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Rockit Pro DJ
LICENSING
How many computers can I install Rockit on?
I need to reinstall Rockit, because my system broke
and needed to be wiped -- how do I do this?
GENERAL
Does Rockit run an Apple
computers?
What audio file formats does
Rockit support?
Can I install Rockit without an
internet connection?
Does Rockit play iTunes music?
Does Rockit play Windows Media
music?
How do I rip my music into my
computer?
What types of files can Rockit's
video decks play?
How do I backup Rockit's library
and playlists?
SKINS AND DISPLAY
Rockit's skin is too big or small
for my screen - how do I fix that?
Text fields are being cut off -- how do I fix it?
TROUBLESHOOTING
Library Load Error on Startup of Rockit
Rockit hesitates while loading a
song into a deck, why?
Sometimes the playback skips on a song -- why?
Rockit Pro DJ FAQs
LICENSING
How many computers can I install Rockit on?
You can install and run
Rockit on two computers -- one main gig computer,
and one for backup, providing you are the only
person using it. Since we get many questions about
this, let us clarify -- that does not mean you can
let another DJ (or your wife, etc.) use your backup
for a different gig. It is for your sole use only.
We understand that computer based DJs like to have a
backup computer at a gig, and that is the only
reason we allow 2 instances of Rockit. Please do not
call us, and ask if you can run it on multiple
computers between home, work, the nail salon, blah,
blah, etc. Use common sense, and if in doubt, read
the above again :)
I need to reinstall Rockit, because my system broke
and needed to be wiped -- how do I do this?
V5 of Rockit is
delivered via secure links, that are only available
for a short time (between 24-48 hours). It is YOUR
responsibility to save a copy of the installation
program to another media (flash drive, CD ROM,
external drive, etc.) for backup purposes. If you do
not save a backup copy, and we have to regenerate
new links and codes for you, you will have to pay
the upgrade fee of $10, as it costs us time and
money to do this. So, make sure you save the
installation file, and also print out a copy of your
registration codes for future use.
GENERAL
Does Rockit run
an Apple computers?
No -- Rockit is Windows
based software. It may run using an emulator package
on an Apple, but we do not test in that
configuration, and can do no support for that.
What audio file
formats does Rockit support?
MP3 and WAV.
Can I install
Rockit without an internet connection?
Yes, the current version
can be installed without an internet connection.
Simply save the downloaded install file to a flash
drive, or burn it to a CD. Then copy that file onto
the computer without the connection, and run the
install.
Does Rockit play
iTunes music?
No, not in the native
AAC format. You can convert them using the latest
version of iTunes, or using a 3rd party audio
converter program. We do not supply those programs.
Does Rockit play
Windows Media music?
No, not in native WMA
format. You can convert them using a 3rd party audio
converter program. We do not supply those programs.
How do I rip my
music into my computer?
There are an abundance
of ripping programs available. In fact, you can use
iTunes and Windows Media Player to rip your songs,
you just need to set the options to rip to MP3 or
WAV format. We suggest MP3, because WAV
files are much larger, and generally do not have any
ability for tagging. We suggest ripping to MP3 at
192 Kbps or higher, to get the best quality.
We have a program called
AudioGrabber on our websites. This is an excellent
free ripping program, and there is a tutorial
available to get you started on our
Tutorials page.
Note: AudioGrabber is in the public domain, and
therefore we mirror the download on our websites. It
is NOT a SOFTJOCK product, and we do not do support
for it. They have their own support forums,
where you can learn many things about it. Do a
search for AudioGrabber, and you will find their
latest website with the links.
What types of files can Rockit's
video decks play?
Rockit's video decks are
DirectX based, meaning they work very similar to
Windows Media Player, and will play most files you
have a Codec installed for (with the two exceptions
being WMA and WMV).Rockit does not install any
Codecs itself, so if you need to play a particular
type of file, you will need to find the proper Codec
on the internet. The K-Lite Codec packs are used by
many people, and seem to perform well.
The video decks can also
play music files, and display image files, such as
BMP, JPG, GIF, etc.
How do I backup Rockit's library
and playlists?
