For those few of us who scratch and do tricks...

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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For those few of us who scratch and do tricks…

Ok so I’m cool, decent, good…but not as good as the guy (Deeznotes) in the video. Here’s what’s important though…if Vestax wants to sell Serato Itch and be comparable with the motorized jog wheels that are forthcoming, they need to work with the software folks (Traktor, Serato, etc) and remedy the release lag after scratches. As I said, Deeznotes is good and he almost makes it appear there’s no release issue but there is. Of course the is only when scratching. Standard release of the platter by hand or by button is fine but if you’re “getting busy” you have to develop a special touch. Take a look.

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What is the biggest difference ? (i r scratch nubb)

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I’m not totally sure i understand your question but let me give it a shot. There seems to be no difference between the jog wheel performance of the VCI-100 vs. the 300 (that I can see). Ean has touched both…maybe he knows. However, the difference between a motorized jog wheel (or turntable, or CDJ) is when you’re done scratching and you let go of the platter, the take-off torque is pretty much instant. Of course on a turntable a slip mat is used so the platter never stops spinning. I’m not sure what the technology is on a CDJ but when you let it go…there’s no lag. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the current jog wheels.

Was that what you meant?

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Yeah :slight_smile: bad question good answer.

Any idea how much lag there is on the vci 300 ?

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Isnt the lag due to tracktor and not the vci it self?

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Bingo

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i thought that lag had to do with the VCI and that the firmware update chip was the solution??

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If the lag is in traktor then its an “easy” fix compared to if it was on the vci itself? am i rite?

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Depends which “Lag” you are talking about, the v1.1 firmware would only send its note off when the jog wheel came to a complete stop, which caused a ramp up.

The “Lag” which is being talked about here is the ramping after the scratch that traktor puts in. The pitch will warp from the speed the jog was going when the finger left the jog to speed the deck is going over a small period of time, idealy it should be just instant. This was in a hope to replicate the feel of vinyl, but obviously it fails to achieve that.

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If i had 1.2 firmware id fix it, you will have to wait for that.

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Thanks for your input BentoSan. Well, if it’s the Traktor software, I wonder how much different than the Traktor Scratch software which seems to respond fine to ramp up (no lag) after scratching. If they (NI/Traktor) can duplicate the response time from Scratch to Traktor, that will help the efforts of the VCI and other controllers.

Also if the lag is in Traktor, what would the 1.2 firmware do?

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Nothing, i was discussing two different variations of issues some people call lag which are both not.

Traktor Scratch’s ramp is only as good as the turntable used to spin the control vinyl which determines the ramp speed.

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Got it. So any suggestions on Traktor’s ramp or how to get word to NI that it’s a concern?

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Leave a message on the NI forums.

Ill work on a fix when i get the 1.2 firmware, I think theres possibly a way around it. Sorry but your going to have to wait until i get receive my package from Midifidler until i can attempt to fix this though.

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i think this is great.. because I’ve been having problems.. with the scratching part on the vci se.. it be cool if u can just scratch the shit out of it.. and not have it freeze on u lol… hopefully u guys can make that happened.. :sunglasses:

p.s isn’t do to your computers speed.. u guys think that having more ram on my laptop would make a difference.. like not freezing when u try to scratch..???

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Thanks again Dr. Bento, will do! SS714SS…on another post, they mention that static electricity (and those metal jog wheels) is possibly the culprit that’s freezing up the VCI. I think they’re right. After reading that, let’s just say I quickly got more concious of static electricity when touching my VCI and I haven’t froze up since (and I was getting pretty busy with the wheel). Nothing that would win a DMC contest but definitley enough to raise an eyebrow.

Hosa and possibly other companies sell RCA cables WITH ground wires attached. I haven’t picked up a set yet but I plan to soon so I can ground the VCI (like a turntable), then really get goofy on it to see if it can handle the business without freezing up. I’ll keep you posted.

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The VCI-100 does have a grounding skrew on the back of the unit, i mentioned this in another post but ill mention it again :stuck_out_tongue:. Hopefully grounding the unit solves peoples problems, im really keen on hearing on someone who consistantly cashing their unit using the jog wheels to try this.

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djlp and bentosan thanks for the info hmm grounding the vci.. could give it a try.. hmmmm… i wonder how good the vci 300 is and if it freezes… i’ve been getting kinda disappointed cuz i can’t do simple scratches sometimes.. but that’s y i got my turntables to mess around with.. hopefully something can be done and fixed..

yo bentosan ?? do u listen to psycho realm… ?? just saying cuz of the gasmask.. its a hip hop group from california..

latez..

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Naw sorry i am predominantly a jungle brother, I just like the picture :stuck_out_tongue:

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Found info! Check out this post from the NI forum.

As you know, with the new firmware version (1.2) of the VCI-100 it is possible to scratch nearly without any ramp up issues. So Vestax has finally done a good job. Now NI, it’s your turn to do the rest.

Because STILL it does not really behave like a CDJ. For example if you turn the wheel backwards and release the platter abruptly, the track will first slow down and then play at normal speed. You can try this also with your mouse. The behavior is equal to it.
For a real CDJ behavior there should be an instant release of the track as soon as the platter on the VCI-100 has been released. So as soon as the ‘Scratch Off’ midi command is sent, the track should play at normal speed without speeding up when moving too fast forwards.
What it should be like can be seen when you press PLAY while holding the track on the VCI-100/the waveform with the mouse.
Then, if you move the track and release it abruptly, the track will play immediatly - what it does not if you haven’t pressed the PLAY button while holding the waveform.

Therefore, I propose to integrate a feature like start and stop time in T3.3 just like the CDJ 1000s support it (don’t they). The stop time could simulate a turntable that has been turned off.

Another good feature would be if the wheel behaved more like a real turntable. I’ll try to explain what I mean with an “algorithm”:

Deck X should NOT be in play mode for this. I’m turning the wheel on the VCI-100 (‘Deck Scratch On’ + ‘Deck Scratch’ = Track moves). If I release the platter now (‘Deck Scratch Off’), the track should smoothly get slower until the track completely stops - just like you turn and release a vinyl on a turntable which will not stop at once, but will get slower and slower.

While doing this, as soon as you touch the platter again the VCI-100 sends ‘Scratch ON’ and the track should stop immediatly. If you press play, the track should start with the speed you’ve set in start time.

These methods include CDJ and vinyl aspects as well and the end-user could decide weather to have nearly vinyl or more CDJ feeling.

So Native Instruments, do you think this can be done? I’m sure many would love these features as it could be used with any controller that supports scratching, too!

**I invited this dude to join our forum too. Looks like he gets it (much better than I do anyway). We’ll see.