Hi all, I’m having a pretty serious problem with my plx-500. Out of the box I hated the stock head shell and quickly upgraded to a shure m44 with a technic head shell. I’m using DVS on my DDJ SX2 as my setup with a late 2012 macbook.
The problem I’m having is that when I go to scratch the turntable doesn’t pick up right away and sounds like shit when I scratch on it. It’s not coming in with clean audio at all when you grab the vinyl. I know it’s not the hardware because I can scratch very well with the phono noise made by the vinyl. The audio plays immediately upon needle drop and plays clearly.(only a problem when trying to scratch to touch vinyl).
I’ve ruled out the vinyl, since it’s brand new Serato control vinyl. I’m beginning to the problem is my macbook. It’s old, 2012 with a intel duo 2.7ghz processor and 250mb of video ram, 4gb RAM.
Anyone have any advice? I think it might be something fucked up in my Serato as well. I’m not seeing the circle appear in my turntable calibration in Serato.
Video-
I hope this works, I had similar issues when hooking into my controller.
To fix scopes:
Make sure you’re running the latest version of serato dj, my scopes(calibration circle things) didn’t show up and i had similar problems.
To fix any scratching lags:
2) Go to the drivers panel in serato and make your latency as low as possible to help with any lag time in picking up sound.
3) Turn of your wifi and close all the programs so all power can go to serato.
4) Make sure the stylus on the needle doesn’t have dirt on it. It can block the signal.
5) Make sure you’re RCA cables running out of you turntable are with the corresponding colors. Same with the ones plugged into the mixer. This can mess up the audio playing often times.
To fix the loud sound it makes when you touch the record:
6) Lower you “gain” and be super light when you touch the record. The needle is like a mic, it picks up sounds it hears and amplifies it. if you hit your table hard enough you’ll hear it through you speakers from the needle.
7) Adjust your tone arm correctly(you probably did it fine but it can make a difference if it is lagging). Scratch Bastid made a great video on how to on youtube.
8) The Turntable should have come with grounding wires. Try grounding it, to your controller’s grounding thing. What that does is sometimes you have left over power from the turntable and it has no where to go. This creates a hum and possibly partially what you’re experiencing.
Try playing it with just a record through you controller, not the serato record but a real record with a song on it. see if it still has that soundness and lag.
What a disappointment. Just sent both of my PLX500s back. Over priced junk. Cheap feeling plastic. One of the platters had a bunch of broken speed dots (they were chipped in half). Pioneer wouldn’t send me a new platter. They wanted me to buy a new platter even though it was in warranty. The pop up light felt like it was going to break off. The power and speed buttons were very cheap plastic. The motor made an odd hum. Generic cartridge. A really bad experience that left a bad first impression of Pioneer DJ equipment. I should have done my homework first. Hope the DJM250mkII that I also ordered is a lot better.
Get a pair of ATLP-1240’s. If you can’t afford the price up front, visit http://www.americanmusical.com and choose the 3 payment plan. They do not do a credit check.
damn, I was considering the DJM250mkII as well, I’ve seen DJM S-9s with broken crossfader stems and that’s a much more expensive mixer. I have a DJ Tech DIF-1S now after my Vestax PMC-08 died. It’s seems that a decent two channel scratch capable mixer is a thing of the past.
I was thinking of getting the ATLP-1240 or the Stanton ST150 MKII. Have not decided yet. There is nowhere close to me that I can see them in person first before ordering. But I will tell you that I have never been more disappointed with a purchase than those PLX500’s. More like shocked that Pioneer would put it’s name on something so cheap.
Pioneer have been releasing overpriced crap for years. Its only because they spend so much money on marketing that people think its actually a ‘good’ brand.
Pioneer dont make the best ‘anything’ in the DJing world, with the possible exception of the CDJ2000.
Please share your thoughts on this, good, bad, and ugly! I’m in need of a mixer but all the reviews I’ve seen so far say it’s great or it’s crap without really going into the how and why of those opinions. It seems that most reviewers hop on the pioneer bandwagon with little to no justification…
…and this was my reasoning for even considering the DJM205mk2 in the first place. The Xone 23 has no reverse switch on the crossfader which for me is a must. I’m just looking for a decent scratch mixer that doesn’t cost a month’s rent. Seems those are a thing of the past.
