At last...I've done my first digital gig!!!

[rob1963]

Last Saturday I finally did my first all digital gig, so here's my report as previously promised. Apologies if it's a bit long. For those that know the venue, it was a wedding reception at the Lensbury in Broom Road, Teddington (right next to the TV studios).

The first thing I noticed was that setting up was quicker & easier than normal, as there were no boxes of CDs to open up & pull up the all discs I might want to play, and there was no single CD player to get out, put on my lighting controller & connect up to the power & my mixer.

I was well-prepared for any major problems, as I have a single CD player built into my new console, but also had 2 spare ipods, a spare single CD player and my old CD console containing it's dual player as well as all my CDs...but luckily I didn't have any major problems...only a few minor ones.

To be honest, the first thing that struck me was that I didn't feel like a proper DJ, as everything was so easy to operate & there seemed very little to do (compared to before).

I started by loading a background music playlist containing 40 songs into the crate, set the mode for player one to "continuous" and hit play. It then played out the songs automatically, just like when I used to use CD albums for background music.

When the bride said they were ready for the first dance, I simply emptied the crate, changed the mode switch on player one from "continuous" to "manual" then loaded a pre-made playlist containing all their requests into the crate (the first track in the playlist being their first dance, of course). I sent the first dance to player two, made the announcement & hit play.

After that, it was so simple highlighting tracks in the crate & sending them to the players...rather than messing about with CDs and the ring binder containing my paper index.

As it happened, I had a fair few requests on the night, and finding them was an absolute joy. It just took about 5-10 seconds to locate them with the keyboard, and (apart from a couple which I sent to the crate as I thought they'd go down better a bit later on) in most cases I sent them straight to the vacant deck to play next.

This was noticed by the bride & guests, as I had a very complimentary email from the bride this morning which ended "I've also heard & had experience of how quickly you played songs that people requested on the night, and was very impressed when you played them straight away. Many, many thanks"

I don't know how other D2 operators work, but I found myself using the keyboard virtually all the time. The only controls I used on the D2 itself were the two play buttons...and that's only because I don't think they're duplicated on the keyboard.

The other thing which was much easier than using CDs was working out the timings at the end of the evening. I like to finish within 30 seconds of the finish time, so about 15 minutes before the end I was used to working out the last few songs & what time I needed to play them. In some cases, the timings were not on the CD, so it was a case of putting the CD in the player & cueing up a track just to see it's running time...before taking it out again & then putting in the next CD I wanted to play. However, the D2's crate displays the artist, title & duration of each track...so working out the timings was a doddle.

Now onto the small problems I experienced with my first digital gig.

On about three different occasions, the track that was playing either repeated or skipped a beat or two, which sounded quite similar to when a CD or record jumped in the old days. On each occasion, it happened for less than a second, and other than that the tracks carried on playing, so I don't see it as a major problem.

I thought I might have some dodgy rips from my CDs, so I played one of the affected tracks (the only one I could remember) on itunes on my computer and it played all the way through without any problems, so I'm assuming it was a problem with the ipod or its hard drive.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions as to what this might be or how it can be cured, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll use my other ipod this weekend to see whether that cures the problem...which I'm assuming/hoping it will...in which case I'll just use the spare ipod in future & keep the other one for back up.

Should I ever turn up at a venue to discover a sound limiter which I wasn't aware of, I've decided to use CDs...just to be on the safe side, although it's unlikely to happen, as I no longer accept gigs in venues with limiters (apart from the ones I know about which are set at a sensible level).

Finally, before anyone asks, yes...I have purchased a ProDub licence, although looking at the licence reference, assuming they started at PD-0000001 and run in sequence, it appears that less than 150 of the thousands of digital DJs, aerobics instructors etc have purchased it so far, even though it's been out for over a month now...which I found VERY surprising!

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but that's my full report on my first digital gig.

:D

[nigelwright7557]

Strictly speaking a CD is digital too.
It has ones and zeroes embedded on it.

I have dipped my toes into MP3 players in the past but they didnt work well for me. I found I was always being asked for requests so ended up back on the dual cd player.

I dont do enough work or charge enough to pay for a produb license so stick to CD's.

[Excalibur]

Last Saturday I finally did my first all digital gig, so here's my report as previously promised. Apologies if it's a bit long. For those that know the venue, it was a wedding reception at the Lensbury in Broom Road, Teddington (right next to the TV studios).
TV Star now eh?


The first thing I noticed was that setting up was quicker & easier than normal, as there were no boxes of CDs to open up & pull up the all discs I might want to play, and there was no single CD player to get out, put on my lighting controller & connect up to the power & my mixer.

I was well-prepared for any major problems, as I have a single CD player built into my new console, but also had 2 spare ipods, a spare single CD player and my old CD console containing it's dual player as well as all my CDs...but luckily I didn't have any major problems...only a few minor ones.


Of course it's quicker you muppet! :p



To be honest, the first thing that struck me was that I didn't feel like a proper DJ, as everything was so easy to operate & there seemed very little to do (compared to before).

I started by loading a background music playlist containing 40 songs into the crate, set the mode for player one to "continuous" and hit play. It then played out the songs automatically, just like when I used to use CD albums for background music.

When the bride said they were ready for the first dance, I simply emptied the crate, changed the mode switch on player one from "continuous" to "manual" then loaded a pre-made playlist containing all their requests into the crate (the first track in the playlist being their first dance, of course). I sent the first dance to player two, made the announcement & hit play.
Might as well have had a jukebox. ;) :D



After that, it was so simple highlighting tracks in the crate & sending them to the players...rather than messing about with CDs and the ring binder containing my paper index.

As it happened, I had a fair few requests on the night, and finding them was an absolute joy. It just took about 5-10 seconds to locate them with the keyboard, and (apart from a couple which I sent to the crate as I thought they'd go down better a bit later on) in most cases I sent them straight to the vacant deck to play next.

This was noticed by the bride & guests, as I had a very complimentary email from the bride this morning which ended "I've also heard & had experience of how quickly you played songs that people requested on the night, and was very impressed when you played them straight away. Many, many thanks"

Fairly much the views of my punters. ;)





I don't know how other D2 operators work, but I found myself using the keyboard virtually all the time. The only controls I used on the D2 itself were the two play buttons...and that's only because I don't think they're duplicated on the keyboard.
Same goes for Cortex. There will be a shortcut, but why bother? At least you look like a DJ if you have to push a button. ;) :D



The other thing which was much easier than using CDs was working out the timings at the end of the evening. I like to finish within 30 seconds of the finish time, so about 15 minutes before the end I was used to working out the last few songs & what time I needed to play them. In some cases, the timings were not on the CD, so it was a case of putting the CD in the player & cueing up a track just to see it's running time...before taking it out again & then putting in the next CD I wanted to play. However, the D2's crate displays the artist, title & duration of each track...so working out the timings was a doddle.
If I can finish within an hour I'm happy. :D :D




Now onto the small problems I experienced with my first digital gig.

On about three different occasions, the track that was playing either repeated or skipped a beat or two, which sounded quite similar to when a CD or record jumped in the old days. On each occasion, it happened for less than a second, and other than that the tracks carried on playing, so I don't see it as a major problem.

I thought I might have some dodgy rips from my CDs, so I played one of the affected tracks (the only one I could remember) on itunes on my computer and it played all the way through without any problems, so I'm assuming it was a problem with the ipod or its hard drive.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions as to what this might be or how it can be cured, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll use my other ipod this weekend to see whether that cures the problem...which I'm assuming/hoping it will...in which case I'll just use the spare ipod in future & keep the other one for back up.


