Digital v Analogue

[Candybeatdiscos]

As started on another thread

I use a standard Acer 1355XC laptop (Retail value about £300)
I run a cable from the headphone socket to the mixer then via the amp.
I use a program called atomix which catelogues the tracks, allows me to type in part of artist or track title and it finds it in a nanosecond


what are your thoughts - can anyone suggest better idea's - i am open to all suggestions

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

As started on another thread

I use a standard Acer 1355XC laptop (Retail value about £300)
I run a cable from the headphone socket to the mixer then via the amp.
I use a program called atomix which catelogues the tracks, allows me to type in part of artist or track title and it finds it in a nanosecond


what are your thoughts - can anyone suggest better idea's - i am open to all suggestions

Before I answer, can you tell me why this thread is called digital vs analogue?

[Shaun]

Reliabilty has always been a concern of mine with PC dj'ing. What happens if the PC crashes or a hard drive/system fails? Do those of you that use a digital system have adequate back-up for those type of eventualities.

I like the idea of being able to find and play a request quickly.....which is a major drawback with a cd based system.

[Thames Valley Discos]

PC,s are as, if not more reliable than your cd or mixer unit. I use a custom built desk top PC, and have a laptop as a backup. Get a good sound card such as Maya 44. I also carry a 160GB backup IDE drive of all my music for the main pc.
Digital is just so much easier.

[Paul James Promotions]

PC,s are as, if not more reliable than your cd or mixer unit.

I agree. You learn to rely on your equipment.

[Thames Valley Discos]

Normally a pc will only crash when its full of crap like my home PC. Keep the disco one free of everything other than essential programs, and in my opinion never enable it for internet connections. Leave that job to the home PC.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Normally a pc will only crash when its full of crap like my home PC. Keep the disco one free of everything other than essential programs, and in my opinion never enable it for internet connections. Leave that job to the home PC.


I'd disagree with one point there - leaving it off the internet completely. To be honest, this is what I used to think, but if you are just using it to download tunes from Napster or Woolies, you are hardly likely to be getting nasties on there.

As long as you have a decent A/V and firewall, you should be fine.

I wouldn't use it for anything else on the net though.

[Shaun]

I may just wait till the CORTEX (http://www.djsupply.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CortexHDC-1000) hits the UK. Plug in a couple of external hard drives and off I go.

[Thames Valley Discos]

I'd disagree with one point there - leaving it off the internet completely. To be honest, this is what I used to think, but if you are just using it to download tunes from Napster or Woolies, you are hardly likely to be getting nasties on there.

As long as you have a decent A/V and firewall, you should be fine.

I wouldn't use it for anything else on the net though.
But, an a/v and firewall are just things you really dont need on a disco dedicated PC. In my opinion.

[Thames Valley Discos]

I may just wait till the CORTEX (http://www.djsupply.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CortexHDC-1000) hits the UK. Plug in a couple of external hard drives and off I go.
if it takes as long as the web page takes to open, it might be some wait.
The Cortex may not use a pc, but it is still pc based, so that is as likely to fail, just as any other piece of electronics. Just carry backup gear, then all is well.

[Paul James Promotions]

if it takes as long as the web page takes to open, it might be some wait

I was thinking that :omg: :teeth:

[Corabar Entertainment]

I think they are having trouble, because I just got a "Service Unavailable" message!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

if it takes as long as the web page takes to open, it might be some wait.
The Cortex may not use a pc, but it is still pc based, so that is as likely to fail, just as any other piece of electronics. Just carry backup gear, then all is well.

Didn't open for me either :sad:

[Shaun]

Worked for me. Then again I used my jedi mind tricks.

[BeerFunk]

I opened the page OK... not so sure I like the look of it tbh though..

One point - the most unreliable, part of a PC is the power supply unit. The standard units that come with your average PC will usually last a couple of years max. However, they tend to fail upon power up, so proably won't die during a gig.

