MP-X10/Versadeck/Synchron/DMC2000/DJinn/S20 firmware update - programmers please help

[Reticuli]

I sent a quiry to American DJ checking on the revised firmware they said they'd try to get an engineering agreement for. Hopefully they get back to me within the next week and a half, since that's when my 90 days for this unit from the Amazon vendor expires for a return. It's just sitting under a plastic garbage bag on top of the box right now not getting much use as just a controller. If they remain quiet or it's a no go on firmware within that time, I'll have to return it. So very close to a keeper.

[sakaana]

At least Synq seems to be still working on that unit. A new firmware is available. However the only change is that crossfader fix. Before when the crossfader was set to "off" it was "on" and the other way.

No other changes.

09 Feb 2012 - update
++++++++++++++++++++
--> software versions after update: CON14+DSP12

BUGFIX: Crossfader on/off option in the setup menu was inversed,
* While the crossfader was switched on in the setup menu,
it was actually switched off.
* While the crossfader was switched off in the setup menu,
it was actually switched on.

I don`t know if the program the firmware by themself or if it was done by the OEM.

[Reticuli]

It can't be that tough to add FLAC support and get rid of the progressive ramp-up on the internal mode jog pitch bend. MP3 is not a more complicated standard and FLAC is an open, free standard. It wouldn't surprise me if the core of the firmware that is involved in decoding was purchased from yet another third party (even compared to the actual hardware OEM) and they have no idea how that stuff works. Sync or their hardware OEM may just be altering the higher-level code that surrounds the USB player section core code that plays the music. Because that is a tiny little fix they just did for your units. And ours didn't suffer it, so maybe they were using an older firmware than ours and just switched.

On a side note, the USB internal playback mode does not have frame-accurate looping and loop editing. It's in crude chunks. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned that before. You can even try editing loops, and you're unlikely to get it perfect since it jumps round more than the 70-something actual frames there should be. If the OEM is able to do anything deep about the firmware, which I have some doubts considering American Audio has not responded to me since I last inquired about the update timeline again, then the frame resolution when fine scanning would also be something useful to fix.

There has to be some button we can think of that would be worth assigning so that holding it down (or toggling it, if we can completely free up something rather than double-using it from its tap function) will allow fast scan through the track by the jog. Any ideas of something that wouldn't mess other functions up when just cueing in a headphone if you accidentally tapped it? I'm thinking maybe that star/light button above the pitch percentage button and you can just make it a dedicated toggle in internal USB mode. I find no practical use for turning off pitch with a button when you can do the same thing by putting the slider in the middle, anyway.

I have even become accustomed to using the main outs for running my headphone amp during private, quiet practice sessions in Deckadance and Torq 2 with the Versadeck mixer set to MIDI. In such a case, I only need one output, anyway. That allows me to use split cueing in software (still a little funky on volume in Torq, but DD is fine though only 2 decks) and avoid the volume doubling caused by the sound routing to both sides of the headphone jack's own summation mixer controlled by the mini crossfader. Otherwise, you need to assign the main crossfader (or something else) to Monitor Mix assignment instead and leave the mini crossfader on one side or the other. As for the hiss, I only use a headphone amp and therefore it is of no matter anymore regardless of whether I feed it from the front (when running to speakers) or back (quiet in-situ headphone sessions).

With just a few improvements in the firmware, this unit can be a winner. In fact, they could just drop WAV support if FLAC is added, since the unit seems to cough on standard PCM, anyway. That might also help stability if data processing throughput is the issue causing the WAV hiccups, as FLAC will cut that down by half or more. It's probably too much to ask for OGG or anything else, even if WMA and AAC are in the LED imprint. Personally, I think the best lossy standard is OGG per bit used. If you want lossless (and I need it), then FLAC's the only way to go. MP3 is abysmal. WAV takes up space and can’t be tagged. And the less stellar the DAC, the more this becomes an issue.

No one’s going to call the Versadeck soundcard a high-end DAC. It’s fine for DJing gear and better than some, but there is a huge difference playing lossless versus lossy on it on a loud system. MP3s sound pretty wretched on it, even more than normal. WAVs are passable.

I suspect it is not possible to add master monitoring in the headphones to the firmware when in Mixer Mode (as opposed to MIDI mode for the mixer), even if the hardware OEM or their software OEM is fully apprised of their code. If there is indeed some way to do it, then the Master Meter button when in Mixer Mode should send the post-fader/crossfader signal (hopefully pre-Master volume control) to the headphone jack. The meter would mirror the headphone jack. Assuming the mini-crossfader's Monitor Mix/Cue Pan summation mixer inside is an issue there, too, the best solution is to route the left stereo channel of master out (left side of the stereo signal, not mixer channel 1) to the left channel stereo side of the headphone jack's mini-crossfader, and the right side of the master stereo pair to the respective crossfader side. In Mixer Mode, as opposed to MIDI mode, the unit does seem sort of capable of sending independent signals to each side of the mini crossfader.

