This is a feature of the offline player from what I've heard. Since the program is free to download, it's to discourage people from using SSL without purchasing the hardware

Kind of suspected that. Oh well, just a minor thing anyway, kind of annoying to having to listen to that bass. But I see reasons why they would want to steer the average user away, using the offline player as a Winamp/iTunes/Mediaplayer/etc substitute.

The Offline Player shouldn't have any sound limitations, it should only be limitated by your computers soundcard. You could check the gain for your tracks - is the gain knob up high? Does it make any difference if you lower the gain?



This is incorrect, in fact we encourage people to use Scratch LIVE as their media player :) What you may be thinking of is Whitelabel files, which will play at 32kps in any program except Scratch LIVE (and then you need hardware connected for them to play at 320kps).

oh, thanks for the correction Michael

To explain how it sounds; the artifact happens with tracks that have low, quitet bass, most noticeable with natural instruments. I kind of breaks up the bass, making it sound "digital", sort of like a strange hum whenever the bass kicks in. The all over sound is still crisp, and does not sound anything like a high compressed mp3 (ie whitelabel in offline..) The artifact is consistent, it appears pretty much on any tune with those characteristics.


Tracks are autogained at 92dB, Master gain at 12 o'clock. If I lower or raise the either track gain or master gain, the artifact stay exactly the same. No difference when changing the volume on the mac either. When plugging in the box, the artifact is gone. Also, when playing the track in iTunes / Quicktime / Audacity the artifact is gone.

Far as I know I haven't done anything to the computer settings, is it possible with the built-in sound anyway? I had a look into the system profiler if thats of any help?

Intel High Definition Audio:

Device ID: 0x106B00A3
Audio ID: 56
Available Devices:
Speaker:
Connection: Internal
Headphone:
Connection: Combo
Microphone:
Connection: Internal
Line In:
Connection: Combo
S/P-DIF Out:
Connection: Combo
S/P-DIF In:
Connection: Combo

Cool, my bad. I'll still use the offline player for cues & loops as usual, but until I get this sorted I'll be using iTunes side by side, just to be sure...

Hey WarpNote,

Are you able to upload a file for us to have a listen to? If possible a file that gives the best example of what you are hearing. Please upload the file here -> www.serato.com

Also could you please post the specs of the machine you are using :)

Ok, I'm uploading files recorded, both the good one (with the box connected) and the distorted. (played in offline player)

I recorded both using Audacity. The distorted one is how it sounds using the offline player.

My computer is a stock macbook pro, last version before unibody came along:
MacBookPro4,1 - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz - 2 GB RAM - NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB - 200GB Internal Disk

All music played off a 500GB LaCie Rugged drive Firewire 800 bus powered. If I play off the internal drive, the issue is still the same.

Also, I tried it out on my older Dell I have no issue there, so it seems to be mac specific.

Again, when playing the file in iTunes or Quicktime it sounds great...

Michael, did you get a chance to listen to the upload?

I've also uploaded to ZShare:
Bad sound (Offline player) -> www.zshare.net
Good sound (through SL1 Box, same in itunes/Quicktime/Audacity) -> www.zshare.net

BUT: I'm no longer able to reproduce this issue!
I've installed the 1.8.3 beta, and updated itunes (8.0.1 ->8.0.2) Apart from that, I haven't done much at all to my mac. Kind of strange, but still...

So all is well, feel free to close thread...

Hey WarpNote,

I'm really sorry, I didn't get a chance to check out your files but I have now. You can definitely hear the difference, it's a sound I've heard before on certain tracks when you have keylock on and adjust the pitch - the rest of the track sounds fine but the bass gets that "digital" sound. I'm not sure what's causing that in the offline player but I guess if it's been fixed in 1.8.3 we're all good! :)

I'll close this thread for now, please post back if this issue arises again.

Well, I can say for sure that I am STILL experiencing this distortion issue in SSL 2.4.3 on a 17" mbp late 2011 model. Music running from internal SSD (Crucial M4), using Sennheiser HD 25-1 II for listening through the regular mbp headphone/line out connection. There is distortion when playing the same track directly in finder or iTunes.

I assume this is a mac-only issue, will try on my older non unibody penryn mbp,
and 2 dell machines, win7 & XP.

I mean, this isnt really a big dealbreaker. But its still annoying when I wanna enjoy my music while fixing tags, setting up crates, cues & loops. Lately, Ive been going to from mp3 to lossless formats, mostly Apple Lossless. In this respect, it would make SSL a lot more serious application, as I would be able to check my music in a "hi-fi" can. I´m considering getting a higher grade set, probably Ultrasone Pro 900, or BeyerDynamic.

As another thought, would buying a 3rd party USB DAC get rid of the issue?
The other option would obviously be to connect an SL box/mixer, but really trying to eliminate as much hardware as possible for prep work.

Thanks, Warp

Can you post a recording?

Do you get it with 2.4.2?

I believe the attached files are the same track I tested in 2008.

The source file is a mp3 320k ripped from CD.
These have been "hijacked" using Audio Hijack Pro from iTunes and SSL 2.4.3,
and does show the exact same thing I'm hearing when listening directly in those programs.
I used apple lossless for the hijack/rip to make sure there is no other loss down the "pipeline".

