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Posts Tagged ‘Laptop’

Who wants to DJ on an iPad? Apparently millions of people do. From Records, to CDs, to Big MP3 Controller Units, and to laptops, the industry has been revolutionized one step further into the future, with a small thin electronic tablet called the iPad. Pretty good applications have been developed for DJ’s who want to experiment how to dj on an iPad.

Some of these applications include Baby Decks, iPad Kontrol, Mixr, and one of the originals, PadDeckX. As thousands of applications are being created for the new iPad, many more DJ applications are being developed as well. Along with the thousands of good applications being created, consumers have to beware of the ones that will be a big waste of money. Always keep your eyes on consumer reviews before purchasing an iPad application. If it’s free, might as well download it and try it out.

As a DJ, I am extremely excited to get my hands on the iPad and start playing around with many of the music applications. With that being said, I will not be replacing my current set-up to only dj on an ipad.

I will be using the iPad as an add-on tool to play loops, samples, fast mixes, and other cool effects. Currently, I am using an iPod Touch as a back-up mp3 player on my system. I even have a pretty effective sampling program that I mess around with while using my Denon HD2500 to play my main mixes. I feel like the iPad will be a fantastic addition, making it much easier to play samples on that large beautiful screen.

The applications to be able to dj on an iPad look similar to media DJ controllers used for physical cd and mp3 units. The difference is that there are no rubber or plastic buttons to push, no faders to control, and no physical knobs to turn. Everything is controlled with the touch of human fingers tapping and gliding across the hard plastic screen. When I am turning knobs, moving sliders, and pushing buttons, I feel in complete control and connected to my equipment and my music. When I use the iPad, it feels cold and I feel disconnected. I also feel like it’s cheating and get a little frustrated knowing that any kid can now do what it took me years to learn and perfect. It’s cool, it still will never look as cool as a dj using actual physical turntables or scratch wheels.

There are still drawbacks to only using an iPad to DJ. One of the most important elements in dj’ing (beat-mixing) is being able to cue a song (listen to one song in the headphones ONLY, while playing the other song (ONLY) through speakers. At this point the only way to play music out of an iPad is through the 1/8″ headphone jack. There is no way to separate the sound. Laptops have sound-card audio capabilities and dj mixers have that capability as well.

For hobby dj’s and just for fun, I think these applications are fantastic if someone wants to dj on an iPad. They can scratch, and beat mix, and play samples, load thousands of beats and sounds, have really cool interfaces, and are getting much better as new applications are developed. At this point, however, nothing can replace the trend in DJ’ing with the laptop and media controller.

Laptops have incredible storage capacity, high processing power, extremely mobile, and most Dj’s that use a laptop connect a media controller (ex. Vestex digital controller, Behringer, Cortex digital music controller, Denon HDN-HC5000 or HD2500, Pioneer SEP-C1, and the incredible Numark NS7.) Serato Itch, Traktor, PCDJ, and other high-end laptop software like Virtual DJ used with USB Digital Controllers, make DJ’ing on an iPad look like child’s play.

Kudos to Apple for creating the iPad. As technology evolves and other devices get smaller, I think Apple had the right idea with the iPad. As awkward as it may be for a professional dj to dj on an iPad, it serves as a practical device with many useful music applications. As for now, it’s may appear to be just a fun toy, but who really knows what the future holds for the Dj industry while the iPad is growing in popularity and capabilities.

While you may have all your equipment and technology, make sure you have all your important music for your parties. Technology may evolve and make previous equipment obsolete, but good music will always be good music.

DJ’ing has become very popular in the last few years especially since technology has allowed a non-technical person to become a Pro DJ in a few weeks when equipped with the right Digital Scratching Tools available on laptops. This article will teach a person to DJ and what equipment they will need after the purchase of a laptop to start mixing beats like a pro.

Purchase a laptop. Look for a good brand Laptop that you know will not crash during a gig. If you are looking for a PC, I would recommend closely looking at customer reviews, talk to electronic store sales people, and even ask your friends what laptops they may recommend. The great thing about a PC is that a consumer can get a phenomenal computer with all the bells and whistles for a very affordable price. The problems PC’s face are viruses that infiltrate that operating systems and crash the hard drives erasure program, music, and important data.

Consider a Macbook. They are absolutely more money and don’t offer all the bells and whistles the new PC’s are coming out with, but they do offer stability, consistency, optimal performance, and are not nearly as susceptible to the viruses a PC can get.

Demo (trial) DJ Software before you buy it. You can get a bunch of free DJ programs to start with BUT these programs do not offer what the paid programs do. There are so many free programs that they are unnameable at this point but the ones that you should look into are Virtual DJ, Traktor, etc. These are programs that must be bought but offer things like, playlist controls, beat mixing features, sync mixing features, skins that look like real mixers, etc. The free programs will not do what you really need to do as a laptop DJ.

You can stop here if you just want to practice before getting into the equipment you’ll need to start DJ’ing gigs. You can even DJ smaller partied with good laptop speakers any time you want. To become an advance DJ with good sound equipment, move on to the next section.

You have your laptop and DJ Software, now you need a mixer. You have to plug your laptop into a mixer of some sort. You will output the speakers from your mixer. Mixers are fairly inexpensive and can be bought at your local music store. A 4 channel mixer would be fine. Some DJ Software Programs offer an USB external sound card. These sound boxes allow for separation of the Left and Right Channels. If you do purchase a usb external sound box you would run a 1/4″ cable out from the LEFT channel to channel 1 on the mixer. You would run a 1/4″ cable out from the RIGHT channel on the box to Channel 2 on the mixer.

IF you DO NOT have an USB external sound card, then you will be using the “OUT” or “Headphone” jack and run an 1/8″ out of the computer to 1/4″ into Channel 1 on the mixer.

You have your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, now you need speakers.To keep you set-up simple but still powerful, invest in POWERED (Active) speakers. (Speaker that you need to plug in to get to work). If you get passive (non-powered speakers) you will need separate amplifiers connected to you mixer. Powered speakers are more expensive but will punch/kick your music better and your dj set-up will be much simpler.

You have your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, now you need speakers. To keep you set-up simple but still powerful, invest in POWERED (Active) speakers. (Speaker that you need to plug in to get to work). If you get passive (non-powered speakers) you will need separate amplifiers connected to you mixer. Powered speakers are more expensive but will punch/kick your music better and your dj set-up will be much simpler. You will need 2 XLR cables. The female end will get plugged out from the mixer and into the speakers (Left/Right outputs). Buy 2 Speaker stands if possible.

You have your laptop, dj software, mixer (optional usb external sound card box), 1 1/’4 – 1/8″ cable, powered speakers, 2 xlr cables, and speaker stands. You just need your favorite music and you are ready to start practicing to become a pro DJ on a laptop.