Mapping LEDs as master/PFL level makes audio crackle and slow

Hello,

I'm having pretty much the same problem as in an earlier (closed) thread here:
http://co.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106667

My hardware is different though. I have Vestax VCI-300 and NI Audio 8 DJ soundcard, with Traktor Scratch Pro v1.2.6. I'm using the VCI-300 only as MIDI controller. Traktor is set to External Mixer mode using the Audio 8 DJ.

VCI-300 DJ controller has a total of 24 LEDs as level/VU meters, ie. 12x LEDs per channel (left/right).

Basicly when I map/enable more than 4 or 5 of the LEDs either as Master level output or Monitor deck PFL level output the audio playback of Traktor starts to crackle/stutter and it starts to slow down. When I keep adding/mapping more LEDs the audio gets slower and slower - and more crackling and distorted. It's totally unusable when all the 24 LEDs, or even 12 LEDs, are mapped and in use.

CPU usage is very low - no problems with that.

I'm using Windows 7 Professional (32bit).

Any ideas?

 

There is some kind of problem with the MIDI output overloading something somewhere (very technical that). Not sure if it is Windows only. You could try running the output through Bomes?

 

Yeah, seems like it. And since there's no high CPU usage involved it sounds like a bug/limitation somewhere..

Hmm, what exactly do you want me to try? I haven't used Bomes before..

 

Install midi yoke. Install the free bomes. Output to midi yoke #1 in Traktor. In bomes take the input from midi yoke #1 and output to the vestax.

 

Bomes seems to have a virtual MIDI port drivers too.. I guess that's the purpose of midi yoke in your suggestion? Or does midi yoke make other magic?

I'll try it.. thanks for your replies!

 

Hmmm dunno - I installed it a while ago.

For some reason, simply piping the MIDI through Bomes without filtering it in any way solved some problems with output to some VCI-100s so give it a go.

 

That was a good tip. I installed Bomes and set it to do MIDI THRU (MIDI Routing) without any filtering, and now those damn leds work OK with Traktor Pro.. all 24 of them at the same time!

So the question is.. where is this bug/problem?

With Serato ITCH all the LEDs work OK aswell (VCI-300 comes with Serato ITCH).. I don't know if other DJ programs support controlling LEDs so I'm not sure if this problem is only with Traktor Pro..

I forgot to mention earlier that I'm using Windows 7 Professional (32bit).

Thanks for the help!
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Oh, and forgot to say that Serato ITCH works out-of-the-box obviously, no MIDI THRU tricks needed with it..

 

I could imagine Traktor getting overloaded if you have to address each led indivually, so piping out through BMT would be a good off-load solution. It maybe a performance limitation in Traktor. Having done plenty of VU mapping in the iPad I have stripped it out and use the onscreen LEDs instead. Personally I don't find there is enough value in duplicating this functionality out to the controller other than for the cool and pretty factors. Getting reliable control state info out to the controller to me is paramount.

Phil

 

Yeah.. feels like Traktor just does not support controlling this many LEDs for the output level meters..

It's not the most important feature, but nice to have, since I'm trying to make the VCI-300 work similarly (as much as possible) in both Traktor Pro and ITCH.

 

The workaround is good then? Excellent. I personally use Bome's to workaround a VCI feature/bug. I bung a shortcut to it in my Startup folder. Just make sure your VCI is plugged in when you boot up.
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You'd hope ITCH worked out the box anyway, what with it being bundled with the 300!

 

Well.. it's better than nothing Thanks!

Obviously I'd prefer if this worked without Bomes or other hacks.. and since it works in ITCH on the same laptop it's possible to make it work.. just somehow need to figure out where the problem actually is in Traktor Pro.

People using Traktor Pro on MAC OSX have reported they don't have this problem.. so I guess it's something specific to Traktor Pro on Windows.

 

Ok, I got confirmation from NI support that this is a known limitation in current Traktor Pro version (v1.2.6).

MIDI LED output will be handled differently in a future Traktor Pro version - there will be a separate thread doing the MIDI output so it doesn't cause problems to the audio playback thread, no matter how many LEDs you're controlling simultaneously.

So we'll just have to wait..

Looking at the Traktor Kontrol S4 announcement demo-video it looks like that device will have a lot of audio-level LEDs on it.. so I *bet* and hope this limitation will be fixed in upcoming Traktor Pro S4 version.

 

That is good to hear. I've already budgeted funds for a different software solution if this issue is not addressed in the next update. I dare say it is about friggin' time.