DeadMan3000
I have a keen ear for things that are not 100% perfect in terms of tempo/BPM. Something I have noticed quite a lot with VDJ is that the tempo wanders. That is in a 4/4 timing (of the electronic MIDI based variety) the distance between each downbeat should be exactly the same. However in VDJ and particularly during live streaming to virtualdj.com there is 'lag' between each downbeat. You can hear the next beat arrives a few miliseconds later than it should. This can sometimes cause a skipping type effect like when you are beatmatching two tracks and the beats are not lined up exactly with each other. I don't believe this is a latency issue as such nor an ASIO settings issue. I don't notice it nearly as much when not streaming either (I know there are lot of tracks especially DJ bootlegs where this is down to the track itself wander).
I hear this happening on other DJ's broadcasts using VDJ too so it's not just me. I have discussed it with other DJ's and they have a similar issue. Their ASIO settings are fine but the BPM wanders ever so slightly causing a lagging 4/4 effect. Note: You can have two tracks perfectly in sync and they BOTH suffer BPM lag TOGETHER so it's not just in beatmatching either. It's down to the output audio at the end of the chain.
I have a few of theories about this.
Encoding causes the lag.
The stream has to match with the buffer output so that the stream stays continuous and the input end (your mixing) stays just enough ahead of the buffer output or you could end up with some serious delay issues with what is incoming and outgoing. VDJ deliberately 'lags' the input end to prevent a buffer sync issue if the delay between you and the VDJ server becomes long (ping times). But this is pure guesswork on my part.
Or...
The beatmatching algorithm is imperfect and the timestretching introduces micro jitter. I have it set to quality algorithm but it makes little difference to the timings. I know VDJ v8 has a better sound engine and I am hoping that this will 'tighten' up the tempo wander issue?
Or...
Hardware/driver related. The ASIO driver is not engineered to work well with the RTC of the computer hardware. I am still reliant on a Windows ASIO driver for my Novation Twitch in this instance connected via USB so it may be a reason.
As evidenced by my own findings, other DJ's and listening to live streams on VDR Radio I know it is not just me who has noticed this issue and it really bugs me.
Can others back me up on this? Is anyone else having/noticing this issue? Is there a fix? Will v8 solve this issue?
I hear this happening on other DJ's broadcasts using VDJ too so it's not just me. I have discussed it with other DJ's and they have a similar issue. Their ASIO settings are fine but the BPM wanders ever so slightly causing a lagging 4/4 effect. Note: You can have two tracks perfectly in sync and they BOTH suffer BPM lag TOGETHER so it's not just in beatmatching either. It's down to the output audio at the end of the chain.
I have a few of theories about this.
Encoding causes the lag.
The stream has to match with the buffer output so that the stream stays continuous and the input end (your mixing) stays just enough ahead of the buffer output or you could end up with some serious delay issues with what is incoming and outgoing. VDJ deliberately 'lags' the input end to prevent a buffer sync issue if the delay between you and the VDJ server becomes long (ping times). But this is pure guesswork on my part.
Or...
The beatmatching algorithm is imperfect and the timestretching introduces micro jitter. I have it set to quality algorithm but it makes little difference to the timings. I know VDJ v8 has a better sound engine and I am hoping that this will 'tighten' up the tempo wander issue?
Or...
Hardware/driver related. The ASIO driver is not engineered to work well with the RTC of the computer hardware. I am still reliant on a Windows ASIO driver for my Novation Twitch in this instance connected via USB so it may be a reason.
As evidenced by my own findings, other DJ's and listening to live streams on VDR Radio I know it is not just me who has noticed this issue and it really bugs me.
Can others back me up on this? Is anyone else having/noticing this issue? Is there a fix? Will v8 solve this issue?
geposted Thu 16 Jan 14 @ 10:00 am
PhantomDeejay
Try disabling the Key_lock / Master Tempo and then try again. Master Tempo is known to cause such artifacts if your ear can catch up to a few milliseconds (less than 10 BTW) fluctuation...
geposted Fri 17 Jan 14 @ 10:43 am