deathy

Callum – The course isn’t specific to any platform or software… if you have an iPad with, say, an iDJ controller, then the course will still have relevance for you.

However, if you mean that you use an iPad exclusively with nothing additional, then while you would get some benefit from the course, there would be some things it will go over that you won’t really have an easy time doing. That’s not to say you wouldn’t still get a fair amount of benefit, though, but, yeah… a controller really helps a lot with DJing.

Terry – Is that San Diego or South Dakota? Los Angeles or Louisiana?

You ask a very specific question, so I will start there… keep it up. Your mix is more than good enough for your first. I am not terribly familiar with the mixing techniques of your genre, so I can’t comment too much on that, but it all flowed well, so it seemed a good first to me.

Hi, Callum, welcome!

Hi, Tyler, welcome!

Have you tried turning down the cue level? It sounds like the volume is too high on it, but when you plug in speakers, the fact that they have their own volume control is reducing the level, whereas on headphones, you’re getting only the full level.

True to form for myself, I’m looking forward to using the OpenDeck stuff to build my own from scratch… but I am really not ready to do that yet. I am loving my TM8… the jogs are so smooth, like buttah.

Looking at the specs on Gemini’s site, it does say “PC/MAC Audio interface (up to 24-bit/192 kHz),” so I would expect that should work as a sound card with Mixxx (which will work with any sound interface device that your OS can reference)… though how good it will support it as a controller is an entirely different covnersation.

It is not one of the controllers that will just work automatically with Mixxx, it will require you to create the map yourself – and boy, you think people complain about how complex it is to get a mapping to work in Traktor? Mixxx is actually work – it has a learning wizard, but it’s not going to be a terribly satisfying mapping. You will have to hack the XML specification to really get your controller working properly, which is not exactly programming, but for the non-computer-geeks, it’s going to be close enough to not be a fun thing.

Mixxx is great software for what it is, and has finally gotten feature complete enough to be ready for prime time, but it is open source software, which is both its strength and its weakness… if you are a geek and can handle hacking around with your software to get it to do what you want, then you are going to have a lot more control over how Mixxx works, and if you’re good enough, you can even add your own features to it… a real strength. However, if you’re not a hardcore geek, then you are going to have a hard time using it to its full potential.

As for Serato, I don’t see it listed as a supported device in any way whatsoever on their website, so… that’s probably not a very simple path to follow.

While the Traktorpocalypse has been foretold by many (whereby Native Instruments will decide that thou must owneth official hardware if thou wishest to play in their ballpark), at least for the time being, it should work with your controller as both audio interface and controller… but, you may be painting yourself into a corner.

I would think, if you aren’t already committed to a software selection, that you might want to instead take a look at Mixvibes or VirtualDJ. Those both seem much more likely to be something you can get up and working with your controller, without risking them dropping support for you completely at some point down the road.

That said, a lot of what I’ve said here is conjecture or opinion, so be sure you use this as guidance for your own research rather than just considering it as having done your research.