djleeant
Hi,
I have been a happy problem free user of VDJ for several months and wouldn’t be without it now, although of late it has been causing me serious problems.
I’ve been using the latest version of VDJ for a while now, and during the last half a dozen of performances or so I’ve noticed a declining effect in the sound quality. I don’t have to be playing (MP3’s) very long before it becomes more and more noticeable. The sound appears to be distorted or over-modulated so to speak even at low levels when played through my external mixer. The mp3 files have been well encoded and play fine elsewhere.
I have checked and trailed various settings in the performance tab (set to fastest, unchecked over clock and safe mode) but it doesn’t seem to make much difference, I have also checked and lowered the volume sliders in the audio properties control panel. It doesn’t cure the problem either; the laptop is in good shape and doesn’t seem to get too hot while it’s running also.
I also trawled through various threads relating to similar issues, but still haven’t got to the bottom of it.
My H.D(160Gb)is partitioned and formatted into two sections ‘C ‘and ‘D’ (3 including the recovery) all music and video on ‘D’ and VDJ on ‘C’ with the OS. I have however noticed is that my ‘D’ drive is getting quite full, around 80%. Could this have an adverse effect on the audio distortion?
My system spec being a Sony Vaio laptop, 1.8Gh Duel core, 2GB Ram, 128Mb NVIDIA GFX running Vista. The system is also setup and dedicated to VDJ, apart from a wireless LAN connection for vista updates, it’s totally clean. I use XP 10’s for both sound and control but have the same audio issue with a MK2 console that I have as a backup.
Please somebody help, this problems driving me insane!
I have been a happy problem free user of VDJ for several months and wouldn’t be without it now, although of late it has been causing me serious problems.
I’ve been using the latest version of VDJ for a while now, and during the last half a dozen of performances or so I’ve noticed a declining effect in the sound quality. I don’t have to be playing (MP3’s) very long before it becomes more and more noticeable. The sound appears to be distorted or over-modulated so to speak even at low levels when played through my external mixer. The mp3 files have been well encoded and play fine elsewhere.
I have checked and trailed various settings in the performance tab (set to fastest, unchecked over clock and safe mode) but it doesn’t seem to make much difference, I have also checked and lowered the volume sliders in the audio properties control panel. It doesn’t cure the problem either; the laptop is in good shape and doesn’t seem to get too hot while it’s running also.
I also trawled through various threads relating to similar issues, but still haven’t got to the bottom of it.
My H.D(160Gb)is partitioned and formatted into two sections ‘C ‘and ‘D’ (3 including the recovery) all music and video on ‘D’ and VDJ on ‘C’ with the OS. I have however noticed is that my ‘D’ drive is getting quite full, around 80%. Could this have an adverse effect on the audio distortion?
My system spec being a Sony Vaio laptop, 1.8Gh Duel core, 2GB Ram, 128Mb NVIDIA GFX running Vista. The system is also setup and dedicated to VDJ, apart from a wireless LAN connection for vista updates, it’s totally clean. I use XP 10’s for both sound and control but have the same audio issue with a MK2 console that I have as a backup.
Please somebody help, this problems driving me insane!
Inviato Sun 16 Dec 07 @ 8:42 am
Paz75
what are the levels in vdj like? the vu meters there could be clipping if it bounces to the top. i find that vdj will distort if i gain up too much, so i leave it alone and use the mixer only. sometimes i have to gain down in vdj because the input file is overcompressed to begin with. in my experience, you should respectively go only half to two thirds up in the vdj VU meter only, and do the rest externally to avoid distortion and clipping
Inviato Sun 16 Dec 07 @ 10:07 pm
djleeant
the levels are fine, in fact they are and always have been very low when indicated in the VDJ VU meter. They dont even reach 1/3 of the way up the scale. I dont think thats the problem.
Last night I set up a test rig at home, and I think I no where the problem lies....When I turn off the 'keylock' which I think I have always had activated on both decks, the sound problem seems to go away. I realise this feature hogs system resources alot more, but would of thought my laptop would of more than coped with it.
My system performace settings are on fastest, with safe mode un-check, overclock checked and latency on auto.
Anybody with comments or advice would be appreciated
Last night I set up a test rig at home, and I think I no where the problem lies....When I turn off the 'keylock' which I think I have always had activated on both decks, the sound problem seems to go away. I realise this feature hogs system resources alot more, but would of thought my laptop would of more than coped with it.
My system performace settings are on fastest, with safe mode un-check, overclock checked and latency on auto.