I refer my honourable friend to all the derogatory comments I've already made about Ipod DJ's. :p :D :D Bin 'em both, and get a couple of Maxtors. ;) :D



Should I ever turn up at a venue to discover a sound limiter which I wasn't aware of, I've decided to use CDs...just to be on the safe side, although it's unlikely to happen, as I no longer accept gigs in venues with limiters (apart from the ones I know about which are set at a sensible level).

UPS. I will have to get one at some time, but if like me you are using a NTFS HD, a power loss should not corrupt any files, according to the Oracle from IOW. ;) :D :D



Finally, before anyone asks, yes...I have purchased a ProDub licence, although looking at the licence reference, assuming they started at PD-0000001 and run in sequence, it appears that less than 150 of the thousands of digital DJs, aerobics instructors etc have purchased it so far, even though it's been out for over a month now...which I found VERY surprising!Anyway, sorry for the long post, but that's my full report on my first digital gig.

:D

Your naivete is truly touching. :D :D :D



Strictly speaking a CD is digital too.
It has ones and zeroes embedded on it.

I have dipped my toes into MP3 players in the past but they didnt work well for me. I found I was always being asked for requests so ended up back on the dual cd player.

I dont do enough work or charge enough to pay for a produb license so stick to CD's.

I cannot follow that logic. There is no faster way of finding requests than with an HDC or laptop.

[rob1963]

Your naivete is truly touching. :D :D :D

Which is more than can be said for your spelling! 4032

Thanks for your comments Excalibur.....I think! :D :D :D

[DJ INDIE]

nice one Rob.

definitely makes you look the business if you can source a request (and have it (automatically) mix in) within a very short space of time!

also so much easier than lugging all those cds around, thats for sure!

you do have to find other ways of keeping busy/amusing yourself sometimes though! - i tend to load and cue up a few cds through habit !

dont know about you, but i dont half get nervous during first dances on the PC / laptop - i have a cd of the same songs playing alongside at the same time just in case!, so in an emergency i can flip over to that - touch wood, nothings gone wrong so far!

[Excalibur]

Which is more than can be said for your spelling! 4032

Thanks for your comments Excalibur.....I think! :D :D :D
The spelling's perfect. My keyboard is English. If I could put an acute accent over the last e then I would. Cue Smartbottom and friends teling me how to do it! :D


nice one Rob.

definitely makes you look the business if you can source a request (and have it (automatically) mix in) within a very short space of time!

also so much easier than lugging all those cds around, thats for sure!

you do have to find other ways of keeping busy/amusing yourself sometimes though! - i tend to load and cue up a few cds through habit !

dont know about you, but i dont half get nervous during first dances on the PC / laptop - i have a cd of the same songs playing alongside at the same time just in case!, so in an emergency i can flip over to that - touch wood, nothings gone wrong so far!

I've had three copies cued up in different formats simultaneously before now! Belt and Braces, you know it makes sense. :D :D

[rob1963]

dont know about you, but i dont half get nervous during first dances on the PC / laptop - i have a cd of the same songs playing alongside at the same time just in case!, so in an emergency i can flip over to that - touch wood, nothings gone wrong so far!

Hi DJ Indie,

I'm not sure about the first dance...I was nervous from when I woke up on Saturday until just after I played the final song at the wedding!

I didn't have a CD of the first dance cued up in case of problems, but I think that's a good idea, and is very easy to do in my case...as my new digital console also contains a single CD player (partly for back up & partly in case I'm handed the first dance on CD)

:)


The spelling's perfect.

Cue Smartbottom and friends teling me how to do it! :D

:rofl:

[CRAZY K]

Last Saturday I finally did my first all digital gig, so here's my report as previously promised. Apologies if it's a bit long. For those that know the venue, it was a wedding reception at the Lensbury in Broom Road, Teddington (right next to the TV studios).

The first thing I noticed was that setting up was quicker & easier than normal, as there were no boxes of CDs to open up & pull up the all discs I might want to play, and there was no single CD player to get out, put on my lighting controller & connect up to the power & my mixer.

I was well-prepared for any major problems, as I have a single CD player built into my new console, but also had 2 spare ipods, a spare single CD player and my old CD console containing it's dual player as well as all my CDs...but luckily I didn't have any major problems...only a few minor ones.

To be honest, the first thing that struck me was that I didn't feel like a proper DJ, as everything was so easy to operate & there seemed very little to do (compared to before).

I started by loading a background music playlist containing 40 songs into the crate, set the mode for player one to "continuous" and hit play. It then played out the songs automatically, just like when I used to use CD albums for background music.

When the bride said they were ready for the first dance, I simply emptied the crate, changed the mode switch on player one from "continuous" to "manual" then loaded a pre-made playlist containing all their requests into the crate (the first track in the playlist being their first dance, of course). I sent the first dance to player two, made the announcement & hit play.

After that, it was so simple highlighting tracks in the crate & sending them to the players...rather than messing about with CDs and the ring binder containing my paper index.

As it happened, I had a fair few requests on the night, and finding them was an absolute joy. It just took about 5-10 seconds to locate them with the keyboard, and (apart from a couple which I sent to the crate as I thought they'd go down better a bit later on) in most cases I sent them straight to the vacant deck to play next.

This was noticed by the bride & guests, as I had a very complimentary email from the bride this morning which ended "I've also heard & had experience of how quickly you played songs that people requested on the night, and was very impressed when you played them straight away. Many, many thanks"

I don't know how other D2 operators work, but I found myself using the keyboard virtually all the time. The only controls I used on the D2 itself were the two play buttons...and that's only because I don't think they're duplicated on the keyboard.

The other thing which was much easier than using CDs was working out the timings at the end of the evening. I like to finish within 30 seconds of the finish time, so about 15 minutes before the end I was used to working out the last few songs & what time I needed to play them. In some cases, the timings were not on the CD, so it was a case of putting the CD in the player & cueing up a track just to see it's running time...before taking it out again & then putting in the next CD I wanted to play. However, the D2's crate displays the artist, title & duration of each track...so working out the timings was a doddle.

Now onto the small problems I experienced with my first digital gig.

On about three different occasions, the track that was playing either repeated or skipped a beat or two, which sounded quite similar to when a CD or record jumped in the old days. On each occasion, it happened for less than a second, and other than that the tracks carried on playing, so I don't see it as a major problem.

I thought I might have some dodgy rips from my CDs, so I played one of the affected tracks (the only one I could remember) on itunes on my computer and it played all the way through without any problems, so I'm assuming it was a problem with the ipod or its hard drive.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions as to what this might be or how it can be cured, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll use my other ipod this weekend to see whether that cures the problem...which I'm assuming/hoping it will...in which case I'll just use the spare ipod in future & keep the other one for back up.

Should I ever turn up at a venue to discover a sound limiter which I wasn't aware of, I've decided to use CDs...just to be on the safe side, although it's unlikely to happen, as I no longer accept gigs in venues with limiters (apart from the ones I know about which are set at a sensible level).

Finally, before anyone asks, yes...I have purchased a ProDub licence, although looking at the licence reference, assuming they started at PD-0000001 and run in sequence, it appears that less than 150 of the thousands of digital DJs, aerobics instructors etc have purchased it so far, even though it's been out for over a month now...which I found VERY surprising!

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but that's my full report on my first digital gig.

:D

Rob, glad to hear you are enjoying being a Digital DJ.

Ive never had any hiccuping tracks on the Cortex or the Seagate HDs---it may well be that as you say the I pod hard drive being smaller than its Commercial equivalent which most of use--- cant always cope 100 per cent.

