say have a better pc or get what wats that againg mac ha ? Sounds familiar dude is wat ever just make a beter itch wen ever between now and 2013
Serato, Forum Moderator
Matt-C 3:26 AM - 31 March, 2011
I am not sure why you are unwilling to accept that your PC is the fault here.

I have even given you impartial evidence (DPC Trace Report) showing your laptop to be causing the latency and dropouts.

We have thousands and thousands of users with no problem running ITCH on Windows machines, we have done extensive testing and years of experience troubleshooting computer issues.

I am not sure what else there is to do other than get a new computer. PC or Mac is irrelevant here, but you current computer is unfortunately not good enough.

I am very sorry you are feeling frustrated, and apologize that we are unable to help further. But there is nothing humanly possible for anyone here to fix your computer's shortcomings.
4:00 AM, 14 Apr 2011
This help request has been closed due to inactivity.