Todd Oddity

No amps anymore – they’re built into the speakers! Well, not all of them, but yes to anything L&McQ will rent to you. Makes life much easier!

If you load the free version of Virtual DJ onto your laptop, you could use a cord from your laptop’s audio out jack (1/8″, normally on the side) and run it to the 1/4″ stereo inputs on something like the Yamaha MG06. Then a pair of XLR cables from the mixer to the back of each speaker, plug everything into power, and you’d be in business. This would be very basic – no fancy mixing or anything, but it would get the job done and let you line up your tracks. You could even just use iTunes instead of Virtual and keep it really simple. You could also plug a mic into this mixer to make any announcements you wanted.

Now, if you were thinking you did want to do some mixing and such, you’d have to upgrade a couple of these parts (specifically the mixer, and the connections to the computer). But that would be up to you and how far you wanted to take your DJing adventures!

Sounds like Todd is a Liberal. You would be volunteering in the USA (encouraged not enough volunteers) the fact that you are 75 you are retired and would be volunteering at a non profit dance or gathering. There is no problem with that…good for you! god bless!

Well Zoo, it’s actually ridiculous conservatives that seem to be causing all the immigration issues last time I checked, so why don’t you leave your political asshattery at home, and read an actual law. No. Volunteers are not necessarily welcome in the US. I know people who have tried to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity – you know, building free homes for the homeless after Katrina, and have been banned from entry. I know people who have tried to take a DJ system to their cottage and been banned from entry. I was stopped at the border once because I had ONE single XLR cable in the truck of my car. One. And all I was doing was going down to do a little shopping for the afternoon.

The rules for performing music for pay or for free are clear. You need a work visa or you risk serious trouble. Doesn’t make me a liberal, conservative or anything else bringing up the facts.

From your list the Denon is the only serious candidate.

Vestax, while awesome, is now long gone, and we have to accept that and move on (I have a VCI-400 that I’m turning into a cool wall-mounted decoration in my studio – my little shrine to Vestax). No current or future support is an absolute deal breaker in the digital game. Hercules make some interesting units, but they just aren’t up to the same quality of Denon or the other ‘professional’ brands.

If you aren’t in a hurry, I’d agree with Aaron – wait for the new Primo to come out. It may not amount to anything, but all the early indications make it look like a spiritual successor to the VCI-380. And that would be awesome.

…can you elaborate on the VU levels of the pioneer mixers being sloppy?

In my experience, I started to notice that levels on the channel VU meters were not giving me the expected results on my master levels. One track would show louder but play quieter and other such anomalies. Now, things like that can happen all on their own depending on how tracks are mastered (after all the channel meters are an approximate sum of all sound on the channel and not a detailed breakout) BUT it seemed to be happening a lot more often when playing on Pioneer mixers. So I ran a test one night and played the same track on both decks and totally matched up the volumes and levels, and there it was – despite the sound being equal – the two meters were out of whack by a couple of notches.

Is it a deal-breaker? No. If the mixer had everything else you wanted I would say not to worry about it – you’ll adapt. But it was odd and at these prices, shouldn’t be happening. Most annoying was that whenever I brought it up people would imply I didn’t know how to set up gear properly. And then when the NXS2 came out I saw an interview with a Pioneer rep, and sure enough, one of the things he mentioned was that they tightened up the meters. So yay, I wasn’t crazy after all! lol

So again, it’s not a deal-breaker – I think it is more just a case of Pioneer being lazy because they can ride on their “industry standard” label and not have to fix the little details that their competitors are forced to address. Sort of like how Apple chooses to ignore certain long standing issues because, you know, “#$&^ you we’re Apple.”

Oh, that wasn’t a dig on the RB. I just mentioned on another thread how a bar I work at installed its cousin, the SB2, as their house system and after a couple of months of playing on it (with Virtual by the way) I’ve been really impressed with the little thing. I just meant that due to it being marketed the way it is, the gear-heads who like to buy and customize the crap out of their gear (and publish those mappings) aren’t very likely to be working on this one.

In any case, good luck!

Live recordings like disco or rock can be a challenge, but like most parts of DJing, it comes down to knowing your music and using your ears. Knowing where the beat wobbles off a little and keeping your other hand on the jog to adjust on the fly. Being able to hear those beats drifting around and knowing how to layer the other track on top. The good thing is that detailed waveforms in most software help with this – you can see the beat that is off and nudge your other track along accordingly before hearing that off beat. Before the waveforms we had to just remember those variations were coming.

Now for a real hoot, try doing all this with a live band! You’ll be grey by the end of the night. haha

“I am also looking the the pioneer xdj Rx as pioneer is industry standard”

No, despite what the folks at Pioneer would have you believe, they are absolutely not the industry standard. Why do I say this? Because there is no industry standard for controllers. By their very nature (portability), people bring what they need and therefore it matters little what they have and if it matches a standard.

Now, with that all said, if Traktor is your weapon of choice, then you need to get an NI controller. End of story. I recently worked with a friend who has an S4mk2 paired with an F1. I was really impressed at what a comprehensive setup that was. He had easy access to absolutely everything. Certainly would be worth a close look in my opinion.