Accesso rapido:  

Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Pioneer DDJ-1000
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
Has anyone had issues with output levels on channel gains. I just get really low visual indication on the channel faders/gains
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 6:52 pm
Thought you had a MC7000 and MC6000 Mk2?
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 6:54 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
I do, I also have a DDJ 1000 that has solved all my latency issues, the drivers and firmware are not 5 years old, so it can work on my new laptops. Also supports the M1 chip. Might give it a go with rekordbox see if it is the same
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 6:56 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
OK so with rekordbox i have what I expect to see, visual indication of channels gains , with VDJ even at 0Db overhead it is not right, any thoughts as to why? I also notice in VDJ i get terrible distortion in headphones up high, but ok in Rekordbox
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 7:14 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 7:30 pm
If you're getting distortion in your headphones bring down the headphonesGain value. I use 0.55
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 7:44 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
I realise i can do that, i was just demonstrating both programs same settings on controller. Some tunes i have no visual indication on channel it is even playing .
 

Inviato Wed 28 Jul 21 @ 8:06 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
Well wasted a few hours on this, tried with Serato, Rekordbox and both are just fine -6db headroom and my gain indicators are all just in orange, try same with VDJ and i barely get one led lit up at -3db headroom. So as far as i can tell two dj software works one doesn't. And yes no way to create a ticket or get much help it appears. Either some setting I am missing specific to VDJ or I don't know, after 15 odd years with VDJ I feel I may have to start getting familiar with other software.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 1:28 am
Oh so you don't get an answer in a few hours so threaten to move on.

At least let the devs and support staff get a chance to investigate and come back to you. Your other threads got plenty of attention but personally it seems you're just impatient.

I'm sure if there is a genuine issue it will be noted and fixed. No need for the attitude.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 8:02 am
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
You appear to be the only person who ever replies, and to be honest your attitude to someone who paid his money and been loyal for many years is not the best advert for the company. If you have nothing constructive to say then maybe best to say nothing. You can't sell a product then hope/rely on folk like you monitor a forum so those that really can help don't have to, it needs a proper ticket system so it gets looked at by the folk who sell the software. Like it once did. Ever wondered why more folk use other software?
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 8:31 am
Fair enough. I think you'll find the support and bug fixing here is far better than many others.

There are lots of other DDJ-1000 users out there and nobody else has reported this?

Good luck with the other software.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 8:53 am
The VU's on DDJ-1000 are MIDI controlled for software decks.

So technically it's just a bunch of leds that you control via MIDI and you can show anything you want on them as long as it can be converted to a value ranging from 0 to 1 (from 0% to 100%)

Now, when it comes to software vu-meters it all depends on what you want/expect to see.
VirtualDJ vumeters work on the dbfs scale and that's what's shown on both the software and the controller.
VirtualDJ has a setting for vumeters allowing you to toggle between "peak" and "power" display. You may want to change that depending on what feels more natural to you.

Now something that's never "easy" is to convert dbfs to dbV or dbU in order to have an "analog like" vu display.
For the conversion to happen successfully you need to know several of the internal parameters of the given sound interface (it's different for each sound interface).
Pioneer makes this unit and therefore has access to all the info it needs to "emulate" an analog like view on the vu-meters.
However even in this case, it's an emulation, which personally while I found pleasing in the eye, doesn't really help me with knowing what's going on level wise.
I mean in a fully analog system unbalanced inputs will start having distortion with values greater than 0db
But the unbalanced inputs can go usually 9db's higher than that before "flattening out" (because of voltage)
Now on the analog world, seeing the VU's provides you with some useful feedback. You know that you should stay in the green/orange area and avoid going in the reds since it introduces a lot of distortion.

On the digital world it's not the same. On the digital world still 0dbfs is the point that you start getting distortion, but there are NO positive values possible. Therefore there's no +9dbfs level.
Have you ever seen a DAW ? Have you ever noticed that there's no "red area" on the VU's ? Just two red leds to indicate clipping/distortion ?
Now I'll try to keep it simple:
If you want to show dbfs on a vumeter designed to show dbV, then you should either "never use the red area" or you should just ignore the scale of the VU.
From the two given approaches, VirtualDJ uses the second. So, in VirtualDJ case you know that the topmost led is the area where digital distortion can start and that you want your peaks to merely make it there.
Now the Pioneer way (that emulates digital to analog vu's) is something that as I said while it looks good, it doesn't give some crucial information:
Where does the sound start clipping ? On the yellows ? On the reds ? On the peak of the reds ?
That's a critical piece of information missing right there.
Also remember that VU's and db's follow the logarithmic scale. You can't just "add/substract" a db value and expect to be able to convert from one scale to another.

