SERIOUS, ridiculous problems with my VCI-400 EGE with Traktor 2 and then with 2.5.

SERIOUS, ridiculous problems with my VCI-400 EGE with Traktor 2 and then with 2.5.

Hey guys, i’m a professional DJ/Producer, I’m going to be touring soon and cannot afford to have the problems I’ve been having recently.

I also have a RAIN Livebook, that to be honest i’m really unhappy with and can’t believe they tried to sell this to DJ’s.

First off every time I plug in my laptop charger in my laptop my speakers go crazy and the static noise is unbearable, this happens with every speaker system, granted this could be an issue with my laptop, which is a Livebook made by Rain Computers.

Besides that initial ridiculous issue, I have extreme latency issues including cracks and pops every single time I load a track while another one is playing even at 1000+ latency levels and standard usb latency. I also don’t seem to have any other latency options under 56 and thats only available in the ASIO driver panel for my VCI.

These issues are driving me NUTS and my gigs are coming up and I can’t afford to embarrass myself.

If anyone can point me in my direction i’d really appreciate it.

To be fair mate it sounds like the problem is with your laptop rather than Traktor or the 400.

Well i’m going to test it out with my home computer instead of my laptop. If I still have the same issues we’ll know its a problem with my VCI-400 EGE. As I plugged my VCI in, i’m already getting horrible static, so it doesn’t look good.

Ok. I did a test on my home computer and it’s having no latency issues whatsoever on the lowest latency possible, which is great.

However the static noise is still occuring when I plug in my quarter inches to the VCI-400 directly, when I use it with my audio kontrol 1 soundcard it has no issues, no static etc.

Do you guys think this is a factory defect with the EGE edition?

Have you tried grounding the VCI? It comes with a grounding lead. Also, you may want to change the misleading title of this thread :wink:

No I haven’t, I don’t know too much about grounding. Can you explain it to me?

You know the earth lead on a set of 1210s? It’s just like that.

You could still do with changing the subject of your thread btw, this issue has nothing to do with the VCI or Traktor.

Grounding

This could very well be a faulty VCI-400. I’m not sure. I haven’t yet used the 1/4" outputs. But it also could be a grounding issue.

Get a wire that has this kind of connector on the end(s). Slightly loosen a screw somewhere on the VCI-400 just enough to slip this around it and tighten it back up. I’m not sure which screw would be best for this, but probably one on the back somewhere. Maybe someone else has a recommendation on an appropriate ground screw? Connect the other end to an appropriate ground source. Ideally this would be a plumbing pipe or something but obviously, in the club, this won’t be available. However, I believe most, if not all, mixers have a grounding screw somewhere on the back to connect to, since this is a common issue when using turntables.

I’m looking into grounding issues as we speak, I was talking to the tech support here at tech tools and apparently this my be a faulty VCI-400. I’ve decided to invest in grounding adapters anyways, but I expect my products to work with quarter inch as this is the new standard.

Thanks Bhajan for commenting about the ground screw. Much appreciated.

One of the screws on the back of the 400 has an earth symbol next to it, use that one.

Sorry for the bump but relevant information to be had.

Attempt this, on your laptop remove the power adapter and see if the noise goes away, if it does then there is a grounding loop issue on the laptop. 9 times out of 10 its the LCD unit itself. People have used 3-prong to 2-prong adapters that eliminate the ground pin and it makes it go away or if your battery life is long enough stay off the plug until your mix is done.

Encountered this issue with certain laptops such as a Vaio SA2 having static but a HP DV7 and 2011 MBP not having it. Give it a shot. I had issues with both RCA, quarters, and XLR on different controllers and setups and this usually did the trick.

Have you ruled out your 1/4" jack leads as the problem?

Hardware is almost, always, the last thing to fail.

I recently had crackling and popping noises and it turned out to be my USB cable. Good luck!

Dude, i had the issue with noise/hissing .. and i finally found the (easy) remedy!

turn both mic input dials to Zero.. and also mic routing and input routing switches to CD DECK - DONE!

You can tell this is causing the problem by turning up your speakers loud - and putting both dials on full, then switching the routing switches back and forth… HISS - CLEAR - HISS - CLEAR

Hope this helps!!