same on b .... rare audio dropouts ... usb speed : 2 ms

I have a default value of 10 ms.

Apparently CPU indicator stays green all the time, even during dropouts.

But dropouts still happen approximately once an hour, and this is very annoying. Usually it happens simultaneously with some of the actions on controller - e.g. when controller/software transmit some data through USB (platter movement, pitch change, effect selection), and that causes the issue sometimes. When you don't touch anything on the controller there are no dropouts.

Roman . witch Itch Version is it ?

I also upgraded to Firmware 1.9 ...
The Itch 1.7 RC crashes, when I load a track sometimes..

I also tried a 0,5 m USB Cable - and it even wasn't better at all ...
I tried all little VCI 300 tricks I know ...

It's 1.7 RC2 (RC3 has a minor fix, so there is no reason in trying it), and I have the latest firmware for Allen & Heath Xone:DX also.

I'm wondering why Serato team can't reproduce the issue, it's so obvious and is reported by many people.

I'm willing to help - just tell me what needs to be captured.

Serato can not maybe reproduce it, because they have "clean" machines - and they dont use it like a normal person...

I'm not from Serato ...
but on HDD is a folder with Library ... somewhere else then Crash Report ...
I guess they would need these files.

Aparently, I made a nice experience ... I exchanged the USB Cable against that one from the VCI 300. There are two ferrit cores attached to the cable.

Then next on my mac - I disabled most of the autostart items, like Textpander or Growl and kicked the Logitech drivers away ... (I had a mouse)

I converted all ID 3 Tags to V2.3 like descibed in the forum... and I re-read some files.

however I did manage it to play with RC3 about 1,5 hrs no crash no dropouts - hardcore file loading etc .... then I'd like it to know ...

Hi Roman,

Apologies for the late response. Firstly, have you made sure to do all the tweaks for your machine as per the technical quickstart guide here:

www.serato.com

Also do you have any other external devices attached?

Samuel,

Yes, all tweaks have been made - bluetooth and wireless disabled, nothing runs in background, CPU is mostly idle, plenty of space on the hard drive (I have 750GB, and 450GD is free), I'm running the latest ITCH code, etc.

I think it will be able to reproduce the issue for you guys. If you tell me what needs to be captured, I could do that. Fortunately, I work in software development industry and have very deep technical background - so just tell me what data needs to be captured and I can provide it to you guys. At the very least, probably I could do a screen recording (using the tool of your preference) and a mix recording. Hopefully, there is a way to enable ITCH to write debug info into a file in runtime.

Looks like many people are reporting this, so I'm not alone. And yes, I have beat grid enabled of course. Let's just work together and troubleshoot this...

Thanks,
Roman

I think I have another important update on the issue. I was able to reproduce it once again a couple of times during 45 minutes of playing at home today.

First of all, as I said earlier already, it seems to be unrelated to the CPU usage - the bar stays green all the time. And well, I'm pretty sure a modern MacBook Pro with >= 2.4 ghz CPU onboard should be able to handle all this stuff.

Second, the issue seems to be unrelated to USB buffer size. I can reproduce it with 1ms and with 10ms. Today it was with 1ms.

So, what happens is:
- I'm mixing two tracks, they both have valid beatgrids (beat grids are perfect, they were checked by hand and potentially adjusted using ADJUST/SLIP button)
- the mix is performed with SYNC engaged
- in the middle of the mix, something weird happens
-- first of all, sound disappears for approximately half of second (may be less than that)
-- then tracks continue to play in sync (white bars on beat grids stick together)
-- at the same time (this is my theory), the software sometimes messes up some internal beat grid counters, please read the next bullet for explanation
-- when you load the next track and start it from a cue point, the beat grids are off. I mean, the white bars should be in sync when you press "PLAY", but they are actually not.

Here is what I mean by beat grids being off. Let's assume the pattern for beat grid is [1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8, where [1],[3],[5],[7] are beats, [1] corresponds to the large white bar - i.e. every 4 beats, and [3],[5],[7] - to small white bars.

