[1.5.2] Beatgrid disappearing during playback

MEDIA PLAYERS SC5000/M
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#1

Something I’ve encountered consistently on both of my SC5000s is after using them for a couple hours or more, especially if both layers are used, the beatgrids will disappear on songs previously analyzed. The beat marker will show up 1-2 beats before it hits. I’ve had this happen several times now, both at home and while playing out. It’s not the end of the world but it’s not the expected behavior by any means and I haven’t been able to find any search results on this forum or via Google to find others with this issue. I haven’t tried reflashing the firmware or downgrading to an older version yet (I don’t remember this being an issue on 1.3 or 1.4 but I could be wrong). Is this a workflow problem (I don’t remove songs on a layer if that’s possible, just load a song over it), a firmware bug, or a hardware issue?

Edit: additional detail on my workflow.

Since I use the decks primarily at home and Pioneer gear at venues or friends’ (livestreams) and since Engine Prime has yet to implement smart/dynamic/intelligent playlists, this is how I go about things. Having to manage Rekordbox and Engine Prime databases on the same USB I think may be a contributing factor.

  1. Download new tracks
  2. Import them into iTunes so they’re organized to my tastes and tag as needed
  3. Analyze songs in Mixed in Key
  4. Import into Serato and analyze them (no beatgrid or key analysis)
  5. Use Rekord Buddy to import from Serato to Rekordbox
  6. Import songs from rekordbox.xml to Rekordbox 5
  7. Add songs to intelligent playlist and export to USB
  8. Plug-in USB to SC5000 and get prompted about new songs to catalogue and update, hit yes
  9. Eject drive, put it into computer, load up Engine Prime and analyze all songs on USB with Engine Prime, eject when done
  10. Plug USB back into SC5000 and play

Again, for the first couple hours everything works and loads up fine but after a couple hours it starts glitching out.

#2

I remember having such a problem on some of the tracks. I solved it with deleting the data base from my usb and making a fresh export. Maybe this will help?

1 Like
#3

I don’t think I’ve tried a 100% fresh import.

Since I use the decks primarily at home and Pioneer gear at venues or friends’ (livestreams) and since Engine Prime has yet to implement smart/dynamic/intelligent playlists, this is how I go about things. Having to manage Rekordbox and Engine Prime databases on the same USB I think may be a contributing factor. This is my typical workflow.

  1. Download new tracks
  2. Import them into iTunes so they’re organized to my tastes and tag as needed
  3. Analyze songs in Mixed in Key
  4. Import into Serato and analyze them (no beatgrid or key analysis)
  5. Use Rekord Buddy to import from Serato to Rekordbox
  6. Import songs from rekordbox.xml to Rekordbox 5
  7. Add songs to intelligent playlist and export to USB
  8. Plug-in USB to SC5000 and get prompted about new songs to catalogue and update, hit yes
  9. Eject drive, put it into computer, load up Engine Prime and analyze all songs on USB with Engine Prime, eject when done
  10. Plug USB back into SC5000 and play

Again, for the first couple hours everything works and loads up fine but after a couple hours it starts glitching out.

#4

I would just import directly from xml in to engine prime, than export to usb. Your workflow has a lot of unnecessary steps in it, making Your song organisation a bit complicated. I also have rekordbox and engine prime, just instead of serato, I use traktor. But as I said, if most of Your work is done in rekordbox 5 - try to just import directly from rekordbox xml to engine. Then when You export to a usb the players will have a good fresh data base to work with.

#5

More explanation needed I think. Maybe this is why there are laid out form for big reports with questions built in.

You’re saying that the beatgrids are all there, and appear instantly as expected for the first hour of so of playing but after that couple of hours all your tunes still show their beatgrids but the Beatgrids are slow to appear, appearing only a few seconds before it needs to be there on-screen.

Is this in standalone mode or with computer software? What’s the media source? A pen drive? A hard drive, a solid state drive? Are the songs 3 to 5 minutes long or longer, if you make a list of some songs which are slow to show their beatgrids when you try them two hours into a set, do those same songs show beatgrids instantly if you play them again at the beginning of a switch on set

Which USB socket is the media plugged into? Is the media 2.0 or 3.0 ?

#6

You’re saying that the beatgrids are all there, and appear instantly as expected for the first hour of so of playing but after that couple of hours all your tunes still show their beatgrids but the Beatgrids are slow to appear, appearing only a few seconds before it needs to be there on-screen.

Not a few seconds, maybe a second or two at most depending on BPM.

Is this in standalone mode or with computer software?

Standalone

What’s the media source?

A SanDisk 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive, this one specifically. Plugged into the front USB of either player, same result.

Are the songs 3 to 5 minutes long or longer

I spin trance so a lot of my songs are almost always 5min or longer. 320k mp3 files ripped from personal sources or bought through Juno, Beatport, etc.

if you make a list of some songs which are slow to show their beatgrids when you try them two hours into a set, do those same songs show beatgrids instantly if you play them again at the beginning of a switch on set

Great idea that I have not tried!

#7

The front usb on the 5000 is only for usb 2.0. Only the two rear USB’s are good for usb 3 drives. Forget about drives offering “backwards compatible” its patchy at best. Try your usb 3 stick in the rear usb 3 sockets

You might be getting processing or loading delays from the 5000 trying to get the usb3 drive reading through a usb 2 socket

#8

Could it be a that your database file is maxed out. Since you are using same drive with CDJ I guess it’s a Fat32

What’s the size of the .dB files on the USB stick

You could back up the stick, wipe it and copy the data back to it using ExFat. It won’t work with CDJs again though

#9

I’ll be able to get to testing tomorrow. Stuff is still kind of in disarray from the new year.