Track volume "modulation" in Mixxx 1.8.1 for 32 bit windows

[Devon Johnson]

-This affects Mixxx 1.8.1 for Windows XP running on a Core Duo at 1.83GHz
- Laptop connected to Hercules MK2 DJ Control then external mixer, then amp, etc.

Preface:
I'm not sure if anything was added between 1.8.0 and 1.8.1 in the 32 bit windows area, however while DJing a gig Saturday, 10/30, I had a very strange issue with Mixxx changing the level of the songs while the song was playing. The level was changing by about 15-25% (relative big swing).

I had not seen this in any of the previous version 1.8(beta 1 or 2), release 1.8.0 (or any previous versions). Normally I wouldn't post on something not working, but this poses a problem especially when you're driving your sub(s) or other mains reasonably hard and then the level of the song puts it over the edge (clipping, blown speaker, etc.)

Problem description:
Mixxx seemed to load songs into the decks and during the loading/analyzing, the volume of the song would amplify 15-25% for periods of roughly 20-30 seconds. From what I could tell, this had nothing to do with the volume sliders, gains, or master volume. It did appear that the song went from a normal looking volume to something closer to clipping (i.e. the music deck analyzer did show that the volume of the mp3 was "modulating" of sorts.) I'm using the same mp3s that I have for all the past versions so I'm extremely certain it's not the mp3s. I believe this is also a latent problem, meaning it wasn't operating like that from the beginning.

Setup:
I have a Hercules MK2 DJ Console connected to a Lenovo Laptop which is running WinXP and Mixxx. This runs from the MK2 DJ Console to a Alesis Mixer which drives the amp.

Specific notes:
I started the night with Auto DJ having 4 songs in it, enabled it, dragged and dropped a few songs into Auto DJ which didn't work (the existing songs incremented, but the new songs didn't appear). So, went with the manual method for the party (which I normally do, but this was a free gig). turned on the flanger for two songs or so but not much at all, then somewhere in the 3rd hour the volume was modulating on the songs. As I mentioned before, it seemed like it was an issue with the loading of the tracks into memory because the scan/analyzer showed the track magnitude as changing (almost all the way to clipping). The other side of it was it seemed that the midrange was boosted ( like a mid gain), because it was very noticeable when it dropped back down (somewhat hollow in comparison).

Feel free to contact me with any questions or if there's something I should run. I haven't tried running mix again with the same setup, but I should be able to confirm operation. Hopefully this is relatively repeatable.

Thanks,
Devon

[RJ Skerry-Ryan (rryan)]

Hey Devon,

Thanks for reporting this (and the other bugs!). A couple questions for ya:

1) Do you use static-eqs or hifi-eqs ? Check in Preferences -> Equalizers
2) When you say the scan/analyzer, do you mean the on-screen waveforms or the VU-meters ?
3) Did you touch the eq knobs at all?

It would be helpful if you could try to reproduce this with just your computer's regular speakers. It's possible that the sound-system you were using at the party was having some kind of strange hysteresis issues.

Thanks,
RJ Ryan

[Devon Johnson (devon-johnson)]

Hi RJ,

1) not sure I'll check (I wanted to check when I had the Hercules connected
2) I meant the on-screen waveforms (you could tell they were clipping) however I believe the VU-meters were also louder, but I didn't catch it
3) I didn't touch any of the eqs at any time during the gig.

I can definitely check that out on the pc speakers. I agree I need to do some testing with a minimal setup as well. The sound system is my alesis mixer kept in a very nice environment with my Mackie 1400i. not a whole lot of chance it went bad (although anything could happen). I've run it in that configuration for a long time and if it weren't for the waveforms looking substantially maxed, I'd agree.

I'll see if I can get some time in tonight with just me and the laptop.

Thanks,
Devon
w:765.868.5009
m:317.501.8574

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of RJ Ryan
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 12:24 PM
To: Devon Johnson
Subject: [Bug 669504] Re: Track volume "modulation" in Mixxx 1.8.1 for 32 bitwindows

Hey Devon,

Thanks for reporting this (and the other bugs!). A couple questions for
ya:

1) Do you use static-eqs or hifi-eqs ? Check in Preferences -> Equalizers
2) When you say the scan/analyzer, do you mean the on-screen waveforms or the VU-meters ?
3) Did you touch the eq knobs at all?

It would be helpful if you could try to reproduce this with just your
computer's regular speakers. It's possible that the sound-system you
were using at the party was having some kind of strange hysteresis
issues.

Thanks,
RJ Ryan

** Changed in: mixxx/1.8
    Milestone: None => 1.8.2

--
Track volume "modulation" in Mixxx 1.8.1 for 32 bit windows
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/669504
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in Mixxx: New
Status in Mixxx 1.8 series: New

Bug description:
-This affects Mixxx 1.8.1 for Windows XP running on a Core Duo at 1.83GHz
- Laptop connected to Hercules MK2 DJ Control then external mixer, then amp, etc.

Preface:
I'm not sure if anything was added between 1.8.0 and 1.8.1 in the 32 bit windows area, however while DJing a gig Saturday, 10/30, I had a very strange issue with Mixxx changing the level of the songs while the song was playing. The level was changing by about 15-25% (relative big swing).

I had not seen this in any of the previous version 1.8(beta 1 or 2), release 1.8.0 (or any previous versions). Normally I wouldn't post on something not working, but this poses a problem especially when you're driving your sub(s) or other mains reasonably hard and then the level of the song puts it over the edge (clipping, blown speaker, etc.)

Problem description:
Mixxx seemed to load songs into the decks and during the loading/analyzing, the volume of the song would amplify 15-25% for periods of roughly 20-30 seconds. From what I could tell, this had nothing to do with the volume sliders, gains, or master volume. It did appear that the song went from a normal looking volume to something closer to clipping (i.e. the music deck analyzer did show that the volume of the...

[RJ Skerry-Ryan (rryan)]

Hey Devon,

Did you have a chance to check the levels or try to reproduce this in a more controlled setting?

Thanks,
RJ

[jus (jus)]

Is this still an issue with Mixxx 1.9?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Mixxx because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Swiftb0y (swiftb0y)]

Mixxx now uses GitHub for bug tracking. This bug has been migrated to:
https://github.com/mixxxdj/mixxx/issues/5626