When you start to play the next track (after the "dropout" issue happened), the tracks start to play like:
Track #A: [1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8
Track #B: [1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8

No matter when you press "PLAY" with sync button engaged, [1] for track A should match [1] for track [B]. But after the issue, they are actually start to be off by 1/2 or 1/4 (the sync is there, but the offset is wrong - [1] in track #A corresponds to 2 in track #B, or something else). So, in other words, the tracks are playing somewhat in sync with large white bars [1] do not match.

I hope my explanation makes sense. So, I believe this is a software issue and is related to beat grids.

If I stop both tracks and then start them again, the issue with sync disappears.
If I dis-engage sync using "SHIFT+SYNC" then engage it again, then the issue with sync also disappears.

Again, guys, I spent 1300$ on the controller. And it rocks. But the software does not. I am not willing to switch to traktor, so let's fix it.

Again - would you recommend any screen recording software? is there a way to tell ITCH generate more debug information during the mix?

Roman

well, the formatting looks wrong a bit. the correct version should look like:

When you start to play the next track (after the "dropout" issue happened), the tracks start to play like:
Track #A: [1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8
Track #B: --- [1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8

I have uploaded the video of beat grids being off after the issue: Watchwww.youtube.com

Let me know if it looks like a bug.

if you installed 1.6 after 1.7 then you will need to backdate the DX firmware to get the leds to work...

Are you able to upload both of the tracks from this video to the thread please?

Samuel,

I have attached both files - 17MB and 19MB.

But the problem does not seem to be related to these particular files. As I said, you have to play for around an hour with SYNC engaged, and the issue will happen -- first of all, the sound dropout/skip issue, then followed by the beat-grids-being-not-in-sync issue.

In the second part of the video I disengage and engage sync, and it starts working fine again.

Please let me know how I can help further.

Thanks,
Roman

it looks like deck one has been sped up using pitch bend on the jog wheel, once this is done it will no longer be synced to the master clock,

as i can tell by the video, deck 3 is syncing to the master clock flashes in the middle of the screen, so when you press play everything is working fine, but deck one is out of sync with master clock. if you watch when the first beat on the beat indicators (in the middle when the sync info is) flashes, deck one is ahead. but deck 3 is in sync.

cnewton - well, I see what you're saying, and that's a very good guess! But the jog wheel was not really touched.

I believe the dropout/skip issue is causing this discrepancy (I described the symptoms above). Right before I started recording this video, there was a dropout/skip issue during the previous mix. I believe this had an impact on deck 1 (let's say dropout/skip is equivalent to touching pitch bend on deck 1) and it went out of sync. Deck 3 indeed seems to be syncing to the master clock.

hey, serato support?

Try this:

www.serato.com

well, I suppose my macbook pro should be able to handle max screen refresh rate and 10ms USB latency...

Hey Roman, there seems to be some connection to dropouts and the 15'' unibody macbook pro, 4gb ram and 2.4 ghz cpu running 10.6.4. I have the same MBP and I'm having dropouts. I have had my DX since March and I've been experiencing dropouts and bobbling waveforms since day one when I was running 1.6 and 10.6.2. I continue to have dropouts to this day running 1.7 and 10.6.4. There have been some people in the forums that downgraded to 10.6.3 and still had some graphical glitches but they didn't have any dropouts so you could always give that a try.

My fingers are crossed that the Serato team will figure this out soon but as for now it SEEMS like they're saying it's an Apple problem.

I am on a Macbook (white)..10.5.8 & 1.7 and get some audio hang ups..I messed with the "screen updates" and seems better..lower cpu too.

Zuck - thanks for posting the details. I am not alone then )

I doubt it's an apple problem though... scratch live was working as a charm. Where did you found a statement from Serato saying it's an Apple problem?

Roman

I had SSl and had no problems. I've had Itch and the VCI-300 for almost 2 years now and no problems (once I learned which USB port to use). With the DX I got problems. Most of them have been fixed but the two that stand out are the bobbling waveforms and the sound dropouts.

I'll look up the threads where the Serato Team allude to the problem being with Apple and I'll post the link for you.

