Is it just me???

I've been using Native Instruments Traktor DJ since I had Traktor DJ Studio v1.5 in 2003. I have more issues with this software than I would like to have. Traktor Pro 2.10 seems to be just aweful. Both of my PC's are GREAT computers. I have an Asus U56E with intel dual core i5 2.53Ghz and 8GB of Ram and a 1 TB internal HD I keep all my music on. My other is also Asus G751JM Gaming laptop with intel quad core i7 2.7Ghz and 24GB of Ram. Both have been optimized (although I see NO difference in the performance) according to the windows tuning tips in the knowledge base. Both run windows 10 (though I had the same problems with windows 7, 8 and now 10) and are pretty fast PC's. I use a combination of the TKS4 MK2, TKS2 MK1 and the Z1/X1 both MK1.

Traktor is great when I first install it, then after a few uses, it bogs down,,,way down. My lag is incredible. When I use the selector know on any controller to select a song and load into any deck, the waveforms just stop moving. Sometimes the sound will stutter badly as if I put a 1/32 loop in the song. The only way I can stop that is to completely stop the software and start over.

The techs at NI support don't know what to do. They just tell me to use the latest software...lol, I have more issues with each new software update.

I don't know what's going on. This just gets harder and harder to use, and easier to walk away and try another DJ software. I've completely uninstalled everything native instruments and reinstalled it; and as I said earlier it will work great for a few weeks, then I get the same problems. The support techs say that deleting the old folders or versions folders wouldn't help. I just don't know what to do anymore. I've purchased 3 different laptops to try and resolve this issue, but it didn't work. I guess I don't have a question here, maybe this is just a rant....

 

anything above 2.6.8 is a total failure

 

It's not for everybody. Traktor 2.10 is an improvement imo.

 

not at all for alot of us .

 

Seems really odd because it smells like an issue with the machine not the software, yet you've tried several machines. Something tells me that whatever state you are testing in is using faulty drivers or not getting enough processing priority. Have you updated any firmware for your controllers?

Also, in the Traktor preferences>audio setup, have you unchecked the box Enable Multi core support? IME it is useless and a liability.

 

Yes it happens to me when i was listening to tracks from folders for preparation. All software and drivers are updated and the enable multi core support is unchecked.

 

I feel confident it's not my machines, PC's or controllers. All are working fine. My Kontrollers all have the latest firmware. 2.6.8 has been solid for me. I have had some issues with it, but not enough to go up to any newer version. When I called in about an issue with 2.6.8 (both my kontrollers just completely disconnected themselves mid-performance with 2.6.8, the reason for the initial phone call to NI) the other day to NI tech support they said 64bit PC's with windows10 do not work well with 2.6.8 and I should go up to 2.10. So I did and I had nothing but problems. I tried 2.7 awhile back but had major issues there as well.

The reason I have been reluctant to try any newer version above 2.6.8 is because they all seem to be updated versions to support software for kontrollers I don't have or plan on getting. I love my TKS2 and my TKS4 MK2. I have no reason to leave these two.

I apologize for my OP rant. It's just that I've invested TONS of money into NI and to have the frustrating problems I have is stupid.

I went back to 2.6.8 and let Traktor run all night on auto play and the sound turned down. It has been running flawlessly for 12:39:40sec, so I think NI may be wrong about the 2.6.8 not working with windows 10 and 64bit PCs.

Thanks for your feedback people =)

 

But before I make any harsh decisions, I'm going to put Traktor on my wife's macbook pro and see how it runs before I do anything.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with windows and support.

Nope its not you.. lIke mastermc... anything after 2.6.8 was far to risky and unstable to use for me. I am on mac. I been using traktor for 6 years but will probably exit due to poor support.

There are mac drop out issue that you should be aware of when testing out a mac setup which has a huge tread.

 

Yeah I haven't had enough time to test out the mac yet, but what I have been able to do seems nice. The wave forms definitely flow across the screen a lot smoother than they do on a PC.

