DJ Squared

If you are doing it personally, then you don’t need any paperwork and you would file the extra income on your personal taxes (or not). If you are operating as a business then there are the normal reports and filing that you would need as any business. The only thing that really comes to mind is insurance…but if you are only going to be doing 2 or 3 gigs a year, its probably not worth it…but if you are doing 10 – 15+ then yea worth it.

Also, you are going to want to develop some sort of worksheet that you can give to the bride and groom to fill out to give you all of the important information like time, date, location, special songs, request etc.

This is not the place for a complete guide (maybe I will look into writing one) but I will give you a few tidbits. First off, like everything in life, prices are usually an indicator of quality. Now there are gems out there that sound amazing and will last but generally if it cost more it will be of higher quality.

The next thing to look into when it comes to a PA system is to determine if you want an active (powered) or non-active (passive) system. In active systems, the amplifier is built into the speaker box whereas with passive systems the amplifier is a seperate piece of equipment. There are pros and cons to both but for most DJs in my opinon, active systems are best for a couple of reasons. All of the hard work of matching the right amp to the speaker and getting the right processing is already done by the manufacturer. As a DJ, you plug the speaker into a power outlet and then plug in the signal from your DJ rig and turn it up. Also, if you are using a controller, you are probably interested in saving space and by having the amp built-in, thats less things to carry around.

Now brands to look at. I would suggest you do your own research but some of the common brands that offer decent to excellent quality include (but not limited to) QSC, JBL, EV, Mackie, Yorkville, Yamaha, and Peavey. Most products from those companies will be pretty good (except the JBL JRX series which is just garbage). There are other brands out there of course that are really good but will probably start to make your wallet hurt from just looking at the prices.

Now as far as watts are concerned. Watts is a measure of how much work electricity can do. Basically the more watts, the more work can be produced. The problem is this can be very misleading to newbies. Just like you can’t measure how good a computer is by just it processor speed or a camera from just megapixels you can’t go by just watts when looking at specs. The other big qualifiers are the sensitivity of the speaker (you should google this topic as its to much for this post) and how the measurements were taken. In the end the best way to see how loud a speaker is is to go and hear it for yourself.

Finally, how to connect your controller to your speakers. Well both the S4 & S2 have balanced audio outputs (google this) which is important. But basically you take the main output of your controller (XLR for the S4 & 1/4″ TRS for the S2) and simply plug it into your active speakers. Its just that simple.

Hope this helped some.

Now if we can get them to make a version without the soundcard to use as an additional Midi controller for people who already have controllers with soundcards…kind of like the Denon DN-HC1000..but for Traktor.

It appears that its not adjustable…the original crane stand had knobs so that you can adjust the laptop to the height and angle that you wanted. This one appears to be a fixed height and angle…

Also throw the rumored Denon DN-MC3000 in the mix if you are looking at Traktor…it should come in at about $500 same as twitch.

Here is what I would love to see built as a controller

1. Size should be about that of an S4. Any bigger and it starts to become a pain in the ass to move any smaller and it starts to become a bit cramp for those with bigger fingers.

2. Should be made of metal. I know with the advancements in technology plastics have come along way and are strong enough to do the job. But there is just something about having something made of metal that says it will last.

3. Should have connectivity for almost anything within reason. It should have at least 2 line inputs, phono inputs, mic inputs as well as actual midi ports and of course USB. Also it should have balanced outputs (preferably XLR), balanced booth outputs, RCA master & record…having an effects loop would be nice but not a necessity.

4. It should have a standalone mixer built in. I hate the idea of having all audio route through the computer. That’s just more stuff it has to process…and for what? Not to mention the potential for computer problems.

5. Power supply should be built in with a simple “D” plug to power it. That way if I should forget my power lead i can find one from almost anywhere. No USB powered controllers…just another thing to tax the computer with (or at the very least give me the option of how to power it…mains or USB)

6. It should have meters for every channel. I love how Vestax did it in the VCI-400 built into the fader…genius. As well as a separate master meter.

7. It should be plug and play and all transport and EFX controls should be mapped one to one to a particular software but should also remain a true Midi device so that it can be used with other software.

8. It should also have a centralized 4 x 4 bank of mappable buttons along with 4 additional knobs so that you can map additional commands if you want. (sort of a controller inside the controller)

9. It should have a strip search feature for searching through tracks quickly.

10. It should have two versions made. one that you need a computer for and one that has a computer built into it (most likely a windows machine) This computer will be configured specifically for running DVS software. The back of the unit will include VGA ports for a monitor and multiple USB ports. Also ontop of the unit will have a trackball for navigating the screen.

11. Price should be somewhere around $800 – 1200

That’s my take on what a controller should have.

Emma Partnow, post: 3720 wrote: Great Thread Mike 🙂
This is My ‘Pick Of The Week’; and it is going to be Massive 😎

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Where can I get a copy of that mash up….I will play that tonight….