paisan
Hey guys,
I have finally decided(after a year of using vdj) to move past my keyboard. I explored all of the options, read every post in every thread relating to Time Coded CD's and decided on CD decks for a couple of reasons. 1- size, In my profession I don't have alot of room for storage so size and portability were a major issue; that left me CD decks or XP10. The XP10's would have been a bit more portable but I felt that in the end the CD decks gave me a lot more options and overall more flexibility. So I sprung for a set of Denon decks, a Behringer mixer, and ordered a maya 44 sound card.
Now for all of my questions:
1-What functions on the denons will still work? Will the pitch control, cue, loop, and effects still work?
2-If I ever get good enough to record will there be a problem hooking up a second sound card to my lap top?
3-Are there any of the backspin crash problems associated with tccd that have been noticed by the xp10 and tcv users?
4-I read in some of tunics posts about some delays when he started using his decks. have these been fixed and if not how bad is the latency issue?
Can any of the experienced tccd users (I know norway, tunic, apopsis come to mind) share some insight into what they have seen using cd decks.
I apologize for the long post, and thank you in advance for your answers.
Chris
I have finally decided(after a year of using vdj) to move past my keyboard. I explored all of the options, read every post in every thread relating to Time Coded CD's and decided on CD decks for a couple of reasons. 1- size, In my profession I don't have alot of room for storage so size and portability were a major issue; that left me CD decks or XP10. The XP10's would have been a bit more portable but I felt that in the end the CD decks gave me a lot more options and overall more flexibility. So I sprung for a set of Denon decks, a Behringer mixer, and ordered a maya 44 sound card.
Now for all of my questions:
1-What functions on the denons will still work? Will the pitch control, cue, loop, and effects still work?
2-If I ever get good enough to record will there be a problem hooking up a second sound card to my lap top?
3-Are there any of the backspin crash problems associated with tccd that have been noticed by the xp10 and tcv users?
4-I read in some of tunics posts about some delays when he started using his decks. have these been fixed and if not how bad is the latency issue?
Can any of the experienced tccd users (I know norway, tunic, apopsis come to mind) share some insight into what they have seen using cd decks.
I apologize for the long post, and thank you in advance for your answers.
Chris
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 4:37 am
TechnicalDJ
Hey man- glad to hear your upgrading. What kind of Denon decks did you get? 1000, 3000, or 5000?
i believe, only the pitch control will still work with VDJ, although- no master tempo (i Might be wrong)
Shouldn't be a problem recording
The crash is still a pretty mysterious thing...it COULD be a problem, although I'm sure this is gonna get fixed soon.
don't know anything about the delay...sorry
i believe, only the pitch control will still work with VDJ, although- no master tempo (i Might be wrong)
Shouldn't be a problem recording
The crash is still a pretty mysterious thing...it COULD be a problem, although I'm sure this is gonna get fixed soon.
don't know anything about the delay...sorry
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 7:03 am
paisan
Thanks for the response. I got a good deal on a pair of denon 5000's and a behringer 700.
Chris
Chris
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 3:33 pm
TechnicalDJ
Hey man- you gotta let me know how all that works for you...cause I'm seriously considering picking up a couple DN-S3000s to use with VDJ. Thanks!
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 10:08 pm
paisan
I sure will bud, my maya should be in by Friday so I'll post on Saturday or Sunday how it all works out.
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 10:21 pm
tunic
Hiya,
Pitch control works fine - but as previously mentioned there is a slight delay (though in hindsight from my previous statements there is a delay with normal decks anyway and it is probably only marginally worse than your CDJs playing normal CDs).
Master tempo has no effect at all (which is weird, I don't know the physics of how it works but basically you could stick it on at +10 and I think it still plays at 0% with master tempo on). Either way, at least it doesn't mess up VDJ.
The scratching issues on load seem to be an issue with VDJ and not any specific controlller. It seems one of the best things to do in any case is let the song finish loading before attempting to cue it.
Looping on the CDJ I'd imagine will work to a certain extent (though I can't say for sure because I haven't got a loop enabled CDJ). Again, there may be a certain delay and it will probably not work if the looping is synchronised to the beat (as there won't be any beats). Loops that work by you manually setting the start and end points will probably be okay (subject to a possible delay).
Pitch control works fine - but as previously mentioned there is a slight delay (though in hindsight from my previous statements there is a delay with normal decks anyway and it is probably only marginally worse than your CDJs playing normal CDs).
Master tempo has no effect at all (which is weird, I don't know the physics of how it works but basically you could stick it on at +10 and I think it still plays at 0% with master tempo on). Either way, at least it doesn't mess up VDJ.
