MK2 Vinyl Pitch Fluctuation

[Toastmaster]

Hey all,

I've recently been having some issues with my timecode having a pitch flux during play, on the order of +/- 0.2%. I know that there is inherently some fluctuation during play but I don't remember it being this large (more like +/- 0.1) at most. In addition, it seems to be rhythmic, going up then down in a cyclic fashion. Any ideas on the issue? I tried changing my latency a little but it didnt do much.

Thanks for any and all replies.

[Polygon]

Does it affect your audio or just the bpm counter?

[Toastmaster]

Does it affect your audio or just the bpm counter?

Yeah if I play 2 tracks that have the same tempo at the same time beatmatched, they will soon become out of sync from the fluctuations.

[Polygon]

I'm not really familiar with 1200s.. It could be a TT motor miscalibration problem?
Or a bad quartz oscillator inside the TTs?
Again, i'm just hazarding guesses here..
Maybe the vinyls are bent? Therefore causing wow and flutter and causing the fluctuations?

[Hippie]

Watching the dots and the vinyl ...
Are the dots steady?
Do these cyclical fluctuations coincide with the rotation?
Is the vinyl warped?
And is the centre hole good? (in the centre and circular like new)

[Toastmaster]

I'm not really familiar with 1200s.. It could be a TT motor miscalibration problem?
Or a bad quartz oscillator inside the TTs?
Again, i'm just hazarding guesses here..
Maybe the vinyls are bent? Therefore causing wow and flutter and causing the fluctuations?

I don't think it's anything mechanically wrong with the decks. They are pretty much in pristine condition and Ive calibrated the pitch well. I was thinking it could be that the vinyl is bent, but the vinyl is barely bent at all and fluctuations occur even at the "flat" parts.

[Toastmaster]

Watching the dots and the vinyl ...
Are the dots steady?
Do these cyclical fluctuations coincide with the rotation?
Is the vinyl warped?
And is the centre hole good? (in the centre and circular like new)

For the dots, I can see maybe a 0.1 mm oscillation but its so small it can't be the cause of +/- 0.2%. The zero point holds true and the micro oscillations maintain their "average" spot for a long time. One of the vinyl is warped at one small spot with a displacement of maybe 1 mm. Yet this flux shows up on both decks, even one is using the "good" vinyl. So I'm thinkin' it might be a software. How much do you need to change your latency to see an effect on DVS controls?

[Hippie]

I've not got an NI audio interface so I dunno if it's possible but on my certified mixers you get to choose the buffer size and sample rate to adjust the latency. I'd cycle thro the buffer and sample rate settings to see how it effects the performance then switch to stable bpm in the deck view settings if you're sure the decks are setup OK.

[Toastmaster]

I'll have to do that later then. BTW, I just threw on some real vinyl at the same tempo to test if it was the decks themselves and they held really tight together. So it's either the timecode vinyl itself or the software for some reason. Will update when I mess with the buffer sizes

[DjLiquitATL]

I've had the same issues for awhile...plays regular vinyl without fail BUT time code sometime has flux...I try to clean the stylus and wipe down the timecode vinyl before in play and I don't get it as much if at all now. I do think it is calibration and a latency issue. If you check the diagnostic in settings you can see that the issue happens when the signal peaks out... I have a slow CPU so my settings are 192/3@10.7ms latency... I'm sure it would be better with a better laptop