Playing the original in quicktime or by preview from finder gives similar correct results as in iTunes.
I am only experiencing the artifact in SSL. I have also tried other test tracks in SSL, apple lossles this time, and found the same artifacts, so I doubt the error is within either the first test file or the mp3 format itself?

Also tried this on both my mbp's:
1st system: MacBookPro 4,1 - 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, 4GB RAM, 1TB 5400 rpm HD
2nd system: MacBook Pro 8,3 (Late 2011) - 10.7.4 Lion, 8GB RAM, 512GB (Crucial m4) SSD

@nik39, are you able to DL those test files? If not, please let me know...

Yes, just tested on my mbp 4,1 (1 st system, this is still my main DJ machine...)
with both 2.4.2 and 1.9.2. Same issue there.

Also tried it on my:
3rd system: Dell M-6500 (mobile workstation) Windows 7 (64 bit) 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD

Tried SSL 2.2.0, 2.4.2 and 2.4.3.
The effect is similar, but less dramatic, some coloration/distortion going on...

I can't access the files :(

If you connect the hardware, do you have the pitch lock engaged on the left deck?

Do you have any DJ effects assigned to the left deck?

Chad, I actually tried that, as I normally use key lock. I connected my SL1 so I could turn it off, then restarted SSL. No difference, still same issue. Also no FX enabled. Also tried to disable FX in setup > plugins, still same issue.

I'm attaching the original mp3 file, please load into SSL and see if you have the same issue?
The passage you need to listen to is the first 8 seconds, ie until the second cue point. Also you'll probably need to play it at a fairly high volume to hear it.

@nik39,
Do you still use the same old mail adress? I put those files in a dropbox for you.
If you didn't get an invite to the dropbox, leave me a PM with your current mail address. :D

Listening to the audio, I hear a high pitch sort of pinging resonating. Is this what you are talking about?

It's crazy that so many computers have done it. I would say this is something that could be caused by running the computer on the power adpater. I have heard that in the past.

This is in the offline mode so we absolutely know it's not the hardware. How about when you connect it, does it sound fine?

Sorry for having you repeat yourself, this is a long thread and it just got dumped in our laps but I suspect it needs to go back to the Serato team, this seems software related and not a common problem. Let me know the results.

Seeing that this has been two MACs, if you go into Macintosh HD / Applications / Utilities / Audio Midi Set-up - Is your sound set to 44.1k or 48k?

Exactly, that's the one I'm talking about.

Running on battery only made no difference.

Oh yes, no problems when running on my SL1, SL4 or 68.




Ahhhhhh!!! thanks a million!!!
For some reason the headphone output was switched to 48k on both macs.
Reverted to 44.1k, seems to do the trick. Thanks again!

Not sure why values have changed, I think I did have to set it back to 44.1k in past too, can't remember for sure. Been experimenting with other software, using the Rane hardware for the output in core audio. Maybe something got switched then...

GREAT TO KNOW THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THIS. THANKS A MILLION!!

Awesome man, glad to help :)

Just wanted to add, every time I use Scratch Live with either SL4 or the 68 the "Audio Midi Setup" panel in OSX is reverted to 48khz for the internal speakers/headphones, reintroducing that crappy bass sound for the offline player.

And, if using the the SDJ offline player, the playback will stop entirely when changing this setting.

iTunes still sounds allright. No big issue, as I know how to revert back to 44,1khz but still an annoying bug.

OSX 10.6.8

Very interesting. I just tried this using my personal machine. I'm on 10.6.8 and I checked my setting was 44.1. I then connected to the Sixty-Eight and opened the program. After closing Scratch Live, i returned to the Audio Midi Set-up and it still says 44.1

I then went into the Set-up of Scratch Live and changed the recording bit depth to 24 (both the Sixty-Eight and SL 4 have this ability) and then I rechecked. Everything is still 44.1k as it should be.

Am I doing anything different than what you are doing?

No issues here either.

Was assuming SSL caused this, but not so sure anymore. I have this happening on both my 10.6.8 machine and my 10.7.5 mbp. Both machines play a lot of video files with 48k sound, maybe that´s causing it...?

Every time I restart the machine, it seems to be re-set to 48k, so who knows what is really going on... Also find it odd that the file will play without artifacts in both iTunes and Ableton, while the offline player has this bass issue...

Actually, I never thought of changing the depth from 16 bit, I normally do may recordings to the .als format. Would I actually gain anything from using 24 bit for the .als?

Will try to mess around with the settings, and let you know, if I can find out what´s causing the 48k switch.

Good question about the videos, I wonder. You should hit up serato on support@serato.com They should have that answer concerning the videos.

On this end, can't duplicate it using 10.6.8 and Sixty-Eight or SL 4. This is regardless of my recording bit depth.

Think I might found the reason my computer keeps switching to 48k.
Playing/editing 48k videos don't seem to change the setting from 44.1k

However, I use Ableton both with my 68, SL4 and with the regular line out on the mbp.
Ableton is set to 48k, and whenever using it without the sound interface, the Audio Midi Setup Panel in OSX will switch to 48k for the Built-in Output.

Would have thought that after spending all that time creating the Bridge, firstly Serato and secondly Ableton devs would have seen this one... ;-)

At least it seems Ive found the source of the issue. I don't like computer settings changing without my knowledge, I wanna trust everything is in order... But I guess thats rare anyway. LOL...

Good work, I would let the Serato team know.

Thanks Chad!