Should it be an issue then you can always revert to a standard hard drive remembering to count the transfer on your pro dub log:D :D :D :D :D :D

Maybe you could claim a refund as it may be a manufacturers fault?

Keyboard is a must, I think everyone on here uses one--make sure you carry a spare though.

I dont subscribe to the theory that a "proper" DJ doesnt use all the latest technology available to make his job easier.

Its win win for you and the client/friends.

Entertainment is the name of the game--everything else doesnt matter too much.

Dont builders use JCB diggers to dig a trench quickly rather than spending half a day with picks and shovels:D :D :D

Yes some of us have a pro dub licence !!!!!!

CRAZY K

[Penfold42]

Well done Rob.....about time!...:D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The backup thing is always well worth a go and I always make sure that I have tunes cued up on the CD decks just in case. I also make sure that on the day of the wedding when I am setting up, that (as long as the bride and groom aren't around), I play the first dances a couple of times to make sure that they are both ok as some of them are on the Denon but I haven't played them before so aren't aware if they are corrupt or not.

[Dillmiester]

Do you have jog wheels on your controller? Sometimes a enough bass vibration can cause them to move slightly and cause brief interuption in a track.
I have this a while back and had to resort to the highly technical solution of putting a towel under the mixer!

[Boogie Boy]

Two questions.

1) Why use a D2 with iPods. External hard drives are cheap nowadays and you could have all your tracks in pristine WAV format.

2) Why play requests at the drop of a hat? I don't understand why you'd drop say Amy Winehouse - Rehab if you were currently playing something like Sister Sledge - We Are Family?
It probably means all DJs will be 'hostages to fortune' in the near future, once word gets around.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Two questions.

1) Why use a D2 with iPods. External hard drives are cheap nowadays and you could have all your tracks in pristine WAV format.

2) Why play requests at the drop of a hat? I don't understand why you'd drop say Amy Winehouse - Rehab if you were currently playing something like Sister Sledge - We Are Family?
It probably means all DJs will be 'hostages to fortune' in the near future, once word gets around.

It would be alright if the Bpms were the same though, eh? :sj:

[rob1963]

Well done Rob.....about time!...:D

Thanks Tony!

I don't like to rush things!

:D :D :D


The backup thing is always well worth a go and I always make sure that I have tunes cued up on the CD decks just in case. I also make sure that on the day of the wedding when I am setting up, that (as long as the bride and groom aren't around), I play the first dances a couple of times to make sure that they are both ok as some of them are on the Denon but I haven't played them before so aren't aware if they are corrupt or not.

Thanks for the info & advice Gary.


Do you have jog wheels on your controller? Sometimes a enough bass vibration can cause them to move slightly and cause brief interuption in a track.
I have this a while back and had to resort to the highly technical solution of putting a towel under the mixer!

I do have jog wheels Dillmiester, but I'm not sure if they were enabled.

I'll check that at this weekend's wedding.


Why use a D2 with iPods. External hard drives are cheap nowadays and you could have all your tracks in pristine WAV format.

Because I ripped all my CDs into itunes, and ipods are designed specifically to work with the itunes music library.

I'm not very technical, so it makes sense for me to be able to plug an ipod into my computer & have my itunes open up & sync automatically with my ipod without me having to press a single button.

If I was using a normal external hard drive, I wouldn't have a clue how to get the music onto it from my computer.

However, if I have problems with the ipods, then I WILL look at using standard external hard drives instead.


Why play requests at the drop of a hat? I don't understand why you'd drop say Amy Winehouse - Rehab if you were currently playing something like Sister Sledge - We Are Family?
It probably means all DJs will be 'hostages to fortune' in the near future, once word gets around.

I DON'T always play requests at the drop of a hat...I play them when I think they will fit in best.

In the case of Saturday's wedding, I was already playing cheese & party stuff when I got requests...and they were mostly for more of the same, so it made sense to play them pretty much straight away.

The email from the bride this morning states that she & a number of other guests were VERY impressed with this, so job done!

As I said in my original post, this wasn't ALWAYS the case though, as I had a couple of requests for stuff which I knew would fit in better if I played them later on, so I loaded them into the crate & played them a while later.

I hope this answers your questions.

:)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Boogie, I think you're thinking the worst mate...I don't mean to be funny but unless you are doing a night in a pub type place where the punters want to hear everything and anything and it's an eclectic playlist (like my Request Fest nights), then you wouldn't do the example or anything like it like you suggested. You would use common sense I should imagine and wait until you are playing something along the same lines?

With my Request Fest nights I can do exactly what you suggested because it doesn't matter...I can go from something like 'Slam' by Pendulum and then into 'Highway to Hell' by ACDC (for example) and the quickness of the way the requests can be sourced is impressive. Someone asked me for a track on saturday night at the wedding I was doing and it was an obvious one to play that I had totally forgotten about. I actually had another track cued up and ready to go and had 30 seconds left of the one that was playing...I actually said to the person requesting.. "Thanks, I totally forgot that one"...Within seconds I had the track they requested cued up and ready to go and they weren't even back on the dancefloor yet!!

I would definitely agree that the HD's are the best way to go and not I-Pods (although I have never used an I-Pod to work with) and also have a backup keyboard too. I now have 2 identical HD's in my Denon set up plus the CD's as backup. If one HD were to go down then the other one is there ready just in case.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Rob, you mentioned about getting tracks on to your External HD... I assume that the D2 came with PC Software? If it did then it will tell you how easy it is do it and once you have done it once you'll see how much of a doddle it is.

My Denon box is sat next to my laptop all the time and it's easy to update it day to day.

[Boogie Boy]

It would be alright if the Bpms were the same though, eh? :sj:

Darren: What is your problem? Your continuous digging is rather petty, IMO and not the sort of behaviour that your moderators would tolerate from almost anyone else.

Rob: Thanks for clearing up the question re playing of requests. However, your initial post was not entirely clear, so the question needed asking, IMO.

[rob1963]

I assume that the D2 came with PC Software? .

Not as far as I'm aware, Gary.

:(

[Shakermaker Promotions]

That's wierd then mate! I'd have thought that it would've. The Cortex does and the Denon does. I don't know much about the D2 but maybe it's in their plans? It really makes life so much easier when getting tracks across. The Denon has a 40G internal HD (which can be upgraded) and I am only using about half of that. Most of my stuff is on the external HD's which are 250G each and I still have around 90G left on each of them.

[DJ INDIE]

oh, and one last thing Rob - if your digital formats (MP3, M4a etc) dont come with relevant file info - for the love of god make sure you name them correctly!!

i did a 60th about 2 years ago and had a few women, shall we say of the the older generation on the dancefloor, when one asked for 'The Timewarp'.

I knew I had it from years back, so typed in "TimeWarp" - and nothing came up....puzzled I then had a stroke of genius and typed in "Rocky Horror" and up in the track window came 3 seemingly identical looking files "Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtr,,," ........ hmmmm I must have 3 versions for some reason, so I cued one up.......and on it came.............

To my horror, it was from the Rocky Horror picture show, but was not "TimeWarp" but "Sweet Transvestite from Translyvania" !!!!!! :eek: (If anyone remembers it??)

luckily they carried on dancing (as i went a more crimson colour!) :) and i managed to mix timewarp (which was the 3rd of the Rocky horror files not the first!) into it somehow unoticed.....

could have got myself lynched though if they thought id been suggesting the song at them!!! :D

so always make sure you check any files you have are what they say they are before playing them! :) :)

[501damian501]

Have faith in your system, you dont need to carry major amounts of back up gear, if you have decent gear, you get decent output, you dont see fire engines carrying a spare engine or tank of water, and as for the license, i new it would of been a flop, :beer1: damo

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Darren: What is your problem? Your continuous digging is rather petty, IMO and not the sort of behaviour that your moderators would tolerate from almost anyone else.



