Bulletproof Backup System???

[Megamix]

I've been struggling for 2 weeks with a new DMIX300 from Cortex, and I really feel it is faulty (numerous freezes). :(
Portability was my main objective but now I realise again how important reliability is.
I was going to the laptop direction but the Cortex had a built in mixer which gave me a mixer backup in a case- sorted (or so i thought).
Anyone suggest an ideal solution - Denon? Numark? Laptop and Mixer? which seems to have the greatest level of reliability. Money not an issue, reliability is.
My supplier said this Cortex was bulletproof but I guess they weren't aiming very well with their guns. :p

[scoopd]

I've found OTS on the PC to be totally rock solid so far having come from a shaky PCDJ.Colin Cranswick is your man for OTS in this country and I can PM you his no. if you wanted some more info.
There's nothing worse than having gear freeze on you and I've had that all too often with PCDJ

[CRAZY K]

:cowboy:
I've been struggling for 2 weeks with a new DMIX300 from Cortex, and I really feel it is faulty (numerous freezes). :(
Portability was my main objective but now I realise again how important reliability is.
I was going to the laptop direction but the Cortex had a built in mixer which gave me a mixer backup in a case- sorted (or so i thought).
Anyone suggest an ideal solution - Denon? Numark? Laptop and Mixer? which seems to have the greatest level of reliability. Money not an issue, reliability is.
My supplier said this Cortex was bulletproof but I guess they weren't aiming very well with their guns. :p

I have a Cortex basic USB reader HDC 1000 and thats been 100 per cent reliable since last December --two others on here Dragonfly and Spin are similar.

Creature has had a problem with his.

I hadnt noticed this model--seems a lot extra for another £100.

The main problems (apart from a totally duff unit) appears to be with incorrect tagging or faulty files, we did have a guy on here who had exactly that problem--which was resolved I believe --not heard from him since.

Before putting it in the shredder I would back check very carefully using a flash stick to start with holding say 30 songs and just keep changing and playing tracks ( unless you have done that already ) to simulate Disco conditions.

But make sure the MP3s are ok before testing.

i.e either genuine downloads or ripped straight from your CDs and tagged properly.

For back up I use Laptop with PCDJ RED, Dave Dragonfly does as well, although I think hes so impressed with the Laptop hes now using the Cortex as backup!

HTH

CRAZY K

:cowboy:

[Vectis]

Depends whether you want your main playout system to be bulletproof or whether you want a trustworthy backup.

I'd second OTS as the most stable laptop system I've ever used and I've tried them all believe me.

I now use a Numark d2 for main playout - have done since about 2 weeks after they became available - and so far with the exception of a single issue where it "lost" visibility of a HDD pre-performance (reboot sorted) it's been 100%. However I have a laptop loaded with OTS used for background music and it's always got a song cued just in case!

Prior to the Numark I used OTS for several years without so much as a single glitch. Finger trouble, yes, but then I can do that to the d2 too! :o :D

[Corabar Steve]

Don't you have to change the file format to use Ots?

[Vectis]

No. It's optional. If you decide not to, it creates a tiny little index file to go with each mp3.

[Corabar Steve]

But then it won't auto mix presumably?

[Vectis]

Yes. Guess that's what's in the index file :)

Not that I use automix, apart from background sets :whistle:

[Corabar Steve]

Right, so you could still use the files with a D2, HD2500 etc & not just with Ots. I had a play with the demo version the other week & didn't get on with it at all. I'll stick to the Denon for the time being & would recomend it to anyone.

[Vectis]

Correct.

I have hard drives that I interchange with my d2, OTS laptops and non-disco computers.

Have to say that if you're new to OTS and you dive in with the full AV product it can be a bit mind-blowing. Maybe try Turntables first to get the hang of how they deal with audio, then upping to the full AV product.

[Megamix]

With the DMIX300 I tried a memory stick, a usb powered,
hard drive then a mains powered hard drive all formatted in the recommended FAT 32.
I used a powered USB hub also as recommended.
I ripped, tagged and checked methodically 120 mp3s all at 320 kbps.
I ran the Ciortex database program and then verified.
After 20 minutes of normal play it freezes - this has happened dozens of times.
It even freezes if you do not add a device to the USB port - so the message comes up - add device, you don't add a device, then after a while it freezes and you have to remove the power cord - now I'm no expert but that to me is not right.

[mr rusty]

I've just registered OTS turntables silver as a backup. Certainly turntables uses standard MP3 files, but the first time OTS sees them it does a scan and puts some info in an index file. Next time it sees the same track, even weeks later, it doesn't re-scan. Provided it has scanned the track (which happens in a playlist much faster than the tracks are playing) the playlist will automix.

We're running this on an old 700Mhz pentium iii with 256Mb ram and it seems to be bulletproof. I've had it running all day in the background while I've been doing something else, without a glitch. Running from 4Gb flashdrive.