The scratching issues on load seem to be an issue with VDJ and not any specific controlller. It seems one of the best things to do in any case is let the song finish loading before attempting to cue it.
Looping on the CDJ I'd imagine will work to a certain extent (though I can't say for sure because I haven't got a loop enabled CDJ). Again, there may be a certain delay and it will probably not work if the looping is synchronised to the beat (as there won't be any beats). Loops that work by you manually setting the start and end points will probably be okay (subject to a possible delay).
Inviato Tue 22 Mar 05 @ 10:22 pm
paisan
tunic, thanks for the insight. Can't wait to get the soundcard in the mail so I can hook it all up and try it out.
Inviato Wed 23 Mar 05 @ 4:22 am
TechnicalDJ
Hey man- you tried that Dn-S5000 out yet with the TC CDs? I SOOO damn curious. Haha
Inviato Sat 26 Mar 05 @ 9:58 am
paisan
I got the card in last night but spent all night messing with the following stuff:
(cut and pasted from tech forum)
"1- No matter what i do I can't get higher than 85% quality( fixed this by uninstalling and reinstalling to a diffferent com port) but if I move my pitch slider evena little the quality drops to 80%
2- If I press pause on the cd player VDJ takes off like crazy spinning the song at warp speed
3- pitch sliders will only change pitch +/- .5% even if cd pitch is all the way at 10%
4- If I stop the deck the waveform will start drifting around in either direction.
5- Sound Quality is crap!! theres all this hissing and popping that Ive never had before using VDJ."
I will say this, If i can get these things hooked up and working correctly I have a feeling this will be a great set up. the S-5000's by themselves are simply amazing so with VDJ its gonna be so much fun ... now if i can only get it working.
any suggestions?
(cut and pasted from tech forum)
"1- No matter what i do I can't get higher than 85% quality( fixed this by uninstalling and reinstalling to a diffferent com port) but if I move my pitch slider evena little the quality drops to 80%
2- If I press pause on the cd player VDJ takes off like crazy spinning the song at warp speed
3- pitch sliders will only change pitch +/- .5% even if cd pitch is all the way at 10%
4- If I stop the deck the waveform will start drifting around in either direction.
5- Sound Quality is crap!! theres all this hissing and popping that Ive never had before using VDJ."
I will say this, If i can get these things hooked up and working correctly I have a feeling this will be a great set up. the S-5000's by themselves are simply amazing so with VDJ its gonna be so much fun ... now if i can only get it working.
any suggestions?
Inviato Sat 26 Mar 05 @ 11:01 am
paisan
Tech:
Ive got most of the problems corrected now but am still having problems with pitch control. Even still i got enough working to play around for about 2 hours. It's a really good set up the loop functions, effects, cue, jog wheel all work really well. Things that don't work alpha track + mirror mix (both functions need that second laser to be reading which would mean 4 inputs to VDJ.. maybe with the multi instance skin + 2 soundcards) and as I stated already Pitch Control..
Honest Opinion... if you want a compact setup that has the flexibilty to go without VDJ(for whatever reason) then this is it. If you don't ever intend to use this without VDJ then buy the XP10's or TCV. Since my job takes me away from home for months on end I needed a system that was portable and extremely flexible if something happened to either my laptop(VDJ) or one of the decks. With this set up (each 5000 can play 2 tracks and you can mix them as if they were seperate decks)I can just reconfigure around the casualty and still have music until I get back home to fix it.
Paisan
Ive got most of the problems corrected now but am still having problems with pitch control. Even still i got enough working to play around for about 2 hours. It's a really good set up the loop functions, effects, cue, jog wheel all work really well. Things that don't work alpha track + mirror mix (both functions need that second laser to be reading which would mean 4 inputs to VDJ.. maybe with the multi instance skin + 2 soundcards) and as I stated already Pitch Control..
Honest Opinion... if you want a compact setup that has the flexibilty to go without VDJ(for whatever reason) then this is it. If you don't ever intend to use this without VDJ then buy the XP10's or TCV. Since my job takes me away from home for months on end I needed a system that was portable and extremely flexible if something happened to either my laptop(VDJ) or one of the decks. With this set up (each 5000 can play 2 tracks and you can mix them as if they were seperate decks)I can just reconfigure around the casualty and still have music until I get back home to fix it.
