Bit of back story before i start;
Up until last summer i have always used CDJ's but opted for upgrading to just using a laptop after seeing a fellow DJ friend of mine able to fit his entire set on a laptop as i was dragging my entire cd collection round.
I opted for the VMS 4.1 as it appeared to be a good solution to my problem and it also allowed me to use my CDJ's along with it as a back up,
Heres the thing;
Ive been using this in a variety of situations and ive had a few niggles with it, which have caused me quite a bit of stress, especially when i have never ever (touch wood) had issues with CDJ's. at the moment i have the CDJ's going into the back in channels 1 and 4, with the vms acting as the mixer, connected to two speaker via the XLR connection.
Now im not sure if its the fact im using the packaged virtual dj with it (free version) or because of my laptop 64bit windows 7 4gb ram 2.4 ghz quad core processor.
but ive been having the following problems,
1.Strange half a second beat stuttering (Very rare, maybe once or twice at home)
2.tempo changing on the playing track, i don't use auto sync all done by me manually. It seems to randomly just alter the current playing audio track to the other track that im trying to beat match ready to play next, Which has made me look ridiculous when it happens at gigs.
3.Virtual DJ crash (never happened at gig, but practicing at home, has stopped once or twice, but has stopped happening since i disabled wifi,anti virus, turned off all start up programs on pc.
4. (THE WORST) has happened 4 or 5 times at a live set, the cross fader has just disabled itself mid set, meaning that as i start cueing up the other track it comes through the speakers, making the entire room look at me, i didn't even notice the first few times, as i had my headphones on playing both songs cued on mix, it was only when a friend told me after i found out.
one night, i found it kept happening and no matter what i did i couldn't change it back, meaning i couldn't pre cue my tracks, i had to blindly change track, luckily it was a middle aged party, so it didn't really matter, but if it had happened in a club situation, where i was beat matching dance tracks, it would have been impossible. I think it may be something to do with the 8out 4out switch on the front of the decks, when ever i switch it, it seems to cause issues.
5.When i start virtual DJ it sometimes randomly decides to change the virtual dj deck channels to 1 and 2 and other times 3 and 4. Which wouldn't be so annoying, but it means i have to constantly change my cdjs in the back. This happens even without me toggling the usb switches. I'm using the free version of virtual DJ by the way, so the settings tab is disabled. Which sucks....
Its these issues that have prevented me from going out with just the VMS, im still taking a single CDJ just encase it all kicks off and i need to sort it out.
I was wondering has anyone else had these random issues,
is the latest update more smooth, i dont want to update my vms if it makes it worse.
also can download the tracktor package that is now being released with the decks,
as ive used that in the past, and it feels more professional. Or can i download the vms skin set up for tracktor if i was to buy it.
Sorry about the essay, just a few annoying glitches that are spoiling an otherwise flawless deck.
Also, one more thing, i cant seem to find replacement cross faders anywhere, do they have to be model specific, or can i just stick any cross fader on it, as this one feels a bit light and sticky, and ive knocked it one or twice simply by being heavy handed. its not the cross faders fault, just me and my big bear hands getting mixed up with the mixer and decks being so close.
Thanks in advance!
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