"No new data to sync" - Yes, there is!

[Doctor_Lasor]

Happy to have turned the back on that other famous company to buy a Denon SC Live 4 – I was, but only until I received it. It is missing one feature that is as basic as it is essential (modifying ratings [feature request dinosaur]); but even if it had it, this bug that I’m reporting here would kick in which essentially makes the device unusable for me.

The aim

Organize music collection on the controller by adding cues and loops (and potentially by modifying ratings, tags, comments). Put music from Desktop to USB, modify on the controller, re-import to desktop.

The bug

After modifying tracks on the USB and plugging it back into the desktop, the sync manager says “No new data to sync”. The “SYNC TO ENGINE DJ” button is greyed out:

Likewise, in the “Drives” pane, the “Resync Track Info” button is greyed out: When I click on the modified song on the USB drive, I see the added hot cues. When I click on the same song in the library, they are not there.

Desired behaviour

The two mentioned buttons should not be greyed out. Instead, I want to happily click on them to the effect that the hot cues (and other changes such as beat grid) make it from the USB drive into my desktop library.

How to reproduce

I’m using an external 2GB harddrive that has one 1GB exFAT partition for having Engine DJ store my entire library. For creating this test case, I have renamed the only folder, Engine Library, to Engine Library.bak so that Engine DJ would see it as an empty drive. The sequence of fails is the same with my main library.

I open Engine DJ and synchronize two small playlists with that drive:

After successful export, I click on the eject button. It does eject the drive, but I receive the error message “Drive not ejected properly. This action can corrupt the database. Eject device before unplugging.” Probably a sign that something’s wrong here.

Indeed, things are fishy from that point already. I reconnect the drive and see that all songs now display the same album cover, contrary to those in my library: All songs in both playlists have the cover of the first song in the first playlist, which should be the only one with that cover. This time I eject through the “Drives” pane and don’t get an error message this time.

I plut it into the Denon controller, load a song, set hot cues, eject the drive. Plug it back into the computer → The Bug.

Specs

Engine DJ 4.1.0 running on Windows 11, x64 CPU. SC Live 4 running EngineOS 4.1.0. Toshiba USB harddrive.

[Homeland101]

I’m a new user too but I’m doing things a different way to avoid using Sync Manager. It’s widely documented it doesn’t work properly and is yet to be fixed I believe.

Rather than syncing each way using Engine I just sync my collection to the SD card in it’s normal folder layout in Windows (using Synchredible) then create the collection directly so the database is created on the SD card. Any changes made during play stay on the card permanently.

Takes the hassle out of using Sync Manager.

[Pasha]

@Doctor_Lasor

but only until I received it. It is missing one feature that is as basic as it is essential (modifying ratings

Some additional research, as brief as a google search, would have established that the feature is not present. It may never be on these models. It’s just a case of hopeful, optimistic patience

You might not find this answer helpful, but buying something based on guessing and assumption, rather than research, can lead to buyers remorse, at no fault of the manufacturer.

But yes, for your other, main, question… the database sync should sync

[mufasa]

@Homeland101

Rather than syncing each way using Engine I just sync my collection to the SD card in it’s normal folder layout in Windows (using Synchredible) then create the collection directly so the database is created on the SD card

I hope you are considering the possibility that your SD card and it’s database will fail (it is a matter of when)

Do you have a plan in place of what you are going to do when it happens?

@Doctor_Lasor

Engine DJ 4.1.0 running on Windows 11, x64 CPU. SC Live 4 running EngineOS 4.1.0. Toshiba USB harddrive.

Where is Desktop music stored?

Is it on the Toshiba? Did you plug that same Toshiba to your engine device or are you exporting to a different usb stick ?

Test again by following this steps

1. Get a separate usb stick
2. Use sync manager to add a small playlist
3. Eject the usb stick, plug it to your DJ device
4. Add a new hot cue
5. Eject and plug it back to laptop
6. Check if sync manager sees the new info

Take screenshots

[Homeland101]

@mufasa

I hope you are considering the possibility that your SD card and it’s database will fail (it is a matter of when)

Do you have a plan in place of what you are going to do when it happens?

Yes. The SD card is just for mucking about. I keep a regular backup of the Engine Library folder which I can copy over to a Samsung T7 for gigs.

[Doctor_Lasor]

Sorry but this answer is not helpful. Denon is one of the big competitors, this is one of their latest devices. Obviously I will assume that features that I consider a no-brainer would be there. By letting such a basic feature request rot for so long, you risk that poselytes like me will turn away rather quickly and go back to what they know.

