Forum: PC Version Technical Support - Topic: SSL Crates Working With VDJ --- A Work Around

I have to let out a little steam first....

I initially posted up for tech support in a Trouble/Help Ticket here with VDJ about this issue. It's been months....and I have had to wait weeks for responses in helping me out. I'm VERY disappointed in VDJ's Tech Support...or lack there of! With help from a fellow DJ, he and I figured out the issue and now we need VDJ to fix the problem so we don't have to do these work arounds any longer.

To VDJ's Tech Support....had I known that your lack of response and assistance would be as it is...I NEVER would have purchased this software and I would have stayed with my SSL.

So....for those of you who run with Rane Serato ScratchLIVE (SSL) and Virtual DJ (VDJ) and want to use your SSL Crates within VDJ, you may have noticed that you can't view your Crates in VDJ.

The work around...

VDJ version 5.2.1 Pro, and I believe all previous versions, think that the default folder for the SSL Crates are in .ScratchLIVE folder. Well, this may have been the case at one time with SSL, but with the recent version of SSL....this is no longer the case.

The default SSL version 1.8.2 for the SSL Crates are in _ScratchLIVE_

To get your SSL Crates to recognize in VDJ, you must copy all contents of files and subfolders from _ScratchLIVE_ and paste them into the .ScratchLIVE folder.

I have tested this out and it works. No need to change paths of files etc. Just copy and paste the files and subfolders and ensure that you have VDJ set up in it's config to read Crates and you're good to go.

One catch to this....you must continue to copy and paste the contents as indicated above whenever you make changes to your SSL Crates.

The Fix to this...VDJ needs to change their code, in future updates, to reflect the correct SSL Crates folder so we no longer have to do this work around.

Post up if you have any further questions and also, please post up if you too got it to work.

I only have my music stored on my external drives...so I know this works with external devices.

Would an NTFS junction point work? This basically allows you to create a shortcut that points to another folder and is reasonably transparent to most applications. Similar in concept to a unix symlink.

You could create the junction point as .ScratchLIVE and mount _ScratchLIVE_ to it.

More information here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/205524

Out of interest, why did Serato change the location?

Well considering I do not have Serato - And I would never own Serato -- you can imagine what the troubleshooting is like.

As for changing our code - I would not put to much into that ... we are not necessarily going to immediately change something because another software company decided to do it different. The crates support is a convenience and not a primary element of the software.

Also ... you will find that the majority of 'fixes' of this nature come from the community of users like yourself.

Sorry if you felt somehow you were let down .. but the design of the Crates support does work using the versions prior to Serato changing their method for storing their crates.

cstoll,

I must say I am a bit dissapointed with this statement from your reply "Well considering I do not have Serato - And I would never own Serato -- you can imagine what the troubleshooting is like."

As a software developer myself, I have often purchased rival software - not necessarily to copy or steal ideas but to use as a benchmark, especially if you are looking to better and take your rivals marketshare.

If you have no intention of continuing to support rival softwares "features" then you should not include them in the first place - again, it is quite common for rivals to change things just to break other software or force them to release an update - Instant Messaging was (until recently) a prime example with AOL and M$ constantly changing things so that third party IM aggregators had to keep making changes.

I am sure the people at Serato have copies of VDJ and use it to compare their product to yours, you also have to think of compatibility issues - while you may chose never to use Serato products, some DJ's may choose to use more than one, or in a multi-DJ environment several software packages may need to be installed and if VDJ is the only software that fails to work then only you can loose out.

This does not affect my own personal views of the VDJ software, this is a professional opinion from one software developer to another!!!

Cheers,

Roy

cstoll, yea, guess I too am disappointed in your statement.

VDJ tells me that it works with SSL Crates...there are no stipulations that it only works with this or that version....that I'm aware of. I had initially contacted VDJ through a Help Ticket on 2 August, 2008. Since then...I have had several days and weeks go by with unanswered responses by myself. That's a shame...

I had PCDJ VJ installed on my notebook at a point and contacted their customer support....they asked me to download a program and they went into my computer, with my consent, and fixed the problem within minutes after they couldn't get the issue resolved over the phone. At least I could dial a number to get help with my challenges in the softeware.

VDJ does not have this....and I accepted that up front when I purchased the Pro License...but good God....I didn't expect to be gaffed off on my Help Ticket requests.

At any rate....me and a fellow DJ worked through the issue....and he was more so the man who found the work a round. And, he did it in a matter of 2 days. Hell, I still couldn't get VDJ to respond to my Help Ticket.

Yes, I'm done ranting on this matter.

Now, for the good...I do enjoy using VDJ however, I only find myself using VDJ for dinner and cocktail time as VDJ has gapless playing. A feature that SSL is working on, but not yet implemented. I also use VDJ for the video. I love the fact that VDJ can play a number of video files. SSL's video plugin cannot play .vob files....which most of my videos are in.

I think VDJ has done well with their video side of the house and it's been nice to play with.

Did you try my suggestion? I'd be interested to know if it worked. If so, I can create a quick executable that people could use to easily fix this issue.

I don't know enough about code and to trust anyone to create an .exe file for me. I do thank you for your offer...but I'd rather not commit to this.

I don't know why Serato changed it's location....maybe a point that was noted in an above response however.

Wow, all I can say is that you can trust Scott. He is resposible for quite a few plugins here at VDJ, Give him a shot to help ya.

I won't get involved in this.

Scott, I'm sure you are great with code....maybe this is something you can bring up to VDJ and see if this is something they can implement in a future upgrade. I'm sure they'd give you credit, in some fashion, for your work on the code.

Thanks

There's no point - I was merely suggesting a workaround for you guys. If you don't want to implement it, thats fine with me.

For what it's worth though - the tools and instructions are all on the Microsoft link I posted - I was only offering to write a script that would automate the process if people couldn't manage it.

Thanks again Scott.

There may be others on this forum that would love for your to write the script. I'm sure there are plenty of users who haven't come to the forum in a few days due to Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays everyone. ;-)

Ok maybe i'm missing something here. I'm trying to get my crates to show up in virtual dj using a mac with all of my music on an external hard drive. I cannot find the .scratchlive folder. and if i try to create it, it won't let me. As an alternative i see you can create a folder in virtual dj and drag your serato crates over. However this cannot account for non-manual updating. Anyone have any ideas as to what i'm doing wrong?

i too have posted regarding this issue. i tried doing the work around listed here by coping the folder contents and all i get is the crates but non of the files will load. each one says -error behind the file name after i tired to load it. tagging along.