Small problem (I hope) with TSP
I updated to Mavericks today and after a few problems i think i am ready to play some tunes. I am using Korg Zero 4 as the sound card with Denon 3700s. The scopes say its calibrated and the phase meter is running but the track is still and no sound. It won’t even play if I click the play button with the mouse. The button lights up green but the track stays still and the phase meter is running as if the track is playing. Any help would be appreciated.
Good to see another East Coaster, wish I could help, good luck.
Thanks Bisco. I seem to have it working now. I wish I knew what was wrong with it though. I do have to jump through hoops a bit to get the Denon decks to work & i m used to that but the fact that i couldn’t even get the decks to play using the mouse is a bit worrying.
This has got me wondering what I will buy next. I loved the Denon decks but the software that is used to prepare files to play from a USB stick is PC only and whats worse is the fact that it only appears to work with windows XP. I prepared tracks using Parallels and windows on the mac but as time has gone buy and I have updated my OS Parallels no longer works so I can have the choice of CDs which I hate or time control. While I do love time control, if I use it from a CD that leaves all the other controls on the deck useless. If I use Hybrid mode i am now getting big poor timecode signal messages all the time even though it works fine. Plus the fact that 3700s are very expensive as MIDI controllers without the ability to use the USB function or the Hybrid mode. It’s a shame really because i love Denon products but feel a annoyed that they didn’t support the features of the 3700s for long enough. They opted to learn by there mistakes & move on to new models instead. I love technology and the advancements but the longevity of some products & software is crazy.
Maybe the answer is to go back to TTs and a separate MIDI controller.
Engine works on win 7 too, but it’s crap… poor man’s rekordbox
I’m not using Engine. I’m using Music Manager its older software. It’s just to scan the tracks for BPM and create wave forms on the decks. Engine does not work with the 3700s.
I actually prefer Engine over Rekordbox. I prefer the interface, I prefer the track browse filter options, but most importantly for me it never crashes (either when preparing or playing) which is something I simply could not achieve with rekordbox and my 900s.
But yes as the OP is using 3700s he will be referring to Music Manager which is by all accounts a dog of a program.
As for the OP, if you could make the swap to the newer 3900s you would find it a pretty hassle-free experience. Both the 3900s & 2900s are near enough plug & play with Traktor once the tsi files are loaded- I had put off trying my 2900s with Traktor for this very reason but when I finally got around to it I imported the tsi file and got them up & running in 5 minutes.
Both the 2900 & 3900 can be switched between midi/usb/cd etc on the fly as well which is rather handy when playing from multiple sources. I often have both Traktor & Engine running on my laptop at the sametime (so I can use both my 2900s & TTs) but it does give the option of switching between sources on the fly just using the deck buttons (midi, usb, link, cd).
If Traktor wasn’t playing even when using the mouse though that suggests to me a Traktor setup issue rather than the decks themselves. Also, have you checked out the 3700 section over at denondjforums? I know there are quite a few knowledgable people over there and I have always received a swift response to any queries, could be worth a look.
Just out of curiosity, how are you using the 3900s with Traktor. Are you using timecode cd or the Hybrid mode. I use the hybrid mode with the 3700s with a fantastic mapping i got from somebody on the Denon forum. I didn’t think the platter on the 3900s worked with tractor as Denon seemed to be steering all Traktor users towards the 2900s and I don’t want to lose my spinning platters.
On a side note I don’t use the Denon forum very often. Much as i loved the forum I find the heavy handed and patronizing moderators just ruin it. I felt that as a 3700 user I was left out in the cold a bit when they brought out the 3900. Music Manager may be old but the 3700 wasn’t when they brought out the 3900. They should have upgraded music manager to the long awaited and pretty much promised Mac version. The other users on the Denon forum were usually very helpful even Denon himself seems like a great guy its just a shame two of the Mods often jump to the defence of gear that isn’t really being attacked. Most people that use Denon gear love it, especially the build quality but issues need to be discussed openly.
Sorry I should have clarified that I actually only own the sc2900s (used in standard midi mode when used with Traktor) but I have used a 3900 connected to Traktor scratch when I demo’d both the 3900 & 2900.