As for sticking to Traktor??? I amy look for another software as well.. You heard of MixVibes? They have an Android App as well, and I'm looking into it a bit more. Hopefully I'll be able to use my Traktor controllers with it if I choose to go that route.

 

Here is my reply to the Tech that is helping me at NI to resolve my issue:


Vince, thank you for the information. After you and I spoke the other day on the phone and you had me upgrade to Traktor 2.10 I started having WAY more issues than I ever had. So I completely uninstalled everything NI and reinstalled all that I needed. I then downgraded back to 2.6.8 (which in my opinion and the opinion of many others in the NI forum is the most stable version of Traktor) and haven't been able to recreate the issue. I am currently DJing and writing this email without a glitch, and I'm running the screen recorder incase there is a glitch.

Furthermore, I looked into the troubleshooting guide NI provides in the Control Panel Diagnostics tool and followed the tips provided for Audio Drop Outs. The only real change I made was turning off the power management for the root usb hubs. I'm not sure that made a difference, but my fingers are crossed. My next gig is Friday night, so until then I'll be practicing pretty hard here in my home studio to see if I can recreate the issue, but for now I've got nothing.

As a side note, I had a discussion awhile back with on of the Techs at NI regarding dumping other version folders. Example if I'm using Traktor 2.6.8 but I have other version folders in my Documents/NativeInstruments/Traktor folder like say 2.6 or lower my belief was that it was causing issues with the current version I was running. The tech disagreed with me, but I believe that by me uninstalling and deleting all folders NI, that directly solved my issues. Again, I know there are techs and forum members who disagree with me on this, but EVERY time I do it, Traktor works perfectly for me until I try to upgrade to a newer version.

Thanks again for your help!

 

I seem to have the similar feelings to what has been expressed here! I've used Traktor since 2008 and a few months ago I bought an i7 and NI Z1 but I regret the decision. I should have stuck with my 2008 rig because I am scared DJing because I never know if/when Traktor will crash. I use my djing laptop for nothing except djing. My issues are file sorting issues (won't sort completely by bpm, key, import date, whatever!) and extremely slow load times for tracks (over a minute sometimes and the waveform freezes sometimes too). Sometimes I try to load my next song but I don't know if it's actually loading or not; then suddenly after 30-90 sec the song will load. I always import/analyse all my new tracks too. I don't think I ever had version 2.6.8 but if it's better at all I think I should "downgrade"! On another topic, is there any general agreement about which version of Windows is best?

 

I had never any trouble with ANY version after 2.6.8... newest Traktor and Laptop as in my signature right now works also perfect. Without any optimization.

And to be honest. Asus is far away from GREAT. Just one consumer notebook producer like everyone else and a couple of gaming notebooks I wouldn't ever choose for djing. I've seen too many people having problems with them...
For Windows I would always recommend Lenovo Thinkpads (but without Edge Series) or HP EliteBooks

 

I may check out Lenova next time, but I refuse to believe any particular PC or Mac doesn't "work well" with Traktor. If there is a specific line of PC's or Mac's that do not work well with this software, they should list them so we the consumer know to stay away from that line or model.

 

Maybe a weird recommendation, but try and install a fresh copy of Windows 7 on one of your machines, and see if this solves anything.

I know other people disagree (when seeking help I got terrorized by people insisting windows 10 could not be the problem, but lack of knowledge would be the issue little do they know... ), but the truth is, I downgraded to windows 7, and although it isn't perfect, at least the crashes are gone, and latency issues are not present anymore. Traktor is much more stable now.
I tried both windows 7 and windows 10 on 3 machines, all fresh installs. All windows 10 installs had the same issues. I still have my main work pc running win 10, and still try to update drivers and setting, then connect the S8 to try, but it keeps failing like it got a bachelor degree in failing.