Let me tell you this once and once only.

You post the most ridiculous things and try and get a rise out of people constantly and I will not put up with that which is why I answer your rather hypercritical posts in the way that I do.

You are constantly negative and disagreeable with a lot of members on here and are complaining about me?

If I left it to some of the mods and admins on here, you would no longer be on here or have an account.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I think the tagging part of digital DJing is THE most important thing.
People go on about the best quality being wav files etc etc or 320k mp3's...Most of mine are 320k but I have quite a few at 128k or 160k and they are still excellent quality and you wouldn't know the difference. It's the naming of the tracks that is important. Why go to all the bother of ripping the stuff that you want and need and then when it comes to use them, you can't find the ruddy things!!?

It's happened to me a few times where I couldn't find stuff that I KNEW was there. It was sometimes down to not ripping properly and the artist coming up as 'Various artists' or if there was a space infront of the first letter etc etc. The good thing about having the software is that you can go through all of the tracks and edit the ID tags and the Denon will find them straight away. I've also had a couple of times where the track that I have selected is NOT the track that I want because the ID tag has been done wrong when ripped. For example: Happy Mondays - Step On was actually The Farm - Groovy Train. On that occasion I didn't actually listen to it when cueing up but got away with it as I was doing an Indie night. I have a book with me when stuff like this happens so that I can write down the tune and ammend it during the week. I am more or less up to date now.

[rob1963]

As it happened, I had a fair few requests on the night, and finding them was an absolute joy. It just took about 5-10 seconds to locate them with the keyboard, and (apart from a couple which I sent to the crate as I thought they'd go down better a bit later on) in most cases I sent them straight to the vacant deck to play next.


Rob: Thanks for clearing up the question re playing of requests. However, your initial post was not entirely clear, so the question needed asking, IMO.

I thought my original post (shown above) concerning my playing of requests was clear, but I'm sorry if it wasn't.


oh, and one last thing Rob - if your digital formats (MP3, M4a etc) dont come with relevant file info - for the love of god make sure you name them correctly!!

i did a 60th about 2 years ago and had a few women, shall we say of the the older generation on the dancefloor, when one asked for 'The Timewarp'.

I knew I had it from years back, so typed in "TimeWarp" - and nothing came up....puzzled I then had a stroke of genius and typed in "Rocky Horror" and up in the track window came 3 seemingly identical looking files "Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtr,,," ........ hmmmm I must have 3 versions for some reason, so I cued one up.......and on it came.............

To my horror, it was from the Rocky Horror picture show, but was not "TimeWarp" but "Sweet Transvestite from Translyvania" !!!!!! :eek: (If anyone remembers it??)

luckily they carried on dancing (as i went a more crimson colour!) :) and i managed to mix timewarp (which was the 3rd of the Rocky horror files not the first!) into it somehow unoticed.....

could have got myself lynched though if they thought id been suggesting the song at them!!! :D

so always make sure you check any files you have are what they say they are before playing them! :) :)

Thanks for the advice DJ Indie.

When ripping my CDs, I spent a long time checking & correcting the errors with the tagging, so I'm pretty confident it should all be accurate.

:)

[501damian501]

get id tagging software, simple then, from the company its self.... Get 1st MP3 Tag Editor and get them filled in automatically. When connected to the Net, the program will automatically connect to a database and import MP3 tag data based on track properties.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Damian - That's what I did BUT....it's not always accurate and you don't know until it comes to finding the track on the night. Also, there have been a number of occasions where the CD inserted into the laptop was listed as something totally different when being ripped, tagged etc...For example: An 80s compilation I had came up as the same album title but the tracks were totally different.

[DJ INDIE]

true, and when ripping an entire album it only takes one tag to be wrong and you have a knock on effect which puts the rest of the album out of sync.

Plus different programs can use different tags - i have come across, like shakermaker says, loads of correctly named files that come up as 'various' or 'unnamed' in certain programs so i have to manually add in the correct titles to the file IDs next to the same title.

[Boogie Boy]

Let me tell you this once and once only.

You post the most ridiculous things and try and get a rise out of people constantly and I will not put up with that which is why I answer your rather hypercritical posts in the way that I do.

You are constantly negative and disagreeable with a lot of members on here and are complaining about me?

If I left it to some of the mods and admins on here, you would no longer be on here or have an account.

PM posted to Darren in reply.

[Corabar Steve]

The spelling's perfect. My keyboard is English. If I could put an acute accent over the last e then I would. Cue Smartbottom and friends teling me how to do it! :D

èéêë :sj:

[rob1963]

Damian - That's what I did BUT....it's not always accurate and you don't know until it comes to finding the track on the night. Also, there have been a number of occasions where the CD inserted into the laptop was listed as something totally different when being ripped, tagged etc...For example: An 80s compilation I had came up as the same album title but the tracks were totally different.

Exactly.

Even though it connects to some internet database to retrieve the track info, I was amazed at how much of the time it was wrong.

In many cases it was just small spelling mistakes or the artist in the title field & vice versa.

However, I was amazed at how many of my CDs came up with completely different tracks. I even remember a recent NOW compilation where ALL the info for one of the two discs was completely wrong!

The only way around it is to compare ALL the artist & track info that comes up when ripping to the info on the CD itself. A long & boring process.

[CRAZY K]

Two questions.

1) Why use a D2 with iPods. External hard drives are cheap nowadays and you could have all your tracks in pristine WAV format.

2) Why play requests at the drop of a hat? I don't understand why you'd drop say Amy Winehouse - Rehab if you were currently playing something like Sister Sledge - We Are Family?
It probably means all DJs will be 'hostages to fortune' in the near future, once word gets around.

We already are:D :D :D

CRAZY K


Exactly.

Even though it connects to some internet database to retrieve the track info, I was amazed at how much of the time it was wrong.

In many cases it was just small spelling mistakes or the artist in the title field & vice versa.

However, I was amazed at how many of my CDs came up with completely different tracks. I even remember a recent NOW compilation where ALL the info for one of the two discs was completely wrong!

The only way around it is to compare ALL the artist & track info that comes up when ripping to the info on the CD itself. A long & boring process.

You may recall we discussed this some time ago--the secret is to listen to your most played tracks to check they are accurately tagged.

Believe it or not--before a Wedding or party gig I will run through the clients playlist on the Cortex and make sure every track is tagged correctly by listening through my laptop.

After a while you will get CONFIDENCE and be used to finding popular tracks in your own way because as Shakermaker rightly says they dont always seem to come up as you might expect:confused:

I dont have any back up for First dances--just try it out whilst you are "setting up" without sound and im sure it will be 100 per cent--thats with a Cortex and a Seagate HD which have impressed me for reliability.

I wouldnt be 100 per cent happy about using the Ipod until its had a serious amount of backtesting.

Transferring from I tunes to HD--I do it all the time--just burn a CD and then rip to HD?

CRAZY K

[JAMdisco]

To be honest, the first thing that struck me was that I didn't feel like a proper DJ, as everything was so easy to operate & there seemed very little to do (compared to before).

It does free up a lot of time - also makes things easier when choosing what songs to play next, quite often I cue up a track then preview it through my headphones, only to find that it might not be the 'right' song, so can make very quick changes to another track.


