fotsbeats
9:51 PM - 1 May, 2013
I was able to get sdj actived properly without uninstalling itch by opening the program in offline mode, then switching the ns7 on and hitting something like 'activate' in the window that comes up on the right side. However If you are having trouble I would first make sure you guys have the latest NS7 firmware and drive installed.
and a big HOWEVER:
based on today and yesterday messing around in SDJ you guys aren't missing out on much (aside from some great effects and visuals)... This is expected for a first release just look at the posts in the NS6 issues section, theyve had sdj for over 2 months and it seems untill this update its been unusable in a live environment. My goal here is simply to report some pretty signifigant problems and see if any of you fellow NS7 users have expirienced similar/found solutions.
BUGS SO FAR....
Can not map loop rool to 3rd party controller (ex Akai LPD8)
as an ns7 user we can activate loop roll by simply holding the 'delete button' on either deck and pressing any lenght loop while in 'auto mode' however unlike in SSL, SDJ can not map this function to a button or drum pad, this is a feature that serato has admitadley left out)
Strip search: - will not bring you to the complete begining of the song, even when touching the strip as far left as you can go, you will wind up about 5 bars in.
Songs 'falling out of sync': I will start this off by saying I am not a 'sync button' dj and never have been. Not gonna knock it this is not the venue for that. Ive noticed that in SDJ as compared to itch, once youve beatmatched 2 songs and are playing them together even if the tempo is displayed exactly the same on the 2 tracks, they very quicklly fall out of sync in a glitchy unexpected way. This is not the same way 2 songs would 'fall out of sync' in a convential dj set up this is a strange glitch that has something to do with the track skipping or the tempo fader. I fired up itch with the exact same 2 songs and preformed the same blend with 0 problems. (Im extremley acustomed to dragging my finger/pushing forward on the platter to keep songs matched and something in sdj was just terribly off!)
Loops- Auto loops sometime activate their exact value later in the song
for example if you are activating a 4 bar auto loop (in itch) the loop will activate at that very beat (grid bar) and last for 4 bars (even if you miss this beat completley but are closer to IT than the next beat). In some cases i noticed sdj will active a looped triggered the same way 4 bars later instead of on the inteaded point, very difficult if you use loops bleed out a playing track into the next track.
CPU LOAD!!! (macbook pro, core 2 duo, 4 gigs ram)
Noticed a very heavy load on both the "green line' meter and CPU warning light even with the buffer at 512mb (very high) The good news is SDJ seems to be running very stable and although I managed to activate the CPU warning light manny times with the buffer at lower settings, I didnt hear even 1 audio dropout in either of the 2 hour sessions i spend test this out.
The limter (IMO) is much worse than itch. This is manly becuase it activates at a much lower volume than itch (according to both the vu metet on the ns7 and the master meter on the screen). when this hapoens it ducks the songs alot more than they should be even though the overall output is showing much lower than 0db.
From a gain staging point of veiw the easy work around for this when in the club would be to turn off auto gain (duh) but for djs that like to get a little crazy and mix a new song in every 30 seconds or so its always nice to have a functional limiter engage just in case (IMO)