[Corabar Entertainment]

The standard units that come with your average PC will usually last a couple of years max. Do you mean being used for gigging or generally??

[Digitalsounds]

Arn't numark already in producation of a unit that does simalar to that Cortex unit, i amit it is an internal drive so not sure about external connections but i saw one of these numark units and it looks good.

[BeerFunk]

Do you mean being used for gigging or generally??

No, I mean just in general. And in my experience, which I have a lot of, as I've been going through PCs since 1995 :)

[Corabar Entertainment]

I must have been incredibly lucky then, because I have never had that happen

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I opened the page OK... not so sure I like the look of it tbh though..

One point - the most unreliable, part of a PC is the power supply unit. The standard units that come with your average PC will usually last a couple of years max. However, they tend to fail upon power up, so proably won't die during a gig.

My PSU lasted less than a year on the PC I have in the office. I replaced it with a much bigger one and it's been going strong since.

(That was after a few dullards replaced my mobo 3 times after totally diagnosing the problem incorrectly - can't mention any names of computer companies though..)

[BeerFunk]

I must have been incredibly lucky then, because I have never had that happen

How long has your PSU lasted? I use Thermaltake Butterfly PSU's now - solid as a rock. Not only are they more reliable - they make your system more reliable too, by maintaining steady voltage lines to the motherboard

[Corabar Entertainment]

Current one - about 3-3.5 years

[BeerFunk]

Wow, that's incredible! Must have been a well built PC :thumbs_up

[Corabar Entertainment]

But the one before that, I had for 4 years, and the one before that probably the same, and I had one at work for 6 years!

[BeerFunk]

Oh, well I must work mine harder then! :omg: :embarasse

[Corabar Entertainment]

Cheek! :teeth: :teeth:

[Corabar Entertainment]

I just look after mine! :D

[BeerFunk]

Well, in my current PC, I have 5 hard drives, 2 DVD drives, 2 PCI soundcards, 1GB DDR RAM and a 256MB video card. A generic PSU just wouldnt keep that going (I usually just leave it on 24-7)

[Paul James Promotions]

I've had 3 PSU's go down in the last 5 years or so, 1 of them frying everything in site. Good job i back documents up every week! :D

[Thames Valley Discos]

How long has your PSU lasted? I use Thermaltake Butterfly PSU's now - solid as a rock. Not only are they more reliable - they make your system more reliable too, by maintaining steady voltage lines to the motherboard
Out of interest, what power rating PSU would be aideal to use. Think mine is a 380W on disco pc, but its not running that much, chip,2 x HDD,M/B, dvd drive etc.

[CRAZY K]

Does this CORTEX have a track record of any sort---or is it a new idea?

With 2 hardrives and 2 Cortex you would presumably not need anything else except a reasonable size bank account? :teeth:

CRAZY K

[Candybeatdiscos]

i have had my laptop for past 3 or 4 years, still works like a dream, i never connect it to the net tho, i use the external drive for that, i also never put my music on the laptop only the external drive.

I use notepad as my request list and importnant announcements,

regarding back up - i always keep a core cd backup which would get me through a standard night - just in case (about 100 discs self made from my originals)

[Shaun]

The cortex is a new product and unreleased as yet. They've hand-picked a selection of U.S mobile dj's to begin beta testing of the unit.

Numark currently has a similar idea out on the market...the differences being that the numark has inbuilt storage which isn't upgradable form a user standpoint....which makes it obsolete already in my opinion. I much prefer the idea of external music storage.

[Have a disco]

Ditto have 2 drives internal and another 2x the size external of my mainframe all the music is kept on the external drive

[BeerFunk]

Out of interest, what power rating PSU would be aideal to use. Think mine is a 380W on disco pc, but its not running that much, chip,2 x HDD,M/B, dvd drive etc.
That's probably OK, although it depends what motherboard you're using aswell. The newer it is, the more power you need. Also, a 500W el cheapo PSU is gonna be much worse than a decent 380W PSU - providing 380W is enough power for your system, which in your case it probably is

[Jiggles]

Have a look at this laptop http://www.images2.co.uk/Sound_Equipment/NEWS.PCDJ_OODJ_LAPTOP_DJ_SYSTEM_SI555005.html

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Yup, it's a laptop, very expensively priced in a metal case.

