My 2nd time using SSL in a club

So I took SSL with me to my gig last night... Heres a recap of what happened..

- I set up SSL, set the 'estimate' thing to the middle (-48db)- if I keep it pressed then it goes all the way to the right and that makes scratches sound too digital- so putting it in the middle made it sound 'real'

- Made my circles, all set to go

- I start playing songs... I get to the 5th song... a song is playing on the right, I load the next song on left...right when I hit ctrl left- BOOM- Super crash! I mean the Apple white box with Japanese writing crash- which by the way, only happens with SSL- no program has done that to my Powerbook...

- So I play a cd, restart the cpu... When you have a hard crash like that, it takes a while for apple to boot. After it fixes itself, I take the chance and start SSL again... I started playing it... and then it worked fine...

- For the next 5 hours it worked fine- it did however, drop out twice for a second- it always was on teh left turntable so I assume its the 1200's fault. SSL does seem to sensitive though...

Im not convinced and that hard crash shouldnt have happened. Are you sure you guys tested the product out extensively? Since i bought it, I have yet to use it without a problem arising... Im tired of it...

Man, that sucks. I'd love to think it's your computer's fault, but if it can happen to you, it can happen to anybody. Damn.

(BTW, I played my first 'real' gig with MsPinky yesterday. Not one problem. I did order SSL last week though, because MsPinky is a little messy IMHO. )

hmmm.. concerning. Wonder where the fault lies?

I'm wouldn't think it's the PowerBook! Mac is hella stable for music apps! Although I think SSL is pretty awesome, I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed with some of the problems after shelling out the 550 bucks! I expected less problems. I don't know anything about programming but wonder if some of the problems stem from not having a driver. I hope that these problems can be fixed in newer versions! So even with some faults do you guys prefer SSL over FS?

Not even close...

FS isn't even close to SSL? Your problem should probably be addressed in the help section JD!

the screen with japenese lettering (and other languages as well that tells you to restart your machine) is a kernel panic. generally, a lot of kernel panics happen because of bad hardware--faulty ram is the cause of a lot of problems but a a misbehaving app or a bad driver can cause this as well. apparently serato is working on improved usb drivers so it's possible they've improved the code here. i wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

I had my second night using SSL as well and I didn't have any problems besides 4 or five of my Mp3's that took a long time to load. I think they were being analyzed. The only problem is, is that I thought they were already analyzed because I named and BPM'd them. I stopped them from loading and stopping the other Mp3 that was playing. I'm glad I caught them before It stopped me in mid mix. I would like to know why it did that, meaning analyzing a MP3 that is already analyzed. Besides that, it is perfect for me.

FS isnt close to SSL in terms of feel but honetly- its been more stable for me and I still use weekly... Ya, im not cutting it up and scratching on it - but as a club dj- it gets the job done... Once SSL gets it kinks worked out then it will be dope... until then im just 'jiggy jiggy'ing with FS.. cant really scratch crazy with it

JD- You never said your machine specs, but I will assume you were using a PowerBook.

If you're like me, you probably just close the lid and put the machine to sleep when not in use. I find this to be fine and dandy for daily use, since I use the thing through-out the entire day. Before a gig or a mix though, you should reboot the machine to make sure there aren't any old process threads lingering around the system (like some silly chat program still trying to connect or something stupid).

Hey Dj

Yup- im on a Powerbook but I hardly put it to sleep. I always shut down before getting to the club...

JD, we have been working with Apple to identify the cause of the kernel panic you saw. This has identified a bug in the Apple USB code that will be addressed in a future Mac OS software update. In the meantime workarounds have been included in Build 1111, so I would recommend upgrading immediately.

Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself, but I ran into the same exact issue the first 2 occassions that I used SSL. Each occassion my laptop crashed 2 times with in 5 to 10 minutes of use. Then it never happened again.
The good news was that it happened when hardly anyone arrived at the event. But I was really nervous after the second crash. After the crowd got really large I switched to vinyl for fear that my Mac would crash again.
That was 4 months ago and I have used SSL with little or no problem.
The best thing to do is to hang tuff with it and pay close attention to your computer's behavior. I noticed that the audio would drag, or the graphics would start to drag before the machine crashed.

I have used Final Scratch many times and never had it crash. That was on a windows comp though.