Hello,
I've started using Beatport Link with a lot of success in recent months. I am a heavy user of this, practising and playing 5 times per week.
I've identified two problems and one of them is 100% on the increase.
Computer: Macbook Pro 2015 15 inch Intel i7 2.5ghz / 16 GB Ram / OSX Mojave
Connected through USB3 - this computer has no USB 2 ports.
Additional Optimisations to cater for Rekordbox 6
New Problem 1 - a bug with Beatport Link on Macbook Pro when the internet drops
Where I live has bad internet. If I try and load a Beatport link track, and the internet has its trademark intermittent 'pause' (which it likes to do occasionally, for around 10 seconds in my quiet village), this either freezes Rekordbox 6.5.1 completely, spinning beachball mouse logo, audio is still playing, but can't click anything.
BEST CASE - soon after, it comes back to life after approx 10 seconds,
WORSE CASE - it is completely terminal and I have to stop playing, restart Rekordbox, etc.
Although you guys are good at fixing stuff like this and it may be on your radar already with Beatport Link being a newer feature I'd recommend that this bug needs to be fed up the chain please. It happens all the time and the only way it doesn't is to tether to my 4G LTE iPhone connection which is steady.
Problem 2 - The XDJ-XZ disconnects at random with the Macbook Pro in Performance Mode (USB A to B)
About 30 to 60 minutes during play, Rekordbox will become unresponsive to the XDJ-XZ (play, pause, cue, browse to play next track - all buttons = dead).
Best case - I can move to a backup prepared USB stick and 'step across' to USB mode and mix out. Once RB track is finished playing, I take the USB A to B cable out of the XZ and plug it back in which fixes the issue for a while... then it happens again later.
Worst Case - the music stops all of a sudden, all together. No warning. The people I am performing on live streams to are enjoying the music, then suddenly hear nothing but still see me. I can scramble to move to USB stick and just play something quickly to avoid silence, and did this last night, never returning to rekordbox.
In recent months this has happened a few times but this weekend it happened 3 times out of playing 3 times Friday Saturday and Sunday.
The thing is I absolutely love Rekordbox / Beatport link, however for the moment I have to commit to stopping using it all together during live performances which is a big shame.
Other factors to consider:
- I had reduced the latency from 11.6ms to around 4ms, and have returned it. This did used to happen at 11.6ms anyway, rarely.
- I had the Audio Output (next to the clock on the Macbook) set to Internal Speakers to avoid sending any system sounds down the XDJ-XZ channel into the live stream. Wondering if this affects the connection somehow.
- I usually have one browser tab open (Chrome with Hardware acceleration turned OFF) so that I can chat to my audience.
- Sometimes in the Mac audio output my XDJ-XZ appears as XDJ-XZ or sometimes XDJ-XZ (2) - either because two drivers are installed, or a disconnect/reconnect happening causes it to load a phantom 2nd XDJ-XZ profile. Wondering if this is connected to the issue.
- Occasionally when I first connect the XDJ-XZ to the Macbook with Rekordbox Performance Mode open, pressing LINK then 1 and 2 to connect each player just sits there with 1 and 2 highlighted and it fails to move to the next step when I can browse my laptop library from the XZ screen. I can never select any track and the only workaround is the XDJ-XZ being disconnected/reconnected. Sometimes a few times.
I hope this is an easy fix!
Many thanks.
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Hello, I was wondering if there are any further perspectives on what could be causing this issue.
One theory is that when cables are dangling or a laptop is slightly moved it can disrupt the USB connection. There have been occasions where I play outdoors (wind). However it also happened indoors, when static.
Given that you've mentioned that your computer tends to have issues but your wife's older MacBook Air does not, I'm going to lean into the angle of your computer needing to be cleaned up to optimize performance. It could simply be that there's too much other stuff going on and the connection drops or misses communication as a result, then dies.