[Corabar Steve]

It may not help, but it can't hurt to try. Defrag the drives that you are using. Solved all the problems I had with the Denon by doing that.

[Megamix]

If I go the OTS route with a laptop, I take it I need an external soundcard and it then goes through a mixer then the amp.

[Megamix]

Alas I didn't even get to the stage where the disk needed defragging. - I keep hearing Denon as the bees knees - but I guess that needs boxing with a mixer. But if its reliable...I just think the Cortex is too flaky - if it was necessary to find a rogue comma on 120 files that causes freezing how would I find it on 10,000 tracks - it would be like russian roulette each time.

[Corabar Steve]

Go with the Denon then :sj:

[Vectis]

We're running this on an old 700Mhz pentium iii with 256Mb ram and it seems to be bulletproof. I've had it running all day in the background while I've been doing something else, without a glitch. Running from 4Gb flashdrive.

Yep - mine's a 7 year old IBM Thinkpad with a 700MHz P3, 256MB RAM, 10GB HDD. The type you can pick up for about £100 :D


If I go the OTS route with a laptop, I take it I need an external soundcard and it then goes through a mixer then the amp.

You could do; I don't. I either take the line output from the laptop (headphone socket) direct to the mixer or I connect USB direct to my mixer (Numark CM200USB). Do the mixing in the product itself. The built-in EQ and processing tools are phenomenal for such a low cost product.

[CRAZY K]

Alas I didn't even get to the stage where the disk needed defragging. - I keep hearing Denon as the bees knees - but I guess that needs boxing with a mixer. But if its reliable...I just think the Cortex is too flaky - if it was necessary to find a rogue comma on 120 files that causes freezing how would I find it on 10,000 tracks - it would be like russian roulette each time.

Who says a rogue comma causes this problem out of interest?

Far as I know--none of my MP3 tags have commas---they dont normally, if this is done by yourself then its an unfortunate mistake--

Ive got 10,000 files on my external HDD which run on the Cortex--no problems
I havent got 10,000 tracks--just a lot of duplicates:D

I reckon either you have a dodgy unit ( like Creature) and it needs replacing OR like the guy who came on here some time ago you have some files not correctly tagged.

I understand you dont want to look at every file again--pity because when the Cortex is running its really easy to use.

Maybe its cheaper to buy a Denon than spend time finding those dodgy filles-

I dont know because I dont have any---but do Laptops and the Denon run ok with incorrect tags?

CRAZY K
:cowboy:

[Megamix]

Well I removed everything except brackets ( ) and apostrophe ' - everything else is a letter of the alphabet or a number. I used a checker to ensure they were complaint with ID3 Version 1.1
The Cortex database manager was run and verified.
So I feel I was careful. But the thing that concerns me is the fact it freezes if you dont add a usb storage device.

[Dragonfly]

:cowboy:
For back up I use Laptop with PCDJ RED, Dave Dragonfly does as well, although I think hes so impressed with the Laptop hes now using the Cortex as backup!

HTH

CRAZY K

:cowboy:

this is indeed correct I have listend to the folks on here got a laptop a maya44 soundcard external mouse , cooling pad etc and admitedly ive only done one full gig with it but it seriously rocked i used 2 tops only srm 450s and to my mind got better bass than the cortex and two tops and a sub.

only on hearing the cortex next the laptop have i realised that the bass response is (using the official european union technical analysis jargon ..... ploppy ploppy poo pants)

ive heard punchy bass when ive been out elsewhere but to hear it finally come out of the mackies was something else , not heard since i swapped from cds a year ago.

i know someone on here has spent 800 quid an a lappy ..... i was given mine ... but my advice get a cheap second hand one with the right spec i bought one las week with a fault that cost me 10p to fix for a hundred quid , and download all of the different trials and have a play with it see which suits .

i use pcdj fx which is spot on for me does what i want it to do and there is a few bells and whistles for me to have a play with when im bored and the mrs is watching eastenders and corrie.

dont get me wrong i like the cortex and will stand by it to the death as its stupid proof and i by my own admission am technically stupid. but the laptop sounds much better and is just as easy to use so ill go with that and see what happens .... the cortex is there plugged in cued up ready to go so i have piece of mind.

also my advice whatever you get for back up use it at a few gigs .... would be a bit embarassing if it all went wrong and you fired up a laptop ..... and didnt know what to do with the software on it. sounds daft but i bet its done.

[CRAZY K]

Well I removed everything except brackets ( ) and apostrophe ' - everything else is a letter of the alphabet or a number. I used a checker to ensure they were complaint with ID3 Version 1.1
The Cortex database manager was run and verified.
So I feel I was careful. But the thing that concerns me is the fact it freezes if you dont add a usb storage device.

SADLY I know the Cortex wont read apostrophes:eek:

Like the O' Jays--didnt think it would freeze though.