Now back to you:
1) Try to change the vuMeter setting between "peak" and "power" to see which one you like better.
2) If you still want a visual representation that "uses more leds" you can remap the vumeters to something like "get_level & param_multiply 1.2"
3) DDJ-1000 offers a variety of firmware settings that affect it's sound output. Check them!
4) I always recommend to use -3db or -6db headroom with all recent Pioneer gear. They are designed to work that way. If you kill all the headroom then the device can distort easily despite the VirtualDJ's built in limiter kicking in.
5) I don't know what headphones you use, but maybe they are not the proper ones to use with DDJ-1000 (due to sensitivity, resistance e.t.c.)?
I mean on most Pioneer controllers released the last 4-5 years I can't get the headphones volume slider past 12 maybe 1 o clock position without risking to damage my ears. And that's with usually -6db headroom! So definitely the sound output is loud enough and you don't need to kill the headroom nor add gain via "headphonesGain" setting.
6) Remember that zerodb setting also affects vumeters. So, the more headroom you add the lower the vumeter values will be. And that's also something good IMHO since the vumeters still show you how much headroom you have left and where distortion starts.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 9:47 am
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
Firstly, PhantomDeeJay appreciate the detailed explanation.
Regards
1: "3) DDJ-1000 offers a variety of firmware settings " I assume you mean those on VDJ or if you mean a pioneer settings, I have yet to find or see those, but do see settings under controller on vdj. With my Denon I could access those via holding keys down on controller.
2: I usually use -6db, have done with all my Denon gear, but with this pioneer i get no visual led to know it is even playing.
3: My headphones are Sennheiser HD25, but that is not the issue, i only turned them up to compare VDJ to Rekordbox at same settings.

@Kradcliffe "There are lots of other DDJ-1000 users out there and nobody else has reported this" maybe so, does not mean I have no issue though does it. Again not really helpful comment was it. Maybe the videos i took trouble to illustrate are all fake or I am just imagining it?
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 11:49 am
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
PhantomDeeJay "get_level & param_multiply 1.3" this has given me what I want so appreciate your help, others could learn if they feel they have to comment.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 12:02 pm
I refer to these settings: https://www.virtualdj.com/manuals/hardware/pioneer/ddj1000/settings.html
These settings are FIRMWARE settings, not VirtualDJ settings. VirtualDJ can just control them (same way as Rekordbox does)

As for the remapping it's pretty much straight forward:
Open VirtualDJ config
Click on Controller icon on the left
Click on Pioneer DDJ-1000 on the top
Search for the "VU_METER" key on the list of keys on the left
Click on it
Click on the action box on the right
It should say "get_level"
Edit it and change it's contents to get_level & param_multiply 1.2
Press the disc (save) button on the top right area of the window.
Done!

PS: You can alter the multiply factor according to your likings.
So try param_multiply 1.2 or param_multiply 1.5 e.t.c.

Just remember: 1.2 is 20% more than the original value, 1.5 is 50% more and 2.0 is 100% more

Edit: I see you got it figured out.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 12:02 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
Thank you very much. Ah so yes i have those set to -6db on master the DDJ firmware settings.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 12:06 pm
So you got a comprehensive answer from senior staff in good time. Still moving on?
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 3:27 pm
TVD UKPRO InfinityMember since 2007
And still nothing constructive to say, yes I got an answer that I would expect from a company i bought a product from, not pointless chat that you offer 90% of the time. Clearly you could not offer that level of support but still feel you have to post a reply. Sometimes if you have nothing to offer it is best to let those who do know a chance to engage.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 4:08 pm
Well give them time to respond. Clearly you didn't.

You just seem like the type of person who stumbles from one problem to the next without any solution. You change things then wonder why other things stop working. Easier to buy something new than investigate the real issue. Sorry but that's what I see from reading your many posts.

Sorry for helping with your latency issues. Won't make that mistake again.
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 4:39 pm
locodogPRO InfinityModeratorMember since 2013
Moderation: *sigh*
Question asked and answered.
Locked
 

Inviato Thu 29 Jul 21 @ 5:08 pm