JesseG

[quote author=”radioDJ”]After i revised the code for the processing FX i’ve got these results. In red is the original file and in black is the recorded output from RadioDJ thru the onboard card, so the quality may have suffered, but it was my only option because my main card has processing unit built-in so it would modify the sound.[/quote]
Hi, nice to meet you. 🙂

If you install the Breakaway Live demo, it will also install a licensed version of Virtual Audio Cable… virtual soundcards with no processing that are completely digital, so you should be able to get a much more transparent comparison. Then you just set your software to output to one of the cables/pipelines, and record from it with whatever recording software you’re using.

[quote author=”yorkie98″]I would love to know if there is a solution to this one as it has plagued me for years.[/quote]
Leif’s IP STL 😛

But uh… yeah, there’s a Winamp plugin that will detect every so often if there’s any audio passing, and press play if there isn’t. I forget what it’s called, but uhm… hmm, it might even be a part of Oddsock’s "Do Something".

I totally forget. 😆

[quote author=”jonog”]He suggested it could be to do with soundcard inaccuracies? But thats a bit above my head.[/quote]
Wouldn’t be that, since Windows is letting Winamp/etc clock the card however it wants, then Breakaway just compensates on its end.

But it certainly could be the soundcard. Don’t suppose you tried updating soundcard drivers. Also try usb/firewire (if it’s plugged into that), and chipset drivers.

Not needed. I can tell in half a second that RadioDJ is processing the audio. A lot. That’s the problem. You need to figure out how to turn off ALL audio processing that RadioDJ is doing.

[quote author=”DjSmoothOrl”]back to Apple and Serato for a second..

As a working club Dj, you couldn’t pay me to use anything but a Macbook Pro for hardware and Scratch Live for the Dj software. Know why? They’re reliable and they do exactly what I need them to do.

My original post had to do with Breakaway Dj working with Scratch Live on Mac hardware. I’d like to get Leif’s thoughts on this..[/quote]

Leif’s thoughts aside, there isn’t a download of Breakaway for OSX, so it doesn’t work with OSX. But to answer your question… if you install Windows on your "Mac" hardware, then yes… Breakaway DJ will work on your hardware.

If there will ever be a Breakaway for OSX hasn’t ever been set in stone or promised, so I wouldn’t hold your breath for it. If you want Breakaway now on your hardware, you have to install Windows on it.

The third option of course is running something like VMWare Fusion v3 (Parallels blows, and Bootcamp really isn’t an option that makes sense at all), and running Breakaway that way… but then you’re also going through the virtual soundcard layers of VMWare which will add a ton of latency making the use of Breakaway DJ for TCV purposes sort of pointless…

[quote author=”Milky”]It seems that, along with being prepared to spend three times more for the same functionality, Mac users have a stubborn streak that has them believe nothing else of any useable functionality exists anywhere else in the universe.[/quote]
It’s somewhat populated by people that want to believe that something is true simply because whatever marketing is put forward sounds like it could be true, without any actual evidence. Like security for instance. Windows Vista & 7 combined now have about 1.5 new exploits in the wild per month, and OSX has a new one basically every day. Easily proven if you check any of the security bulletins/mailing lists. But some people will deny it, and refuse to even investigate for themselves, believing a commercial that just states that OSX is "safer" and "more secure" than Windows (whatever that means) from the company that has everything to gain (aka YOUR cash) by that perception.

You’re right, you can’t even try to fight against people with that will to believe without any facts, and ignore the truth on purpose. But another huge part of it is after you have paid the money for something, it’s simply human nature to want to defend your purchasing decision. That’s something that probably every one of us are guilty of from time to time.

In closing; I’m not saying OSX is any better or worse in general, or for any individual. Everything I’ve been discussing actually has very little to do with OSX. Mainly it’s the way Apple does business, and the way it markets itself. Apple always has been a software company, and for the most part OSX is decent software in my own opinion. It’s that Apple tries to lock people into the hardware that at least in some way is making them LESS competitive and MORE complacent, which can only harm the software product that the customer ends up with… not to mention forcing people to pay them 3 times the price for the exact same hardware (and having way fewer options and lower performance on the hig-end) that the rest of the computer market is already using.