Paisan
Inviato Sat 26 Mar 05 @ 7:50 pm
TechnicalDJ
Okay cool- thanks for the info/review! So- does the song in VDJ respond quickly enough when moving the platter on the s5000? How about scratching...is it possible? Thanks agian man
Inviato Sat 26 Mar 05 @ 10:46 pm
paisan
Got the pitch problem fixed, The denons had a pitch key adjust just like VDJ does and the combination of the 2 was driving VDJ nuts. Once I turned that off voila.
Everything is pretty much dialed in now and works great so I'm not noticing any delay when Scratching or turning the platter. I will say the platter is a bit more touchy wen using VDJ then when its stand alone. Not a big difference but noticeable.
Give me a couple more days of tweaking and playing with this and I should be able to answer any questions you have. :)
Paisan
Everything is pretty much dialed in now and works great so I'm not noticing any delay when Scratching or turning the platter. I will say the platter is a bit more touchy wen using VDJ then when its stand alone. Not a big difference but noticeable.
Give me a couple more days of tweaking and playing with this and I should be able to answer any questions you have. :)
Paisan
Inviato Sat 26 Mar 05 @ 11:35 pm
JeremK
I have a question for when you will know everything on TCCD! If you do a perfect loop on the turntable, let's say a 4 beat loop, does it work in vdj? if you do a manual loop, will it work in vdj too?
Oh i just realised i'm stupid you can't do a perfect loop with a TCCD, it has no BPM the turntable can analyse. anyway, does the manual loop work?
Oh i just realised i'm stupid you can't do a perfect loop with a TCCD, it has no BPM the turntable can analyse. anyway, does the manual loop work?
Inviato Sun 27 Mar 05 @ 3:06 am
paisan
Yes, i can set loops from either the cd deck or from vdj, but doing it in vdj is a whole lot easier because it sets it perfectly each time. With the denons you have to pick the start and exit spot for the loop so if your a bit off you'll hear it.
Inviato Sun 27 Mar 05 @ 3:54 am
TechnicalDJ
HEy man- so whats the latency like on it?
Inviato Mon 28 Mar 05 @ 8:29 am
paisan
Well I could never get it to work on my Laptop because the sound was making alot of crackling and popping noises so I switched the set up to my desktop; Intel Pentium 4 2.6ghz, 1MB Ram, maya 44 on high speed and it says 2-3ms latency which to me is unnoticeable. The only things whacky that I notice both have to do with the cd not spinning:
-Changing pitch before the cd is spinning will not register in VDJ until the cd starts to spin,
-If you go to your cues before the cd is spinning the waveform wont be correct.
Both of these happen to me right as I'm changing songs because im trying to get the pitch right and to my cue point before I hit play, so I just do everything in reverse order now. Hit play, pitch, then cue and grab the deck or pause once i make sure its all right.
-Changing pitch before the cd is spinning will not register in VDJ until the cd starts to spin,
-If you go to your cues before the cd is spinning the waveform wont be correct.
Both of these happen to me right as I'm changing songs because im trying to get the pitch right and to my cue point before I hit play, so I just do everything in reverse order now. Hit play, pitch, then cue and grab the deck or pause once i make sure its all right.
Inviato Mon 28 Mar 05 @ 1:03 pm
TechnicalDJ
PAISAN!!! HELP!! I'm going through ALL the same problems you were having, with the waveform drifting, taking off at warp Speed...and such. What exactly did you do to fix all this??? I've got a gig in 6 hours...so PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks man
Inviato Thu 31 Mar 05 @ 11:27 pm
cstoll
Hey TechnicalDJ - look here http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=11086
I gave paisan my settings for TCV use and he said they greatly improved his distortion issues and maybe some of his others issues.
Hope this help and paisan get's back to you in time.
cstoll
I gave paisan my settings for TCV use and he said they greatly improved his distortion issues and maybe some of his others issues.
Hope this help and paisan get's back to you in time.
cstoll
Inviato Fri 01 Apr 05 @ 12:18 am
paisan
Hey technical, I put everything that I did in the first thread I saw. I am gonna post link to that thread in case you look here first:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=8178
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=8178
Inviato Fri 01 Apr 05 @ 12:24 am
TechnicalDJ
Man thanks guys- yeah paisan, it was the silence gauge. The gig went GREAT by the way. I was using two Denon S3000s with the TCCDs. In my opinion the TCCDs with the Denons is WWWAAAAYYYY better that TCV. I think i am one to judge this, as I have used TCV for about a year now, and already know that the TCCDs are better...it just kinda seemed like everything ran much smoother. also- NO CRASHES!!!! YAY!.....(still waiting for 2.07 though... ;)
Inviato Sat 02 Apr 05 @ 9:19 am