This was noticed by the bride & guests, as I had a very complimentary email from the bride this morning which ended "I've also heard & had experience of how quickly you played songs that people requested on the night, and was very impressed when you played them straight away. Many, many thanks"


I can never recall anybody being impressed by the speed of song requests. I don't know if it's an age thing but most people (I find) almost expect songs to be played instantly. Maybe it's becuase they see me using a laptop rather than a system that looks a little like a dual CD player.

[Vectis]

Hi Rob

Fleeting visit... halfway through painting the office so can't give a full considered response but...

1. I NEVER use the keyboard! How folks differ huh?
2. Numark Librarian is the software you want - download from the Numark website. It's free.
3. I once had a jittery drive - turned out it was a 'power saving' feature that kicked in after a few minutes. Eventually the Numark firmware was updated with a 'keepalive' feature (I think it was 1.09) and the problem went away. You need to remember that iPods with HDDs rather than flash memory (which I presume yours is due to capacity) have a relatively slow rotational speed (4200rpm) and aggressive power management to make the most of the battery - this might be your pain point.
4. Well done mate and welcome to the world of Digital! :) No looking back.

[rob1963]

1. I NEVER use the keyboard! How folks differ huh?

Wow...I'm amazed!

Searching for songs must take AGES using that little rotary/push knob rather than a keyboard. To each their own, as they say!


2. Numark Librarian is the software you want - download from the Numark website. It's free.

I already have it, and I run it every single time I update my ipods.


3. I once had a jittery drive - turned out it was a 'power saving' feature that kicked in after a few minutes. Eventually the Numark firmware was updated with a 'keepalive' feature (I think it was 1.09) and the problem went away. You need to remember that iPods with HDDs rather than flash memory (which I presume yours is due to capacity) have a relatively slow rotational speed (4200rpm) and aggressive power management to make the most of the battery - this might be your pain point.

I'm already running the latest (1.09) firmware version on the D2.

I think you may be right about the relatively slow rotational speed of the hard drives in ipods.

This weekend I'll use my other ipod to see if the occasional jumping problem still occurs.

Depending on the outcome, I MIGHT consider moving away from ipods to standard external hard drives. I'll just have to wait & see.


4. Well done mate and welcome to the world of Digital! :) No looking back.

Thanks very much!

I know I took a while to get there, but the wait was well worth it!

:D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Rob, people like VV were very helpful when I was having problems with the Cortex. As it turned out in the end, I had a faulty unit and lost confidence so opted for the Denon but I didn't know about stuff like rotational / spindle speeds etc and the help was great. I bit the bullet and went for 2 x External HD's with high spindle speeds and also a powered multiple USB too. Neither have let me down and both are awesome and very quick.

I don't wish any bad luck on you mate but the only thing that is going to make you change your mind, in my opinion, is when something goes badly wrong with the I-Pod's (which I hope doesn't happen of course). If they are working fine and as you want them to then that's great but personally I wouldn't take the chance. Also, as VV said...I burn all of my I-Tunes stuff, new releases and promos etc etc to disc and then rip to MP3 and transfer to HD. This means that they are being backed up as CD aswell which then goes straight into my case.

It's a winner mate and I am sure once you do it you will agree.

[rob1963]

Rob, people like VV were very helpful when I was having problems with the Cortex. As it turned out in the end, I had a faulty unit and lost confidence so opted for the Denon but I didn't know about stuff like rotational / spindle speeds etc and the help was great. I bit the bullet and went for 2 x External HD's with high spindle speeds and also a powered multiple USB too. Neither have let me down and both are awesome and very quick.

I don't wish any bad luck on you mate but the only thing that is going to make you change your mind, in my opinion, is when something goes badly wrong with the I-Pod's (which I hope doesn't happen of course). If they are working fine and as you want them to then that's great but personally I wouldn't take the chance. Also, as VV said...I burn all of my I-Tunes stuff, new releases and promos etc etc to disc and then rip to MP3 and transfer to HD. This means that they are being backed up as CD aswell which then goes straight into my case.

It's a winner mate and I am sure once you do it you will agree.

I appreciate your thoughts Gary.

Obviously I've only done one digital gig so far, so it's too early to decide which route to go down with music storage.

This weekend I'll use a different ipod to see if I still get a few songs missing a beat, and then over the next few weeks I'll be able to make a decision based on my experience.

:)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Good luck with it mate.
If you have some spare cash, why not get yourself a decent External HD and Powered USB hub anyway? You'll have instant backup and also...if the worse case scenario does happen, you'll be able to swap over straight away without spending days sorting it all out.

I still spend at least a couple of hours a day at the moment going through everything and making sure I have what I think I have. Couldn't believe it the other night - I was playing 'Cry for you' by September and thought that if I speeded up 'Can't get you out of my head' by Kylie, it could be a decent mix.. Could I find the Kylie track? Nope!! I hadn't transferred it to my Denon yet so first thing I did on sunday was make sure that I did transfer it. (Haven't tried the mix yet either so if someone wants to give it a go, let me know if it works!).

[501damian501]

Yup allways have your beloved collection, backed up, even if its on dvd data disks, locked away in a fireprove safe, at least you have it all digitalize with right tags ect, and as for id tag, why dont somone create a nice piece of tagging software and a internet site, which is 99.5% right, not 99.5% wrong, ive tryed it before and sometimes their was afew problems, i think these new cds confuse the system a little bit as half of them are just gloified remixes of 80s and 90s stuff, cheers damo

[rob1963]

I've just got back from my second digital gig, a wedding at a nice hotel just outside Guildford.

You might recall that with my first digital gig last weekend, there were three occasions where the track missed a beat / jumped etc.

Tonight I used a different ipod, and it was almost a faultless night...there was just one occasion when a track dropped out for a fraction of a second, but everything was fine apart from that.

I've noticed the output level from my D2 is lower than my CD players, as I now need the CM100 mixer output to be on 7, whereas I had it on 5 before.

Also, I've noticed the MP3s seem to have less treble &/or more bass than my CD player, but this is fine...as I don't use a sub.

So, my overall verdict on the digital system is very good.

The odd dropout is well worth it for the massive convenience of using MP3s, so I'm looking forward to many more digital gigs in the future, including two next weekend.

:)

[Excalibur]

I've just got back from my second digital gig, a wedding at a nice hotel just outside Guildford.

You might recall that with my first digital gig last weekend, there were three occasions where the track missed a beat / jumped etc.

Tonight I used a different ipod, and it was almost a faultless night...there was just one occasion when a track dropped out for a fraction of a second, but everything was fine apart from that.

I've noticed the output level from my D2 is lower than my CD players, as I now need the CM100 mixer output to be on 7, whereas I had it on 5 before.

Also, I've noticed the MP3s seem to have less treble &/or more bass than my CD player, but this is fine...as I don't use a sub.

So, my overall verdict on the digital system is very good.

The odd dropout is well worth it for the massive convenience of using MP3s, so I'm looking forward to many more digital gigs in the future, including two next weekend.

