1) Distortion: Everything is set up normally, I'm a keyboard DJ (no tables or cds). I was practicing a bunch yesterday, no problems. I woke up this morning, booted everything up and now I'm getting a really distorted noise for both serato decks. Everything is connected via line, distortion comes through both headphones and speakers, changing gain doesn't change distortion, master is at 12 o'clock, switching USB slots didn't help, rebooting everything = nothing.

It sounds like a blown out speaker, even though it's not.

2) Every once in a while durring Serato usage my right headphone will go out. After tweaking with all the buttons on the mixer and all the buttons on serato, the only thing to do was to turn up the gain on the right serato deck till the "pipe was clear". It's like there's some sort of digital blockage that builds up, or something.

The really annoying thing is that if the right headphone goes off while I'm playing the right deck live, I can't max out the gain because that will cause a huge volume spike for the crowd... So then I'm trying to beat/volume match with just my left ear.

Thanks for your help in advance. Minty hot chocolate for whoever has the right answers.

1) What do your scope views look like? Do you get the distortion if you are playing it in INT mode? Is your SL-1 box near a power stip, a bunch of cords or any major power supply?

2)What type of mixer are you using? There isn't anything in the software that would single that channel out. If youhave a left and right signal read out on your mixer for each channel, have ou looked at the stereo image there? Is it equal?

Also.. have you tried using your SL1 on a different computer and mixer?

That would definitely help to narrow down the culprit.

Thank you for the speedy response!

1) I always play in INT mode, I use my keyboard/mouse/mixer to do everything. I believe the scope was just a dot, even when I zoomed in. I'm really not familiar with scope settings and such though, I thought that was for turntables. If this seems incorrect, I'll take a second look. The SL-1 box is in the same place it's always been. It's maybe 2 feet from a power supply, 1 foot from my computer. It is near some cords, I'll try and reconfigure my desk to isolate the SL-1. Do you have any suggestions for a proximity SL-1 needs from anything else?

2) The mixer is a Numark POS 2 channel, it's blue. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, although it doesn't make sense to me why the right track gain on the program unclogs the headphone, but the volume on the mixer does not.

Speaking of mixers:
I was looking at the Behringer DDM4000 because it had MIDI control and FX and it's REALLY cheap for the specs. I know it's got a bad rap... I feel like I'm close enough to the intermediate level (thanks to serato's visualization of the tracks and bookmarks) to start to move further than beat matching and volume levels, but I'm not totally willing to get a super expensive mixer when I haven't made a dime DJing.

I'll take suggestions on a mixer (with MIDI capabilities) too if you have time. I currently only use 2 channels, so I'm not totally object to scratch mixers, but I figured 3+ channels is what trance/house lean towards, so I should follow suit.

Thanks a ton to anyone that helps...

If your not using TTs or cd decks then yes, you won't see circles in the scope views.

At this point, I would try using your SL1 on a different computer/setup.

I don't have any info on an inexpensive midi assignable mixer.

The Behringers might be a reasonable step up from your current mixer.

Ok...

Desktop (Problem) Computer:

I switched the cables around on computer USB, serato and the mixer (but kept the serato box at the same proximity from all electronics as tested on the laptop below) to check to see if it was the mixer: basically anything comming out of Line 2 Serato Output, no matter which mixer channel or USB port I chose, will have distorted quality and play at a dying speed. I'm thinking my mixer is not the problem...

New Computer:

I just got a new laptop and everything worked fine: No problems with either the right deck/or the right headphone, but I'll continue to test the laptop and see if I can narrow it down to the serato box itself.

Any thoughts on how to make the old computer work serato again?

It definitely sounds like an issue with your desktop.

When did this problem start happening?

You might be able to roll back to a restore point to undue any changes that might have happened to your OS.

Are you plugging the SL1 into a usb hub or splitter?

How many ports do you have on your computer?

Use the usb ports found on the back of the computer.. not the front or top (if there are any usb ports there).

Ok, the slowing effect was because I was using the monitor USB... which uses a Firewire -> USB plug cable.

I plugged directly into the back of the computer. I'm no longer getting the slow effect, but I am STILL getting a problem with the right Serato channel -> right speaker/headphone.

Same issue as before, it cuts out randomly and the only way to bring it back is to turn up the gain on Serato Right Deck (Program side)... As if I'm clearing the digital pipe by blasting music through it.

Thoughts?

It sounds like it might be a problem with the channel on your mixer?

Test this theory by plugging the line output 2 of the SL1 into a different line input/channel on your mixer to see if the same issue occurs.

Let us know your findings.