advice please

[darren 0]

hi guys,

 

looking a bit of advice, looking to take the plunge into digital djing and was looking at a laptop today, do you think the specs would be ok to run pcdj red 5.2, looking to put songs direct onto the hard drive then in a month or two get an external hd, heres the specs.

 

fujitsu siemens amilo 732og

intel celeron m390 processor 1.70ghz

1 mb cache

512 ram

60 gb hard drive

3 usb2.0 ports

 

im on a tight budget so hopefully this machine will be ok.

 

cheers

 

darren

[Dynamicdiscos 0]

Do you need to soundcards to be able to cue a song up whilst playing one?

 

I don't know as I have not used PCDJ but it might be worth checking a with other progs I have played with you need two sound cards.

[otobot 0]

from what i heard, you need 2 soundcards for the pcdj (not too sure, since i dont use this prog) like virtual dj...

[High Fidelity 0]

I use an external sound card for "playing out", and the internal one for cueing with PCDJ Red.

[darren 0]

hi high fidelity what soundcard do you use going from laptop to mixer. ? & is the sound good.? also what do you guys think of the specs on the computer, do they sound ok for dj ing?

 

cheers

 

darren

[Gary 0]

Just out of interest, what are you using at the moment for DJ'ing with/on?

[TonyB 0]

QUOTE (darren @ Sep 28 2006, 09:00 AM)

hi high fidelity what soundcard do you use going from laptop to mixer. ? & is the sound good.? also what do you guys think of the specs on the computer, do they sound ok for dj ing? cheers darren

I would say for sure that the spec is okay for use with PCDJ. It will run fine on a lower spec. laptop. I've been playing with it on a lower spec Acer laptop with an external hard drive. It seems to take forever to rip the CD's though. The other thing to think about is what bit rate you will rip at and if you will use MP3 or wave files. With MP3 format you have the ID3 tags. I ripped them MP3 at 320Kbps and used Itunes to rip them which nicely catalogues, indexes and adds the tags but it doesn't put the artist name in the file name.

 

Have played the cd and MP3 ripped version at the same time to test the quality and fading from one to the other, there is no noticeable difference.

Edited September 28, 2006 by TonyB

[darren 0]

im using a kam mobile pro mixer, pioneer cmx 5000 dual cd players flightcased, i also take a gator case with kam kcd960 dual dc decks to gigs as well,

[High Fidelity 0]

QUOTE (darren @ Sep 28 2006, 09:00 AM)

hi high fidelity what soundcard do you use going from laptop to mixer. ? & is the sound good.? also what do you guys think of the specs on the computer, do they sound ok for dj ing? cheers darren

I use one of these

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=...34128&criteria=

 

Sounds fine to me, but then again I'm no audiophile and I'm getting on a bit. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wacko.gif Never had any complaints about the sound quality, and others on here that have been out with me on gigs think it sounds OK.

 

As for the spec of the laptop, it seems fine to me. I use an Acer 1350 with an upgraded (size) internal hard disk.

 

I rip all mine now at Variable Bit Rate with the minimum set to 160. Have to say that when they're playing I've noticed the bit rate never drops below 220, so thta might be a good starting point.

[darren 0]

cheers for the advice, ill look at getting on of those cards from maplins, it will do to get me started.

[TonyB 0]

QUOTE (High Fidelity @ Sep 28 2006, 03:27 PM)

I use one of these http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=...34128&criteria=

Do you you get any noise from your laptop (huming buzzing sort of noises) when you connect directly to the headphone out socket and if so does the Maplins USB gadget do the same?

 

I got an Acer 1362 which suffers badly from noise when connected directly from the headphone socket to mixer so have to use one of those ground loop isolator gadgets - was just wondering if I would still need it with a USB card.

[High Fidelity 0]

QUOTE (TonyB @ Sep 28 2006, 11:48 PM)

Do you you get any noise from your laptop (huming buzzing sort of noises) when you connect directly to the headphone out socket and if so does the Maplins USB gadget do the same? I got an Acer 1362 which suffers badly from noise when connected directly from the headphone socket to mixer so have to use one of those ground loop isolator gadgets - was just wondering if I would still need it with a USB card.

I did at one point, even through the USB sound card, but it didn't do it on battery.

 

So I bought a new power supply and that cured it.

[ian . 0]

I've got the same soundcard as Paul (Hi-Fidelity).

It is a good one.

No doubt you can get a lot better, but it does the job.

Don't forget you'll need a single to twin audio lead as well.

Just ensure the golden rule for laptops is followed.

 

Don't load it with anything other than your software for DJ'ing.

[TonyB 0]

QUOTE (High Fidelity @ Sep 29 2006, 07:14 AM)

I did at one point, even through the USB sound card, but it didn't do it on battery. So I bought a new power supply and that cured it.

Sorry for another question but can you tell me what make of power supply you bought. Mine is fine on the battery as well and I have thought about getting another power supply but didn't know if that would cure it or not.

 

Thanks.

[EdBray 0]

The problem you are experiencing is caused by the AC signal being looped around the buildings mains earth wiring. This is caused when the DC ground is connected to the mains AC earth usually within the power supply.

 

Changing your laptop's power supply will only stop the earth loop if you replace the 3 pin wired power supply with one that has no earth connection to the 240 volt mains supply so ensure that the new power supply you purchase is only supplied by a figure 8 mains cord if you do not want to create an earth loop.

 

Do not remove the earth lead from any 3 pin connected mains lead

 

The ground loop isolator does a good job of breaking the loop stopping the DC path for the mains hum to be picked up.

 

Eddie.

[High Fidelity 0]

QUOTE (EdBray @ Sep 29 2006, 11:43 AM)

Changing your laptop's power supply will only stop the earth loop if you replace the 3 pin wired power supply with one that has no earth connection to the 240 volt mains supply so ensure that the new power supply you purchase is only supplied by a figure 8 mains cord if you do not want to create an earth loop.

I got mine from here:

http://www.laptop-chargers.co.uk/infoAcer.htm

and it is still 3 pin. I can only assume that the old one was faulty. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif

Edited September 29, 2006 by High Fidelity