Here's a quote from Zeb, one of the Itch Moderators:
Quote:
I still can't believe Serato was unable to reproduce this. I have 10.6.4 too. I guess going back is our only option.


There are lots of people reporting issues on various pro audio forums & Mac forums since upgrading to 10.6.4, not everyone is having issues though. I have read that some people have had their issues resolved by downloading the combo update & reinstalling, instead of installing from software updates. You could try this but there is no guarantee it will help at all. kraals results are interesting for sure & I am going to do some testing on 10.6.4 to see if I have any issues with dropouts or anything else. I have only been testing 10.6.3, 10.6.2, 10.5.8 & 10.4.11 up until now.

You can find this in the following thread:
serato.com

There are more references to Mac's being the problem but I can't find the one in particular that I'm thinking of. I'll keep looking for ya.

Here's what I was looking for:

Hey Guys,

I understand there is some frustration in here with the issues you are experiencing.
It seems that everyone here who is having dropout issues is on 10.6.4. For the record we do test 10.6.4 in house just not on every machine, sometimes the difficulty is that the issue may be a combination of OS version AND the machine type.

That said there anyone here that has unexplained new dropout issues when moving between 1.5 and 1.7 that is NOT on 10.6.4?

That said there anyone here that has unexplained new dropout issues when moving between 1.5 and 1.7 that is on an i Series mac?


There have been changes in the waveform drawing code between 1.5 and 1.7 to improve the smoothness and to introduce beat grid. ITCH is different from some other DJ applications in that it is graphically intensive to draw our large waveforms so changes in this area of the OS may effect it. There are varying reports of graphical issues on 10.6.4 with all sorts of software and I'm wondering if that is a possible root cause of the problem. Threads like this outline some of the problems people are are having on 10.6.4 with applications like photoshop, the steam engine and other games.

discussions.info.apple.com
forums.appleinsider.com

I for one have had all sorts of problems with flash since upgrading to 10.6.4, I can't even watch you tube half the time. So whilst we understand your frustration with experiencing dropouts please understand we are doing everything we can to investigate this and figure out where it's going wrong. We appreciate those of you who have given us input on this.

Apple have a graphics update available for snowleopard that is a patch for some of the graphical bugs introduced in 10.6.4. It seems that this effects older (i.e. pre i series) machines so this may be why those of you with the newer machines and 10.6.4 are not experiencing this problem.

support.apple.com

I have been running this for some time on my machine and I'm unable to reproduce the kind of dropouts people are reporting here. I'd suggest installing this via software update in any case and it sounds like an important update. Also please post if you HAVE installed this update and are still experiencing the dropouts.

We do want to get to the bottom of this and it is a top priority for us to figure out what is causing this issue.

Cheers
Dylan
ITCH Product Manager

You can find this info. here:
serato.com

Now, onto the wobbly wave forms that some of us are experiencing. This is a more recent thread but it is in reference to an older thread about the 2009 Mocbook pro's.

serato.com

Here is another thread about the same issue and within it is a link to even earlier threads about unstable wave forms all of which Serato says is do to the Macbook pro's hardware and they have nothing to do with the problem.

serato.com

Funny thing is, I never had this unstable waveform problem until I started using 1.6 and above. It totally fucks with my head as the waveforms bobble about like I'm on drugs or having a seizure. It totally blows. But, I could deal with it if I had to...maybe...but what I can;t deal with is the dropouts which now, 6 months after buying my DX, still hasn't been solved and keeps me from using my DX professionally.

I have installed graphical update for 10.6.4. Will test it within the next couple of days.

I confirm that the issue is still there after installing the latest graphical update for 10.6.4 from Apple.

But changing the setting under "Energy Saver" to "higher performance" from "better battery life" seems to help as it activates another graphical card on Mac - so far 2 hours with no dropouts. May be that helps with waveform drawing... 1.7 is using CPU really intensively I think.

Will keep testing.

One should NOT have to do all these tweaks on a Mac, especially a Core 2 Duo or greater... it's just not necessary. There are just bugs in 1.7 + it needs to be optimized to be more efficient (which I know the Serato team is trying to figure out).

