Jon Levinson

Your MC3000 has a dedicated Line In that is ideal for plugging a MP3 player or CD Player (iPod or whatnot) as a back-up. Since the MC3K is not bus powered, i.e. had a dedicated power supply, you can continue to feed audio through the MC3K in the unforeseen event something interrupts your laptop. This will allow you to minimize any interruptions until you reboot the laptop.

‘All’ indicates exactly that – ‘all’ the criteria you have laid out must be true for results to be delivered.

If you choose ‘Any’ then ‘any’ of the matched criteria will provide results.

The April show at The Looking Glass was a lot of fun.

My wife and I made it to the bar at the start of Daryl’s set and I briefly introduced myself. The bar was pretty decent – very relaxed vibe and friendly. DJ Black {OP} was terrific. Very different from the March event at Electrik Maid – which was much more of an “EDM Event” with an eclectic line-up as opposed to the Looking Glass event – which was the traditional DJ + Bar = Drinking & Dancing. Hope to make the May event, but my schedule may be unforgiving.

I need to buy a K-lock … need to check out Prey, sounds good, but I did try the demo for MacAppBlocker which worked a treat. You can password protect apps/docs easily. Or you could take the poor mans route and create a password encrypted Disk Image.

Oh and Tiger Direct has a 250 GB Samsung 840 series on sale today for $159 (I’d post the link, but I don’t know if that is a breach of the forum etiquette.)

That makes too much sense… don’t you know this is suppose to be complicated? 😉

For recording purposes I still use an aging pair of AKG K240’s that have lasted me *forever* but they don’t fit as comfortable after years (and years) of abuse. I need to replace them at this late date… For DJ’ing, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser HD 205’s which are very affordable, starter DJ headphones (as I wasn’t prepared to spend on the HD 25’s for what was, at the time, a new hobby.) I picked them up for a song on eBay, so take that under consideration.

You don’t indicate what type of plug-in you are interested in – an effect or a soft-synth?

If you have no experience with plug-ins then I would suggest you go low budget until you have an idea of what you want.

To this ends I would suggest you check out some freeware at Don’t Crack:

http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/

or, pick up a latest issue of Computer Music magazine as they bundle a nice selection of “magware” that will keep you busy (“magware” being fully functional and free, but feature limited versions of plug-ins from popular or up and coming software vendors.)

If you’re already dialed in and just want recommendations of vendors, my personal faves are:

Audio Damage – EOS and Replicant
Camel Audio – Camel Space and Camel Phat (grab the free CamelCrusher)
Fab Filter -Volcano (and I really want Saturn)
Native Instruments – too many to pick from…
u-He – love Zebra, and Ace, but would suggest you b-line for Diva

I purchased a Denon MC3000 last autumn and had a fantastic deal on the transaction – couldn’t have been more pleased. Then the price dropped $100 the next month – ha ha ha. I think Denon might have bitten into their own market when they released the MC2000 late last year.

You are correct in regards to the build quality – the MC3000 is built like a tank. The controls are all solid, but slightly cramped – I don’t have much issue with this as I have small hands and thin fingers.

I too looked at the S2 as I’m a long time user of NI software – it’s a sure bet, and I assumed I would buy one without hesitation, but I fell in like with the MC3000. The selling points for me were: build quality, the line ins, the external power supply and the four deck control (although this is something I’m growing into and don’t exploit as a more accomplished/practiced DJ might.)

Regarding the external power supply: the unit doesn’t run on USB power so you *must* use the external power supply. if you lose it, the cost of replacement from a Denon parts supplier is $50 USD. I’ve shopped for an after market spare but the spec’s for the DC connector, i.e., size, are unknown to me so a cheap spare (or replacement) is a challenge. On the plus side, if you have to reboot your laptop you can still feed an audio signal through the Line Ins from an iPod or whatever.

You are also correct in that you would need to purchase a separate Traktor license – LE is not included. However, Denon does include Virtual DJ Limited Edition – which is very capable (more Serato like, at a superficial level, then Traktor like.) The upgrade costs to the full version is very reasonable – something like $50 USD (last I checked.) If you’re set on buying Traktor, I would suggest you keep your eyes on the NI website as they routinely have sale offers, and upgrade sales, twice a year (during June-July and Nov-Dec.)

You mention you want to by an F1 at some point – well, me too 😉 So I should tell you the MC3000 does work with the Traktor Remix decks – but only the first four slots for each Remix deck (just as any other MIDI controller can be used with them.) If you want to access all 64 slots, you need an F1 (wish they built this functionality into Maschine!) On the MC3000 front panel, the four dedicated buttons for the FX1 and FX2 controls can be used to control each of the four slots in a Remix deck by engaging a dedicated shift button. The FX level controls work as Volume controls for each slot and the buttons work as trigger pads. These also work in Virtual DJ limited edition.

Hope this helps you with your decision making.

Regards