[Shaun]

Very nice, very nice indeed.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Have a look at this laptop http://www.images2.co.uk/Sound_Equipment/NEWS.PCDJ_OODJ_LAPTOP_DJ_SYSTEM_SI555005.html
Yes - that's the PCDJ one....... and have a look at the price! :omg: :omg: :omg:

BTW - for anyone who couldn't get the link to work last night, the CORTEX link is now working perfectly. Speaking purely as an ignoramous on PC/laptop DJing, I quite like the idea of that. (It would be good for DJs who don't like too much 'change', being closer to the CD system they are used to)

[Wolfie]

I'd disagree with one point there - leaving it off the internet completely. To be honest, this is what I used to think, but if you are just using it to download tunes from Napster or Woolies, you are hardly likely to be getting nasties on there.

As long as you have a decent A/V and firewall, you should be fine.

I wouldn't use it for anything else on the net though.


the problem is viruses & bugs that you can't see.

by all means hook your PC to a network - to transfer music from one PC to another but disable internet access. but make sure you have some form of basic but solid anti-virus Avast or Bit Defender would be my best recomendation as they won't start to run a scheduled test & crash your PC & can just be set up as a diagnostic tool unlike stuff like Norton or mcAfee which will mop up your system resourses 24/7 leaving it prone to crah & get some good spyware software (Spybot S+D & Adaware SE would be my recomendation) for protection, just in case what comes in down the network slips by the anti-virus on the main machine.

the big alternative is to run your gig machine on Linux or buy a mac to be less prone to malicious software that is designed to attack windows systems - but then the DJ packages don't often support much otehr than Windows & i don't know of any that support Linux.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

the problem is viruses & bugs that you can't see.



So, you're saying that by connecting to a legal download service, there will be viruses and bugs in their files?

I can't see where they would come from?

[Thames Valley Discos]

Me personally , i just dont see the need to connect my disco pc to net. I do this with main pc, scan everything before it goes to disco pc. Just my choice.
All i run is PCDJ,my LED sign software,word, and thats about it i think.Very little to conflict and generate a crash. also in settings i set PC to run for best performance, gets rid of all the fancy XP nonsense thats not needed.
Run a bit more on laptop, as this is just for backup with less music on than main PC.

[ian8limelight]

OK, I'm going to put my head up over the parapit and ask ..............

If a DJ wants to go from CD's to Digital, has 10,000 tracks, wants to run PCDJ and a DAC-02 controller, and link it up to his/her current mixer (plus wants a back-up facility for these 10,000 tracks), what 'ball park' figure are we talking about ?

Also, what would the full spec of the PC/Laptop have to be ?

[Thames Valley Discos]

PCDJ from £40-£150 depending which software you go for, if useing a laptop, i,d say a 1.6Mhz or above,512Mb ram,Win XP, with 40Gb internal HDD, and a 160Gb external HDD. A Maya 44 usb soundcard around £80-£100. Backup would really need to be another laptop, or at minimum spare external Hdd. A couple of cables to go from sound card to mixer. Dac 2 controller about £200, and a bit of time to convert 10 000 tracks to MP3. (say a fortnight). Oh and a license when they get it sorted!!!!!
Or like me, build a desktop pc as main pc, cost about £250 to build including Maya internal pci card. then have laptop as back up.
Well worth the money. You will never go back to cd,s

[BeerFunk]

What about digital licenses?