I’ll add in some Linux discussion too, and it’s that most proponents of Linux that really haven’t thought it out… that they will just blindly yell at anyone that’s not using Linux, that they too should be using Linux, simply because of some ideals… without any consideration of what software that we’re all using on our systems.

When it comes to the software that’s available, Windows clearly has the vast majority of everything…. but that’s slowly changing and coming together and people start creating it with portability in mind. The OSes themselves are starting to come together in functionality too, and are changing the things they really excel at.

Like Apple, that once used to be THEE setup for multimedia production like audio & video, now barely has anything to bring to the table in comparison to Windows, and even Linux makes more sense than OSX now in that regard. Emagic and Final Cut are the only thing unique about OSX left, and their "professionalism" is arguable, mainly with Final Cut (the color correction is horrid, for starters) and Logic is basically not going to be developed anymore.

But Apple’s mobile platforms are doing OK at least until Q4 2009 when Android surpassed iPhone sales. iPad sales are doing OK enough for Apple’s stock to not fall because of it, 2 million units in 2 months, so nothing spectacular, but decent. All sales and draconian anti-open-source anti-competition aside, their mobile OSes are not bad if you tossed in some multi-tasking.

The real thing hurting Apple at this point… is their unwillingness to adapt and work with standards and open source… and to become the true software company they really are now. The core of this problem is really the share holders and investments involved, because they are the driving force behind the imho BAD decision to keep Jobs in the company at all, for the last 10-some years. And if you think that he’s been responsible in any way more than coming up with "talking points" for their products in that time, then you must think Obama runs the USA & has complete control too. Yes, both of them are supermen. 😀

The fact is, the only difference is that Jobs owns a controlling amount of Apple and has a say in what products don’t get developed, and Obama is just a puppet. 😉 It’s those things that Jobs is forcing Apple to NOT do that’s already causing vultures to peck away at Apple’s gains within the last 10 years… almost completely within the portable market.

So who’s going to tell Jobs that he’s better off if he’s not part of his own company? Who wants to get fired today? 😆

[quote author=”Dr.J”]If I remember correctly, Apple created the FireWire interface and they still use it on all their MacBook Pro’s, including their newest batch (FireWire 800 to be exact).[/quote]
It was the regular MacBook I guess I was thinking about. Apple coined the term FireWire, but it’s actually known as IEEE 1394, and I’m somehow doubting they created that and decided to make it an international standard. That’s so unlike Apple.

[quote author=”DjSmoothOrl”]http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features.html
"You’ll find two USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire 800 port for connecting faster peripherals."
Check your facts.[/quote]
Ah you’re right, it was the regular MacBook. I’m not exactly visiting Mac Rumors every day. I’m not into paying 3 times as much for the same (and better) hardware I can get anywhere else that is equally as capable of running OSX, Windows, Linux, or anything else x86/x64 compatible. Not to mention Apple’s long history of being anti-consumer after the sale.

[quote author=”DjSmoothOrl”]Before you slam Scratch Live..have you actually used it in a club setting?[/quote]
I’m well aware of some of the issues that DJs are presented with while using TCV setups in a live situation… myself having used them, but also dealt with many others using them from my consulting for clubs, and contracting with the large-scale systems I used to own/operate… up to a 180 kwatt Turbosound Floodlight setup (basically a Funktion-One setup with way way higher performance).

There’s a few things that can make the situation way better with pretty simple solutions. One is a small patcher box that a few different people have started selling for quickly patching in ANY converter for TCV use with a layout and labeling that’s actually more simple and understandable than Serato’s rear panel, not to mention way smaller.

