bob6397

Hi TJ,

You are right – using your monitors at parties is a big no-no.. But you realise that so lets move on..

The QSC K12’s are awesome speakers. They sound great and have plenty of inputs on the back. The 131dB output is roughly on par if slightly lower than) the direct competition from the high-end Mackies/JBL/RCF/Yamaha gear.. But, having heard the top-end RCF and Yamaha’s I can say that the QSC’s sound much better to me than either of them – theyproduce a much warmer and less harsh sound in comparison.

The bass response will equal and out-match your KRK’s though..

But – if you really want people to feel the bass then there is nothing like actually using a Sub-woofer (Clue’s in the name??) The QSC’s will produce really good sound down to about 50/60Hz, at which point they start to drop off. This drops down to 40/50 if you use the “DEEP” function – BUT an actual sub will produce solid bass down to 35-40Hz, and sound better doing it as they don’t have to also produce all the other frequencies in the spectrum.

However, if you aren’t doing big parties (I DJ at an event where we use 6 K12’s and 2 KSubs for 1000 people) then you are probably better off just hiring a sub when you need to – or save up for one to buy in the future if it becomes economically viable to do so.. 🙂

Bottom line is that if you can get a pair of QSC K12’s for $1000 I would absolutely go for it – they would normally cost you an awful lot more (twice more) and then I would hire a sub or 2 for bigger gigs.. If you do do that though, also consider hiring (or buying) 2 more tops to create a dance-floor effect with a speaker on each corner – this makes your system much more efficient and keep sound levels more even across the floor compared to having tons of speakers at the front.

Just my thoughts though 🙂

bob6397

Hint: If you make a survey using surveymonkey you may get more responses and it will analyse the data for you.. 🙂

As for me, I Use Virtual DJ 8

Why did I choose it?

– Customizability – I have created my own sin which fits my needs perfectly. No need for things I don’t need cluttering up my monitor space. And no need to keep clicking things to change functions. This took me a few hours to do.

– Ease of use – Everything is logically laid out to start with, which enabled me to work out what I wanted to do when I made ym own skin. The settings menu is also much easier to use than the Traktor one (I have no experience of Cross)

– It fitted my workflow – This is the most important one. I like the way I can store track/playlists in many temporary windows at once whilst I am DJing – useful for remembering requests when you are going to play them in a few track’s time. I also like the way the (gasp) automix function works – For the kind of DJing I do it is actually frowned upon to crossfade one track into another. The song needs to end. Therefore I like the way I can set up the automix – it handles the changes in bpm really well (I generally go from 115 to 160 and back again in an hour – sometimes twice), it will do the transition for me, completely on the beat without me having to do a thing.

– I compared it to the competition. I didn’t like the way that I needed a specific audio interface to make Serato work properly, so that was out. I tried Traktor and couldn’t get my head around the workflow properly. I tried Cross and liked it but found the automix clunky and I missed having lists of tracks I could flick tacks between. So I chose VDJ.

What kind of gigs?

As I have already said, I am not a club-style DJ. The closest thing is a mobile DJ – it very similar – play a wide variety of music, change of BPM’s a lot, set up with your own PA system etc. But it isn’t wuite the same and it is all about the tracks you play and when you play them NOT how you mix them..

What made me choose it over the competition?

I have already said most of it – I didn’t like the system for using Serato, I couldn’t get my head around Traktor and I missed things that VDJ offered me in Cross..

There you go.. Hope that’s comprehensive enough for you..

Why are you collecting this by the way? If you are trying to work out what kind of software to use yourself, ignore everyone else. Try the options. Come to your own conclusions. I don’t like Traktor or Serato. Doesn’t mean that they are bad in any way – even for the style of DJing that I do – indeed, many people absolutely swear by Traktor and/or Serato – but they didn’t work for ME.

Every bit of software is different. They all have pros and cons and are all different. That’s how they all co-exist.

bob6397

So you have 1 set pf stereo channels coming from each S2 and then a stereo return from the RMX500?? How is the audio fed into the RMX – IE from what..?

In terms of the S2’s – you need a mixer with 2 stereo channels to handle them. If you then put the RMX into the system, you will then need a 3rd stereo in OR an effects return channel (Such things exist on PA mixers – not sure about DJ mixers though..)

I would go with either a 4 channel DJ mixer and just have your backup plan plugged into the 4th channel or get a PA mixer with 3 stereo channels.. Which could allow for greater flexibility if you later on want to add mics to your setup.. Consider the Yamaha MG10 (v3) as a PA mixer option – I use it myself and love it. Lots of headroom and tons of features 🙂

bob6397

If you update the cue points of a track, this data is stored in your DJ software’s database rather than in the audio file’s.. This file is backed up (is you set it up to be) and so they will be backed up with that data.. 🙂

No one is a natural straight away.. You have to first learn the software inside out. Then (and only then) can the natural inside you come out – you will know what you want to do and when you actually know instinctively how to do that you know you have got it 🙂

So there will be a steep learning curve. Stick with it (I am now a good 7 years into learning Logic and I still don’t understand all of what it does and how to do it all. I am getting better though) and you will eventually get there 🙂

All I will say further on DAW selection is that I had, up to this point, only heard mention of fruity loops a few times before. I certainly wouldn’t consider it in the same league as Pro Tools, Logic or Ableton..

Just my opinion though 🙂

bob6397

I would always go straight for the fully-fledged DAW – you are just going to end up buying it in the first place when you end up needing a function that doesn’t exist in the scaled-down version. Having said that though, some fully fledged versions of DAWs are much more expensive than others and yet offer the same functionality…

The main DAWs at the minute are Avid’s Pro Tools 11, Apple’s Logic Pro X, Reaper, Reason, Ableton and Cubase.

I have used Pro Tools (V6 though so I will leave it out), Logic Pro (8 and 10), Reaper and Ableton so I will go through my opinion on those – I won’t give an opinion when I don’t have one!! 🙂

Personally I use Logic 80% of the time though (I only use Reaper + Ableton when I’m not at home as I have a windows laptop)

Apple Logic
-Pros-
– Intuitive Interface
– Sounds good easily
– Synth plugins are good
– Lots of flexibility
– Ability to playback video in the main DAW window (useful if composing for a video etc.)
-Cons-
– Very specific way of doing things – you have to learn how to use the software before you can use it properly
– Not really suitable for live work (other than for playback of synths you have set already)

Reaper
-Pros-
– Easy to just jump in and sort of know how to do things
– Excellent audio manipulation
– MUCH cheaper than pretty much any other DAW out there
– Very flexible audio routing
– Mass of plugins available
-Cons-
– Synths are pretty much non-existent and really hard to use
– Not really suitable for live work at all

Ableton Live
-Pros-
– Easy(ish) to manipulate sounds
– Used live by many big-name artists (So it must be possible to use it live… I don’t see how though)
– Logically set out
– Reasonably easy to just pick up and use
– Lots of plugins built in
-Cons-
– Synth patches leave a lot to be desired (None of them sound great + It is really hard to make your own)
– General lack of decent sounding Drum patches..
– Can be fussy to get the audio set-up right.

This is just my opinion though… Feel free to completely ignore me.. 🙂

As I said earlier, pick your DAW and get the full version. A particular issue with the cheaper version of Ableton (the “Lite” version) is that it limits you to 8 tracks.. This is not many – many of my Logic projects hit 50 tracks whether I am mixing audio or composing 😉

It should work absolutely fine… Just follow the golden rule of switching on your speakers last 🙂

However, it may not be ideal for DJ practice – though it will do the job. I would get something a bit more substantial personally, but it might work for you 🙂