traktor scratch duo timecode problemos

[rmerpm]

holas,


i have hooked up for the first time my traktor scratch duo system to two technics mk2 decks and audio4dj interface, calibrated the vinyls, which went through just fine. playback sounds fine aswell, but the second most important thing, the sync, does not seem to function properly, or at least as it does when playing back internally, without decks.
tempo on track goes up and down rapidly in small increments (if tempo is 128, BPM meter will rapidly shift between, e.g. 127.960 - 128.040), just as if i was quickly moving pitch on my decks up and down.

second thing, when pressing a sync button for the other deck, tracks go in sync, but immediatly start drifting away. when i press sync again, it goes back to sync, but starts falling apart again and this time it will maybe start drifting in the opposite direction.

is this supposed to be this way? ich don't think so, right?


my keylock is on and i have made sure my tracks are beatgridded correctly (using a lot of my own productions).

[BentoSan]

sounds like your turntables arnt tracking properly and have alot of variation in pitch - they might need to go in for a service.

Also you need to assign the sync function to toggle and not hold - this will make sure that the other decks keeps in time with the other deck.

Other things to make sure is that your timecode vinyl is clean, your needles are clean.

[rmerpm]

the thing is, when i start playing one deck internally from traktor and other one on a physical deck, both sync perfectly together and sync button stays on...

[alien2k]

the thing is, when i start playing one deck internally from traktor and other one on a physical deck, both sync perfectly together and sync button stays on...

That is the way the system works. When you enable tracking, and you are playing with timecode, the sync button acts in the way you describe. It will only fix the phase and pitch for a sec, and then it will take the info from your turntable again. The software assume that if you are using timecode you are in control of the tempo and phase, in other way it assumes that you are manually beatmatching or scratching so it does not synch in the way you want.

If you want to actually sync as when not using timecode, you need to assign another button to diesengage the timecode control and then sync. Then depending if relative mode is on you can engage timecode control with the deck syched with another button again.

It is the way the software works according to my knowledge.

Cheers

[rmerpm]

wow that was really misleading of NI, marketingwise.

[alien2k]

But if you think about it... if you are using vinyl there is no way that the software will move the pitch fader of your TT. So if it does modify the pitch on the software and then you want to modify the pitch on the TT... things would get quite confusing....

It make sense that when using tiemcode the software just can sync the music but then the drift from the turntable or cd deck will start making the tunes out of beat (you told the software to do this when selecting timecode control, which in other words is an order to get tempo and relative position of the track from the timecode). You need to manually correct the pitch fader on the TT to make it match with the correction on the software deck.

The work around to this is the way I described before, but then you are only using your turntable as controllers for play and cue (dropping the needle). So in that case you will do better with a midi controller

NI is correct with their approach, it is a digital vinyl system....

[rmerpm]

it doesn't make sense to me, because pitches on technics do not drift that much when being used with real vinyls.
and why is it that sometimes it starts to drift in opposite direction, as if i changed the pitch on deck, when i haven't even touched it?

[alien2k]

it doesn't make sense to me, because pitches on technics do not drift that much when being used with real vinyls.

When I use mine with traktor scratch the tempo is always changing in small amounts, but i don´t pay much atention as it is a calculation wich is not exact, and it always moves back and fourth with the motor variations in small increments as you describe. But if you pay attention to the sound (in my experience) is not varying at least in a way you can listen. If you try to beatmatch the feelling is quite the same. I don´t get the feeling as if I was moving the pitch fader up and down although the visual representation is telling you that (which is a real thing that is happening, not even a new 1200 will run always exactly at the same speed, you just need a hair in the system to cause some friction and a small drift). So if you get the feeling that the music is actually getting faster and slower and you can listen to it, and this does not happen with real vinyls... there is actually a problem...

and why is it that sometimes it starts to drift in opposite direction, as if i changed the pitch on deck, when i haven't even touched it?

Does this happens only when the ptich fader is near the center position?

[rmerpm]

it happens no matter where the pitch is and it is very audible. it's a one way ticket to trainwreckoville.

[alien2k]

it happens no matter where the pitch is and it is very audible. it's a one way ticket to trainwreckoville.

LOL... something is not right.....

... are your calibration numbers in the normal range? Do you get any error messages (are they enabled). Do both of your TT have the same issue?

You might want to search about this on the NI forum and see if it is necessary to open a ticket