[Doctor_Lasor]

I guess the aim here should be that the sync manager works. Also, no SD card is large enough to fit my collection. Anyway, I’m happy that you have a solution that works for you!

[Doctor_Lasor]

@mufasa

Where is Desktop music stored?

Is it on the Toshiba? Did you plug that same Toshiba to your engine device or are you exporting to a different usb stick ?

Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. By desktop, I mean the Windows system where all the music lives. The Toshiba USB harddrive is the one that has a copy of the entire collection. The idea would be to always use my controller with the hard drive and, from time to time, plug it back into the computer to update the collection there.

@mufasa

• Get a separate usb stick
• Use sync manager to add a small playlist
• Eject the usb stick, plug it to your DJ device
• Add a new hot cue
• Eject and plug it back to laptop
• Check if sync manager sees the new info

Yes, good idea to test with another drive. I performed these steps and got the same behaviour, with one difference: Upon clicking “Eject”, I did not get “Drive not ejected properly”; instead I got this:

“small” is the name of the pen drive and Engine DJ gets stuck on this message with a turning loading wheel. It is the same message that you get when ejecting on the Denon controller, except that the control button “Eject anyway” is missing here. Since clicking or Escape weren’t doing anything here, I close the “window” with a shortcut, which gave me the normal GUI blocked by a large, turning loading wheel, before the entire program closed.

Anyway, I ejected the pen drive from the system, successfully added a cue to two of the tracks on the Denon SC Live 4, plugged it back into the computer, and here we have the exact same bug (“No new data to sync”), in conjunction with that same bonus bug that on the USB drive, all tracks have the same cover:

This is how the first four tracks of the exported playlist look after adding one hot cue each to the first and fourth one (all with the same black cover):

Whereas in the original playlist on my desktop they look like this (correct, original covers):

Note also that the wave forms look quite different, with the exported ones more stretched.

[mufasa]

The extra information is great.

1. Let’s take the Toshiba out of the equation for now
2. How many internal hard drive do you have on the desktop?
3. Test again using your desktop library by using sync manager to the stick ie the files are located in your desktop internal drive
4. Add cues on the device
5. Check if it finds new data when you plug it to the desktop

[Doctor_Lasor]

Sorry I don’t know what you’re asking since I already did that and reported the outcome. The drive called “small” is a small, 4 GB USB stick in exFAT format. For my last post, I didn’t touch the Toshiba, I just mentioned it in my answer to your previous question.

[mufasa]

Well something is not working as expected in your set up

1. Can you rename your Engine Library folder - you will find it C/Music folder. If you have extra internal drive in your computer check them as well and rename the engine folders in those locations. Eg D, E drive etc
2. Start up engine desktop after renaming the folder,it should be empty
3. Drag one or two tracks from your desktop music folder to engine collection
4. Export the track to the small usb using sync manager
5. Add cue points
6. Check if Engine desktop sees the new info

There is someone else reporting this

No Sync back from Engine OS (Prime 4)

Hello, I’m having a problem syncing my Prime 4 to Engine Desktop. The sync from desktop to Prime 4 works perfectly. However, if I set CUE points on the Prime 4 during the gig, for example, I am not offered the option of bringing the changes from the Prime 4 back to Engine Desktop later when syncing with Engine Desktop. The corresponding button remains inactive. I also use LexiconDJ. If I import from Prime 4 to LexiconDJ it works and the changes are applied. Greetings Kai-Uwe

[Doctor_Lasor]

I’ve solved the problem by resetting my library. The databases had been created via export from an external tool (MIXO) and it seems that this is what caused the bug. I’ve imported everything from scratch and now the sync is working as it should. It wasn’t a huge issue for me because I don’t rely on hot cues so much. Obviously it’s annoying to have lost previously corrected beat grids but also not a huge problem.

In order to not lose the things I wanted to keep:

• I took screenshots of the settings of my smart playlists to recreate them anew.
• I recreated my ratings as 1-5 star emojis in the Composer field which is stored to the files’ metadata
• after adding and analyzing all tracks to the blank database, I opened the view of my Serato library from where I could import all my playlists (which worked like a breeze).

Obviously, I could have kept the playlists, remove all tracks and re-add them, but I wanted to be on the safe side and start from scratch.

[mufasa]

@Doctor_Lasor

after adding and analyzing all tracks to the blank database, I opened the view of my Serato library from where I could import all my playlists (which worked like a breeze).

That’s great news

Tip -

If you had done the Serato import to Engine first to the new blank Engine Database, you might have rescued some hotcues from your Serato library in addition to playlists/crates