Quick Sign In:  

Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Best DVS / Turntables setting on Virtual DJ to mimic Serato behavior
Long time DVS Serato user in the past, what would be the best Virtual DJ settings to get the same turntable feeling while beatmatching ? I see many pitch quality settings, scratch quality, .. and many other settings but can't figure out an overall config using turntable DVS (or HID on Rane Twelve MK2) that provides me the same beatmatching feeling I had (or sometimes still have) using Serato... Mainly the manual platter pitch bend action feels so different. I can't explain why :-/

Any good advise or config that can be shared ? :)
Thank you

DJM-750MK2
Rane Twelve MK2
 
Posted Sat 09 Mar 24 @ 10:30 am
When I was transitioning to VirtualDJ, I found I had the same problem with the scratch feel, especially with slow movements. I found these settings were helpful:


  • scrarchFilterQuality = 30 (or the max it can go based on your CPU settings)
  • pitchFilterQuality = 4
  • rampScratchTime = 0

    This one was the most important one to change for me...it was set to 0.1 as the default and made very slow scratch movements harder to do (it was performing some sort of movent smoothing function)
  • timecodeSilence = 0.1

    This one is important for DVS, as it controls just how sensistive VirtualDJ is to the sound it is meant to interpret (by default it is set at 0.2)

    You can probably try setting it lower, but don't set it too low because then you'll probably get drift (e.g. your hand hitting the record might move the track before you actually start to manipulate it)
  • timecodePitchSliderIgnoreBend = yes
    Also DVS specific...with this, the software takes a bit more time to display the pitch reading on the skin, making it look more stable (more resembling Serato's pitch readout)

Please not that the timecode settings also affect Phase in DVS mode.
One thing you would also notice, if you use instant doubles in Sersto, is that VirtualDJ clones the pitch slider value too, creating a skew of the pitch range that doesn't match the turntable pitch setting. In that case, you'll want to use the tmecode_reset_pitch vdjscript verb (either assign it to a custom button or change the mapping on your controller to add a & timecode_pitch_reset to the action (this also works with phsse in HID mode).

Also, since you are coming from Serato, watch and implement the things you see in this video


Let us know if that helps 🍺.
 
Posted Sat 09 Mar 24 @ 2:25 pm
Thank you.. Helps a lot already (still feels someting different, but might play around with these configs to improve :-)

As a side note, weird observation I made deactivating timecodePitchSliderIgnoreBend as per your advise is that the pitch seems not stable at all upon pitch bend!?
Not touching the slider, while pitch bending VDJ detects systematically a different pitch value upon platter stabilization. Different value VDJ detects goes from around -+ 0.0.3bpm to sometimes up to 0.3bpm.. I suppose accelatations or decelerations generates a systematic different MP3 speed at each pitch bend or I'm I right?
 
Posted Sun 10 Mar 24 @ 10:57 am
Glad to hear it helped. With the settings I supplied I found it pretty much is very decent/comparable to Serato, but it is a lot more sensitive to things like the speed at which you drop the record and skips/jumps.
VirtualDJ uses the smart timecode mode by default, which is somewhat of a hybrid between Absolute and Relative mode, that in my experience, requires more careful touch than Relative mode to avoid skips (see all of the that info here, and there is a relative mode that is basically the same like Serato's).
With your Rane Twelve's, you shouldn't have these skip issues though (there is no needle/tonearm to skip). HID mode use might arguably be the best response you can get scratchwise.

Unfortunately that pitch display restabilization issue is one I've seen (and still see) too. I've basically accepted that and just relied on my ears more with nudging. There might be room for improvement there in the software, but it's not a dealbreaker for me, especially due to the ultimate flexibility I get overall when using the software. This problem might not be as bad if you use your Rane Twelve's in HID mode though.

I would say, learning to play wwith these two things in mind (smart mode behaviour and not relying on BPM display) has made me a better DJ (I also ferl more comfortable/better using Serato too).
 
Posted Sun 10 Mar 24 @ 4:36 pm
Thanks a lot for these advises..
BPM display is for me not a deal breaker at all, I learned old school beatmatching with my ears. I do not need the BPM display.

I'm just worried that actually if track sound is influenced by these inconsistant DVS speed interpretation (leading to BPM not coming back to the same value), the Track/MP3 itself might have an inconsistant speed upon each pitch bend tweaking.. Or am I misunderstanding the way it works?
 
Posted Sun 10 Mar 24 @ 8:18 pm
From previous discussions with devs on here, the answer to that is no, especially if you are using timcodePitchSliderIgnoreBend - what you see is an instantaneous approximation of the pitch value. The software always has a more continuous interpretation of the pitch value.
 
Posted Sun 10 Mar 24 @ 8:50 pm