Which Media Player - PLEASE Help

[djderek1971]

Hi Guys

Please help me folks. I work from USB drive for Mobile Disco's (Mainly retro nights 70's, 80's 90's and Xmas parties) and have been using an old product (Numark DDS) Unit but they are now causing me all sorts of problems. The main issue is tracks just stopping randomly throughout the night in the middle of the song, for no reason, then it seems to crash and I cant continue on the unit until I switch the whole thing off and re set it.

I am looking to replace these with something else, doesnt matter if its 1 unit with 2 decks like the DDS or if I get 2 standalone players.

I am not needing anything with bells and whistles so nothing costing a fortune, as I dont do much mixing, just something I can plug my USB with my whole collection, into and search for songs in whichever Genre/Decade of music I choose. I found a Gemini player at low cost but you tube reviews say to steer clear.

Some of the more up to date players from Denon or Pioneer seem to be either too pricey with or have limitations on how many songs (for example) you can have in any one folder. I see this Rekordbox software limits folders to 1000 songs. I have way more than 1000 80's songs so would mean having to make several folders, 80's1 80's2 80's3 etc.... and not sure if you can seach your entire 80's collection if its split into several folders or if it only searches in the folder you have selected.
I just want a reliable media player I can plug my USB into, that holds all my 70's in one folder, 80's in one folder etc etc that I can search for either with a keyboard or touch screen keyboard.

I also use a laptop with V DJ which I use more for videos and karaoke, but dont want a controller connected to a laptop (I have never used a controller and dont want to try to learn it so close to gigs I have coming up), I just want a stand alone player. Can anyone suggest anything please. Im not the best, technically minded.

[Nakatomi]

This might be tricky. The new Numark/Denon standalones look like good value & could be your best bet. No they're not £250 wonders but I'd bet they cost about the same as your DDS did new if you take inflation into account.

Any file & folder count limitations can easily (ish) be worked around if you tag the music files with year & genre etc. Yes it's a pain in the wotsit to do but once it's done it's done then you just make sure any new tunes you add have the tags set as you put them in.

Metadata - the data about the music - is a lifesaver. Get onto that & stop relying on folder & filenames - you'll never look back
Making 'crates' & playlists is a really useful way of cataloguing your music too because they allow tracks to live in more than one place without needing to create extra copies.

Definitely have a good hard look into the Mixstream Pro or Denon SC Live 2. There just isn't anything else like the Numark DDS anymore from anybody.

[djderek1971]

This might be tricky. The new Numark/Denon standalones look like good value & could be your best bet. No they're not £250 wonders but I'd bet they cost about the same as your DDS did new if you take inflation into account.

Any file & folder count limitations can easily (ish) be worked around if you tag the music files with year & genre etc. Yes it's a pain in the wotsit to do but once it's done it's done then you just make sure any new tunes you add have the tags set as you put them in.

Metadata - the data about the music - is a lifesaver. Get onto that & stop relying on folder & filenames - you'll never look back
Making 'crates' & playlists is a really useful way of cataloguing your music too because they allow tracks to live in more than one place without needing to create extra copies.

Definitely have a good hard look into the Mixstream Pro or Denon SC Live 2. There just isn't anything else like the Numark DDS anymore from anybody.

Thankyou, I appreciate you responding and being so helpful. I am not the most technically minded so may have to look over some Ytube vids to see how to do that. Im going to have a look at the things you suggested but I may also have to consider another laptop with a controller. You know how it is, you get used to certain formats and gear and change can be scary. Maybe I just need to give a controller connected to a laptop a go without things getting too complicated. I already have a large mixer with built in FX for Karaoke Mics but I see many controllers come with their own mini mixer built in so not sure how I would work it having 2 mixers for one input so to speak. I will do some research in videos but sometimes the more things you watch, info overload happens and end up more confused than when I started. How do I go about this Metadata you mention, with the USB full of music I currently have?

[Nakatomi]

With the Numark & Denon stuff you can use software called Engine to manage the music. Long story short, that program creates a database of the music on the USB stick (or hard drive, or whatever) that a standalone player can understand. This is what makes it possible to have playlists & whatnot.

With Pioneer gear you'd use Rekordbox for music management which is effectively the same kind of deal. You arrange tracks into genres, years, playlists etc with it.

With laptop & controller you could just use virtualdj or other software to manage all this. But you can also use music management software too. Before I started DJing again ten years ago I relentlessly tagged & categorised my music in MP3TAG before I did anything with it in virtualDJ

For karaoke, with laptop & controller... If you still want to use the mixer with effects for the karaoke mics just take the controller's main audio output into channels on the big mixer. That'd be my gambit. Or take an output from that mixer to a line input on the controller if it has one.

[djderek1971]

With the Numark & Denon stuff you can use software called Engine to manage the music. Long story short, that program creates a database of the music on the USB stick (or hard drive, or whatever) that a standalone player can understand. This is what makes it possible to have playlists & whatnot.

With Pioneer gear you'd use Rekordbox for music management which is effectively the same kind of deal. You arrange tracks into genres, years, playlists etc with it.

With laptop & controller you could just use virtualdj or other software to manage all this. But you can also use music management software too. Before I started DJing again ten years ago I relentlessly tagged & categorised my music in MP3TAG before I did anything with it in virtualDJ

For karaoke, with laptop & controller... If you still want to use the mixer with effects for the karaoke mics just take the controller's main audio output into channels on the big mixer. That'd be my gambit. Or take an output from that mixer to a line input on the controller if it has one.

I understand, thankyou for takingthe time to explain it. I appreciate that. I have found The Denon Prime Go which looks like it would do the job for me. Can be used as a stand alone or with VDJ. Im going to give it a go. Certainly better than tracks stopping mid song on my old Numarks, especially with party season just around the corner. Thankyou again

[Excalibur]

I understand, thankyou for takingthe time to explain it. I appreciate that. I have found The Denon Prime Go which looks like it would do the job for me. Can be used as a stand alone or with VDJ. Im going to give it a go. Certainly better than tracks stopping mid song on my old Numarks, especially with party season just around the corner. Thankyou again

I started a reply yesterday, and then things got in the way. First part would have been to check the HD for faulty files, and possibly change to an SSD to see if the existing Hard Drive itself is poorly.

I have a DDS unit, and I also have the Drive unit to go with it. Not only that, but I have a Prime GO too, so in some ways feel qualified to comment/advise. Some ways.

First up, I truly hate the Denon Engine DJ software. It's basically doing exactly the same job as Numark Librarian, which you're familiar with, Cortex Manager, and the Denon version, which I never used. Only thing is, it's very clunky, and definitely not user friendly. Sorry.

Had I been in your shoes, I'd have gone for a controller, and a VDJ full licence. If you need help with the Prime, there are people on here who understand it. Not me. My knowledge runs to connecting it to Tidal to search for stuff I don't possess, and using an SD card to run a playlist.

However, it does have a little trick up its sleeve, I'm told that it can also connect to a laptop, and act as a controller. Must try that some day.