DJ software. What's best for my needs?

[bruns37]

Hello & thanks for reading. I still use 2 CD players to DJ with but bought a new laptop with a 400 GB external hard drive to hold ALL of my music. I've been wanting to computerize for a while now and my question is what is the best DJ software available for my needs?

What are my needs you ask? Simple. I'm NOT looking to become DJ Mastermixer King of all Dance Beats and Ultimate Ruler of all Music in the Universe making all kinds of my own mixes. What I am looking for is simply a software that knows when to start the next song in case I'm out of the booth and not there to start the next song.

Here's what would be dream software TO ME if it's out there.

1. The software would show a mixer on the screen and when player 1 has 5 seconds to go player 2 automatically kicks in by playing whatever is next in my playlist followed by player 1 playing what's next on my playlist etc.
3. Somewhere there's a search bar for me to enter the artist or song title so I don't have to scroll forever through over 30,000 songs and everything by that artist or by that song title will pop up and all I have to do is click the one I want and drag it into my playlist.
4. In other words I could put a bunch of songs in a playlist and drive home to take a dump and let the dog out without worrying about dead air while I'm gone. All I would be missing was anyone who wanted to make a request while I was gone.

Got any ideas?
THANKS

[Got Status?]

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=traktor3_us

I had this at version 1.0 and it rocked. It will do the minimal stuff you want and more.

Final Scratch is another that is a lot more intense and pricey.

Traktor and Final Scratch are software programs designed specifically for professional DJ use.

however.....

You might try looking at http://www.winamp.com... get their latest version... it has some basic stuff, nothin' fancy... but it'll play songs, search, create playlists, etc. Doesn't allow for effects really.

Hopefully this gets ya started on your search :)

[Got Status?]

I forgot to mention Winamp is free to download. You could also try several of the free media players like iTunes, Windows Media Player, Real Player... etc.

[Ruben]

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=traktor3_us

I had this at version 1.0 and it rocked. It will do the minimal stuff you want and more.

Final Scratch is another that is a lot more intense and pricey.

Traktor and Final Scratch are software programs designed specifically for professional DJ use.

however.....

You might try looking at http://www.winamp.com... get their latest version... it has some basic stuff, nothin' fancy... but it'll play songs, search, create playlists, etc. Doesn't allow for effects really.

Hopefully this gets ya started on your search :)

These are great programs, you should try them out. If you would like some DJ software let me know, i'm more then willing to send you some so you can test them all out and you can determine which one best fits your needs. Of course they would be full versions so you can play with them completely

[syndicate]

i've been looking at pcdj's products, i'm not a dj by profession..maybe a pro dj would say pcdj's products are basic? worth checking out though. $80 for their beginner software along with usb headphones. i dj'd a house party using winamp with a free crossfading plug-in. everyone loved it and a kid wanted to hire me for his upcoming birthday party. try winamp it may be all you need, there's tons of free plugins for it

[anders]

virtual dj

have used pcdj and worked for me but just moved over to virtual dj and works fine also can have different skins to the same layout as current market cd players but thats just for the personal touch lol

[bigbeat]

i've been looking at pcdj's products, i'm not a dj by profession..maybe a pro dj would say pcdj's products are basic? worth checking out though. $80 for their beginner software along with usb headphones. i dj'd a house party using winamp with a free crossfading plug-in. everyone loved it and a kid wanted to hire me for his upcoming birthday party. try winamp it may be all you need, there's tons of free plugins for it

The standard for basic computer based DJ'ing would be either PCDJ or VIRTUAL DJ. These are very solid working programs and pretty easy to use.

Of these two, I prefer VIRTUAL DJ because it seems to be the most stable.

[MixPro]

TRAKTOR 2.5.3

since 2004 and never a crash yet

[bruns37]

Thanks but does either Tracktor or PCDJ have a search bar?

[bigbeat]

Thanks but does either Tracktor or PCDJ have a search bar?

All Computer based DJ software has a search feature. Most now offer bpm clocking as well.

[DJTURBO]

i vote Virtual DJ as long as you have the usb controller...hercules mk2

[teenclub]

VIRTUAL DJ gets my vote

CHEAP and EASY -- all the features you want and more

plus it can do VIDEO

any format you have your music in will work

Shoot...i love it so much...i would sell it.

But then this would be SPAM...so fortunately its just a recommendation...feel free to paypal me a tip though.

very versatile...so if you later on want to be DJ KING SUPREME RULER POTENTATE...in your city...you can get funky fancy scmancy pants with it...if thats your thing

otherwise...put the playlist on autopilot and go do something else to make some money in your place.

