Hardware Which Is Like Vdj

[DJ INDIE]

evening all,

I use VDJ as my main playout system and as such have never really ventured into the other markets and flashy controllers etc.

ive seen a few pop up now and again, and ive used a cortex which was quite good, but....


Q: is there a list of or indeed any hardware device out there (19" rack style) that have all the benefits of Virtual DJ and laptop based applications?

ie

a) can i create a large playlist (100 tracks+) 'live' (rather than pre done) and change it at will (drag and drop songs up or down the order), whilst being able to scroll through the entire list and see what is coming on within the next few tracks (as opposed to just the next track with the Cortex).

b) can you create separate 'playlist folders' ie "80s classics" "90s dance" "rock" etc and keep each genre of songs in the relevant folder and just drag and drop into your current playlists when required?

c) can you cue up a track whilst another is playing?

d) has a countdown timer on

e) has a calculated time for the entire current playlists.

f) has cross faders

g) has volume controls



im not bothered whether it has:

track speed, fancy effects, beat matching, etc




i'm at the stage where i'll upgrade my laptop or get one of these mythical creatures if they exist (that way i can take everything in one rack case).




as always, any help greatly appreciated.

[Vectis]

evening all,

I use VDJ as my main playout system and as such have never really ventured into the other markets and flashy controllers etc.

ive seen a few pop up now and again, and ive used a cortex which was quite good, but....


Q: is there a list of or indeed any hardware device out there (19" rack style) that have all the benefits of Virtual DJ and laptop based applications?

ie

a) can i create a large playlist (100 tracks+) 'live' (rather than pre done) and change it at will (drag and drop songs up or down the order), whilst being able to scroll through the entire list and see what is coming on within the next few tracks (as opposed to just the next track with the Cortex).

b) can you create separate 'playlist folders' ie "80s classics" "90s dance" "rock" etc and keep each genre of songs in the relevant folder and just drag and drop into your current playlists when required?

c) can you cue up a track whilst another is playing?

d) has a countdown timer on

e) has a calculated time for the entire current playlists.

f) has cross faders

g) has volume controls



im not bothered whether it has:

track speed, fancy effects, beat matching, etc




i'm at the stage where i'll upgrade my laptop or get one of these mythical creatures if they exist (that way i can take everything in one rack case).




as always, any help greatly appreciated.


I believe the Numark iDJ2 has all of the above except (e). Numark's "Crate" concept is its killer feature IMHO.

I use an iDJ2 for backup; just a plain old d2 as the main playout with external mixer etc.

[DJMaxG]

Are you asking for a standalone player that contains all the functions of Atomixes Virtual DJ, or a controller of some description?

[DJ INDIE]

a standalone (or a standalone that runs off a hard drive etc) just something i can rackmount but see everything i need that is used on vdj

[DJ Jules]

I thought the cortex had most of these (I use an HDC 3000, I don't know which one you tried?)

a) can i create a large playlist (100 tracks+) 'live' (rather than pre done) and change it at will (drag and drop songs up or down the order), whilst being able to scroll through the entire list and see what is coming on within the next few tracks (as opposed to just the next track with the Cortex).

I do this regularly, in the settings menu you can turn off "Autoplaylist creation" which prevents the system from loading the tracks when you select them, meaning you can quickly find tracks without loading them onto the deck (it's a really badly named option and the manual is useless). The HDC 3000 shows about 10 tracks on the screen at once, so you can see what's been on before and coming next. I've never used the supplied software to build playlists as it's pants (and you can actually use Windows Media Player - which gives you more power to drag/drop tracks and move them around - to create playlists for it as long as you save them in .M3U format).

b) can you create separate 'playlist folders' ie "80s classics" "90s dance" "rock" etc and keep each genre of songs in the relevant folder and just drag and drop into your current playlists when required?

You can either pre-create playlists, or if you browse to a folder you can press Shift + Enter and it'll load all of the tracks in the folder into a playlist for you.

c) can you cue up a track whilst another is playing?

Two independent decks, Play in one, Cue in the other. The only thing I will mention is that it's continuous play feature is hopeless (where it runs through your playlist on one deck). At the end of the track it'll cue up the next and then start playing, which can lead to delays of several seconds between songs. Just never try to play out a RIP of a compilation designed for continuous play (without combining the tracks into a single MP3 on your PC first).

d) has a countdown timer on

Switchable between Elapsed and Remaining.

e) has a calculated time for the entire current playlists.

Err, nope. That one's missing

f) has cross faders

External mixer on the HDC3000, but the dMix 300/600 products have a built in mixer (ok, ignore the iPod connection - they have USB ports too). These run the same software as the HDC series of controllers.

g) has volume controls

External mixer or use a dMix.

h) I'm not bothered whether it has track speed, fancy effects, beat matching, etc

The Cortex boxes have BPM counters (more or less), effects (not that I use them), key shift, pitch or tempo adjustment, loops, samples, hot cue points, wave form display, progress indicator, basic scratching and it'll store the last cue point used for the track as well.

The only real down side to the Cortex is the now slightly dated blue monochrome screens which aren't incredibly responsive (though they would have looked fine 3yrs ago, the new machines with quick colour screens are starting to show it up) and the fact that no-one really knows what is going to become of Cortex as a whole... Everyone seems to be waiting on their mythical next generation product which is going to have to compete against the likes of the Numark DDS and the Pioneer MEP boxes.

Anyway, I bought one because it was cheaper than replacing my laptop or building a PC to do the job, and a lot lighter too! :D

Julian

[DJ INDIE]

i used the HDC1000 - its a great unit, but if im spending i want something that does all the above and i can see it like vdj (i dont ask much :) )

[DJ Jules]

i used the HDC1000 - its a great unit, but if im spending i want something that does all the above and i can see it like vdj (i dont ask much :) )

Ah, I'd forgotten the screens are about half the size on the HDC1000 compared to the HDC3000 so I imagine you wouldn't see much of the track listings on them (See Here (http://www.cortex-pro.com/hdc_3000.php))

Pioneer MEP, does all of the above and has an external monitor connection so you can literally use it "like Virtual DJ" (this is just from what I've been told, I haven't been lucky enough to play with one myself yet - I'm sure Adam can verify though?)

Julian

[Adam_F]

Pioneer MEP, does all of the above and has an external monitor connection so you can literally use it "like Virtual DJ" (this is just from what I've been told, I haven't been lucky enough to play with one myself yet - I'm sure Adam can verify though?)


Yes, that's right, apart from:
e) has a calculated time for the entire current playlists.
f) has cross faders (the MEP 7000 does for playlists)
g) has volume controls

You 'd need a mixer too with the above, or with the likes of the Denon HD 2500, Numark DDS 80, Cortex HDC 1000/3000 or American DJ SDJ 1

For an all-in-one unit, there's the Cortex D-MIX 300/600, American DJ SDJ 2 or Numark's IDJ 2, as these have the mixers built in too.

However, none of the above will show the calculated time for the entire playlist.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Serato does all that you need Andy, bar the fader bit, where you need an external mixer :)

The only thing with Serato is that it really comes into its own if you use the control discs and cd players...but the internal players are fine if you know which keys to press/