14-bit MIDI and the VCI-100

[empolo]

A bit of an update regarding Traktor Pro and 14-bit MIDI support for the jog wheels:

Over on the NI forums, there is a weekly Q&A session with the product designers. Last week was the first German language Q&A session in which someone brought up a question about the MIDI support -->

[Answer in German]:

'Das gilt in der kommenden Version erst einmal für Potis und Fader. Die Unterstützung von Jog-Wheels mit 14-bit MIDI haben wir für ein weiteres Update geplant.'


[Translated answer]:

This is for the next version true only of Pots and Faders. The support for Jog-wheels with 14 bits is planned for a future update.


So there you have it. VCI-400 owners will be happy with the next update but the 100/300 brethren will have to wait a bit longer, so it seems.

[claudek]

That royally blows!! everything this year is not going as I dreamed it would. First Serato did not offer any Ableton news or offer any fx for the vci-300 and now I hear that NI only are offering this 14 bit support for pots and faders...

[10us]

Damn that really sucks, so actually we still cant do anything with the 14-bit except if you dont use the jogs.

[monstrejumo]

Well, I've read this post and others,

and I'm still wondering if the VCI100 is the controller I have to buy.

The only thing that annoys me is the non-14bit pitch faders problem.

So I have 2 questions:

- are the present 7bit pitch faders non sufficient to manually beatmatch correctly? (I don't want to have to use the sync function, I like this option as an "option", not as an "obligation"!)

- can I be sure the 1.4 firmware upgrade will increase these pitch faders sensitivity?

I'm waiting for the new version 2 of the reloop digital jockey to be released, as it has sensitive jogs and 14bit pitch faders, but they had huge delays for the release of the 1st version, and I'm pretty in the urge of getting a dj controller...

So...

VCI 100 ?

cheers

[midifidler]

are the present 7bit pitch faders non sufficient to manually beatmatch correctly? (I don't want to have to use the sync function, I like this option as an "option", not as an "obligation"!)


IMHO - no especially if you like a range greater than 8

The 1.4 firmware should make them about 16 x more sensitive (ie for each minimum adjustment you can currently make there will be now be 16 that,

they will not truly be 14 bit but actually 10 bit, thats a hardware limitation of the VCI. But that is still far better, I dont think you would really be able to tell the difference between 10 bit and 14 bit on 50 mm faders

[monstrejumo]

Thanks for this quick answer!

especially if you like a range greater than 8

I don't really know, what I know is that all the tracks I'd like to mix have a bpm between 120 and 150 max, almost electro stuff, but I'd like to be able to mix lots of different styles too.

if 1.4 is REALLY gonna be released and will REALLY increase the pitch faders sensitivity, even if it is not 14bit, it's fine to me!

10bits will be very cool.

Cheers

[mpetersen3]

10 bit would still be ridiculous amount of sensitivity. 2^10=1024 messages which should be enough to eliminate track drift (when scratching and) and is about 10 times more than 7 bit, for a +-10% pitch this means we can adjust pitch in increments of 0.01953% sensitivity. Which isn't perfect, but is about as good as it gets, thats why we have tempo nudge buttons.

[BentoSan]

10 bit would still be ridiculous amount of sensitivity. 2^10=1024 messages which should be enough to eliminate track drift (when scratching and) and is about 10 times more than 7 bit, for a +-10% pitch this means we can adjust pitch in increments of 0.01953% sensitivity. Which isn't perfect, but is about as good as it gets, thats why we have tempo nudge buttons.

Actually removing sticker drift completely is only possible if the unit started to send absolute messages of the jog wheel location. Relative messages are not as arrurate as an absolute message are, relative midi messages subject to rounding problems and lost midi messages that cause sticker drift - that said it increasing the resolution of the relative should help to increase the performance of the jogs but it still wont be perfect. Sadly there are issues that not only the firmware has to overcome for super tight intergration but also Traktor itself before we are going to get dream jogs.

[Karlos Santos]

BentoSan is, of course correct about sticker drift.
I do think though that this FW1.4 is great news for the VCI 100.
It does make the decision to buy a 100 and not a 300 a good one.
If it does implement 10bit ill be happy with it.
What Midifidler says about the faders is also true , they will be much more accurate and sufficient for me. You would have to be a bit ham-fisted not to be able to use 10 bit on the VCI faders.

Im happy. So *ahem* when is FW1.4 out.

*duck & cover*

[monstrejumo]

Hi,

this leads me to understand that the present 7bit pitch fader implementation is not so much useless to correctly beatmatch?

and yes, IF the 1.4 firmware is really to be released and IF it pushes sensitivity to 10bits... so I guess that will be allright and I don't need to wait for the new reloop to be released.

well, it's hard for me to make the decision...

anyone to insure me that the VCI is OK for manual beatmatching with firmware 1.2 ?

thanks a lot fellows
cheers