:)

Well done that man, two gigs eh? You'll soon be a veteran like the rest of us! :p :D :D Lower volume is apparently usual, I can't get any meters into the red now, but the EQ variation is interesting. All the ones I've heard have way less bass, and therefore seem to have more treble. Wonder if your experience is anything to do with the Ipods? :confused: Glad it suits you, since it definitely suits me. Adding bass to my system is rarely a problem! ;) :D :D
I'm still baffled by any dropout though Rob, the only equivalent on the Cortex is if I search in File Setup. This will always cause a momentary hiccup on the playing channel. Don't know if this is anything to do with your problem? :confused:

[JAMdisco]

I'm still baffled by any dropout though Rob, the only equivalent on the Cortex is if I search in File Setup. This will always cause a momentary hiccup on the playing channel. Don't know if this is anything to do with your problem? :confused:


I'm confused too, why would it do that?
I've had nil droputs on my dual core laptop :D :p :D

[Corabar Steve]

The Denon doesn't drop out when you are searching on the other deck.

[rob1963]

I'm still baffled by any dropout though Rob, the only equivalent on the Cortex is if I search in File Setup. This will always cause a momentary hiccup on the playing channel. Don't know if this is anything to do with your problem? :confused:

I'm also baffled, Excalibur.

The symptom of my problem seems the same as your description of when you search file setup with the Cortex, but it hasn't happened when I'm doing a search...only when the unit is playing a song & no other functions are being performed...weird!


I'm confused too, why would it do that?
I've had nil droputs on my dual core laptop :D :p :D

I have no idea, JayDeeDrinker :shrug:


The Denon doesn't drop out when you are searching on the other deck.

Neither does my D2.

It has never had a problem when I've been playing one song while searching for another at the same time.

[Corabar Steve]

So you're not actually physically doing anything to the player when it drops, other than letting it play?

[rob1963]

So you're not actually physically doing anything to the player when it drops, other than letting it play?

That's right, Steve.

On the 4 occasions when it has dropped out or missed a beat I haven't even been touching the D2 at the time.

:shrug:

[Corabar Steve]

Have you got a hard drive that you could load with MP3s to try to emulate the problem at home. At least then we would know if it was a problem with the D2 or if the iPods just aren't up to the job.

Because in all honesty 2 glitches in 2 gigs is not good.

[rob1963]

Have you got a hard drive that you could load with MP3s to try to emulate the problem at home. At least then we would know if it was a problem with the D2 or if the iPods just aren't up to the job.

Because in all honesty 2 glitches in 2 gigs is not good.

Unfortunately I don't have another hard drive to try to emulate the problem at home.

To be honest, having a couple of songs miss a beat or drop out for a total of about 1 second during a 5 hour gig is hardly a big problem, although it would still be nice to get to the bottom of it for peace of mind.

I guess the next step is to see if anyone on the Numark forum has had a similar problem or can shed any light on it.

:shrug:

[Nile]

ah technology!
Being new - couldnt imagine doin it any other way.
My system kept doin an odd thing the other day, started the trax fine the would jump to about 1/4 of the way thru - only occasionally - only on one VDJ deck 1. Very odd. Shut down restart and checked USB connections and not done it since.
Stuff happens!
;-)

[CRAZY K]

ah technology!
Being new - couldnt imagine doin it any other way.
My system kept doin an odd thing the other day, started the trax fine the would jump to about 1/4 of the way thru - only occasionally - only on one VDJ deck 1. Very odd. Shut down restart and checked USB connections and not done it since.
Stuff happens!
;-)

Not with Cortex or a Mini disc player---

In my experience of using Mini Disc for 10 years or more and Cortex 18 months ---ZERO DROP OUTS---ZERO JUMPING---ZERO MISSED BEATS:D

On the technology front I worked with a singer last year who said they wanted to put their backing I pod through my PA--then turned up with a CD because the I pod was playing up--luckily I had a spare CD player to use

CRAZY K


Have you got a hard drive that you could load with MP3s to try to emulate the problem at home. At least then we would know if it was a problem with the D2 or if the iPods just aren't up to the job.

Because in all honesty 2 glitches in 2 gigs is not good.

Totally agree--never had any glitches in 18 months with the Cortex--

Try a decent Hard drive and see if that fixes it.

With digital there should be NO errors--in theory.

But then why does my PC freeze about once every two weeks when its little brain cant cope any more:eek:

Which is why I dont use a laptop.

CRAZY K

[Nile]

Not with Cortex or a Mini disc player---

In my experience of using Mini Disc for 10 years or more and Cortex 18 months ---ZERO DROP OUTS---ZERO JUMPING---ZERO MISSED BEATS:D

On the technology front I worked with a singer last year who said they wanted to put their backing I pod through my PA--then turned up with a CD because the I pod was playing up--luckily I had a spare CD player to use

CRAZY K


I have been useing MD's for my singing for 8 years and one time last year it kept jumping.
I had to take a break - I ran the Lens cleaner thru it and it was fine again, one of the discs must have caught a hair or something.
I also have a track that has started jumpin in the same place, so for some reason, the disc or track has corrupted / got damaged.
so theres time yetfor you to have a hiccup! :D !

Yes the laptop frightens me occasionally!

And I got a short notice singing gig last year - when the trio who turned up couldnt get there laptop to power up - as it looked after there lighting show / music etc so they were stuffed. I just turned up with my mini disc player and off I went. So although nothing is infallible ( they said CDs were indestructable remember!) the simpler something is the less there is to go wrong!
Says me with a laptop - External drive - hercules mixer - behringer mixer - 2 lots of radio mics -

Pray for me..............................

:zip:

Nile

[Corabar Steve]

To be honest, having a couple of songs miss a beat or drop out for a total of about 1 second during a 5 hour gig is hardly a big problem, although it would still be nice to get to the bottom of it for peace of mind.

Doesn't exactly bode well for a supposedly professional piece of equipment though does it?


Totally agree--never had any glitches in 18 months with the Cortex--

Hardly a fair or accurate statement. How often during that 18 months have you used it? I've not seen it yet & how many times have we worked together since you've owned it?

[Excalibur]

So you're not actually physically doing anything to the player when it drops, other than letting it play?


That's right, Steve.

On the 4 occasions when it has dropped out or missed a beat I haven't even been touching the D2 at the time.

:shrug:
Ah! I didn't realise that. The first popular choice would be a corrupt or damaged file. How you find them I have no idea. Are there any common factors, artist, album or something?


Doesn't exactly bode well for a supposedly professional piece of equipment though does it?
No, which is why it should be sorted.




Hardly a fair or accurate statement. How often during that 18 months have you used it? I've not seen it yet & how many times have we worked together since you've owned it?
Steady there Steve!
If Crazy wasn't such a laid back type, he might have believed that you were inferring that he was being economical with the facts! :eek: ;) I've not had eighteen months with the Cortex, but I've had a lot of years with MD, and would agree that it's bulletproof. Knowing how Alan has been scrupulous about what he puts on his HD, I wouldn't be surprised to find he hasn't had any problems with his Cortex.

[CRAZY K]

Doesn't exactly bode well for a supposedly professional piece of equipment though does it?



Hardly a fair or accurate statement. How often during that 18 months have you used it? I've not seen it yet & how many times have we worked together since you've owned it?

To put the record straight--- many times Steve--- Weddings, Parties, Wild West Nights ive lost count. In case of Government snoopers I cant disclose the actual figure:cool:

Not as regularly as your Denon--but then after a certain number of gigs---it isnt going to glitch.

I never use Cortex on pure Barn Dances ( such as working with yourself or Darrens DJs ) because I find the Mini Disc player easier to use---nothing against Cortex its just having used MD for 10 years old habits die hard.

The MD is no more reliable than a Cortex--difficult when they are both 100 per cent.:D

The Cortex is out again Thursday for another Wild West job--I have total confidence in the machine.

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

To be honest, having a couple of songs miss a beat or drop out for a total of about 1 second during a 5 hour gig is hardly a big problem, although it would still be nice to get to the bottom of it for peace of mind.


