Traktor 3.9 is -almost- "crashing" (no sound, blurry waveforms)

SpirosG

So, I have faced this bug three times the last two months already.

During my sets, somewhere in the middle, the music stops, the waveform becomes blurry, the app remains functional, but for some reason, Traktor is not able to read any track from my collection. Although I can load tracks on the decks, their waveform is blurry and of course there is no sound. And this is happening with all of my (3) Music Drives, Traktor is not able to read any track from any drive.

I'm trying to reproduce the issue using the same track, but it's impossible. It seems completely random. I also tried to check the tracks for errors using mp3diags and mp3test, but there is no problem with the tracks according to these apps.

Sûlherokhh

It may be an USB issue, connecting your drives to your computer. Make sure that your computer is not allowed to switch off power for the devices, including the corresponding USB hub(s).

You should check both the settings in Power Managment (some subpage) and additionally the device manager.

Please come back and tell if this helps, so we can pinpoint the problem.

SpirosG

All of the above are already done. The laptop is already optimized for djing, so I have followed all of the suggested settings to avoid these sort of problems.

But again, other apps, like MusicBee for example, are able to playback any track at the same time Traktor is not, so I guess it's not on my side

alec.tron

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/15976/traktor-3-9-is-almost-crashing-no-sound-blurry-waveforms

I've had the same, but at least 2 years ago - so this is definetily an old ish issue. Flagged it with support then, but to no real avail - in their defence, I neither found a way to reproduce this, but had it occur a few dozen times with the version/s where I first had the issue.

But, this one worries me a lot as it was utterly random and only a restart fixed it (essentially making it a complete showstopper). Some Traktor version seemed to have been more prone to produce this randomly, but, I have not had it since - but I'm not playing much these days either...

c.

Kubrak

I guess it is related to driver for audio interface or USB.

SpirosG

I tried to change all the cables and the hub when it firstly happened, but I still face the same problem.

USB or audio interface drivers are the same for at least the last two years.

Once again tonight, Traktor stopped reading my HHD's in the middle of the set. It becomes unusable at this point.

Kubrak

If you think, the problem is in 3.9 version... What about rolling back to earlier version? Doing that, you could verify, that the problems relate to 3.9.

Your problems may be caused by many reasons. Generally it is not advisable to connect audiointerface using the USB hub.

Also, you do not write, what external discs you use. But generally, they may go to sleep mode after some time, if not used. And because of some reason, they do not wake up, when needed.

Do you have Mac or Win? And if Win what CPU and GPU? TP 3.9 exhibits problems on systems that have AMD GPU. But different problems to what you describe.

Also, why do you use several external disc at the same time?

It is difficult to find the source of problems, if they show up only here and there and after long time...

I would make the setup as simple as possible, just one external disc, no USB hub (if possible), and used the same USB socket for for each device. And write down exact setup that made problem.

Later change just one element, like try different USB socket for the disc, and use it on in this configuration. And so on.

Your problem is not widespread as it would be reported by numerous users.... So, it is caused by something in your setup. Hard to say what...

DJDL

I am seeing a similar issue. And it also appears randomly. Last weekend, played around 15 hours without any problems. But the weekend before that, I experienced 3 freezes throughout some 10 hours of playing. When it did happen, it was after a few hours into the gig, all of a sudden there is a lack of responsiveness in the browser section and a few seconds later, the sound stops in the middle of the track. I have to restart the program to regain control and sound output.

I am using TP3 3.9. Traktor S4MK3. Macbook Pro M1 Pro, Monterey. Music is in my internal, main drive. I also keep an external SD card mounted, where I store some older playlists, but I don't regularly resort to them. It seems to be a very random issue, which is not easy to replicate if I wanted to. I tried playing the last song that caused the system hang, but after a restart it played just fine.

I do remember that one thing that triggered the freeze at least one of the times was using the preview player. But even then, I use it plenty of times without issues.

Already filed a ticket, and the issue is being looked at.

Cheers.

