BrianSimons
I've been using VDJ forever. For the past few years my system has been two Denon 3900 Turntables and Denon x1600 mixer with a Windows laptop, and now a Surface Pro with docking station. Up until recently I've used the same Surface Pro to run VDJ & Nicolaudie's Sunlite Suite 2 lighting software all on the same system. I used the x1600 as the ASIO sound card, and also used midi out on the x1600 to control the lights.
Every so often I'd have a small issue, and more often than not it would be with the lighting but that would affect my DJ show if it meant the computer or the x1600 needed to be rebooted in order to get things functioning again.
So I added another computer & midi controller to get my lighting software & hardware completely removed from my DJ system. I also switched to using each of the SC3900's built in digital sound cards instead of the mixer, and then connecting them to the mixer with RCA cables so that if reinitializing a sound card was necessary - it would be only one of them, or with the 3900s I could play music off from a thumb drive or CD if I have a problem. Bottom line is that the mixer would never need to be affected, and music can always play in an emergency even if it's off from my phone.
That's the back story. I thought I had this all bulletproof. I did a party Thursday night and everything worked perfectly. Last night I had a wedding, and the system was on autoplay with some background music before the doors opened. Then the music just stopped playing. I went into the settings, and all of the sound card settings were messed. I could not choose the SC3900s 1 and 2 as usual for my sound cards, and every time I tried to apply new settings VDJ would restart and go back to messed up settings. I rebooted the computer, the 3900s, etc. Tried everything I could to no avail, and ended up getting my backup console out of the truck and using that for the cocktail hour, grand intos, toasts, etc. I guess the only good to come of it, was that all of the other vendors seemed impressed that I actually do have a full backup system. Must be they've seen a DJ in an emergency that wasn't so prepared at some point.
At the beginning of dinner with my backup on autoplay, I uninstalled VDJ & Denon ASIO drivers from my Surface, and then reinstalled the ASIO drivers and an slightly older build of VDJ 8. Once again things worked, and I swapped back to my normal setup. I had auto DJ play dinner music for close to an hour, and took over manually for about 60-90 minutes of dancing. I had a song on deck 2 in a loop and synced ready for my mix, and then all the sudden it started playing like 3x faster than normal. I couldn't get it to stop playing anything I quickly loaded normal speed, and my sweet mix turned into a sloppy transition of moving my cables back to my backup console. I finished the evening on the backup.
I did get my normal system working again, but I didn't dare switch back to it. I had to open the task manager to shut down VDJ because it stopped responding. When I opened it again, it gave me the "Virtual DJ has Been Updated" message. So I wasn't sure if this happening in the background caused any problems.
I know this is a long ass post, but if anyone reads through it all and has any ideas or has experienced similar problems and resolved them please let me know. There are so many different components to these systems between the hardware, software, sound drivers, etc...that when a problem is intermittent, it's nearly impossible to identify. I really love mixing with the 3900s when all is working, but I need my system rock solid. So either that needs to happen, or I'll be on to new gear, different software or both. Thanks.
Every so often I'd have a small issue, and more often than not it would be with the lighting but that would affect my DJ show if it meant the computer or the x1600 needed to be rebooted in order to get things functioning again.
So I added another computer & midi controller to get my lighting software & hardware completely removed from my DJ system. I also switched to using each of the SC3900's built in digital sound cards instead of the mixer, and then connecting them to the mixer with RCA cables so that if reinitializing a sound card was necessary - it would be only one of them, or with the 3900s I could play music off from a thumb drive or CD if I have a problem. Bottom line is that the mixer would never need to be affected, and music can always play in an emergency even if it's off from my phone.
That's the back story. I thought I had this all bulletproof. I did a party Thursday night and everything worked perfectly. Last night I had a wedding, and the system was on autoplay with some background music before the doors opened. Then the music just stopped playing. I went into the settings, and all of the sound card settings were messed. I could not choose the SC3900s 1 and 2 as usual for my sound cards, and every time I tried to apply new settings VDJ would restart and go back to messed up settings. I rebooted the computer, the 3900s, etc. Tried everything I could to no avail, and ended up getting my backup console out of the truck and using that for the cocktail hour, grand intos, toasts, etc. I guess the only good to come of it, was that all of the other vendors seemed impressed that I actually do have a full backup system. Must be they've seen a DJ in an emergency that wasn't so prepared at some point.
At the beginning of dinner with my backup on autoplay, I uninstalled VDJ & Denon ASIO drivers from my Surface, and then reinstalled the ASIO drivers and an slightly older build of VDJ 8. Once again things worked, and I swapped back to my normal setup. I had auto DJ play dinner music for close to an hour, and took over manually for about 60-90 minutes of dancing. I had a song on deck 2 in a loop and synced ready for my mix, and then all the sudden it started playing like 3x faster than normal. I couldn't get it to stop playing anything I quickly loaded normal speed, and my sweet mix turned into a sloppy transition of moving my cables back to my backup console. I finished the evening on the backup.
I did get my normal system working again, but I didn't dare switch back to it. I had to open the task manager to shut down VDJ because it stopped responding. When I opened it again, it gave me the "Virtual DJ has Been Updated" message. So I wasn't sure if this happening in the background caused any problems.
I know this is a long ass post, but if anyone reads through it all and has any ideas or has experienced similar problems and resolved them please let me know. There are so many different components to these systems between the hardware, software, sound drivers, etc...that when a problem is intermittent, it's nearly impossible to identify. I really love mixing with the 3900s when all is working, but I need my system rock solid. So either that needs to happen, or I'll be on to new gear, different software or both. Thanks.
Posted Sat 10 Dec 16 @ 3:24 pm
djtyme209
i have been djing with my Sc3900's for the last 4-5 years or so...and what ive learned the hard way over the years the 3900's sound card sucks period....ive tried different laptops & mixers with built in sounds cards... even staffers here on vdj have said dont use the denon sound cards use your mixers built in one...with that said ive been running my current set up flawlessly.... Laptop with windows 7, American Audio 14MXR, and two Sc3900's only using the soundcard from the mixer.. if i need to play off the cd drive (which i have not done since ive owned them) and or play off a usb drive just flick the switch from pc to analog
Posted Sun 11 Dec 16 @ 4:09 am
DJ Bertie
After reinstalling the program you must go into settings - controller tab - and assign each denon 3900 to their respective decks (i.e. deck 1 & deck 2). If you have recently installed your program or restarted it, virtual dj often automatically assigns each controller to deck 1, thus causing your 3x speed problem. This problem ALWAYS occurs without myself even realizing it.
Posted Sun 11 Dec 16 @ 2:56 pm