[damion]

I use Serato Scratch and Abelton Live

If you are going to purchase anything, don't go for crap gear / software.

Damion

[blur07]

I use virtual dj every weekend.

Make sure it's Atomix Virtual DJ...other ones with the same name are crap.

[LiLF27]

I also use Virtual DJ, I find it very easy to use.

Ruben you said that you would send out some DJ software, would you mind hooking me up?

[JosiesBar]

I forgot to mention Winamp is free to download. You could also try several of the free media players like iTunes, Windows Media Player, Real Player... etc.

Yup, thats all we use is iTunes. Works great for us. Spared no expense, haha...

[bchabot]

What I am looking for is simply a software that knows when to start the next song in case I'm out of the booth and not there to start the next song.

Here's what would be dream software TO ME if it's out there.

1. The software would show a mixer on the screen and when player 1 has 5 seconds to go player 2 automatically kicks in by playing whatever is next in my playlist followed by player 1 playing what's next on my playlist etc.
3. Somewhere there's a search bar for me to enter the artist or song title so I don't have to scroll forever through over 30,000 songs and everything by that artist or by that song title will pop up and all I have to do is click the one I want and drag it into my playlist.
4. In other words I could put a bunch of songs in a playlist and drive home to take a dump and let the dog out without worrying about dead air while I'm gone. All I would be missing was anyone who wanted to make a request while I was gone.

Well... I am mostly a promoter for a twice-a-month goth/industrial night, but when a DJ is late or missing, I fill in. By trade, I work in the computer industry as an IT consultant and systems administrator... so I've ended up trying a lot of (mostly free) software... Take it as what it's worth here - I'm not a pro DJ but I do the job from time to time.

I run Linux (Mandriva) on my laptop. For software I use XMMS, which is kind of a free, open source clone of WinAmp. It's got a nice crossfader plugin that I can turn on or off in case I have to walk away. You can use the regular file manager (knoqueror) to drag and drop files to the play list (and there is a search function in konqueror...).

but for real mixing, I HATE the computer interface. Mice, trackballs, and touch pads suck for mixing. I use a Numark DM950USB (http://www.numark.com/dm950usb) to mix. It's under $100... It is a hardware two channel mixer that plugs into your laptop and is detected as a pair of generic sound cards. I run two instances of XMMS, one outputting to each "USB sound card" and use the slider to mix between them. Numark will tell you it's not Linux compatibel They lie. It's easier to set up in Linux than Windows.

I had a DJ who had laptop issues and I loaned him my set up. He fell in love and by the nex time he spun for me, he had installed linux on his laptop. His external USB and firewire drives were detected and worked flawlessly. Another of my DJs uses a Mac laptop and a similar USB mixer I found works fin in Linux as well.

Here's a quick how-to:

In Mandriva Linux:

1. Install XMMS, OSS, and update the system using urpmi or DrakConf.
2. Open xmms and in the options (options -> Preferences -> Options tab) make sure "Allow Multipls Instances" is checked.
3. Exit xmms to save changed to the config file.
4. Plug in your DM 950 USB and connect it to the Linux computer.
5. Start the first instance of xmms.
6. In Options -> Preferences -> Audio I/O Plugins click on the Configure button.
7. Select the FIRST instance of "USB Audio" for the output device and the mixer.
8. Click OK to return to the Preferences and OK again to return to xmms.
9. Start the seconf instance of xmms and repeat steps 6-8 but selecting the *second* USB Audio device listed.
10. Play files in each xmms window to determine which channel in the mixer they go to.


Hope this helps....

[soundguy_99]

Hey bruns37,
I agree with some of the other posts, Virtual DJ, and PCDJ. are good places to start, but I am a bit surprised that no one mentioned BPM which is another good program, and very similar to PCDJ. If youre going with those programs, you might want to consider their remotes, which can add a bit more familiarization for you, although it means another piece of gear.
Serato Scratch, Abelton Live and even Tracktor, are awesome programs, but might offer a bit stepper learning curve than what youre looking for. However if you don`t mind spending the extra time, they offer allot more features, than others.
Also if you want quality, maybe look into Flac files, and software that can support it.
Mp3's are great and like most of us you probably have allot of them already, however if you have software that can support flac files, and are planning on doing any sort of ripping in the future, you may want to consider ripping to Flac files instead of MP3's.
Flac files offer better quality than compressed Mp3's, although their slightly bigger in size their smaller than Wav files.
Just some thoughts.
soundguy_99

[Securitygeek]

I did a mobile service (with strippers) a few years ago and I used BPM. did everything I needed and a lot I never did, course I am security and not a dj, but hey we all wear the hats we need to. :)