ChrisMadem

I met the same problem in April when I bought a new m2 MacBook and native allow me to install only 3.8… this phenomenon happened to me many times with controller and cdjs 3000 with nxs2 too…,change cables ..change hub but in 3.8 this happened almost every time … when upgrade to 3.9 played 40 times without problem and I said that unfortunately this problem solved and suddenly blurry waveform appears again with no sound … playing from may till now every day and this phenomeno appears 3 times till now … before three days I searched one old track from my finder (all the tracks is supported format ) and after 3 seconds the program closed suddenly…is this serious???? after some tests i think that this phenomenon with blurry waveform appears when i load tracks from spotlight without analyze and check consistency... can this maybe happen?

Native Instruments can you try to help us and solved all these problems ?

@Ryan_NI , @Mark_NI ,

tac0cat

FINALLY I don't feel so alone. I'm on m1 and was having troubles with s8 freezing so I moved to my s4 mk3 and now I'm having the exact same problem. There's no way I can recreate the issue. I'll have a waveform freeze and audio completely drop out. I have to force close and pray it doesn't happen again during a set.

bogsan

Can confirm, I'm encountering the same issue; M1 macbook air, S4 MK3. Tested both on 3.9 and 3.10.

Anselm.

I've already rolled back to 3.8 on Windows... quite a hustle but two crashes on two gigs where too much... lets see what 3.10 brings.

SpirosG

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/90911#Comment_90911

This problem appeared after the 3.9. Unfortunately i didn't try to use previous versions cause the problem appears randomly and there is no pattern to reproduce it.

The audio interface is directly connected to the laptop. USB -powered- is only used to connect the HDDs.

HDD's are 3 WD Black D10 12TB. I've made sure that they don't go to sleep through a script that reads or write a small file in the HDD every specific interval.

My system is running Windows 11, CPU is thei7-6700HQ and the GPU is the  Nvidia GTX 1060.

Cause am an open format DJ and my music collection is, let's call it big, 30TB.

Your problem is not widespread as it would be reported by numerous users.... So, it is caused by something in your setup. Hard to say what...

A simple search for "Traktor audio loss and blurry waveforms" shows that its a bit widespread, reddit or the forum here, are full of people complaining about the same issue.

Dimitris Karipidis

Same problem here Macbook Pro M2 sonoma Crashes Randomly please any updates?

I work at clubs every night and it keeps crashing without any reason,

I work with traktor many years and never had any problems

I use s2mk3 and traktor latest version

I opened up ticket with support and they never replied I even send them the logs from the program but nothing please any updates?

6Tone

I have rolled back to 3.71 with m2 MacBook and it still happens with my s4 mk3. super frustrating, can't play out like that. I think I have to make the switch to RB, don't want to but have to.

DJDL

My latest crash was yesterday at an important event. I am sad to say that Traktor is crashing in about 1/3 (or more) of events I use it in. I opened the ticket with NI and even though they were kind and eager to help, nothing was solved. That ticket has now been closed, issue still remains. Last night's crash was while previewing a track, 20 mins into the gig. Ironically, the decks froze, music stopped, and I was seemingly able to quit the program until it further stuck at the Flushing Background Tasks step. That dreaded ghost from days past. Gladly it is no longer but a faint shadow of itself, as it has not happened in a long time. I attribute yesterdays appearance to being circumstantial in light of the greater issue. The previous crash happened while deleting a playlist during the gig just before last night's event.

I am sad to say that because of the state the program is in (3.9), at least for my particular setup (Mac M1, Monterey, S4MK), it is not fit or dependable for professional use. A roughly 30% or more estimate of application failure during a live performance is unacceptable. 3.8 was pretty stable in spite of some sound quirks, and variables have remained the same in my setup except for updating to 3.9. I have unsuccessfully tried to work out any culprits other than the application itself. I have done massive library organization and optimization in 3.9., (a few months worth of prep work), so rolling back is not an option.

Traktor is by far my preferred platform for djing, has been for many many years, and I am far from considering leaving it. But as of now, I have no choice but to resort to other ecosystems for important gigs until a new stable version of Traktor is released. Im aware that 3.10 is out, but there are reports all over claiming that this issue is still not addressed, plus release notes do not mention fixes. Is there a remote possibility that the simple act of updating to 3.10 might help? Just might try that, as things cannot be worse than they are now.

This rant is in no way intended for any reason other than putting a bit of pressure on the team to make stability a priority for next release.

Cheers!