Okay, I’ve been using TP2 since the day of release and TP1 before that. I have used various controllers and have lots of experience tweaking my machine to work flawlessly. About a week ago I decided to buy the s4, I’m so invested in TP2 that I might as well have the flagship controller right? After countless hours of testing at home becoming comfortable with the layout and not having a single issue (None what so ever)… I decided to use it for a gig. Fresh restart, ran my optimization code for win7 as always… And when I started playing a song would get about halfway in and then start to slow down progressively to a crawl and eventually freeze. The tempo faders on the screen didn’t move, the BPM values for the tracks didn’t change on screen. The fix I found during the set was to simply yank the USB to the S4 and plug it back in quick and audio would be back playing normal for another 5-15 minutes before doing it again. This happened at least 5 times in my hour and a half set. And it had never happened in the countless hours of practice at home. I made zero changes to the settings and everything was plugged in to the same USB ports I always use (I label them). Be aware my CPU usage never spike above 40-50%, and I can play for hours on end at home with zero issues. What in the hell could have happened last night? I have seen a few posts on the net about this but it seems no one really has looked into why this happens. They blame CPU manufacturer (AMD) or the whole Win7 thing and like I said, countless hours I have played on this exact setup at home with no issue (and gigging with control vinyl/CDs and other midi devices before purchasing S4). So its not the laptop. I just can’t fathom why this happened last night only. I’m extremely frustrated and embarrassed over what went down last night and I refuse to use the s4 live until I nail this issue down. Does anyone have a clue?
All software and drivers are up to date. Multicore support is off because I know it’s buggy. I run a AMD Phenom II X4 Quad w/8gb RAM. But like I said… All the testing in the lab works great. Actually in my studio the S4 has been one of the most solid controllers I have ever played with. I was so excited to jam last night and it failed me in the live environment.
Honestly bro, I have no freakin idea what happened too you. Last week, basically the same thing happened too me. I had used my Audio 10 countless times, and it worked flawlessly. But when it came too showtime, that night for some fucking reason NOTHING worked. That sounds like some crazy shit though man, I really don’t understand what happened. Cuz that Is something I’ve never heard before. I’m almost certain it has something to do with the S4 though, because thats never happened too me with just using the software.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m starting to really realize that gear seems to fuck up exactly when you don’t need it too. And that ruins way more than just the night, it screws up your reputation too.
Heat? Consider it may be much warmer on location than when standing in your own room, and maybe your laptop couldn’t handle that.
It surely always has been the source of problems I had with laptops…
Yes I calibrated everything as I was setting up during the ealier DJs set. As for Temp being hot, nope it was kinda cool. 68 Fahrenheit to be exact. An area of the club that has a lot of draft from a nearby patio. Cooler than my home studio. People mentioned the fog machine being a possibility too, but surely NI would have thought about that when making a piece of equipment for the club/rave. I would hope. Luckily I got quick with yanking the USB cable and plugging it right back in (like 1 second) as soon as I audibly began to tell it was slowing down. Some people hardly noticed after a while just sounded like audio dropouts. But really? Am I going to have to keep doing this nonsense and sacrificing my reputation each time I want to use my new $900 piece of kit? I’m really upset.
Well I’ve got no idea what could be causing that. I’d say just called up Native Instruments, they’ll hook you up. Also, thumbs up for another San Antonio DJ! See you at the DMCs in two weeks.
A little detail though about what is happening on screen when this phenomenon happens… All BPM values on the decks, tempo fader counterparts, and phase meters look as if everything is working fine. No fluctuation. Zero. So this leads one to believe its happening inside the S4 itself. And the S4 loses control completely, it’s lit up… But hitting cue or play does nothing while it remains green on screen. But if I yank the USB cable and pop it right back in, music is playing normally and where it should be in time… It’s freaking messed up. So I just pay attention to the moments I would begin to notice the controller not working and/or when the music would slightly begin its decent in tempo and yank the cable on first sign.
I think its the usb port. the prongs inside are touching and shorting out the pc. if i was you jeff, try new controller. I bought into tractor s2 and my usb port was faulty .in this forum i’ve found complaints about usb port. if you really do plan on making living (as a club dj ) i would go with 2 turntables and mixer. tractor s2/s4 was only geared toward BEDROOM DJ.
Thanks for the pointers smiley… LOL if you would read I typically play on techs and a mixer via control vinyl. I’ve been playing for 12 years in front of crowds in clubs and raves, I already do this as a job and have been. Every medium has its issues, bass feedback in the needles in a world of ever increasing bass being a huge reason I made the jump from turntables. The s4 is supposed to be a professional piece of kit, professional DJs use it all over the world so your “Bedroom DJ” argument is invalid but thanks for playing. I’ll continue looking into the USB issue, but really if it’s a USB issue why doesn’t it ever happen any other time? I have played in my studio loud enough to vibrate it to the level that it was at on stage last night with no issue. But I’ll try wiggling it or tapping the USB to see if it ever causes a hiccup.
jeff, pro dj’s are not using tractor all over the world. I’m a 26 year vet, i stood beside the likes of bad boy bill and to kool chris b96 chicago early 90’s. they would not dj $5000 per night with s4/s2. stick to (2 turntables 1 mixer ).
All pro, touring, and making thousands in gigs. All using S4.
A Guy Called Gerald live in Ibiza on S4 -
Pete Tong live at Gatecrasher on S4 -
Crizzly live at Nocturnal Wonderland on S4 -
Again your argument is invalid… I love my vinyl but I’m not attached to using archaic technology live forever. There comes a time to move forward to keep up with the incoming onslaught of younger talent. I play to packed indoor and outdoor raves as well as clubs and see the S4 often being using by touring DJs that are booked. The S4 is a viable option for any pro DJ, but as with any equipment you can run into issues. If you are going to continue living in the past go for it, but you vinyl elitism does nothing to sway a guy who has been slinging vinyl for more than a decade already. I was once spitting your same argument.
I seen that video of pete tong, I wonder how much NI paid him? Who knows… I like tractors software, the unit was made cheaply. ( thats my argument )… My job wheels would sound like sandpaper rubbing together, and my usb porn broke. I little pissed $399 but if i had paid $899 s4 I would have wanted my money back. I did have a first hand look at numarks ns7 and its built stronger.
Okay so I think i figured it out. My live rig consists of a Traktor Kontrol S4 running alongside a Traktor Kontrol X1. The USB cables look identical, but upon further inspection they are not. The cable that comes with the S4 is shielded, likely because of the audio interface and whatnot. The X1 cable is not shielded, or at least it fails to say on the USB cable where it does on the S4 cable. It has all the same info printed on it minus the word “shielded”. There was a powered monitor last night literally a foot or 2 from my S4 last night. I’m thinking this might be the issue if I mixed up the cables. I’m going to label the shielded one and test the s4 with both cables and a monitor right next to it to see if it creates an issue. But knowing that, it makes perfect sense. I just gotta be sure.
Not to mention the abundance of electrical equipment and cables running right next to that unshielded cable on stage. Many factors that could mess with the S4’s mass amount of data moving over that cable.