Anyways… I’m not slamming Serato’s use at all. It’s quite usable. I’m simply stating that they have not only allowed themselves to become complacent, but have released gear that has progressively dropped in audio quality. It’s one thing to talk about marketing, market perception, etc… but many aspects of audio quality are objectively measurable things, and are un-effected by marketing, market perception, etc.

My issues with Apple and Serato are one in the same really. They both make great software, but then attempt to tie that to their own proprietary hardware that is WAY overpriced for what it is. Apple finally had to change to using hardware that the rest of the world was developing because it couldn’t keep up at all, but still kept the pricing like 3 times higher than the rest of the market. The savior (if you must use OSX) is that you can run it on tons of non-Apple-sold hardware. You’ll get way better hardware and support by buying a Lenovo & a copy of OSX, than bringing your hardware to a "genius" at an Apple store who can’t do anything when Apple’s draconian "no questions heard" return/replacement policies get in the way.

The best thing that could happen for Serato users would be if Rane (or some team of crackers) came up with a way to make it work with all converters. You wouldn’t be getting stuck with proprietary hardware that locks you into using their software too. Nor would you be paying $400 (let’s say the software should cost $139 fairly priced) for a converter that’s really deserving of a street price of $99 and probably costs $25 (if that) to make.

And don’t think it won’t happen either. The more popular Serato gets, and the more complacent Rane gets, the larger a target they make.

Look at Digidesign’s ProTools. A crack group just released a hardware emulator that allows you to use the latest ProTools HD with *ANY* converters, including full use of TDM plugins. I already know of someone that’s mixing two feature films right now, that’s been doing some of the "rough draft" setup work from his car, and while sitting on the beach… on his laptop.

This is exactly the kind of thing that complacent companies that think they have a market perception as being a "leader"… hate – they want to control what the consumer can do, instead of freeing the consumer to work the way THEY want to work. And the control isn’t about control. It’s about making more money, and it’s done at the expense of the what the consumer wants.

Sorry to rant like this, but it’s not directed at you… just sharing my mind… and dreaming, perhaps in vein, of an ideal purely-consumer-driven world for commercial software and hardware.

[quote author=”DjSmoothOrl”]1) no mention for Serato Scratch Live.. THE main software that club Djs use
2) no mention of the Mac operating system.[/quote]
Well since you just mentioned it, consider it mentioned. 😉

Also… just because it’s the popular, doesn’t mean it’s the best. I have several friends that are in the industry these units come out of, and after a few of them testing everything that’s out there, they agree the best is at least one of the ones that isn’t tied to proprietary hardware. In not MixVibes DVS taking the cake, for now.

With setups like Serato, the software is tied to proprietary hardware which isn’t necessarily good quality to begin with. Combined with the complacency of being #1 popularity wise, they haven’t been trying to improve the quality of their product, but instead made it even cheaper to turn a higher profit.

Compared to software like MixVibes that’s pushing the envelopes in every direction (last week a new beta came out with VST plugin support!!!), paired with high quality hardware like an RME Fireface… it’s almost a joke.

No offense. 🙂

And a final note… Apple doesn’t give a crap about the audio scene anymore despite their buying Emagic and partnering with Apogee Digital… case in point, the new MacBook Pros don’t even have Firewire on them. Sort of crapping in the face of Apogee, and everyone that uses a Firewire converter of any make or model… for probably a mere $5 more profit per machine if that. Nice, Apple. 😉

What do you mean by "100% used" ?

If you mean "gain reduction" then… I think the only preset that’s ever been made that really uses all of the gain reduction anywhere… was Moon & Spoon which has INSANE levels of treble density. Leif found a bug (and fixed it) in the code driving those meters where it made the meter actually wrap around through to the other side. Hehehe. I think his exact first worst when he saw it was "Holy Sh**!" 😆

But to answer the question that way, there isn’t a maximum gain reduction. So there is no "100% used" as far as gain reduction.

If you mean "number of bands" in relation to the processing topology, then yes Zenith uses the maximum number of 7 bands.

Did either of those answer your question?