The other thing, is to go in your bios, and make sure there is no speed stepping enabled (if you didn't do that already based on the guides). Basically force your machine to always run on full power. I think the way this helps is: Traktor counts on available processing cycles, and gets confused when they change on the fly.

These two things helped my Traktor a lot.

It's also funny to see how the cpu usage never goes beyond 15% or so, but you still get screen update performance issues. I cannot figure out what the issue is there! It can't be the processor, memory is unlikely. Got an SSD to smooth out any high traffic from windows which would make Traktor wait in line to read/write data.

 

The problem is: NI can check all Macboocs. But they can't check all available Windows Configurations!

So it is your duty to check if it might work witch a specific manufacturer or line.
And to keep that as easy as possible you should stand with models or manufacturer well known for good build quality AND!!! good driver support.
The latter is the MOST important thing!!

And now, as you can imagine, Lenovo for example is one of these manufacturer. The Thinkpad series is meant for business customers. Often in leasing contracts for the whole company instead a single (private) custumer.
They have to deliver rock stable support and drivers or they lose not just one customer but maybe a whole company.

I had exactly ONE time a problem with Lenovo. And that was just because I went to Windows 10 too early. Resulting in crackles and audio dropouts. One week later new drivers were available and since then my Thinkpad works without any problems again.

 

I thinking about upgrading to S-5, but my delay is for a bpm display issue that has not been addressed... from reading the thread.. it sounds like a hardware issue.. here are my stats: lenovo ideapad core I7 2.40ghz, 6gb, audio 6, using traktor pro 2.10 and traktor control 2 with windows 10.... I briefly went to 2.6 and had no problems but went back due to a bpm display issue... maybe if you try to strip down to a basic setup and add hardware one piece at a time until the issue repeats.. just my thoughts...

 

No need of changing speedstepping in bios

Change power plan "High performance"
'Audio Processing' profile will run every cpu state at 100%

This 'Audio Processing' profile disables processor idle states, processor throttling, core parking and Turbo Boost. You can go to the Power Options and deselect this profile at any time, if you want to use your computer as a low power media-server, for instance. Then, before (or while) running Studio One, select the 'Audio Processing' profile, and all is well.

To see the results of this power profile in action, open the Task Manager and view Performance, switching back and forth from the Audio Processing profile and any other. If this power profile has any negative impact on your system, simply switch to another profile. There are no permanent changes made to your system with this profile.

Get the "Power Settings for Studio One" power plan proile
http://support.presonus.com/entries...Windows-Vista-7-Power-Settings-for-Studio-One


Also try out
taskmanager -> processes > right click traktor.exe -> set Affinity.. -> only tick CPU 0 & 1
Does this have any impact on sound quality when loading songs ?

Use as many as possible of windows default drivers if possible

 

Thanks sengaia, I just tried: taskmanager -> processes > right click traktor.exe -> set Affinity.. -> only tick CPU 0 & 1
and it seems to have improved things (still early days though)! I also found disabling Multi-core support in Traktor's settings helped (weird) as others have suggested. My i7's BIOS doesn't seem to have any sidestepping/EIST option too. I'm running Windows 7 which I thought would be the best for Traktor since it's been around for a while. And with all my audio pcs I optimise them in Windows and remove/disable everything I don't need which is a lot. My cpu load in Traktor is always very low although on a rare occasion it has jumped up but a restart fixed it.

When I have a bit of time I might try Traktor 2.6.8 but I have a gig tomorrow night and there's no way I'm going to make a big change that close to the gig.
One thing I don't understand is why Traktor always "scans" all my folders from and playlists 0-z everytime I open a folder. I have "Import music folders at startup" and "analyze new improrted tracks" and "check consistency" unchecked. Isn't the point of the collection.nml file is that it's like an index so everything on the hdd doesn't need to be scanned/checked?

 

for most 2.6.8 is good but can't say that about 2.10 or anything above 2.6.8 if you read the complaints on the forums .