The waveform fluidity issue has been brought up before 1.7 or 1.6 and Serato concluded that it was a Mac issue. Check out some of the links and sites I posted above

As I am reading, the guys from Serato finally reproduced the issue - see www.serato.com. It seems to be related to Mac OS 10.6.4 + ITCH >= 1.6. Hopefully they will be able to fix it.

Hi Guys,
I'm using a mackbook pro with Xone DX.
I have audio dropouts too. All settings are correctly. All extrernal connecions (bluetooth, airport, etc.) are OFF.
If we all have this problem then the problem is in ITCH software. Xone DX works well with Tracktor software but I don't change because I'm a serato's fan! Since the beginning!
Serato have to solve this problem as soon as possible! I hope ;)

the dropouts are still occuring on 1.7.1

I'm having this issue from the times of 1.6 (opened this thread in August), and ITCH behavior didn't improve for me over the last two versions. And I haven't got any recommendations except tweaking my system (which I did course).

so, THE question to Serato. the only one that I have now. was asking this on numerous threads already, but will repeat once again.

Serato team,

Is there anything I can provide you with? E.g. force ITCH to drop a core at some point (using "kill" in the terminal) and attach the core file to the issue, or capture some data so you can examine the traces from my machine?

You might never reproduce the issue in-house based on the verbal description that you gather across all support threads.

Thanks,
Roman

My friend, work with traktor pro and you will be happy...is very cheap now!!!!!

Hey Roman,

Unfortunately there is no easy tool like the DPC and RATT reports for PC's to troubleshoot these USB dropouts on Mac machines. There have been some users who have been getting dropouts still with ITCH 1.7.1 and we are still investigating this in house. At present the only things I can recommend are to:


- Make sure you have the latest firmware update for your Mac.

- Make sure you have the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.5). Try updating this through the combo update online as opposed to using software update. This is here:

support.apple.com

This has helped some users with these problems.

- go into "Utilities" which is at the bottom of the "Applications" folder & open "Disk Utility" once in there click on "Disk Repair" for your Mac HD, see if that improves performance.

#4 I'm not sure if you already have this off but turn off airport & bluetooth if these are turned on.

- If you have never tried this, I would recommend you rename your _Serato_ folder to something else & let ITCH create a new one, you can add some files back into ITCH & do a bit of testing to see if there are any improvements, if not just rename the old _Serato_ folder back to "_Serato_" & delete the newly created one & everything should return to how it was. Your crates will be located in the "Subcrates" folder, these will need to be moved across to the newly created folder for them to show up.

- You should test with both available USB ports & only use which ever gives you the best performance, I would start with the port farthest away from the screen.

- If you haven't already, try using a different USB cable, or think about investing in a high quality USB cable.

- I would also make sure all your files are analyzed and you have removed any corrupt tracks.

Let me know how you get on.

over a thousand euros (price) and we must continue investing in USB cable ?????
Please don´t talk nosense...
Why it works well with traktor pro ??

today I received my unit repaired, and all right with TP.

Samuel S thank you for the answer. Unfortunately I have tried almost everything -- 10.6.5, disk repaired, airport and bluetooth off, serato database created from scratch, tried both USB ports, the entire library is analysed and contains no corrupt files.

The only thing I haven't tried is getting another USB cable. well, I guess I will have to wait until you guys reproduce it. let's see where that goes.

But product "debugability" and getting data for the purpose of troubleshooting from real-life systems is extremely important. I request you can take this message to the product management.

Thank you,
Roman

I'm feeling Roman's pain.

I've tried everything you guys have suggested accept this, "rename your _Serato_ folder to something else & let ITCH create a new one, you can add some files back into ITCH & do a bit of testing to see if there are any improvements, if not just rename the old _Serato_ folder back to "_Serato_" & delete the newly created one & everything should return to how it was. Your crates will be located in the "Subcrates" folder, these will need to be moved across to the newly created folder for them to show up". Many times dropouts don't come on for an hour or two. I've already done a bunch of testing and this just seems like one more shot in the dark and a waist of my time, sorry.