Anybody with comments or advice would be appreciated
Inviato Mon 17 Dec 07 @ 2:35 am
Paz75
try using the dac3 skin, its got a handy cpu meter and you can see whats going on...
you can also check for o/s tweaks which will speed up your system, an easy search to get to. among those things:
1) disable the toolbar clock
2) disable all menu and desktop effects like fading, rounded windows, etc
3) registry hack which disables the last-accessed date on the filesystem
4) check the block size of your harddrive, drives are faster when using larger blocks, but you loose data (ie a 16kb text file in a filesystem using 256kb block means you loose the remainer of 256kb for that file. also means large files read much quicker because it sucks up less blocks)
you can also check for o/s tweaks which will speed up your system, an easy search to get to. among those things:
1) disable the toolbar clock
2) disable all menu and desktop effects like fading, rounded windows, etc
3) registry hack which disables the last-accessed date on the filesystem
4) check the block size of your harddrive, drives are faster when using larger blocks, but you loose data (ie a 16kb text file in a filesystem using 256kb block means you loose the remainer of 256kb for that file. also means large files read much quicker because it sucks up less blocks)
Inviato Mon 17 Dec 07 @ 8:57 am
djleeant
Thanks for the tips Paz, I will definately look into the tweaks. I still however think the problem is related to the 'keyloc' feature. What I cant understand now though is I have always had this feature on, and more to the point WANT this feature to work. From what I can gather, ive never had major problems relating to this before.
I have been using the cue skin with cpu meter on, and it does tend to fluctuate up a little (up to half way, and the odd time a little above that), but generally quickly resides in the lower part of the scale. Does this sound correct??
Nothing else on my system has been altered other than a couple of windows updates! I mite try and roll back the instalation to see if this makes any difference?
The other thing I have read about on various posts, is to experiment with the master tempo settings in performance, changing it from simple to the advanced, but thinking about this, If I do have a problem with system resources being hogged then this mite make things worse.???
I will test tonight/tommorrow and report back with my findings. Any further help and support in the meantime would always be appreciated.
Lee
Inviato Mon 17 Dec 07 @ 10:38 am
Paz75
yes, that sounds about normal. no activity in vdj would cause a constant cpu drain, it will definitley fluctuate and depending on the power of your machine is how much it fluctuates.
so you're saying that only when keylock is used, this happens? i never use it, quite happy with mapping the sync button only and doing the rest by hand and ear. but will have a go today when i start working on my december mix.
good luck, and report back regularly. the more detailed your findings and the slower the logical progression you take in assuming where problems lie, the better you support yourself and the dev-team towards fixing.
just remember, in computers, the rule of thumb for support is "if a problem cannot be reproduced, there is no problem that can be rectified", unless of course you want to fly over the dev-team and pay for a nice hotel ;-)
so you're saying that only when keylock is used, this happens? i never use it, quite happy with mapping the sync button only and doing the rest by hand and ear. but will have a go today when i start working on my december mix.
good luck, and report back regularly. the more detailed your findings and the slower the logical progression you take in assuming where problems lie, the better you support yourself and the dev-team towards fixing.
just remember, in computers, the rule of thumb for support is "if a problem cannot be reproduced, there is no problem that can be rectified", unless of course you want to fly over the dev-team and pay for a nice hotel ;-)
Inviato Mon 17 Dec 07 @ 10:14 pm
djleeant
I have yet had another play and without keyloc on all tracks run and sound as sweet as...with it on alot (not all) tracks have sound glitches made worse when adjusting the pitch slider. I will see how it goes over the next couple of gigs I have lined up over the festive season. (shame though as I feel I will need my Cd backup with me on hand in case)
Also paz I have experimented with the tweaks you mentioned earlier but none made any difference really.
If anybody else has had similar problems and has found a way to overcome this then please post. Please also note I have tried every combination of options within the performance tab and nothing really makes a difference.
Lee
Also paz I have experimented with the tweaks you mentioned earlier but none made any difference really.
If anybody else has had similar problems and has found a way to overcome this then please post. Please also note I have tried every combination of options within the performance tab and nothing really makes a difference.
Lee
Inviato Tue 18 Dec 07 @ 5:25 am
edsal
I've had the same issue since day one, for me, that keylock works like a champ only on certain types of music---but on other types of music--say country music, if it's 5 bpms different, i'll get the distorted, clicking sound. This has been an issue for me since day one and have not been able to eliminate it. I've learned how to get around it, but it is a little frustrating.
ed
ed
Inviato Sat 22 Dec 07 @ 8:28 am
djleeant
Yes I agree, Its only on certain tracks or types of music where it happens to me also. I am just learning to live with it but not 100% happy about it. How do you get around it edsal? All I have been doing is turning the keyloc off if the track playing sounds crappy, it does make a difference. Does anyone else have similar issues?? please post!