Freezes when you dont add anything--do you mean if you fail to add a device when asked to immediately ?

Bit strange--would have though that alone would have been a reason to get a replacement from the dealer.

I think Dragonfly and I have had times when the screen goes funny when you first switch on--maybe thats freezing? but a quick reboot sorts it out everytime.

Cant think of much else to try other than get back to the dealer to test it---which is what Creature did ---he got a replacement--eventually

Having read previous posts I wonder if its finally worth running a hundred tracks making sure none have any commas, apostrophes or brackets---

One final thing--are all your MP3s ripped straight from your own CDs or downloads.

I got my son to do some ripping for me from a Kenny Rogers CD on to a hard drive.

But the MP3s I wanted he tagged track 1, 2 , 3 4. doh!

Ive lost the CD for now so I tried to change the tags.

Despite having both artist and title on the MP3 and playing in Windows Media Player Cortex wont recognise it.

Ill have to burn the album to a blank CD and rip it back to the hard drive tagging it carefully myself.

So there are some situations where it doesnt always work---wondered if your problem might be anything like that?

CRAZY K

[Megamix]

I tagged them from a handful of my owned ripped cds and then amended any duff tags. The freezing/locking up is that everything stops (halfway through a song usually) and the only way to reset it is to take out the power connector. This also happens if you turn the unit on and don't add a device - after a short while you need to pull out the power because it has locked up. It worries me to think they can't design their software to ignore an apostrophe, if that is the cause. So far I've not got past 20 minutes before it locks up.
I feel my confidence has been lost with this unit - I'll always be waiting for it to stop!

[Dragonfly]

mine has never frozen or locked up??? very odd.

[pagan_flame]

I have a laptop with OTSDJ, MP3's with the OTS index files on an external HD.

As a backup I have... a laptop with OTSDJ, MP3's with the OTS index files on an external HD. :D :beer1:

Never, ever, had to use the backup. Never ever had a problem with it.

The 'new' laptop I got this year cost me around £200 for a refurbed P4 and OTS turntables - just loaded up the OTS database file from the old one plus my playlists and it all worked straight away. Added in an external Creative Labs soundcard for a fiver off Ebay. The big outlay was the ground loop isolator from M*plins though...

Keep yer stinky Cortex / Denons IMHO... :cool:

[Megamix]

Which version of OTS is recommended by you guys? - Bedroom/Silver or Pro?

[PropellerHeadCase]

GIven that unit seems to freeze regardless of what you do and how you do it, and even if you do nothing, it seems like a power-supply/over-heating issue (this is a total guess, I don't know the unit at all).

[Vectis]

Which version of OTS is recommended by you guys? - Bedroom/Silver or Pro?

For "proper" use as main playout device - OTS AV (renamed from DJ recently).

For "backup" use - Turntables Silver or Pro - your call really depending on the features you need. Bedroom can't be licenced for public performance. I use silver, it's only about £30 ffs ;)

[flatliners]

i would go for virtual dj i have used alot of programs but virtual dj is great or as a back up sam party dj not to complex

[CRAZY K]

I tagged them from a handful of my owned ripped cds and then amended any duff tags. The freezing/locking up is that everything stops (halfway through a song usually) and the only way to reset it is to take out the power connector. This also happens if you turn the unit on and don't add a device - after a short while you need to pull out the power because it has locked up. It worries me to think they can't design their software to ignore an apostrophe, if that is the cause. So far I've not got past 20 minutes before it locks up.
I feel my confidence has been lost with this unit - I'll always be waiting for it to stop!

You do mean you ripped DIRECT from AN ORIGINAL LEGAL CD to the Hard drive?

What program are you using--it should tag properly without any need to amend anything generally--im surprised theres much amendment needed.

Unless your talking about the odd things the machine doesnt like

Have you tried downloaded MP3s which should have perfect tags?

CRAZY K

[Dragonfly]

Have you tried downloaded MP3s which should have perfect tags?

CRAZY K


not all alan mine in recent weeks as put in another thread has not recognised the artist tag on legitimately downloaded and ripped material???

[rob1963]

Bulletproof backup system?

Unfortunately there's no such thing.

[Dragonfly]

Bulletproof backup system?

Unfortunately there's no such thing.

what if you operate it from the pope mobile??? :D :D :D :D

[PropellerHeadCase]

Or, for the same cost, have 17 iterations of the same set-up :o

[CRAZY K]

not all alan mine in recent weeks as put in another thread has not recognised the artist tag on legitimately downloaded and ripped material???

Never had that--but come to think of it with i tunes I have to burn to CD and then rip and tag myself anyway because I use a laptop not connected to the Internet.

I have had problems with retagging already ripped tracks---main problem seems to be with you and me its not actually reading---rather than
freezing which is the ultimate nightmare:eek:

CRAZY K