If SSl and ITCH 1.5 have never had dropouts on my computer why must I jump through all these hoops to get 1.7, 1.7.1 to work? 1.6 had multiple problems such as Dropouts, Crashes, and FX malfunctions. 1.7 continued to have Dropouts as does 1.7.1.

Please explain to me, if 1.5 has NO dropouts then why must I make all sorts of adjustments to try and keep 1.7.1 from having dropouts?

Macbook Pro
10.6.4
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
500GB 7200RPM Hitachi internal HD

I use Disk Warrior to defrag my computer.
I run Disk Repair and Repair permissions every time I load a new program and every few weeks just incase.
I have no corrupted files.
I don't use any file sharing music.
I have 5 different USB cables I have tried, even gold plated pro cables.
I always follow the Serato setup steps (no wifi, bluetooth, time machine, screen saver, power saver features off).
I have all my equipment connected before I turn on my computer.
I have no programs running in the background.
I have close to 200GB of free space on my HD
I have tried un-installling and reinstalling ITCH
I have tried both USB ports (I use the one furthest from the screen for best results).
I have tried multiple settings for screen refresh rates and buffer settings.

My frustration is do to the fact that I am going on my 9th month of having a product that I bought to use professionally but I still cannot use do to technical issues, i.e. Dropouts. Never in my life have I had an ongoing issue with any product such as the complications I am having with ITCH 1.6, 1.7, 1.7.1 and the DX. At the moment it is a finical loss and an on going frustration with no seeming end in sight.

I appreciate your guys continuing help.

men!!!! work with traktor pro..... cero problems... you will be happy :)

Thanks djnito but I have $3,000 in ITCH and 5 years in organizing/editing music for ITCH and SSL. Switching to Traktor would be a BIG switch. I'd rather Serato fix the problem.

Zuck, but i think that 9 months waiting serato for to work ok!!!... it´s terrible!!!...
I change to Traktor and I am delighted...
lucky friend!!!!

Good point.

My ITCH 1.5 and the VCI-300 are flawless, the DX and 1.6/1.7, not so much.

anyone using the mid 09 macbook, i suggest trying the usb closest to the screen..
only do this if you are experiencing dropouts.

iv always used the usb socket closest to the screen as i checked the system profiler and saw that it was the usb port that had less things running off it, the one furtherest from the screen has keyboard and trackpad running on it, the one closest has the bluetooth device (which is switched off in my case)

only reason im posting this is because i usually get 1 or 2 dropouts at the most in a night, tonight, i tried the usb furtherest from the screen and had about 8 dropouts, they just kept coming!! so i wont be using that one again.

anyway, stick to what ur comfortable with but i do suggest trying a different port for one night just to see! as i know everyone says to use the port furtherest from the screen but this is not the case for me.

hope this helps someone maybe.

i've been experiencing the same problems regarding dropouts with the xone dx being used in conjunction with a new macbook pro 2.44 ghz, mac os x 10.6.5 and serato itch 1.7.1. after trying all the suggestions to reduce the load on the cpu (lowering usb buffer size to 10ms, screen updates to 30, turning off bluetooth and airport, closing all other apps etc) i was still experiencing dropouts. then i tried turning off the hifi resampler and haven't experienced any dropouts since!?! give it a try and let me know if it works for any of u guys...

Hmm. I wonder if anyone else has tried that out. I'll give it a shot.

I have to always suggest changing the USB port to the one farthest from the screen. :) This is for the MBP's of the 2008/2009 unibody line. The newer 2010 models are the opposite I believe.

It made a WORLD of difference for me and was able to stop messing with settings and actually setup ITCH how i wanted it to run... as the USB port seemed to make all the difference to me. :)

I also have to point out that Mac users should add turning Time Machine OFF and taking it off your top bar. Some users have reported that as helping their situation.

Here are some other suggestions that might not have already been suggested above or in other threads. :)

If you have any application with an AUTO schedule/function/detect of ANY KIND, make sure that is OFF. I used to use Carbon Cloner to clone my hardware so I would always have an instant replacement if my HD were to give out. But found out it was sometimes always hitting the USB ports to see if a HD it knew has been connected. Found that out by examing the error logs.