Lee
Lee
Inviato Sun 23 Dec 07 @ 8:19 am
Paz75
what sample rate of music are you using? anything under 320kbps is going to give you nasty artifacts in the sound when keylocking. you should not use it at all under 320 as the resolution of the file is not great enough. its like taking one slice of pie and cutting it as many times as the whole pie would be . you're left with almost nothing... best to start with a full pie ;-)
Inviato Sun 23 Dec 07 @ 12:38 pm
djleeant
Ahhh right, this is maybe where my problems are coming from. Most of my mp3s are encoded between 160/256kbps (mainly due to disc space on the lappy), and like I said earlier, problems only appear with certain tracks, quite a few but not all. I will just have to hunt out the problem-matic files and re-encode them at a higher rate to see if it solves my problems. I hadnt realised VDJ struggled to keyloc audio files encoded below the 320kbps rate. Please excuss my ignorance. I will report back at a later date. Thanks again for the advice and comments Paz, your help has been very much appreciated. Lee
Inviato Mon 24 Dec 07 @ 4:51 am
Paz75
no worries m8. i suggest you turn on the bitrate column in the browser (right click the column heading) and that way you can see up front in vdj and test from there.
i suggest you dont re-encode from 256 up to 320, you wont gain anything from that. if you really get stuck for source files, you can do one thing
1) open the mp3 in a program like wavelab or soundforge, it will decompress it as a wav as best as possible (mp3 codec is not truly reversable in terms of regaining lossy, but you can decompile mp3s)
2) use a plugin like ultramaximizer. this is an interpolator which uses a dithering technique.
im not a 100% sure this works for resampling, but I do know its what you need to do when changing bitsize. for instance, going from 16-bit to 24-bit does absolutley nothing, because it just adds a bunch more zeros on the end of a header. what interpolate/dither does is use a mean value between bits and spread them out so you have information across the the whole header.
it might just well be that this happens automatically, but you can try it a few times and compare the result.
i suggest you dont re-encode from 256 up to 320, you wont gain anything from that. if you really get stuck for source files, you can do one thing
1) open the mp3 in a program like wavelab or soundforge, it will decompress it as a wav as best as possible (mp3 codec is not truly reversable in terms of regaining lossy, but you can decompile mp3s)
2) use a plugin like ultramaximizer. this is an interpolator which uses a dithering technique.
im not a 100% sure this works for resampling, but I do know its what you need to do when changing bitsize. for instance, going from 16-bit to 24-bit does absolutley nothing, because it just adds a bunch more zeros on the end of a header. what interpolate/dither does is use a mean value between bits and spread them out so you have information across the the whole header.
it might just well be that this happens automatically, but you can try it a few times and compare the result.
Inviato Mon 24 Dec 07 @ 6:32 am
djleeant
great advice again Paz, What I plan to do is enable the bitrate column in the brower and monitor it from then on in. If and when I come accross any crappy sounding mp3s I'll take note and rip mp3's from my discs at a higher bitrate.....if you happen to use 'Cdex' for ripping tracks, it would be great if you could note your rip settings for me..
Merry Christmas.......
Merry Christmas.......
Inviato Mon 24 Dec 07 @ 7:30 am
Paz75
well, i either buy it on vinyl and use a tube preamp to digitize or i buy my stuff digital download. but if i were to rip a cd i use Easy CD-DA Extractor. Very nice program.
Inviato Mon 24 Dec 07 @ 8:32 am
I also have been getting this problem with the sound suddenly distorting during playback at a seemingly random point.
I noticed that fiddling with one of the 'lock' buttons caused this before, but on other occasions I would play the same track a few times and this distortion began unpredictably.
I wanted to follow up and see if the bit rate issue solved this. I am using timecode CD's in a club and this problem was a horrible surprise.
Thanks
I noticed that fiddling with one of the 'lock' buttons caused this before, but on other occasions I would play the same track a few times and this distortion began unpredictably.
I wanted to follow up and see if the bit rate issue solved this. I am using timecode CD's in a club and this problem was a horrible surprise.
Thanks
Inviato Fri 18 Jan 08 @ 10:23 pm
djderricke
It has a lot to do with the power of your CPU and the quality settings in the timestrech function. If you are using the basic settings with the keylock/timestrectch function, it becomes very noticeable. If you have a great CPU and can spare the power that it takes to really smooth out the timestreching function, you won't notice it. I usually turn off Keylock unless I really need it.
Inviato Sun 20 Jan 08 @ 3:35 pm
A Man and His Music
You may want to look into getting an external drive. I personally think you are asking your hard drive to do way too much. Paz is right about the quality of your music. I would not use anything lower than 320kbps mp3s. This may not be the source of your issue, just my personal experience.
Inviato Thu 24 Jan 08 @ 4:49 pm
djrobalberti
I have been having similar problems with my Dell Inspiron laptop. Seems only to occur when I am in automix mode. If you shutoff automix and then reload the song a couple times, the issue goes away. Very annoying. It is clearly a software glitch. if I have an extended cocktail hour and it's in automix for much more than an hour, guaranteed that it just starts happening. I play the same song in the other player and it's fine. So weird...got much worse this last revision for VJ. Revision prior, it had almost stopped completely???
Inviato Tue 25 May 10 @ 10:30 pm
Dlearious
I had a wierd problem last night where the sound kept distorting then being fine and so forth. Was also getting massive volume fluctuations also, never seen this before since the latest version, hmm..
Inviato Wed 26 May 10 @ 5:04 am
hippydog
for those saying they are having issues with the "latest version"
since that latest change ONLY affected netsearch, that statement doesnt make a lot of sense..
since that latest change ONLY affected netsearch, that statement doesnt make a lot of sense..
Inviato Wed 26 May 10 @ 10:03 am
