Terry_42

Well with the Magma stand you get such thin foamy pads, that you can either put on top of the stand, so they protect your laptop or on the feet of the stand to pretect the table. You do not get enough pads for both and cutting them is also not good…

If you put them on top, which I did at first it gives the laptop minor protection, as there are still some edges that might get into your laptop depending on your model. As my MacBook is made from aluminium it is rather scratch resistant, but when someone bumps really hard into your booth and you are mobile, it may push the laptop towards the small lips at the front and metal against metal will start to slide and the foam pads while giving some scratch protection do not really “hold” the laptop.
Now on the feet the Magma is already less stable. If you have an old club DJ booth that is there since the 80s, which many high quality wooden stands take, they can be somewhat uneven and the stand will shake. You can try to put the pads on the feet to stop that to a degree, but again as the pads are not really “sucking” the stand, stability is mediocre at best and if the booth is all metal as some mobiles, the stand will make an excellent slideshow….

Now the Crane stand has some simple but very effective things, apart from being rock solid. It has those rubber bumpers on top and on its feet. At the top it is really like you glue the laptop on. It will not slide in any way. As the feet of the crane form a triangle, even on uneven booths it is stable. It also has these “hard rubber” stuff on the feet that glue it on the table so to speak. I had not have my crane stand move one inch, ever. Plus depending on how hard your environment, you can easily convert from C shape stand to Z stand, adjust height etc. etc. etc.
When I bought the Crane I actually ordered a spare of those hard rubber things to be sure, but even those wont wear off and the spares are still lying around here somewhere. While it is a hefty price tag, pretty much triple the magma, it does protect a MacBook worth 10 times the price of the stand and I have a feeling that the stand will still hold up in 10 years… where I prolly bought 2-3 new laptops in that time…

I would not get my hopes up to high though. Over the years I had Behringer gear from time to time:
– PA Speakers
– PA Mixer
– Studio Mixer
– Guitar Amp (the one looking like a 5501)
– Monitor Speakers (Those that look like Adams)

And honestly: You get what you pay for. The PA speakers were loud, where they anywhere near the Peaveys I have now – NO. The PA mixer did his job, did he hold up… no, got a Yamaha now and I know why… same with the studio mixer. The guitar amp looked like a Marshall, even had tubes, but is sounded like a chainsaw and the monitors while looking like Adams… I have replaced with KRKs cheap line and they are still 2000% better.

I learned this lesson over and over: If something is to cheap to be true, it is cheap and not true. Eventually it will get the job done for a time, but you will buy twice.
I am sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I have kids that I kind of mentor that bug me about Behringer stuff all the time and this is what I feel obligated to tell them. By no means is their stuff total crap or anything, but you simply will only get what you pay for.

I plan. 🙂
Clubgigs:
I think about what music I will use, I organize a playlist roughly twice the length of my set, where I sort music by energy rather then when I will play it (high energy songs first in the list) and then build up the set from there. Amount of energy depends, if I do a prime set for a techno party I put lots of high energy songs, if I play a sunday afternoon set I put lots of low to medium balearic/groovy songs in there with a few pick ups.

For mobile gigs:
Depends how long and what occasions. For weddings I organize closely with the organizers (most of the time the bride is in charge of music here) and have sometimes up to 4 playlists for different moods (when the older people are still there up to a 2 o’clock in the morning mental set) during their day and one special playlist for background when someone does a speech or the traditional “walz” is needed or when they have some sort of wedding game etc. For company events this is totally different…

It is Windows that crashes not the Laptop. You can do a lot of things to prevent Windows from crashing, but I just do not like the tuning hassle and hence go for Macs. So like Phil said: It does not matter which PC you buy, it will be a PC.
(And from experience: Windows 8 won’t change that)

IMHO if he does not know about it from various sources, then he is not ready for it.
You can alone on what turntables and needle setups to use, discuss for ages. Simply asking: What setup should I get, does not work for DVS, as there are many things to consider: Turntables, DVS System, Mixer, Needles, Timecode Vinyls, Slipmats for some DJs even gloves or finger covers/bandages,….
Get 2 turntables first and a cheap mixer and try if you at all can mix with vinyl, then think about DVS.

Examples: Easiest is – go to youtube and lookup DJ Angelo, he has some very nice turntablism tutorials and also a demo what he can do with a controller (Terminal Mix 4 Demo). Check then out some of his more advanced tutorials and you will see for yourself.
However A LOT of this is also talen, it is not only about the tool you use. While some things may seem easier on a turntable via turntablism you can in many cases substitute controllerism (aka Controller moves) for it, you can even scratch with scratch sounds and cues if you prefer that… so I cannot tell you and neither give you an example if you will have an easier go with turntables or a controller.
You could go the easy way, buy a controller with good jogwheels like the Terminal Mix and try for yourself how far you get with Angelo’s tutorials. I for one am totally satisfied with what I can do on a controller… depends on what you want to do…

Tradition is one thing.
The other is that a high end turntablist will be able to do things on vinyl and record decks, that are very tricky to perform on a high end controller, some are unmatchable. However many turntablists have also gone to use digital vinyl with timecode and software….
I tend to disagree in one point with synthetic: I think that high end controllers (like NS7) are also built extremely well and lasting, however you still will want to upgrade as they gain more features in new generations… but that is the same for CDJs. A CDJ 2000 will outclass a 350 by long shot… and have more features.
Honestly with how everything works today, I fail to see the advantage of CDJs, except being able to use them in a club that already has them in place. So it is good if you know how to use them, even if it is only for backup, but I can honestly say I have not touched my old CDJs in ages since I went for controllers. I can however see the advantages of using a record deck to perform things, but I am no high-level turntablists that needs those features and the jogs on my TM4 are sufficient for the few scratching things or juggling tricks I do.

The thing is that while I like UK dubstep as it has been and also some of it hip-hop’isch variants, the commercial dubstep that is now, is getting really old fast. Everyone that wants to make a fast buck is listening to a Skryllex song and trying to do the exact same wobble and bass-syn samples over and over again.
Then there is the crowd that is starting to mix the “usual pop-song” with a wobble and there you go… extra credit for effort. Sad really, but it was the same with all genres and it will go away again and sometimes the genre persists and has great creativity in the underground.