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[John Livings]

Hi All,

Non DJ looking for DJ advice.

I am thinking about putting together a "Small" DJ type rig to allow Myself and Students to do a quasi DJ show.

Our thought was to use our existing gear (Speakers, Amps, Mixer...) and get a "Simple" software Controller to use with a MAC laptop. (If something like that exists)

Our goal is to do some simple DJ tricks (whatever that means) and limit any extra hardware.
like turn-tables, vinyl, CDs ...

Are there any recommended books or tutorials on going digital for DJs?

We will be grateful for any suggestions.

Regards,  John   

[Randy Pence]

Hi All,

Non DJ looking for DJ advice.

I am thinking about putting together a "Small" DJ type rig to allow Myself and Students to do a quasi DJ show.

Our thought was to use our existing gear (Speakers, Amps, Mixer...) and get a "Simple" software Controller to use with a MAC laptop. (If something like that exists)

Our goal is to do some simple DJ tricks (whatever that means) and limit any extra hardware.
like turn-tables, vinyl, CDs ...

Are there any recommended books or tutorials on going digital for DJs?

We will be grateful for any suggestions.

Regards,  John   

rane serato and native instruments traktor software packages are hte industry standards for what you want to do. 

research them and you will find the various hardware manufacturers developing solutions for your situation. Native, numark, stanton, etc all make integrated hardware units for controlling said software.

[John Livings]

Hi Randy,

I checked out your suggestions, Thanks.

We were actually wondering if there was anything that operated using only
a computer and mouse and software?

For break music and Theater Shows we use a Laptop and iTunes, our goal is to do some basic DJ tricks (Mixes,Loops,Effects...) using Just the Laptop, Mouse, Keyboard and Software.

I guess it may be called "Virtual DJing".

We do use a Full size Keyboard and a 5-Button Mouse with the laptop now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Regards,  John

[Steve Kendrick]

Hi Randy,

I checked out your suggestions, Thanks.

We were actually wondering if there was anything that operated using only
a computer and mouse and software?

For break music and Theater Shows we use a Laptop and iTunes, our goal is to do some basic DJ tricks (Mixes,Loops,Effects...) using Just the Laptop, Mouse, Keyboard and Software.

I guess it may be called "Virtual DJing".

We do use a Full size Keyboard and a 5-Button Mouse with the laptop now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Regards,  John

Have a look at RPM by Gizmolabs or maybe Ableton, both can be controlled by keyboard and mouse.

http://gizmolabs.net/

http://www.ableton.com/live-8

Steve

[Randy Pence]

Hi Randy,

I checked out your suggestions, Thanks.

We were actually wondering if there was anything that operated using only
a computer and mouse and software?

For break music and Theater Shows we use a Laptop and iTunes, our goal is to do some basic DJ tricks (Mixes,Loops,Effects...) using Just the Laptop, Mouse, Keyboard and Software.

I guess it may be called "Virtual DJing".

We do use a Full size Keyboard and a 5-Button Mouse with the laptop now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Regards,  John

ive never used either, but imagine that you can control them with a traditional computer setup.

I have ableton live, but its really not as comfortable for djing, as its library searching is clumsy (id3 tags and stuff).  You can cut and paste songs from itunes/mediamonkey/foobar/etc, but serato and traktor have well developed library search functions built in.  However, if you already know what you might be playing, you can certainly use ableton.

one thing to consider is that ableton converts any mp3s to a wav or aiff for internal processing and this performance may or may not be as smooth as with serato and traktor.

[John Livings]

Hi Randy and Steve,

I will check out the suggestions.

I also found this;

http://www.algoriddim.com/djay-mac/specs

Or if I had an ipad or the G-4 iPhone.

Unbelievable that it seems like you could do basic DJing with a newer iPhone or even a newer iPod or iPad

Regards,  John

[Dave Scarlett]

I have an older copy of "MixMeister" that works great, and can make you sound close to a pro with little or no effort. I see there's a number of newer versions as well:

http://www.mixmeister.com/

[John Livings]

Hi All,

Just to update, I found out that I actually have an 4S iphone (I thought mine was much older) I did have to update the ios from 4.02 to 5.0 and downloaded this App.for the special price of .99 cents.

http://itunes.apple.com/app/djay-for-iphone-ipod-touch/id424492403?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Way Cool, we will try this out tomorrow using 2 Peavey QW-4s 

We used this app. "djay" today for about an hour plugged into a Bose X-10, everyone had fun.

Again, thanks for the suggestions, If I find anything else I will post it, Please feel
free to do the same.

Regards,  John

[Tracy Garner]

Hi All,

Non DJ looking for DJ advice.

I am thinking about putting together a "Small" DJ type rig to allow Myself and Students to do a quasi DJ show.

Our thought was to use our existing gear (Speakers, Amps, Mixer...) and get a "Simple" software Controller to use with a MAC laptop. (If something like that exists)

Our goal is to do some simple DJ tricks (whatever that means) and limit any extra hardware.
like turn-tables, vinyl, CDs ...

Are there any recommended books or tutorials on going digital for DJs?

We will be grateful for any suggestions.

Regards,  John   

if you want the industry standard, go with Serato Scratch live. If you just want a controller, look for controllers that come bundled with Serato Itch - both made by Rane.

[John Livings]

if you want the industry standard, go with Serato Scratch live. If you just want a controller, look for controllers that come bundled with Serato Itch - both made by Rane.

Thanks Tracy,

I did have a look at "Serato", however at this time it looks to be much
more advanced than anyone (Including myself) can handle.

Maybe with a lot more practice we can move up the ladder.

At this point we are doing the most basic things, learning to DJ.

For the students that want to take the quantum leap, I will suggest looking into this.

Is the trend going to a "Minimal" approach as far as using ipads or in our case an iphone with a software controller (djay)?

Regards,  John