Michael Usher
I currently have a Denon DJ MC6000 MK2 and obviously have a Virtual DJ Pro licence. I am now at the end of my tether as the Soffware is causing confusion to the mixer. For example
1) Only one of the channels can be controlled. The only way I can control the second Chanel is using serato
2) every now and then it slows down the BPM and I have to adjust it very quickly
And this really is causing stress especially when I’m gigging and even with a reboot it doesn’t sort it out! So we have deleted and re-install the DJ Pro, made sure it’s the most up to date version, cleaned up my laptop which has a OS is Windows 11 ver 22H2? - Where am I going wrong ??
1) Only one of the channels can be controlled. The only way I can control the second Chanel is using serato
2) every now and then it slows down the BPM and I have to adjust it very quickly
And this really is causing stress especially when I’m gigging and even with a reboot it doesn’t sort it out! So we have deleted and re-install the DJ Pro, made sure it’s the most up to date version, cleaned up my laptop which has a OS is Windows 11 ver 22H2? - Where am I going wrong ??
Posted Thu 07 Mar 24 @ 8:06 pm
PhantomDeejay
It more or less sounds like a controller going faulty to me.
MC6000MK2 is using "software" mixer (aka MIDI mixer)
This means that if you can't control the second channel, the unit itself doesn't send MIDI messages as it should.
There's always the case that you messed "Deck order" on the mapper window, but you said that you reinstalled the software (and I assume that you started with clean settings) which should eliminate this case. Same rule applies for the "Mixer Order" setting.
The random "slow down" of BPMs also points to the same direction. VirtualDJ does not change playback speed randomly. There are specific cases where the tempo of the track may change, yes, but they have specific logic.
E.g:
1. When loading a new song, the tempo of the new song can be set to change automatically to match the other deck
2. When pressing play the tempo of the song can be set to automatically match the tempo of the other deck
3. When using the pitch slider of one deck, it can be set to control the pitch of both decks automatically if they are in sync.
4. When you use SPECIFIC actions (like auto_bpm_transition) which by default are not mapped on MC6000MK2
If your problem was due to one of those cases mentioned above, you should also experience tempo speed ups, not only slow downs. Also, the change on cases 1 and 2 is instant, not gradual.
All of the above, more or less point to a controller that's sending different messages than it should. For instance it could be a faulty pitch slider that at random times sends wrong data.
Volume sliders and crossfader are known to show such behavior when they become faulty.
Granted, they endure more wear and tear than pitch sliders, but it's not impossible to happen on pitch sliders as well.
What to do next?
Two tests.
1. Assuming that you haven't done that (just to rule out any possibility), rename your settings.xml file to settings_old.xml and try again. This will reset ALL settings to their default values. If the problem goes away, then it's something you messed on VirtualDJ settings (and we can help you to check and find out which one). If the problem persists, continue to test 2
2. Test your system WITHOUT the controller connected. Yes, it's not easy to play without a controller, but try to play at home for an hour or two, just by using your keyboard and your mouse. If there's no problem this way, then your issue is definitely your controller. If you still have issues, please report back, to see if we can think of anything else to check.
Bonus test:
If you're familiar with how MIDI works, download a MIDI monitor like MIDI OX, and watch the messages produced by your controller.
For starters try to move the pitch sliders on various positions. While you're moving the sliders, you'll see messages flowing. That's expected. However, if you see ANY message while don't touch anything, then that's not a good sign.
Also for volume sliders (as an example) you should see B0 05 XX (where XX is a hex value from 00 up to 7F) for deck 1 and B1 05 XX for deck 2
Generally speaking, MIDI messages from deck 1 should start with 90, 80 or B0 (this means channel 0) while messages from deck 2 should start with 91, 81 or B1 (channel 1)
MC6000MK2 is using "software" mixer (aka MIDI mixer)
This means that if you can't control the second channel, the unit itself doesn't send MIDI messages as it should.
There's always the case that you messed "Deck order" on the mapper window, but you said that you reinstalled the software (and I assume that you started with clean settings) which should eliminate this case. Same rule applies for the "Mixer Order" setting.
The random "slow down" of BPMs also points to the same direction. VirtualDJ does not change playback speed randomly. There are specific cases where the tempo of the track may change, yes, but they have specific logic.
E.g:
1. When loading a new song, the tempo of the new song can be set to change automatically to match the other deck
2. When pressing play the tempo of the song can be set to automatically match the tempo of the other deck
3. When using the pitch slider of one deck, it can be set to control the pitch of both decks automatically if they are in sync.
4. When you use SPECIFIC actions (like auto_bpm_transition) which by default are not mapped on MC6000MK2
If your problem was due to one of those cases mentioned above, you should also experience tempo speed ups, not only slow downs. Also, the change on cases 1 and 2 is instant, not gradual.
All of the above, more or less point to a controller that's sending different messages than it should. For instance it could be a faulty pitch slider that at random times sends wrong data.
Volume sliders and crossfader are known to show such behavior when they become faulty.
Granted, they endure more wear and tear than pitch sliders, but it's not impossible to happen on pitch sliders as well.
What to do next?
Two tests.
1. Assuming that you haven't done that (just to rule out any possibility), rename your settings.xml file to settings_old.xml and try again. This will reset ALL settings to their default values. If the problem goes away, then it's something you messed on VirtualDJ settings (and we can help you to check and find out which one). If the problem persists, continue to test 2
2. Test your system WITHOUT the controller connected. Yes, it's not easy to play without a controller, but try to play at home for an hour or two, just by using your keyboard and your mouse. If there's no problem this way, then your issue is definitely your controller. If you still have issues, please report back, to see if we can think of anything else to check.
Bonus test:
If you're familiar with how MIDI works, download a MIDI monitor like MIDI OX, and watch the messages produced by your controller.
For starters try to move the pitch sliders on various positions. While you're moving the sliders, you'll see messages flowing. That's expected. However, if you see ANY message while don't touch anything, then that's not a good sign.
Also for volume sliders (as an example) you should see B0 05 XX (where XX is a hex value from 00 up to 7F) for deck 1 and B1 05 XX for deck 2
Generally speaking, MIDI messages from deck 1 should start with 90, 80 or B0 (this means channel 0) while messages from deck 2 should start with 91, 81 or B1 (channel 1)
Posted Thu 07 Mar 24 @ 9:26 pm
kradcliffe
MC6000 Mk2 are famous for board failure. Another issue I've seen a few times is the channel selecter switch going dodgy that causes the same issue you are describing.
Posted Thu 07 Mar 24 @ 9:51 pm