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gadget

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Posts posted by gadget

  1. Help And Advice

    in D.J and Karaoke Chat

    Posted

    I have been using this week in week out for some time now and it works very well with VDJ, you can switch to CD control on either deck in seconds, even if you are playing a track from VDJ on that deck. I think Pioneer do a similar product within your budget which I would guess is equally as good if not better. Only problem with this system is that if your controller goes down you lose both PC and CD playback, so you would need some form of backup. Never used a HDD based system so can't comment but the denon is a pleasure to work with and has been very reliable for me, I've not heard of any other users being unhappy with theirs either, it did have a problem when initially released but Denon have sorted it long ago with a firmware update.

     

    That's good to know you can switch in/out of CD control... which is something I cannot do with the HD2500 (Midi control *or* hd2500 control - although you can flip between CD and internal devices, but not in Midi mode :( )

     

    I still want an HC4500 + drawers :)

     

    Cheers,

     

    david

  3. Audio Interface With S/pdif Or Toslink In

    in Buying Equipment

    Posted · Edited by gadget

    my old Creative Soundblaster Connect USB (White thing) had Toslink In and Out as well as Line In/Out... Although discontinued... I had it directly linked to a DEQ2496 briefly...

     

     

    Found a PCI Card about 20 quid here: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164495

     

    And this external device for abotu 11 quid: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106540

     

    There's a few more options on ebuyer as well...

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  4. The Best Speakers....?

    in Getting Started

    Posted · Edited by gadget

    Got the Peavey amp.

    Now, it states that it gives 450w at 4 Ohms and 600 at 2 Ohms, but makes no mention of 8 Ohms. Does that mean it's not suitable for a pair of 8 Ohm speakers?

    If not, if I buy another pair of 8Ohms and connect them to the existing ones, will I be ok then??

     

    It's lke my own little problem page isn't t?

     

    Thanks!

     

    It should work with 8Ohm speakers, just you'll only get about 270w per channel out of it, rather than 450w per channel...

     

     

    Manual for it is here (may not show quite the same input/outputs as yours, as it looks like an older revision with jack inputs and binding post outputs): http://www.peavey.com/media/pdf/manuals/80304316.pdf

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  5. The Best Speakers....?

    in Getting Started

    Posted

    ..so the 250w lights will be needed.

     

    Last question....I weighed the speakers as advised using the bathroom scales! 30.9 kg, so 1 kilo over the max advised for the tripods I've seen...is that too risky?

     

    The Datamoons come with a switch to dim the bulb slightly which may be useful to you - its main function is to extend the bulb life - Most won't notice its a bit dimmer on laminate / parque floors... (I think i spelled that right).

     

     

    Ant the Last (but not last!) question - Get some higher rated speaker tripods, the speakers are over the limit and there's no point in risking it either..

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

     

  6. 13th Birthday Help

    in Music

    Posted

    Depending on how it goes, sometimes I finish on Amarillo (Christie / Peter Kay), or Reach (S-Club 7).

     

    Sods law you will get inundated with 101 requests and one of them is bound to be suitable for a final track... !

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  8. Help And Advice

    in D.J and Karaoke Chat

    Posted

    Apart from being an epic job, i feel that you need to put some research into this beforehand -

     

    I started ripping my collection around 8 years ago - I can't remember at the time if 320Kbs was available via Itunes or i just felt at the time that 192Kbs was sufficient, anyhow i did all of them in 192Kbs..

     

    A few years later 192 was not good enough for me so re-ripped as much as i could to 320.

     

    Now with the price of backup media being very good i would love to rip to wav..

     

    Also have a good look for some additional tools such as Platinum Notes which cleans up and enhances the mp3.

     

    Maybe do some further research into the best ripper available and ensure that all your tracks get ripped via the same software. I have always used Itunes to rip and have been happy with the results.

     

    Cheers

    Steve

     

    I've done 320k mp3 at highest quality for a while now (Exact Audio Copy and Lame MP3 encoder set to its highest quality setting at 320k - means mp3s are bigger, but still readable by the Denon).

     

    I have recently tried out FLAC format - which is a lossless format, smaller than WAV files, but should be readable by software (Traktor reads it), however hardware players may not.

     

    I wouldn't use itunes for encoding to mp3, because the encoder isn't that brilliant imho, plus I can never tell if it extracted the CD accurately (Something that EAC does - it will do a 'secure copy' and makes sure your CD/DVD drive is set to rip at the correct offset and all that). Takes time to setup correctly, but once done, easy enough to do. Yes it takes time (shove CD in, check the track names/labelling etc is correct) - but worth doing properly the first time...