Doesn't exactly bode well for a supposedly professional piece of equipment though does it?

The same could be said of the recent firmware update for the Denon hard drive controller, which by the accounts I read on this forum was nothing short of a nightmare.

And I thought Denon stuff was meant to be more professional than Numark!

4066

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

The same could be said of the recent firmware update for the Denon hard drive controller, which by the accounts I read on this forum was nothing short of a nightmare.

And I thought Denon stuff was meant to be more professional than Numark!

4066

I haven't had any problems.

[Penfold42]

I haven't had any problems.

Ah.....but the force is strong in you........:D

[rob1963]

I haven't had any problems.

What about the "folder issue" you mentioned in the thread below (even though you admitted it wasn't a major thing)?

http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=247127&postcount=73

[Excalibur]

Rob, I've had a look on the Numark forum, and there doesn't appear to be a problem if you're using Hard Drives. The problem appears to be with Flash drives, which I think the Ipod uses. The suggestion that you connect up a HD to your Numark for elimimation purposes appears good acvice. Personally, I'd go for HD as main system, and leave the Ipod for backup.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

What about the "folder issue" you mentioned in the thread below (even though you admitted it wasn't a major thing)?

http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=247127&postcount=73

I wouldn't consider that a problem, as I can still search and playback is fine. The folder issue only happened with the last software update and you couldn't search by folders before anyway.

It seems a bit strange that you have to go searching the forum just to see if you can prove me wrong though Rob.

[Excalibur]

I wouldn't consider that a problem, as I can still search and playback is fine. The folder issue only happened with the last software update and you couldn't search by folders before anyway.

It seems a bit strange that you have to go searching the forum just to see if you can prove me wrong though Rob.

Predictable? :confused: :sofa:

[rob1963]

Rob, I've had a look on the Numark forum, and there doesn't appear to be a problem if you're using Hard Drives. The problem appears to be with Flash drives, which I think the Ipod uses. The suggestion that you connect up a HD to your Numark for elimimation purposes appears good acvice. Personally, I'd go for HD as main system, and leave the Ipod for backup.

Ahhhhh...that's where you're wrong, my good man!

The problem is not with flash drives, but with ALL drives, and my ipods don't use a flash drive anyway...they use a hard drive.

Having posted on the Numark forum & also searched, I've learnt that this is a problem that many people have had with the D2...whether using flash drives, ipods or massive external hard drives.

Hopefully the Numark experts will be able to pinpoint the problem & produce a fix.

In a way, I don't feel so bad now, as I know the fault it not with my ipod or my D2 in particular...if that makes sense?


I wouldn't consider that a problem, as I can still search and playback is fine. The folder issue only happened with the last software update and you couldn't search by folders before anyway.

Thanks for the clarification, Darren.


It seems a bit strange that you have to go searching the forum just to see if you can prove me wrong though Rob.

With all due respect, I wasn't searching the forum to try & prove you wrong at all, Darren.

When I saw your previous post saying you'd had no problems with the firmware update, I thought I remembered you HAD mentioned an issue you had with the firmware on a previous thread (along with many others!), so I did a quick re-read of the thread in question to see if my memory served me correctly.

I'm sure you'd also mention it if I said something on a particular subject & you remembered me saying something different in a previous thread.

:)

[Excalibur]

Rob, I'm not saying you're wrong ( that point is taken as read obviously :p :D :D ), but I thought there were two types of storage systems on Ipods, and you had one of each? Also, I reckon the problem is related to how fast the storage can transfer data. An interesting point is that different flash drives offer different rates. Therefore some types may be better than others.
I still think it would be useful to try a HD as a comparison. My Master HD, which was intended to be the road use one initially, is an internal drive in a caddy, and is very fast. The only thing I knew initially was that I needed a fast HD with a large cache. I suspect that anyone using huge drives with slow transfer rates is likely to face problems.

Since this is a serious post, with a helpful aim, I shall refrain from posting any jests about the merits of particular systems, but will simply say that while the Cortex may initially have been a nightmare, it would seem to be perhaps the most stable of the three at the moment. That's not a smart alec jibe, simply an observation, and if anyone disagrees, well so be it. My machine does what it says on the tin, that's all I ask.

[Vectis]

Well I'd just like to reiterate that I've used a d2 with external 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives without dropouts right from firmware version 1.01.

The two types of drives I've used are Freecom Toughdrive Pro 160GB USB-powered 2.5" 5400rpm disks and a Western Digital Essentials 500GB 7200rpm with external power. 99% of the time I use the Toughdrive.

Hope this helps narrow things down for you Rob.

[Excalibur]

Well I'd just like to reiterate that I've used a d2 with external 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives without dropouts right from firmware version 1.01.

The two types of drives I've used are Freecom Toughdrive Pro 160GB USB-powered 2.5" 5400rpm disks and a Western Digital Essentials 500GB 7200rpm with external power. 99% of the time I use the Toughdrive.

Hope this helps narrow things down for you Rob.

I bow to your superior knowledge Sir! I'd have said that the Freecom was almost guaranteed to have problems, reading those specs. Ah well, I'll sit in the corner, and keep quiet! :o :o

[CRAZY K]

[QUOTE=rob1963;261649]Ahhhhh...that's where you're wrong, my good man!

Having posted on the Numark forum & also searched, I've learnt that this is a problem that many people have had with the D2...whether using flash drives, ipods or massive external hard drives.

First we have heard of D2 problems of this kind ?

I still think a good hard drive would help as thats what VV and Spin use without problems.

If not its a defective machine and get your money back time.

Its hard to believe you would need a patch to iron out something as basic as this. i.e. playing out 100 per cent.

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

I still think a good hard drive would help as thats what VV and Spin use without problems.

I'm not so sure, as people on the numark forum have had dropout problems withh all kinds of different hard drives, including (but not limited to) 4gb, 16gb, 32gb, 120gb, 250gb & 400gb...some of which were flash drives & others being powered hard drives.


Its hard to believe you would need a patch to iron out something as basic as this. i.e. playing out 100 per cent.


To be honest, I don't find it hard to believe.

After all, my one or two dropouts/jumps only last for a second or so in total, and the important thing is that the machine carries on playing afterwards. In a 5 hour gig, this equates to a reliability rate of much better than 99.99%, and we all know that there is NO playout system with 100% reliability.

Obviously if the d2 was crashing, refusing to play certain tracks, freezing etc then it WOULD be a problem...but that's not the case, so I'm quite happy with the D2's performance.

[CRAZY K]

In a 5 hour gig, this equates to a reliability rate of much better than 99.99%, and we all know that there is NO playout system with 100% reliability.



Red Rag to a Bull--I hope Excalibur doesnt read this:sofa:

There are TWO Playout systems I own which have 100per cent reliability--- Excalibur too :D

1. Mni Disc player

2.CORTEX

I dont do :BS:

Trust me, im a honest Cowboy shooting from the lip---:cowboy:

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

There are TWO Playout systems I own which have 100per cent reliability--- Excalibur too :D

No...there are two playout systems you own which HAVE BEEN 100% reliable UNTIL NOW.

There's a difference!

:D :D :D

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

What about the "folder issue" you mentioned in the thread below (even though you admitted it wasn't a major thing)?




I wouldn't consider that a problem, as I can still search and playback is fine. The folder issue only happened with the last software update and you couldn't search by folders before anyway.



Further to this, I have just updated the firmware to version 1400 and it has solved the minor folder problem. Sorted! :thumbsup:

[CRAZY K]

No...there are two playout systems you own which HAVE BEEN 100% reliable UNTIL NOW.