Some users also report excellent performance by installing their OS as a separate instance and only using that for DJing. They use the other instance for other applications they use... like Office, Email, Web browsing, etc... I have had this on my list to install and make that transition. I just have not found proper instructions to execute on. The obvious secondary advantage is to test an update on your "i dont give a damn" partition before you apply it to your "performance" partition, as well as not worrying if a new app will conflict with your DJ performance.

Also, if you are using an external harddrive, is it USB or Firewire? Powered by AC or USB? Best possible would be Fireware and Powered. Worst would be USB and Not Powered. Also may have to consider the USB port situation referenced earlier. I have all my music on my local hard drive. I upgraded my MBP to a 2.5 internal 500gb 7200 RPM model and had it professionally installed to not negate my warranty. So since I am audio only, plenty off room for my 250gb library. I have two other identical internal hard drives for cloning and Time Machine using eSATA Adapters. You will find internal harddrives MUCH cheaper in the long run, and a eSATA adapter with Firewire and USB ports is only $30 at MicroCenter. Buy one and re-use it or 1 for each drive you have. The best part is if your currently installed internal drive craps out, you have an identical spare. No additional cost right away. Just replace the spare when you want to.

While on the topic of hard drives, if you are using a 5200rpm speed internal harddrive you may want to consider upgrading to a 7200rpm hard drive. As software capabilities grow, it always pushes the need for faster/better hardware. I learned this when I was using VDJ. The 7200rpm drive was noticably faster and reliable when loading video and performing. It has become my personal standard on all professional installations. My 500gb 7200rpm 2.5" was $100 at Best buy and $50 to have them install it (to not negate my warranty with Apple.) They do have 750gb 2.5 drives now, but they are still only 5200rpm and may not fit all 2.5 bays. Maybe a 750gb 7200rpm will be out soon!

Also, be on the look out for the corrupted symbol in your library. I was surprised to find some new tracks recently ripped or downloaded to have these icons. If you are like me, I was sort of in the "it cant happen to my new tracks" mode and not really paying attention to the icons. But when you sort your library by the icon, you may be surprised with what you find... the trick wil be remembering if one of those tracks was being used when you had a drop out. :)

I hope some of these suggestions will provide some additional thinking on how to resolve issues. I know some are radical and perhaps irrational to some. However they will also offer secondary benefits, even if they do not completely solve your current issues.

Those are some GREAT suggestions DJChad72.

I never heard about removing Time Machine from the top bar. I wonder how that makes a difference?

Well, time machine does the following automated processed:

1) it will try and back up regularly
2) it will start up as soon as it detects a drive connected

My thoughts are it sees a USB connection and polls its identity to see if it should begin backing up. Carbon Cloner did the same thing to me and I had a error in the library logs about the same time I had a drop out. So I am assuming TM can/does do the same thing.

thanks chad, i've got a 2010 mbp and the majority of articles suggest using the usb port furthest from the screen (i'm guessing due to the majority of users working on slightly older mbps) if this is indeed the opposite with the 2010 releases this should be clarified and suggested by serato

It is scattered about the net and the serato forums.

chad, can you provide any links to articles which contain info specific to the 'change around' in favourable usb ports with 2010 mbp's? i'm battling to find anything on google... thanks

Here is one Serato Forum post from the 1.7.1 public beta:www.serato.com

Here is an article from DJ Tech Tools:
www.djtechtools.com

I switched a while back to the plug furthest from the screen and all the problems I was having with the VCI-300 and ITCH went away.

Also watch out for programs like Dropbox that has 'Growl' which searches for updates and such.

from what i can gather on the article written by djtechtools the 'reversal' of good and bad ports would only apply to the 2010 15" and 17" mbps as these are the only models that come with i5/17 processors, the 2010 13" models, which i neglected to state are what i'm using, only come with core 2 duo processors - in which case, for my sake the good usb port remains the one furthest from the screen. thanks for pointing this out to me as i'm sure this is going to confuse many 2010 mbp users.