In this setup the 3900 was being used in hybrid-midi mode (i.e no timecode cd). I have a feeling at the time they said it was using the 2900 mapping but I believe there is now a dedicated 3900 tsi file now. I’m pretty sure there was nothing else to it, it was only a short demo (with Traktor) but the platter certainly seemed to work as intended.
There are a few threads on DDJ forums, this one springs to mind: Engine DJ Community - Product Resource & Community and he includes instructions for setting it all up too, but there are other threads also.
My 2900s I use in standard midi-mode (i.e not timecode) and the response between the platter & Traktor is fantastic- I’m intending to put a video together soon to show this.
Thanks for the info. The 2900s were for sale briefly for a crazy price over here recently. I think it was 599 Canadian dollars but it was only for a short time. Hahaa i should have known what you were using its in your signature at the bottom.
I’ve never tried using my sc2900’s with traktor… 2 questions: Do you get the track names on the screen of the 2900?? And do the lights around the edge of the platter work?? (I’m gonna guess no for this one as they don’t work in Cross!!)
You can get the track names & time elapsed on the 2900 screen but you need another tsi file for this (for one of the older Denon players I believe), there’s a good thread on it on the Denon DJ forums. I have to admit I’ve simply not got around to loading this one yet.
Sadly still no platter LEDs though. It comes up time & again and I think it’s a case that currently there simply isn’t the relevant output within Traktor to map to this.
That being said, I was amazed at the integration of the unit to Traktor within midi-mode. The platter control is incredibly tight, all the play, cue, looping, hot-cues, & slip mode all work as normal. The bpm sync button activates Traktor’s ‘sync’ feature, and the LEDs for the pitch select and arround the track select encoder pulse in time with the beat which is quite a cool feature.
Overall it works fantastic, the platter LED is the only obvious thing missing.
It’s a shame NI don’t work with manufacturers to get these features working. I can understand from a business point of view why it isn’t important to them but they could make a lot of end users very happy. I think there will be a few people move to Serato (to enough to bother NI) because of the way there are a lot of controllers working natively with it. And that is just my personal opinion. I don’t want to change software as i love Traktor. It just makes using a lot of controllers a bit of a compromise. Close but no cigar kind of thing.
Shame about the LED ring… not that I really use it that much, but when I’ve tried the sc2900 with cross and it doesn’t light up it just makes the whole player look really dark… Think I will probably just stick with engine for now as it does everything I need it to do really!!
If it won’t play when you hit play on the mouse, I’m guessing it’s an issue with the sound card. Have you updated the drivers for the new OS?
Like I said earlier on in the tread I have it working now. What drivers? I am using a Mac and no NI sound card as the Zero 4 is Traktor certified. It seems to be fine at the moment. Time will tell. I have also seen the info on the Denon forum about turning the deck header warnings off to get rid of the poor timecode warning message.
With regard to the timecode signal I get a ‘low input’ or ‘ground hum’ message when using either my 2 Tech 1210s or 2 Vestax TTs with DVS- and this is after swapping & cleaning just every combination of RCA & ground leads, cartridges, needles etc.
All 4 TTs work fine with regular vinyl, and indeed there are no audio issues when using them with DVS- just these visually annoying flashing error messages in Traktor that I simply can’t seem to get rid of. I wonder if Traktor is just insanely sensitive to signal fluctuations, regardless how small they might be- either way I have now resigned myself to having to deal with these when using timecode.
The deck error messages can be turned off in Traktor. The Hybrid system time code signal from Denon decks won’t ever calibrate, even though it works fine its different to the NI signal & always was.
Interesting, i’ll have to have a look into this then thanks!
You can make the track names appear by adding the X1600 (IIRC) mapping.
The ring LED lights will not work as Traktor has no way of outputting the needle location from what I can tell - I work around this by using time code CDs on the 2900’s.
I tried using time code cds with them but I couldn’t get on with the shockingly poor response with the platter- on the other hand I found the response so tight in standard midi mode (plus you get full use of the 2900s hot-cues, looping, slip-mode etc within Traktor) that it’s like a completely different system- the loss of the LED ring is a tiny price to pay in my opinion.
For me the difference between using them with time code cds and connecting them direct to the laptop via USB (midi) is night & day.