There's a difference!

:D :D :D

So if the Mini Disc has never glitched in 10 years and the Cortex in 18 months, what is there to worry about?

Past performance is no guide to the future--but its all we have to go on so im 100 per cent confident in my playout systems being 100 per cent in future.

I do alternate between two Cortex units and two Mini Disc players to spread the risk of failure.

You can tell I used to be in the Insurance business :D
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

CRAZY K

[Excalibur]

No...there are two playout systems you own which HAVE BEEN 100% reliable UNTIL NOW.

There's a difference!

:D :D :D




So if the Mini Disc has never glitched in 10 years and the Cortex in 18 months, what is there to worry about?

Past performance is no guide to the future--but its all we have to go on so im 100 per cent confident in my playout systems being 100 per cent in future.

I do alternate between two Cortex units and two Mini Disc players to spread the risk of failure.

You can tell I used to be in the Insurance business :D
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

CRAZY K

How could I foresee this argument developing? :confused: ;) ;) :D :D
Rob, technically I agree with you, because of my oft repeated " never say never " theory. However, I'd be prepared to tempt fate, and support Crazy re Minidisc. My Cortex experience is obviously more linited, but as yet it's not missed a beat. The operator has, but not the Cortex! :o :D :D



Further to this, I have just updated the firmware to version 1400 and it has solved the minor folder problem. Sorted! :thumbsup:

As a mere observer, it would appear that a dodgy firmware upgrade was released. As we all know, that's not unknopwn in many systems.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

As a mere observer, it would appear that a dodgy firmware upgrade was released. As we all know, that's not unknopwn in many systems.

You could be right, thought the ability to search through your folder structure in the same way as my folders are structured on the laptop/HDD was only introduced in ver 1300 and it appeared that I was the only one that was having the minor problem, unless others didn't mention it.

[Excalibur]

You could be right, thought the ability to search through your folder structure in the same way as my folders are structured on the laptop/HDD was only introduced in ver 1300 and it appeared that I was the only one that was having the minor problem, unless others didn't mention it.

I honestly thought others had remarked on this problem. Now I'm getting old, I forget things. :D

[rob1963]

Interestingly, my D2 has performed 100% perfectly at both gigs this weekend.

[Excalibur]

Interestingly, my D2 has performed 100% perfectly at both gigs this weekend.

It's just the DJ that's crap now is it then Rob? :confused: :p :D :D

[rob1963]

It's just the DJ that's crap now is it then Rob? :confused: :p :D :D

Indeed, but I don't see an easy way around that.....apart from retiring the old git off early!

:D :D :D

[Excalibur]

Indeed, but I don't see an easy way around that.....apart from retiring the old git off early!

:D :D :D

Right. I've taken a serious pill, that gives me about five minutes before it wears off, so make the most of it Rob! I'm delighted to hear it's working well for you, did the annoying fault not show up last night? That would worry me more, wondering when it would re-appear! ;)
How are you getting on with the aide memoire bit? That's my biggest problem so far, I will soon use the helpful feature in Media Monkey to create a database in Excel for reference. Thank the Lord for Playlists and school discos, where there is never any need for choosing tracks!
Well done mate. :beer1:

[rob1963]

did the annoying fault not show up last night? That would worry me more, wondering when it would re-appear! ;)


No, everything worked perfectly last night & Friday night.

I'm expecting the problem to come back at some point, but as already said, I really don't find it annoying...as it's just like a couple of CDs jumping in a 4 or 5 hour gig, which is hardly a major concern. After all, back in the days of vinyl, songs often jumped.


How are you getting on with the aide memoire bit? That's my biggest problem so far

Last night it was a bit of a problem, because being a pub do I had no requests in advance, so it wasn't easy thinking what to play until the requests started coming in.

Normally it's not a problem, though, as I usually have 30-50 requests from clients in advance, and I just make these into a playlist which I load into the crate early in the evening.

However, I also have several playlists for those times when I get a mental block. These include my 100 most played songs, general dance music & current songs...so it's not normally too much of a problem.

:)

[ppentertainments]

Last night it was a bit of a problem, because being a pub do I had no requests in advance, so it wasn't easy thinking what to play until the requests started coming in.

Normally it's not a problem, though, as I usually have 30-50 requests from clients in advance, and I just make these into a playlist which I load into the crate early in the evening.

However, I also have several playlists for those times when I get a mental block. These include my 100 most played songs, general dance music & current songs...so it's not normally too much of a problem.

:)

This has been my biggest concern since using the cortex. It is certainly not something I would reccomend a new DJ to use. At the moment I still take my laptop along and use the forementioned Media Monkey to browse for songs and also it is there for backup. Still miss having the cd's to browse through though.:D

[CRAZY K]

This has been my biggest concern since using the cortex. It is certainly not something I would reccomend a new DJ to use. At the moment I still take my laptop along and use the forementioned Media Monkey to browse for songs and also it is there for backup. Still miss having the cd's to browse through though.:D

And the hassle/ backache of carrying them, then discovering the track that is suddenly needed has gone missing without your permission?:D :D :D



CRAZY K

[CRAZY K]

Interestingly, my D2 has performed 100% perfectly at both gigs this weekend.

Excellent--give it 25 gigs without trouble and then you can relax:D :D :D

Im a bit like Peter ( Excalibur) its similar to car problems--your just waiting for it to happen again:eek:

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

This has been my biggest concern since using the cortex. It is certainly not something I would reccomend a new DJ to use.

Doesn't the Cortex allow you to set up a number of playlists to use as memory-joggers then?

[Excalibur]

Doesn't the Cortex allow you to set up a number of playlists to use as memory-joggers then?

There's something in there that says Playlists, I've got no idea what it does! :confused: :o :o
When I get round to it, I intend to put a few useful sets onto a flash drive, much in the same way as I have them on the beloved Minidisc now. I have to say that I have loaded it up every gig, and recently have not played more than five tracks off it in the past fortnight. I'm getting there digitally. ;)

[ppentertainments]

Doesn't the Cortex allow you to set up a number of playlists to use as memory-joggers then?

There is a playlist function, easy to use as well, but playlists often differ as well. For example a 80's playlist would work at some functions but different tracks required at another. I find I end up with so many lists I am as confused as when I started :confused:

It is very useful for any playlists or pre-requests as they cam be prepared beforehand. At the moment I have about 20 playlist as memory-joggers but do still miss the 'browsing' capabilities.

[Excalibur]

There is a playlist function, easy to use as well, but playlists often differ as well. For example a 80's playlist would work at some functions but different tracks required at another. I find I end up with so many lists I am as confused as when I started :confused:

It is very useful for any playlists or pre-requests as they cam be prepared beforehand. At the moment I have about 20 playlist as memory-joggers but do still miss the 'browsing' capabilities.

Easy? I may have to ask for a tutorial on that subject then. :o :D :D

[CRAZY K]

Doesn't the Cortex allow you to set up a number of playlists to use as memory-joggers then?

No some of us use sheets of A4 with the information on it.:D

Works for me and you can hand it to people to choose.

CRAZY K

[Excalibur]

No some of us use sheets of A4 with the information on it.:D

Works for me and you can hand it to people to choose.

CRAZY K

Large font and many sheets then, cos I've stopped using the Optical Aids at Discos since going Digital. :D :D :D

[CRAZY K]

Large font and many sheets then, cos I've stopped using the Optical Aids at Discos since going Digital. :D :D :D

Get on down my man



























to SPECSAVERS:D :D :D

CRAZY K