Beatport Link instability SC5000

Engine DJ Hardware Media Players
1

Hi All,

I am currently encountering a very curious issue with my current setup using Beatport Link. I have a pair of SC5000’s connected via ethernet cable to an X1800 mixer (typical configuration). The X1800 is then connected directly to an ethernet port on the router with direct access to the internet.

Each SC5000 has wireless disabled so it uses the ethernet connection to access Beatport streaming services. Additionally I have reserved the DHCP addresses on the router for all three devices to ensure they remain static.

At present, when using Beatport Link, one of the decks (the same one every time incidentally) will stop responding to user input. The waveform will freeze, the play pause button will appear to be playing, however there is no audio output. I can change the status of the play pause button, however I cannot scroll through the waveform, nor can I manipulate the track using the jog or transport buttons.

At this juncture, the deck is effectively hung and unresponsive forcing a complete reboot of the unit to restore functionality.

What is interesting is that the other deck will continue to function without any issues whatsoever. It is leading me to believe that I either have a software or potentially hardware related issue with the faulting deck.

I have never had any issue with this deck when loading tracks over the ethernet connection from a source connected to the remote deck.

The issue I have at this point is that due to the instability of the Beatport Link solution on this one SC5000, I am often forced to reboot mid way through a set which in turn breaks the stagelinq connection to SoundSwitch effectively meaning I have to troubleshoot multiple issues at once while attempting to stream!!

I am looking for advice from any other users of Beatport Link…have you experienced similar issues with the service when in a similar configuration to mine…have you managed to resolve them and if so, what was the solution you found most effective?

It is unfortunate, as the streaming platform is really very good when it works, so I would really love to get this stable so I can have some confidence in it when playing live.

Many thanks,

Simon

2

Hi Simon,

I had an issue that was similar to yours but i do not use a denon mixer in my setup. i had to manually fix the port speed and duplex on my router ethernet ports as the sc5000M’s did not autonegotiate the duplex setting correctly and they were switching to half duplex, which in turn caused peformance issues in beatport link as the SC5000M’s could not recieve and transmit data at the same time over ethernet.

So maybe swap cables, ports on the mixer and go direct to the router on the faulty deck to see if it still persists. could also try a Engine OS firmware re-install.

3

Hi Ampliphase,

Thank you so much for the suggestions…I hadn’t considered wiring the deck directly to the router as a test so I will certainly give that a try. As I have the decks connected to the mixer, I would hope that auto negotiation of link speeds is handled correctly.

I will try a direct connection and see what happens.

4

Are you planning to connect them like CDJs/DJM ie with an external switch?

5

Hi Mufasa, I hadn’t planned on doing it that way, I would prefer to leave them connected directly to the X1800 hub, however as a test it will probably be a good exercise to connect the faulting deck to the router to see if it is the deck or possibly a problem with the port on the mixer maybe.

It is very odd, and tough to troubleshoot as ordinary use of the deck using USB sticks on the second deck and connecting to it as a remote source works fine…although I have to admit I have noticed some lag when browsing through the crate lists.

6

I don’t have the X1800 but a SC5000 and Prime GO. I’ve had no issues with the Prime GO with connectivity but the SC5000 would drop from the network frequently. So I did an experiment with my DJ networking. I ran the gambit from $10k enterprise switches to Ubiquity stuff, managed and unmanaged D-Link and Netgear stuff (day job let’s me have access to lots of stuff).

I found the cheaper the switch with no management and 10/100 speed, the better the connection and no issues with connectivity. So now I run an old D-Link DSS-5+ Desktop Switch I was going to recycle as my DJ gear switch setup.