So for the longest time I've had an issue while using Serato and scratching. I have 2 Denon DN-S5000 tabletops, a Stanton mixer, and Serato. When I'm scratching to a beat and trying to keep a steady rhythm, I don't know if it's audio lag or what, but I tend to lose my spot on the video wavelength as it starts to travel, and I start to lose the beat because the audio seems to fall behind what I'm doing with my hands. Sorry if this is confusing, but if it has something to do with audio lag, is there any way to tweak this in Serato? Or, do I just have a hardware issue? I never have this problem when my tabletops are just hooked right into the mixer and I'm bypassing Serato.

What is you buffer size set to? How much RAM do you have and does this happen with all videos?

Buffer size = set to default, 10 seconds
Audio cache = 15 seconds
RAM = 512 MB DDR SDRAM, Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (computer's a few years old)

This doesn't happen with video... I don't run video. If this helps to diagnose the problem at all, I noticed that when I play a regular CD using the "thru" input, the audio when it comes to juggling and scratching is more precise and I don't "loose my place" as often, so maybe my problem revolves around the Serato program itself or the SL1 box...

My bad, I thought you were using video SL. You were talking about the visual waveform -- got it ;)

Well you are running under specs as for RAM. We require atleast 1GB -- your processor seems to be fine tho.

I believe that by simply updating your RAM, this problem would be solved.

Yeh I was referring to the waveform, not video SL... sorry.

My RAM never seems to have been the issue though. Yesterday, however, I was messing with my stuff again and noticed 2 things:

1. My crossfader on the mixer can be moved about 1-2mm from either side and still not play music... even when the curve is set to cut/scratch instantly, so maybe my fader is crapping out.

2. I was trying to hold a steady rhythm while scratching on a drum beat with the platter on the DN-S5000, and no matter how hard I tried to hold the same spot on the track, as I scratched steadily, the waveform would slowly begin to lose it's spot and move forward, so I'm wondering if my CDJ is also losing its touch (the Denon runs on a belt, btw).

Couple these two things together, and holding a steady scratch/beat is tough. So, is this more hardware or software related? Like I said before, the scratching gets a little better when just using a regular song with the "thru" input.

Your fader on this Stanton mixer could be going out or might just need some adjusting - depending on how it's designed.

Well scratching on a belt drive deck will not be as crisp and accurate as it would on a direct drive. Maybe your belt needs to be replaced on the decks.

Seems like its all hardware related as for the mixer and decks.

But for SSL, upgrading to atleast the minimum 1GB of RAM would help SSL perform better.

Aside from upgrading my ram, what else can I tweak within SSL to maybe make it more precise when it comes to scratching and juggling?

In order for the latency to be brought to a minimum in SSL, you would have to drop the USB buffer size to as low as possible.

But again, this would require your computer to work harder and since you do not have enough RAM, this will cause drop-outs and playback issues.

Well I can always try this and see what happens... couldn't hurt.

Yea you can. Go ahead and drop the USB buffer size to the lowest it will go and then hit apply. If you get drop-outs, then pull the buffer up one by one and leave it where it doesn't drop-out.