Preparing laptop for DJing - Digital DJ Tips

This topic has 40 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 11 months ago by Phil Morse.

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August 6, 2011 at 9:25 am #1001291

jezalenko
Member

Uninstall anivirus! Noooooo!

Personally, I just kill everything which is not music related, restart the laptop (for fresh RAM) turn off Wi-Fi and only plug in what is needed for DJing.

Also, it can help to tune your computer using a program called LatencyMon. It picks up things which can also increase latency within the computer too.

August 6, 2011 at 12:02 pm #1001294

mr stifffy
Member

Antivirus takes up a lot of memory and a lot of them do stuff in the backround… It depends what you use your dj laptop for… In my case its pretty much: traktor, download music, check here, check djtt, check facebook then more traktor.

And for that I dont need antivirus.

August 6, 2011 at 12:04 pm #5278

mr stifffy
Member

mr stifffy, post: 5270 wrote: Antivirus takes up a lot of memory and a lot of them do stuff in the backround… It depends what you use your dj laptop for… In my case its pretty much: traktor, download music, check here, check djtt, check facebook then more traktor.

And for that I dont need antivirus.

Oo I also leave my wifi on, never really bothers me since cant get a connection in most places and has never affected my laptop.

If there is a factory overclock mode on your laptop, use it and also keep the charger plugged in if possible as some laptops speed up a bit whilst plugged in.

August 6, 2011 at 12:14 pm #5280

Seiza
Member

Thanks for the reply’s!

August 6, 2011 at 12:17 pm #5281

mr stifffy
Member

No prob, glad to help

August 9, 2011 at 3:49 pm #5491

D-Jam
Participant

Before the gig I make sure Windows is up to date as well as any drivers and software.

I run CCleaner to clean my hard drive and registry. It’s freeware.

I then defragment my hard drive.

At the gig, I disable the antivirus and the wireless.

Other than that, I try to keep bloatware and unnecessary stuff off my laptop. I make sure installed programs aren’t running processes in the system tray. Many of them aren’t necessary.

August 9, 2011 at 11:15 pm #5518

NewportDJ Drew
Participant

*thinks* (very dangerous) I have this crazy idea…. would the abilty to be able to ‘boot to traktor’ where the program was actually a self contained o/s. Hmmm can you hear the gears whirring in my head from where you are? Is it possible? A cut down o/s with display, audio, sata and USB drivers, that loads traktor full screen, and hmm thats about it? That way you are always booting into a clean system running minimal hardware drivers and no bloat at all?

August 9, 2011 at 11:22 pm #5519

D-Jam
Participant

Traktor originally ran on Linux when it was with Final Scratch.

Unfortunately it was a special build of Linux and thus it worked terribly.

In the end, the trick is just knowing how to use the OS and knowing the limits of your computer.

August 9, 2011 at 11:26 pm #5520

NewportDJ Drew
Participant

I was thinking more a vanilla windows cut right down to basics, maybe on another partition (dual boot)? That way your not messing with settings before gigs and you have the luxury of a normal o/s when away from gigs?

August 10, 2011 at 12:27 am #5522

mr stifffy
Member

Surely knowing your system is handy, its good think to shut down your laptop and do a fresh start to get stuff out of the rams memory other then that, dj programs are built to be run on a normal laptop, nothing fancy so if you have to do everything to get it to run i suggest upgrading your laptop, like i run on a netbook with nothing done to it bar extra gb of ram and thats lasted me 2 years… No problems since traktor 2

August 10, 2011 at 1:28 am #5524

Haroon
Participant

D-Jam, post: 5485 wrote: Before the gig I make sure Windows is up to date as well as any drivers and software.

I run CCleaner to clean my hard drive and registry. It’s freeware.

I then defragment my hard drive.

At the gig, I disable the antivirus and the wireless.

Other than that, I try to keep bloatware and unnecessary stuff off my laptop. I make sure installed programs aren’t running processes in the system tray. Many of them aren’t necessary.

:rolleyes: Are you joking?

August 10, 2011 at 9:52 am #5542

Marc Andy Tilley
Member

it can be done minimal windows on other partition. start up to Traktor or Similiar

try ubcd4winor Almeza Multi set or try run of a bootable os cd or usb

August 10, 2011 at 10:45 am #5544

mr stifffy
Member

Marc Andy Tilley, post: 5536 wrote: it can be done minimal windows on other partition. start up to Traktor or Similiar

try ubcd4winor Almeza Multi set or try run of a bootable os cd or usb

But rather pointless… Traktor serato and the likes have been designed to run on an average pc or laptop… Ive never had problems running mine on a standard netbook with other thinks running… People shouldnt need to special partitions on their drive unless they are computer disabled (they will blow shit up with a mouse click) if someone is capable of actually patitioning a drive they should be more then capable not to install shit every chance they get….

August 10, 2011 at 3:41 pm #5562

U31
Member

I’ve mentioned this many times, I run dual boot, 3 partitions, Windows 7 for everyday jobbing, XP for all the music programmes- i just love the way XP works with everything with no conflict issues, then the music files go in to the 3rd partition.
And to be totally honest, 7 does almost nothing any better then XP and takes up less resources doing it..
I think i only run 7 because of the ease of homegroup, which is lame because setting up a network is a doddle, and manipulating files between folders on individual machines and within the homegroup / network seems a little cleaner in 7. Maybe i fell for the marketing hype 😀

August 10, 2011 at 5:02 pm #5567

Michael M. Hughes
Participant

I turn my laptop on.
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