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Another Glitchy / Jittery / Jerky Waveform Issue. : (

Product
Scratch Live
Version
2.2
Hardware
Rane TTM 57SL
Computer
Mac
OS
Platform
-
firstclassalltheway 10:15 PM - 15 May, 2011
Product: scratchlive
Version: 2.2
Hardware: rane-ttm57sl
Computer: mac
OS Version: 10.6.7
---

Equip: Macbook Pro 2.66Ghz Intel Core Duo, 8gb Ram, 750gb 7200rpm HD (internal) w/ Rane TTM57SL running Scratch Live 2.2.0 with latest TTM57SL Firmware Update

Brief description: This weekend on both Friday & Saturday night I was spinning and getting some serious jerking/jitter/glitch in my waveforms that effected my mixing. Friday night it was towards the end of my night and I was spinning two bass heavy tracks. Here were my settings for Friday;

Tracks:
- Look At Me Now (Dillon Francis Remix)
- Motivation feat. Lil Wayne (Diplo Remix)

Settings:
Screen Updates: 30
Audio Cache: 30
USB Buffer: 6

I read through a few previous threads, downloaded the OSX iStat NANO widget, adjusted my screen updates to "60", audio cache to "15", and USB buffer to "5" before spinning last night (Saturday), and the same thing happened during two other 'not so bass heavy' tracks. I took a short video clip while they were playing, also took pics of all my settings, iStat NANO settings during incident, turned dj effects off (which did not help), and eventually the waveforms went back to normal, but I have no clue why or what happened.

I've also read the thread with the link to the Apple Hard Drive Protection thread but on Friday my laptop was nowhere near a sub or subject to any rumbling or vibration whatsoever and last night there was no sub and again my laptop was sitting untouched on my stand.

Reason why I'm posting is this has happened a few times now, but got a little extreme on Friday night and I'm spinning a dubstep night in a few weeks so I'm a little worried. If anyone can help me troubleshoot and figure out how to get my Scratch Live working smooth again that would be awesome.
Thanks



Rane, Support
Shaun W 7:15 PM - 16 May, 2011
Was your CPU spiking while the waveforms were tweaking out on you?

Are you using an external hard drive?

Did you install the 750GB internal drive or was is pre-installed by Apple?

What was your internal temp reading during the waveform craziness?
Rane, Support
Shaun W 7:16 PM - 16 May, 2011
How many Widgets to you have running within your Dashboard?
firstclassalltheway 3:57 AM - 17 May, 2011
Hi, readout from my widget at time of incident:
CPU about 30%
Memory about 20%
Mac OS X 60%
Temp 32ยบ

My HardDrive is internal, I installed it (plug and play), and I've been using it for at least a few months with no problems whatsoever. 6 Widgets total in my dashboard (including istat nano).
Rane, Support
Shaun W 3:56 PM - 17 May, 2011
What make and model drive did you install? Is it a Western Digital by chance? I ask because other user have reported drive stalling issues with WD drives installed within Mac computers.
firstclassalltheway 4:00 PM - 17 May, 2011
Seagate Momentus 750gb 7200rpm
Rane, Support
Shaun W 4:19 PM - 17 May, 2011
Quote:
Seagate Momentus 750gb 7200rpm

Cool, good to hear :)

There has to be some sort of process that's causing this. Open Activity Monitor and try to reproduce the weirdness, keeping an eye on processes hogging CPU, RAM and etc.
firstclassalltheway 4:25 PM - 17 May, 2011
Ok, spinning tomorrow, I'll see if it happens again and I'll have Activity Monitor on.
Rane, Support
Shaun W 7:19 PM - 17 May, 2011
Cool, thanks!
firstclassalltheway 6:51 PM - 22 May, 2011
update. happened again a few times last night. I had Activity Monitor on, took video and photographs of both the waveforms and Activity Monitor, so let me know which numbers you'd like to see. nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, more like certain tracks just caused both waves to get jerky and when I'd mix out it would eventually go away. still not normal.. :/
Rane, Support
Shaun W 5:39 PM - 23 May, 2011
Please post the activity monitor results you recorded and I'll take a look.

The certain tracks that may have contributed to the issue, have they been analyzed?

Do the potential problem contributing tracks have anything in common?

Do those tracks cause the same issue each time they're played?
7:33 PM, 23 May 2011
firstclassalltheway attached a file: actmonitor.jpg
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firstclassalltheway 7:37 PM - 23 May, 2011
- first time it was two bass heavy/boderline dubstep tracks (both analyzed)
- second time it was a sidney samson remix with another track (a little bass heavy but not crazy) (both analyzed)
- other night was a tinie tempah track, not bass heavy at all, playing with a transition (transition may not have been analyzed as I tag them at the appropriate bpm)
- and also the other night a cold blank remix (bass heavy) with daft punk one more time (both analyzed)

I need to try those combos out to see if I can recreate the problem, but common theme is bass heavy and one unanalyzed.
Rane, Support
Shaun W 10:36 PM - 23 May, 2011
Do you have the Key Lock feature within SSL on or off? Perhaps having Key Lock on makes the jitters worst when playing super bass heavy tracks.
firstclassalltheway 10:38 PM - 23 May, 2011
Yes Key Lock is on
Rane, Support
Shaun W 10:44 PM - 23 May, 2011
Try testing with key lock disabled and see if the issue is better, worse or in between :)
firstclassalltheway 10:47 PM - 23 May, 2011
Ok, seems like I'm pretty much turning everything off and changing all my settings for a problem I never had before though. :/
Rane, Support
Shaun W 4:47 PM - 24 May, 2011
Have you been using the same version for testing (2.2.0)? Do you experience the same jitters using a previous version of SSL?
firstclassalltheway 8:27 PM - 24 May, 2011
Yeah same version
Rane, Support
Shaun W 9:25 PM - 24 May, 2011
As a test, try an older version of SSL and see if the problem continues. This will help narrow the issue down to the version of SSL :)

Our download archive can be found here -->> serato.com
firstclassalltheway 8:52 PM - 28 May, 2011
UPDATE!! So turning Key Lock is the culprit. When it's off my tracks run smooth, when it's on (tried turning it back on last night) I get glitchy waves on certain tracks. Maybe something to work on fixing in the next release?
Rane, Support
Shaun W 6:50 PM - 31 May, 2011
Thanks for the update! I'll definitely pass your findings to the Serato software developers :)
DJ NewLife 1:58 AM - 9 June, 2011
I'm having a very similar issue, I think. I want to make sure that there is also a glitch in the sound and not just jittering in the wave form. Am I correct?
Rane, Support
Shaun W 6:01 PM - 9 June, 2011
Quote:
I'm having a very similar issue, I think. I want to make sure that there is also a glitch in the sound and not just jittering in the wave form. Am I correct?

The waveform glitch doesn't affect audio unless the glitch is caused by a USB buffer setting that's to low for your computer to keep up with.
7:00 PM, 23 Jun 2011
This help request has been closed due to inactivity.