Excellent. I updated it here:
www.serato.com

I started a (hope to become) sticky thread on helpful tips and tricks, as well as lessons learned. and this is one of the ones I have posted to get it started. :)

Thanks guys for the tips on solving rare dropuots on some MBPs, i took time machine off my top bar and disabled hifi resampler on the set-up screen in Itch and it has made a big difference.
I am running latency at 10ms.

Great news! One additional tip is now that you have established a solid configuration, you can work on bringing the latency down and see how low you can go before you have audio glitches creep back in. That was you can balance response time to stability.

hey guys unfortunatley i have experienced dropouts since turning off hifi resampler, but they are less than ever before. so it reduces them but doesn't eliminate them altogether...

what is your latency setting?

latency @ 10ms

Interesting. So according to other ITCH users that have been having audio glitches with 1.7 found that wiping their hard drive and reloading the OS resolve their audio drop out issues:

serato.com

I'm curious how long this will last. I think it is a bit much to ask for someone to have to do. This is not a normal procedure for software.

I hear you SS. However here is the rationale I have in my mind:

1) OS files can get corrupt
2) Installing, uninstalling, upgrading, removing, installing programs tend to (over time) cause ghost in the machine (echo references, bad data, displaced storage, etc.)
3) Ripping/Downloading files and then moving them around can cause hard disk space to be disorganized

All of these combined can cause your hard drive to really be in efficiently organized from a bits and bytes perspective, not from our visual representation of the files/folders. I have always planned on at least 1 reload per year... and if available I will expand to my storage with a new larger HD.

I agree with you on principle it is not the right answer EVERYTIME you have had an issue. However if your system has walked a few thousand miles since its last refresh, you may be surprised what it will do for you.

Its kind of like when you wake up and realize you had a bit too much to drink the night before. So you get up, take a shower, eat some breakfast, take a 2hr nap and you all of sudden feel right as rain. ;) That is what a system refresh can do for your computer. LOL

Plus 1

i just did a gig two weeks ago. 5hour set and not a single glitch. I am a firm believer in wiping your hard drive at least once a year and reload your data and applications. So to me this is something one should expect with computers. Just like you have to occasionally wipe a CD clean or use a lens cleaner disc for your CD decks, or buy new needles for your turn table.

It is simply put, maintenance. If you ask any IT professional how often they have to perform a system rebuild, most will tell you every machine needs bounced at least once a week/month, and possibly rebuilt every 1-2 years. By rebuilt, I simply mean software wise.

If you feel this is too difficult it is just because you have not spend much time thinking about a system failure. If you are prepared for a system failure, then you are prepared for a system refresh. For Mac users, Time Machine makes this EXTREMELY easy. Windows users have many software options, most of which come with external hard drives such as Seagate or Western Digital. I just bought a 2TB Seagate Go Flex Home. It connects to your network via Ethernet and becomes a Network Server Drive. It was $169 at Best Buy. My MBP and iMAC both use Time Machine to backup to it. Very simple and very easy.

If you have your data backed up regularly, then doing a system refresh is nothing more than doing 1 last backup, start the refresh, check in on your computer on and off for about 2 hours, and then just doing a restore of data. As I have stated in other threads, I enhanced my system while doing the refresh. I installed a 750gb 7200rpm hard drive in my MBP. Then I created two partitions, TEST and PROD. This way I can test the newest version of OS X and ITCH before I change my GIG ready setup in PROD. So I took advantage of this refresh to roll in some new enhancements to my setup.

You learned how to maintain your other DJ equipment over the years, right? If your CD skipped did you instantly call Pioneer and DEMAND they fix your CD player or did you simply look at the CD and realize it was scratches or need cleaned and wipe/replace it? Computers can make the life of a DJ MUCH easier in preparing and performing; however they require ALOT more maintenance than a CD or Vinyl Record.

If you cant tell, I have worked in IT for many years. So luckily these methods and procedures are already instilled in me. If you have chosen to be your own IT support team, then you need to learn these things yourself to maintain your system. Otherwise you should try to strike a maintenance arrangement with a company like Geek Squad.