In MIDI mode, as mentioned, it sends the same signal to both sides. The summation circuit that mini-crossfader electrically controls (or is) sounds like it is right before the headphone jack opamp. Duh. You have to deal WITH it, not pretend it isn't there. While we don't need an ability to pan and rebalance the master out in our headphones, that's essentially all a mini-crossfader with stereo cue on the left side and stereo master on the right is: a rewired balance control. So to get the full master signal in stereo in the headphones you’d just put the mini-crossfader in the middle in Mixer Mode with the Master Meter button selected if you did the above. Theoretically, if you can do this (i.e. change the routing if it is controllable by firmware), you can also add split cueing, but I can't think of a button (other than the wedding dj stupidity of Relay) to assign to that. Maybe Master Meter plus Relay? Anyway, this is getting ahead of ourselves.

Without FLAC support and the pitch bend fixed, it’s an overpriced controller for your computer that can poorly play back MP3s as a secondary function. The pitch bend is, frankly, retarded. Whoever is responsible for that needs to be slapped upside the head. It ruins an otherwise promising design.

[escapemcp]

Used the MP-X10 the other day at a free party. I had to use it on a bit of foam perched on a 1210, and found that as it was up so high, my right hand index finger knuckle kept hitting CUP on deck 2 when I was using the Xfader. Cocked up 3 mixes that way. Other than that, it performed well. May take a stanley knife (exacto-something in US speak), to the CUP button to make it flush with the case.

[Reticuli]

Oh, scratching with the x-fader? Huh. I guess there isn't a huge amount of room considering how compact the unit is, but the mixer section is at least raised. I think my only physical problem with the unit's layout was the pitch fader and jog wheel proximity.

[escapemcp]

It has never been a problem before, but as the unit was high up, I was resting my knuckle (top one, nearest the fingernail - is that even a knuckle??!) to the right of the xfader, but that would mean that now and then, my lower knuckle of the 2 (the real knuckle, I think) could hit CUP!

Jogs and pitch are pretty close, but have never found it an issue - especially as the pitch fader is sunk into the unit. Love the feel of the pitch slider though... haven't felt many better, other than obligatory 1210s!

[Reticuli]

It's using the wheel for pitch bending that becomes a problem with the proximity of the pitch fader for me some times. The wheel is not tall enough to get your fingers around it to rotate freely without hitting the fader. And in touch mode you absolutely cannot have anything remotely near the surface of the jog. I would have preferred maybe a small non-sensitive area around the top for safety. It's very easy to accidentally stop it. In attempting not to do that, it's easy to bump the pitch fader. The solution is to obviously keep your fingers away from the pitch fader side of the jog. I don't think they are sunk in enough. But of course, you don't think the mixer section is raised sufficiently...

The 10bit faders are a shame in function. They are no better than an Xponent. Acceptable with the proper babysitting (unlike 7/8bit which is worthless), but dated and inexcusable nonetheless. 14bit would have rocked for this. When in internal mode, they could still get better than .05 res with 10bit faders here if the firmware ever gets a good upgrade to fix the jog bend and add FLAC support. But 14bit MIDI faders is a whole other world.

[escapemcp]

It's using the wheel for pitch bending that becomes a problem with the proximity of the pitch fader for me some times. The wheel is not tall enough to get your fingers around it to rotate freely without hitting the fader.

Yeah, on scratch mode, I can see how this would be an issue.

[Reticuli]

AIFF support is the solution. It's a similar & simple RAW PCM container as WAV and can be decoded linearly and on-the-fly, supposedly unlike FLAC. And it has tagging, so the database utility would work on it and allow reasonable track searches. I've been having a discussion on the Pioneer forum, and this is the solution that Pioneer, Denon, and Gemini have come to for lossless support on players with limited memory but adaptable firmware.

So the firmware needs the following changes for sure:

AIFF support
Jog rotation in internal mode changed from time-based to rate-based
Resolve the conflicts between moving the pitch slider and rotating the jog bend
Sensitivity adjustment for jog rotation in Options

Other firmware improvements that are more difficult but possible purely in firmware:

Fast track scan mode
Improved MP3 decoding sound quality
Frame-accurate bpm-synced loops and loop editing
Key tag and BPM tag recognition by the database utility and search modes
BPM-synced effect mode (other brandings of it appear to already have this)

Possible improvements that may or may not be possible in firmware alone:

Prgm\master monitoring in headphones
Split-cue in headphones
Routing internal USB transport mode into Inputs back into ASIO to computer, so called Hybrid Mode

[Reticuli]

The DJ Tech U3 appears to have come out in the non-U.S. market and looks to have the newest firmware yet. Anyone tried it or have the firmware?