By default, Rockit keeps
all library and playlist files in the folder
C:\SoftJock\RockitProDJ42 (or 41, 40 if you have
an older version). The library files have the file
extension .RDF, and playlists have an extension of .RPF.
So if you want a backup of these files, simply copy
all the RDF and RPF files into another folder,
drive, flash drive, etc. If you should need to
restore them after a reinstall of Rockit, just copy
them back into that folder. V5 and above has a
backup option on the File menu.
SKINS AND DISPLAY
Rockit's skin is too big or small
for my screen - how do I fix that?
Rockit is skin
dependent, meaning that the size and layout are
controlled by the skin mapper. We provide numerous
skins in the install, plus have plenty available for
download on this site, that have different sizes,
usages, etc. If you like a particular skin, and it
may be too big or small for your screen, you can
easily change your screen resolution in Windows
Desktop -- you can do this temporarily and switch
back after a Rockit session, or just change it and
leave it.
If you like to tweak
things, you can modify our existing skin mappers --
they are simply XML text files, and you can open in
any text editor like Notepad. It will be much easier
if you have a text editor that properly formats XML
files, and there are many freebies available on the
internet. You can also build your own skins from
scratch, in which case you will also need a graphics
program such as Photoshop, to build the background
image and controls.
Our Tutorials page
contains a Basic Skinning Modifications tutorial, as
well as the full skinning reference manual, if you
want to go beyond simple changes.
Text fields are being cut off -- how do I fix it?
Rockit's skins are
designed using default Windows text DPI settings
(100%). If you have changed your settings to view
larger text, the fields in Rockit will be clipped.
In Windows 7, you right-click on an empty
spot of the Desktop, select Screen Resolution
from the pop-up menu, then click on Make text and
other items larger or smaller. You should set
this to Smaller - 100% (default.). You can
also adjust the skins font size, although this will
take some knowledge of our skinning system -- please
see the tutorial page for instructions on how to do
basic skinning modifications.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Library Load Error on startup of Rockit (
applies to V4.x)
If when starting Rockit,
you receive a message that says "There was an error
when loading your library database, and it could not
be parsed properly.", it means you have added tracks
that contain embedded NULL or control characters in
the tag data, and Rockit cannot fully load the
database. Click the Ok button, and Rockit will
continue loading, but will display an empty track
list. Close Rockit, and go to our Downloads page,
and download the Library Analyzer located in the
Tools section at the bottom of the page. Save that
file into the C:\SoftJock\RockitProDJ42
folder, and then run the file. It has instructions
at the top of the screen, on how to remove the
offending files from our database, so Rockit will
load normally.
Rockit hesitates while loading a
song into a deck, why?
This will sometimes
occur when you are using an external hard drive, and
the drive has spun down to conserve power. In that
case, the drive has to spin up to speed, before
Rockit can load the song into a deck or queue. You
can alleviate that problem by using our MDIS (My
Disk Is Spinning) utility program, which runs in the
background, and keeps the external drive spinning
continuously. See the download page to get a copy of
MDIS for free.
Sometimes the playback skips on a song -- why?
There are two possible
causes -- hard drive access, and CPU usage:
Rockit is a streaming
program, meaning it is reading the song from your
hard drive during playback. This means that if
another process running on your computer tries to
access the drive at the same time, it can interrupt
Rockit's ability to read the next batch of data to
play. The usual suspects are anti virus programs and
programs that index files on your hard drive for
searches. You should generally turn these types of
programs off during a gig.
If another process
spikes the CPU usage to near 100%, all other
programs take a hit, including Rockit. As above,
it's best to have as few processes running on your
computer as possible during a gig.
The easiest way to find
either of these issues, is to use Windows Task
Manager. Open it up, and go to the Processes tab,
and you will see all processes running on your
computer. On the View menu, you can select the
columns you would like to see, and the ones of most
importance to us are CPU, IO Reads and IO Writes. If
you see spikes in any of these columns, identify the
program the process belongs to (Google is very
helpful for this, as there are many sites devoted to
identifying processes), and then see if you need
that process running. Many off the shelf computers
have a lot of bloatware running in the background,
and most can be removed to speed up your computer.
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