Mac book pro

[Sarah]

Hi all again. A bit more advice please.

I have the iPhone 4 and love it. I've deliberated and deliberated over which lap top to buy to go digital.

I've seen the Mac Book Pro today and really like it. The build quality is great and well, call me mad but I'm 99% sold on it.

I've got all but 15 or so of my CD+G's transferred to an Iomega 1TB external hard drive. Very little of my music C.D's as yet, that's the next job!

I hope to eventually be able to do discos and karaokes via the mac using Virtual D.J 7. Need to buy that and sort out Pro-Dub.

For those of you that seen or advised in my last thread and seen the TV I've sent for, will all run ok?

My mixer is the Kam Pro 1500. I know the badge gets slated but I've had no problems with it.

I will be running 2 mics for singers (kam) and 1 for myself (S.M.58) through the 3 mic input channels.

This will leave me 4 phono and 4 line inputs for the mac and a back up CD+G player.

Will the mac have outputs for my TV, will I need a sound card/graphics card as I'd want volume on 2 sliders? Will the hard drive I have connect up to the mac ok?

I'll be off up to Currys again later but just thought I'd get your opinions and advice please.

Sarah x

[Sarah]

I should have added that I'll probably be getting the DJ2Go too. Just to start off. I can't afford MC6000's or equivalent yet and would prefer to go digital with a mixer I'm confident with, if that makes sense?

Sarah x

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

You could afford the MC6000 if you bought a laptop instead of a Mac...

[Sarah]

I suppose I'll have to mention the mac book as my nana would say. . "will be on the drip!!"

Sarah x

[DazzyD]

You could afford the MC6000 if you bought a laptop instead of a Mac...

I'd have to agree with Daz on this one.

It's my own personal opinion that a £1000+ MacBook Pro is a bit overkill (or should that word be "extortionate"?? ) for the application you are wanting it for. In answer to your question - yes, it will do what you want (although I've never run VDJ on a Mac).

I'm running the same show that you're describing on a £299 laptop with no problems at all. The additions I've got are a 1TB external drive, a Numark DJ2Go controller, the AverKey Keylite VGA convertor that I linked to yesterday (by the way, forgot to mention that this neat little device duplicates the signal on to two outputs - I use it for a small singer monitor and also an output to the big screens), and a good fan-based cooling stand. Factor in the cost of VDJ and ProDub and there's still a nice little sum left over when compared to the price of a (new) MacBook Pro.

[Sarah]

Mmmm! What is your laptop Dazzy D, please.

Sarah x

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I might add Sarah, that I use my MC6000 for karaoke, but I also use a Studiomaster C3X for the mics.

[Glenski]

I also feel that this is a little over-kill for what you want to do !!

Can i ask in total how many karaoke tracks have you ripped ? ... reason being if it is in excess of say 5000 plus tracks, then you will need all your pennies for the Pro Dub Licence [Karaoke cost more because of the uplift tier].

Ideally, you'll want a laptop that has at least 3/4 USB 2.0 ports if you intend to use an external soundcard, mouse [track pad is useless really for VDJ7] and your DJ2GO controller... the Mac Book will no doubt only have 2 USB ports.

I use a HP Pavilion DV6 laptop [which was a refurbed unit] and i upgraded the RAM to 8GB and the HDD to 1TB, and it has an intergrated graphics card and a dedicated graphics card and i paid under £400 for it [upgrades cost me round £100].

Thank you

[mattydinx]

MacBook Pro user here with VDJ 7 - Love mine to bits!

I got mine when they launched the 'late 2008' model but it's still as fast (if not a little quicker after installing OS X Lion) as the day I bought it - It's been a fantastic investment and as tempting as the newly announced macbook pro's are - I don't see need to upgrade yet!

You can get various adaptors for video-out depending on what you want to connect to. They can be had for between £10-20 and are just plug & play.

Most (usually non-mac owners) will make a comparison based on price which isn't really fair to do. OSX is a far more refined operating system than windows and performs considerably better on the same-spec hardware.

We sell windows-based laptops at work which out-spec my MBP by miles...yet they feel slow and sluggish in comparison.

Mac's are a big investment, but they're one you won't regret!

Just a note about your controller choice too, The MC6000 wouldn't really be suitable for karaoke, from what I've read the mic pre's are awful.

My personal setup comprises of a Denon DN-HC4500 Controller (with built-in 4-ch sound card) which works flawlessly with VDJ and the Mac - No drivers to install or configure, just plug it in and go. Coupled with an external mixer, I've got full manual control over my music (i.e. not controlling things like EQ, Gain, Levels through software)

With the above controller, you could keep your current mixer (if it's working for you, why change?) and have good control over your software without relying on a mouse or keyboard for everything.

[ianforest]

i agree with everything Matty says, the MC6000's mic's aren't that great to be honest so stick with your Kam. I had it's predecessor, the MobilePro and it was possibly the best mixer I ever had.

As for the Mac, well, again as Matty says the comparisons are a little unfair, the hardware is better, the OS is better BUT I feel overkill for what you want.

I'd look to get the Denon DN-HC4500 controller to use with VDJ, it has a sound card built in and will work with the Mac or a Windows laptop.

The external hard disk will be fine on windows, if it's in NTFS format you won't be able to write any information to it if using a MAC, it's proprietary microsoft technology that they won't license. If you format it in FAT then it will be just fine on Windows or Mac.

The standard Windows laptops are very good though but the OS is such a let down.