No sound out of Scratch Amp A, need help!

Hey Guys,

Well, I bought FS2, basically throwing money at Stanton to fix a problem with FS1, (Scratch Amp B silent) When I hooked up FS2 the left side is silent! I can hear the timecode, it's calibrating, I just do not hear any sound. When I do the "flip" in software I can hear the other side out of B. Also, there are dropouts and overall crappy sound.

At first I was using the Dell onboard 4 pin firewire, since it uses a TI chipset, but just in case I also picked up the Adaptec 1430 PCMCIA card. Both have exactly the same problems.

I read the fix for SP2, which I am running on XP, but I didn't read anywhere in the thread about it addressing this problem. Please help!

My system:

Dell 5150
512MB Ram
60GB HD

 

Try this:

Uninstall the Sratch Amp driver and reinstall.
Make sure the Scratch Amp is disconnected when you start the installation -- only plug it in when asked to do so.

Ignore the Windows XP driver warnings during the installation.

Kris..

 

Thanks for the reply, but I've already reloaded the Scratchamp drivers...twice. Scratchamp was disconnected both times as per the FS2 manual.

 

Just a follow-up to this problem. I hooked up my wifes Apple Powerbook to the Scratchamp and it exhibited the exact same problems. (no left scratchAmp A channel and only mono on ScratchAmp B) PSSL hooked me up with a Stanton engineer, who has issued an RA for the SA to be returned.

As a side note, the peformance on the Mac was horrible. The pitch was going up and down like someone had hold of the pitchbend wheel. This was the top of the line 17".

 

Hmm...why would you expect any decent performance from the Mac if the SA is broken to begin with?

There are many of us using Mac PBs without problems..it must be something else if you believe the SA2 is not the problem....

Also, I own a 17" top-of-line PB with 2G RAM...and used it for marathon gigs including an 8-hr set during New Year's Eve...

Kris...

 

I only say this because the FS2 Scratchamp did not have the bizarre pitch quality on the PC laptop, and FS1 also had pitch problems with the MAC, but none on the PC. And then I hear from users like yourself where everything works right out of the box. Obviously, you have one of the same MAC laptops Stanton had when they did their 10 minutes of Beta testing. "Hey, it works! Ship it!"

If Stanton had a laptop/Scratchamp combo that was guaranteed to work for about $1500 I'd buy it!

 

Funkyjames:

1. I was only trying to help.

2. I don't work at NI or Stanton.

3. Why not get a working SA2 unit first...before you make claims that the Mac bits are broken.

4. If you don't believe my testimony ...fine...but no need for insults....

Many are hesitant to contribute in here because of the general lack of consideration or respect for others....

I have a tough skin...feel free to attack me or vent your frustrations on me ;-)

Kris...

 

Please do not take my responses as personal attacks. I believe your setup works and you basically answered my question. I've got two other DJ friends that gave up on FS because they are MAC people and they couldn't get it to work (the pitch problems described). Something tells me that when I get my working Scratchamp back it's still going to be pitch crazy on the MAC because I do not believe the output problems to be related to these pitch problems, which seem to be much more prevalent on the MAC.

My FS2 Scratchamp came with a sheet of individual tech specs. It appeared as though someone had connected a scope to it and made some very qualified measurements. Yet, when I connect it up, I'm missing a channel.

I appreciate your response immensely, but I noticed you noticed you responded in another thread about someone having problems.

http://www.native-instruments.com/traktor_forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6455

How could you possibly help if your equipment has always performed flawlessly? It's frustrating when people get answers to problems like "I haven't had a single dropout or glitch, and I didn't have to do a thing but load up the software" Misery loves company you know

 

I also have a 17" PB and as we know the CD's dont work on the PC or Mac...but the vinyl worked just fine on the PB yesterday when I went over to a friends house to see if we could get the CD's to work with "work-arounds".....no such luck.

When I get home I will check which OS I have. He told me that it is more successful on older versions and not the newist one.

Oh, damn.....I forgot it is Valentines Day today...so it might be tomorrow....

 

1. Have you tried the Mac FS2 Forum?


This link...

Mac FS Forum


Especially

The Mac OS X Calibration Topic

2. Just because I am not venting the same way in here doen't mean I have never encountered any problems...just read my posts in the Mac Forum... We all have different styles when we vent ;-)

I prefer the less aggressive style...no offense ;-)

Kris..

 

I see three ways to fix this issue.

#1 try this, take your mac put it away and switch to PC

#2 try this, take your scratch amp put it back in the box return it and go with a a diff brand of product! that has customer support and better more frequent updates.

#3 try this, wait wait and wait some more cross your fingers and wait just a wee bit more and hope that the next T2 update fixes your problem.

 

A careful reading of the thread will tell you that the guy is a PC user. He just experimented with his wife's Mac. He has Dell laptop.

Kris..

 

Funkyjames:

1. I may have missed where you stated what type of decks you have: Are these turntables or CD Players? Make sure the phone/line switches at the back of the scratchamp are in the correct positions -- but you probably know this already -- just checking.

2. I found out recently that programs like Real Player and certain versions of Windows Media Player can mess with the Scratch Amp driver settings. I fixed 2 FS2 Windows Systems recently that had Real Player & Media Player recking havoc to FS2. Most of the problems were related to audio dropouts though... I had to move things around to make all the programs co-exist peacefully...

Food for thought
...

Kris...

 

What kinda problems with Real Player and Media player have you had?

 

1. Prior to installation of Real Player and Windows Media Player (version 8 I believe), FS2 was ok

2. FS2 audio dropouts were frequent after installing the above programs on two separate systems.

3. Using Windows Recovery ("Restore Point") to a previous and stable system cured the problem.


Kris..

 

That's good information, Kris. If my scratchamp is still having dropouts when I get it back from Stanton I may have to try that. I know I have quicktime installed. It might be causing problems as well. I spent about two days removing programs I don't use and disabling services. I'd say I have a pretty lean running machine at this point.