     

    Not only all the ripping which takes time, but organising your music on the HDD is another thing to consider - both to make it easier to find and put new stuff into the right places.. I store downloads in a totally separate directory to the CD rips themselves, and CD rips are organised based on compilation type (e.g. Now Cds are altogether, Now Millennium series are in their own), and those which just need to go under a genre (e.g. Oldies Compilations for stuff that's 60s and not a massive series such as 100 Hits). I also rip to a "cdrips" directory first, to make sure that it's labelled correctly, etc. Once Happy with this, it gets moved to the right location and then I "import" to Traktor, let it tag/analyse the gains/peaks. After that I then sync it to an external HDD (Using Microsoft's SyncToy - crap name, but works *very well*).

     

    Yes it is boring, takes time, but if you have a half decent machine to do the ripping on in the first place, and as long as its all set-up as best as you can, then will be easier to do in the long run.

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  11. Cant Trust Laptops Fully Yet

    in Digital D.J'ing Discussion

    Posted · Edited by gadget

    I carry up to 4 or 5 playback devices with me..... admittedly the last one has bog all on it. however it does have a couple of useful tracks in standby use:-

     

    1) Main Laptop running Traktor + DMX s/w

    2) Netbook (Also running Traktor, not as many tracks however - it is set to run and in sleep mode - set this way cos traktor takes *ages* to start up)

    3) Denon HD2500 - mostly used as midi controller, but can reboot in about 15-20 seconds to get to a useable state for playing something (Its got most of what's on the laptop)

    4) Sony DiscMan (?) + handful of "party" CDs... + any CDs related to the night needed (e.g. first dance)

    5) Dual CD Player (still in the flight case, although not plugged in - the Controller for it is in the box)

    6) iPhone with a few tracks on itunes on it.

     

    Additionally I could use winamp (or itunes, yuck!) on the main laptop if traktor died of death...

     

    I also have a mirror of my music on external HDD (the HD2500 similarly almost has a similar mirror of data on it).

     

    If I'm totally stuck I *could* potentially connect to vpn at home use the iphone to play a backup of the music from the home server (clunky, but works)...

     

    I had issues with my old laptop - but then found the software was at fault, not the laptop... But I was mostly using CDs then anyway..

     

     

    WRT to everything else..

     

    I have a Stanton CM-203 on standby if the mixer breaks... or I can just go straight out of the Maya 44 into the amp.... (Obviously will have no Mic using that).

     

    I carry a backup amp in the same flight case as the main one.. I've resorted to it a couple of times due to a dodgy internal connection on my main amp (sorted with a clean and reseat of a connector). When I've bene using the backup, I carry a third amp just in case (100w into 4 ohms).

     

    Carry a couple of spare bulbs for the lights - they all take the same 250w bulb which makes life a bit easier...

     

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  16. Deck Stands - What Do You Use?

    in Buying Equipment

    Posted

    on my second njd starcloth and second giraffe stand ..looking at customizing my giraffe to screwless design and changing the shelf heights made a custom crossbar with velcro to hold the starcloth straighter

     

    You'd be better getting an Ultimax stand, cos you can adjust the heights on it to suit.. whether just a small console or (like me), have a 10u/4u gator mixer flight case (another good investment for me)

     

    With regards to magicians... I sometimes turn off the LEDs on the start cloth, so it basically looks like a black cloth. In fact, reverse it, and it looks just like a black cloth.

     

    Might consider getting the Ultimax black-cloth front, which just sits in front as a long "straight" edge with a long weight at the bottom. Not sure what the packed dimensions are for it, however...

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

     

    on my second njd starcloth and second giraffe stand ..looking at customizing my giraffe to screwless design and changing the shelf heights made a custom crossbar with velcro to hold the starcloth straighter

     

    That is one of my main bug-bears about my star cloth - its hard to get it to go straight across the top... moreso with the flight case sticking out over the front of the stand.... Something a front-curitain with bar would just work instead...

     

    Hmmn... thinking now !

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

  18. Deck Stands - What Do You Use?

    in Buying Equipment

    Posted

    I did that for years, didn't even know what a deckstand was until I joined here, when I think back to what my setup looked like before I joined here I cringe. You can get a basic deckstand here for very reasonable money, the starcloth is the expensive bit, just use black cloth and velcro for a while if money is tight. Otherwise they are on ebay all the time. I must admit I bought a cheapo starcloth off ebay initially, lasted about six months until the leds died so in my experience it's best to buy a proper one, same with the stand, get an ultimax if you can afford one.

     

     

    Did you get one of the 120-led ones? Noticed that one channel of mine flickers intermittently now... Considering hard-wiring it directly to the mains (avoiding the white box crap altogether, and shoving a bridge rectifier, capactitor and some resistor to dim them to a point - and to avoid the 50hz flickering). I hate all of the flashing-programmes on there anyway !

     

    Cheers,

     

    David

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