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Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Tópico: Bug Report - Echo Out Effect
First of all, congratulations on the new version.

Issue:
The Echo Out effect parameters become non-responsive after activation.

Steps to reproduce:

Load a track on a deck

Activate Echo Out

Attempt to change Length → control does not respond

Attempt to change Reverb → control does not respond

Change Color → value changes but cannot be reverted

Expected behavior:
All parameters (Length, Reverb, Color) should remain adjustable in real time after the effect is activated.

Actual behavior:

Length and Reverb cannot be changed once the effect is active

Color cannot be returned to a previous value after being modified

Impact:
This breaks live DJ workflow. Echo-type effects are designed to be activated first and shaped in real time, not pre-configured before activation.

Additional context:
I am currently transitioning from Traktor to VirtualDJ. In Traktor, Echo-style effects remain fully adjustable after activation, which is standard behavior in professional DJ software.

Please address this issue, as the current behavior limits real-world performance use.
 
Mensajes Sat 20 Dec 25 @ 9:12 am
The length for Echo Out is intentionally fixed when starting the effect, so that loading a new song on the same deck with a different bpm does not affect the outgoing trail of the previous song.

Color and reverb should be adjustable while the effect is running, but with color keep in mind that once a part has been filtered you can't bring those frequencies back anymore.
 
Adion wrote :
The length for Echo Out is intentionally fixed when starting the effect, so that loading a new song on the same deck with a different bpm does not affect the outgoing trail of the previous song.


Not meaning to hijack but, this is a long awaited fix. Did you guys also do this for the regular Echo, post-fader?
 
Not sure what you mean. For echo out it had been like this for a long time.
For regular echo being able to change the length on the fly is more important though, so there the length can be changed during operation
 
So I'm pretty sure last I checked, if I used the Echo effect, post fader, closed the fader (upfader or crossfader), and loaded another track on that same deck with a significantly different BPM, the effect aligned its BPM with the incoming track (it would speed up or slow down).
That behavior, imo is wrong - I locked in the effect with the BPM of the track before it and deactivated the effect before the new track came in, so the new track should not affect the echoing of the old track.

Now that I think of it, this may more nuanced, the last I remembered it happening to me (before I adjusted how I play with it), was on a S11, with the onboard Echo effect, so it might be an issue with what is being reported to the onboard effect when the new track is added.
 
It's the same with built in echo, the echo length follows the current bpm, so you need to wait to load the next track, or use the echo out effect that's intended for this purpose
 
So I just got back home and tested it with the DJM-S11 and the problem still exists, but I remembered the details imcorrectly. The on-board Echo does the right thing, but the software Echo does not.

With that board (which has onboard effects), you can clearly see the difference.

Try this with the onboard echo effet, and then use the software echo effect:


  1. Switch to fxProcessing = post if not done already
  2. Load a track of BPM=100 to a deck, set the number of beats to repeat the echo = 1 beat, and set the depth knob to be really large (to allow for you to hear what happens later on)
  3. Engage the Echo Effect to capture the 1 beat
  4. Disengage the echo effect
  5. Quickly load a track of say BPM=160 onto the same deck while the trailing echo is going on


The on-board echo, after 5 is done, keeps the trailing echo at the BPM of the first song, while the software echo does not (it updates to the new BPM). IMO the software echo is doing the wrong thing here - I engaged and captured all the characteristics to trail the echo from the previous song, then disengaged the effect. The new track should not affect that trailout.
Note that, also, imo, this is not directly related to changing the effect lengths on the fly - I disengaged the effect before the behavior occured. If I wanted to change it on the fly, I would keep it engaged, and change the number of beats + drop a new song to change the tempo (or something else of the sort). The trail, once the effect is disengaged, should be using what occurred while engaged, and not what could occur in future.
 
Adion wrote :
The length for Echo Out is intentionally fixed when starting the effect, so that loading a new song on the same deck with a different bpm does not affect the outgoing trail of the previous song.

Color and reverb should be adjustable while the effect is running, but with color keep in mind that once a part has been filtered you can't bring those frequencies back anymore.


Thank you for the explanation.

I understand the reasoning behind fixing the Length to preserve the outgoing tail when BPM changes, especially when loading a new track on the same deck. That makes sense from a technical consistency standpoint.

However, from a live performance workflow perspective, this behavior still introduces limitations:

Length control
Even if the base timing is locked to protect the tail, many DJs expect to be able to shape the decay dynamically (shorten or extend the feel of the echo) after activation. In professional workflows, Echo-type effects are often engaged first and then sculpted in real time based on the room, mix, or transition.

Reverb control
You mentioned that reverb should be adjustable while running, but in practice it appears non-responsive once the effect is active. If this is unintended, it may indicate a bug or UI/state issue worth rechecking.

Color behavior
I understand that filtered frequencies cannot be “restored” once removed. That is expected from a signal-processing standpoint.
However, from a user-experience perspective, the control currently feels misleading: the parameter visually changes but cannot meaningfully return toward its previous tonal balance. This can be confusing in live use and may benefit from clearer behavior or visual feedback indicating the irreversible nature of the change.

Overall, my main concern is real-time expressiveness. Echo Out is typically used as a performance tool, not a static utility effect. Locking or partially locking parameters after activation reduces its usefulness in real-world DJ scenarios.

Since I am actively transitioning from Traktor to VirtualDJ, I wanted to highlight this because real-time adjustability of Echo-style effects is a well-established standard in professional DJ software.

I appreciate the clarification and hope this feedback helps evaluate whether some flexibility (or clearer UX cues) could be introduced without compromising the technical goals of the effect.

Thank you for the response and the continued development.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I could not find that Traktor even has a dedicated "Echo Out" effect?

If you want the same workflow, you could use the regular Echo effect in the same way as you did in Traktor, which will allow changes on the fly.