[Jiggles]

This website should clear things up for you Callum http://www.ppluk.com/

[Corabar Entertainment]

This website should clear things up for you Callum http://www.ppluk.com/Oh no it won't!!!!! :omg: The mess with the licencing at the moment is exactly what the LWP are having meetings with all the relevant bodies about.

Callum: apart from all the info on this forum, have a look here: http://www.djlicence.org.uk

[Jiggles]

Oh no it won't!!!!! :omg: The mess with the licencing at the moment is exactly what the LWP are having meetings with all the relevant bodies about.

Callum: apart from all the info on this forum, have a look here: http://www.djlicence.org.uk

I was only trying to help!!! :cry:

[Thames Valley Discos]

is mp3 drm compatible

[BeerFunk]

Yeah well, i didn't want all the ins and outs, just curious what the required licenses would cost, in the example set out by Ian :)

[Corabar Entertainment]

I was only trying to help!!! :cry:I know that Callum - wasn't having a go! :rose:

[Jiggles]

I know that Callum - wasn't having a go! :rose:

I know your nice as could be to me.:teeth:

[Thames Valley Discos]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Jiggles]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What are you AHHHHHHHHen about. :teeth:

[Wolfie]

So, you're saying that by connecting to a legal download service, there will be viruses and bugs in their files?

I can't see where they would come from?

OK so let's assume the worst.. the site gets hacked & when you download a music file an encrypted virus gets downloaded with it.. - sometimes when site's get hacked you don't see the hacks until long after & it's often too late... OK it's rare but it can & does happen. Ever heard of the "Friday the 13th" problems? this is how they work & remain hidden without you knowing until one day (usually when your PC clock hits friday 13th) your files suddenly start to disappear.

Also OK the music files may be safe, but what about the adverts on the site you download your music from? a lot of viruses & spyware get transmitted as cookies from banner adverts. if you do a check with pest patrol or Adaware you will notice it will often remove spyware cookies that many times you will be wondering where they cam from as you didn't visit advertising.com or anything connected with gator, yet unknown to you they came in via a banner advert on a harmless website.

If you do want to run a working gigging PC on the web & download stuff on it, (IMHO you'd be a pratt - better to be safe than sorry) make sure you disable activeX control & make sure you have your firewall set to block animated images, however this may prevent you from downloading some files... i.e. you may not be allowed to download the DRM & this will more than likely prevent you from downloading the music track... also, your playout software may not work if you disable things as you are not running Windows programs to prevent 3rd party programs from attacking Windows programs.... which in laymans is a bit like not taking your speakers with you to a gig, so you can try to prevent the amplifier blowing!

[robbiedj]

Regarding problems with computer dj-ing, personally I keep all my music files on external HDDs. This makes back-up simple, just another hdd to carry. You never lose your music this way.

The main cause of problems with lap-top computers, apart from an over-loaded hdd, is over heating. I solved this problem with a cheap device from Simply Computers, a lap-top stand with built in fans. It connects through USB port and keeps the battery and main components cool. A 6in clip-on fan under the deck stand keeps the external HDD and psu cool.

As for viruses, down-load onto home pc and, after scanning, you can connect the external hdd and transfer all the files you need to.

[BeerFunk]

Wolfie, the chances of that are 1 in a million! That is an extreme worst case scenario :teeth:

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Wolfie, the chances of that are 1 in a million! That is an extreme worst case scenario :teeth:

That's what I was thinking....

[Thames Valley Discos]

:) ahh but your cache

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

:) ahh but your cache

Now now.

[Corabar Steve]

Wolfie have you ever used a download service? or am I gonig blind?

I've never seen a banner ad on iTunes, Napster, HMV, or Virgin Digital

[Shaun]

Newmarks new baby
http://www.numark.com/

Then click on D2 Director!

[BeerFunk]

Newmarks new baby
http://www.numark.com/

Then click on D2 Director!
Wouldn't mind a go of that, I have to admit :)

[Corabar Steve]

Curious as to what viewpoints are now? Now that the Cortex D2 & HD2500 have been out a while