Whats the best pc system?

[digitaldreamer 0]

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/wallbash.gif I have been Djing using my Advent 7001 p4 laptop running Ots turntables, but from time to time it crashes without warning!

I use the laptop for other uses like internet and general usage. I read on a couple of websites that it pays to have a fresh intall of windows and then add only the Dj software only.

I will be looking to build a P4 shuttle or other similar mini sytem. Has anyone out there built one?

Have they had good results with it

 

Digitaldreamer

 

 

[Gary 0]

Firstly....

 

WELCOME to the forum http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/042.gif There are several Laptop users on the forum who use OTS (although I dont think its the turntable version), and you are spot on about the crash avoidance tips... from a blank harddrive, install a fresh copy of Windows, and just the DJ software.

 

Thats not a recommendation specific to OTS by any means. Such "clean" advice applies to any of the DJ software packages. You never know what drivers, DLL's, internet spy software etc, will suddenly chose the middle of the bride and grooms first dance to start hogging resources, and affecting the output, and your reputation with it.

 

Even re-installing Windows over the top of itself may not clear as much out/off as you'd hope. A format may be the only way.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

Mini ATX mother boards come with all kinds of gadgets!

 

If it was me i would build one arround an AMD prossessor , they handle multi media work better and Audio is a media, they also cost less than a P4.

 

you may however have problems with fitting a decent sound card into a shuttle system due to space requirements.

 

If yoru passing near basingstoke in the next couple of weeks pop in and ill show you a shuttle and also some other makes of small formfactor pc....

 

regards

 

marc

[digitaldreamer 0]

Yes that's very true, so back to the best barebones type system that I need to build or maybe another laptop. Nah I think I'll go for a barebones with a 17" tft screen.

Has anyone built a P4 type mini system?

What components ie soundcard with duel output for queing music, and how much did it cost them?

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/thumbup.gif

 

Digitaldreamer

 

[digitaldreamer 0]

Anyone built a barebones p4 Djing system and how much did it cost?

 

Digitaldreamer

[ChrisPointon 0]

>>

 

I think this is more at home here! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif .

 

Depends on exactly what you are looking for in a PC, and just choosing 512mb of memory instead of 128mb can increase the final price drastically!.

 

Shuttle style PC are more suited to this type of work, since they are easier and cheaper to provide flightcasing for, whilst still maintaining a full pc status. You can pick up bare bones P4 shuttles on Ebay, or computer fairs for between £80 and £120.

 

Add Processor, Memory, HDD and relevant soundcard, plug in your favourite monitor and your up and running. DIY PC building is certainly your cheapest option.

[peter p 0]

Hi, i use a Shuttle SB51G, P4 2.4ghz, 512 RAM, 120gig HHD. It's has worked flawlessly for over 2 years. Adding a sound card is no problem as it has a spare PCI slot for soundcards. I have a SB Extigy 2 with PCDJ Red.

I opted for the Shuttle as it is totally upgradeable and uses common PC components and is cheaper (Unlike limited and expensive laptop upgrades)

It's the best bit of investment i made in my years of slogging around heavy CD flightcases.

Good luck

[digitaldreamer 0]

Hi Peter P

 

As you have a extigy 2 soundcard can you tell if you can que one track up in your headphones whilst playing a mp3, without the public hearing it?

Also do you use the "cue" points in Pcdj red?

 

Also Thanks everyone for repling to my questions.

 

Digitaldreamer

 

 

[joe 0]

Hi, I use a Pentium 4 3.4ghz, 1gb RAM (2 x 512mb), 200gb Hard Drive http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/thumbup.gif

 

Its housed in my Twin CD player/mixer flight case too. It fits perfectly.

 

Joe

[YourBigEvent 0]

And how much of that 200GB hard drive is actually used, I bet you have about 5GB of music on it !

[joe 0]

QUOTE (ADS Entertainments @ Jun 23 2004, 08:35 PM)

And how much of that 200GB hard drive is actually used, I bet you have about 5GB of music on it !

5.06GB to be precise http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/oops.gif

 

Not much http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/sad.gif lol

 

Now what can I use this other 195GB for?! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/533.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/laugh.gif

[YourBigEvent 0]

I have used about 30GB of space in my 120GB hard drive, I have about 10000 songs, so it is about 1000 songs per GB, this means that Joe has enough space for 200000 songs,each plays for 4 minutes

200,000 x 4 (minutes) = 800,000 minutes

800,000 minutes /60 = 13,333 hours

13,333 hours/4(hours per gig)=3333.333

3333.333/52(weeks of the year)=64.1025

 

So once full Joe could do EVERY saturday, of EVERY year for more than 64 years and not play the same record twice.

 

Think I'll stick with my smaller HD

[ChrisPointon 0]

I have to agree with Andy. I've now converted every Mastermix and DMC Compilation I own, along with all my regular material, a handful of now compilations and even many oddball and novelty tracks, and still have room on my 20gb Internal. I haven't even used my external drive yet other than to back up the existing tracks http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/533.gif .

 

Why buy a 200gb drive?? - it's going to be a bloody headache to defrag it on a regular basis - how many weeks will that take! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/smile.gif .

 

I still have around 4.5gb left on my internal drive, with around 60gb left (after backing up) on my external one. I reckon that'll easily see me right for adding 20,000 new tracks to the external drive- thats around 40 new tracks a week for the next 10 years! - and all for under £30.

 

Me thinks Joe has too much money!

[YourBigEvent 0]

Joe, can you please replay Kylie Minogue........in the year 2068, I probably won't be around to hear it though

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

Have any of you considered 19" rackmount PC cases? these can take standard computer components, use standard 2u of 19" rackspace and can easily hold all the sound cards, cpu's, hdd's that you may require. We will have 2 of these soon as we are replacing the laptop for a 19" rackmount case.

 

In order to make on of these for DJ use Id recommend an nForce 2 based motherboard with an AMD 2000XP or above, combine this with a decent PCI sound card and a basic AGP graphics card (dont use onboard as this can cause more conflicts, gfx issues and slowdown). Id recommend a minium of 256mb of memory if running an MP3 program constantly. The rackmount cases can accept any computer component within reason and normall hold 2 80mm fans in the back.

 

If you have the money its worth investing in a decent cooling system rather than the bog standard heatsink/fan. As we all know these can fall off when in transit, instead buy a standard water cooling kit for the CPU and then you can buy liquid plastic from ebay which basically turns water into a non-onductive liquid. Combine this with a decent copper block to go on the CPU the computer will still run if a problem occours with the pump.

 

You can also buy 15" tft's and 17" tft's that will screw into a rack, currently we have the 2 19" cases and a 15" TFT with switching unit in a single flightcase which has a fold over top, really simple to use and only akes ONE power input http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/smile.gif.

 

 

Have fun

Regards

Mike

[YourBigEvent 0]

But what happens when you get to a place with thier own sound system, I turn up with my laptop and plug in, you would have to carry in your rack etc. Also when I back up my hard drive it is done nice and easily in my front room, no 19" cases on the floor etc. I had thought of rack instead of laptop, and am still thinking about it too, but I think I would rather stick with my laptop, unless you can convince me otherwise.,....... RSVP http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

The 19" cases are not much different from a laptop mine, the 15" tft folds down flat on top of the case and folds up like a normal laptop, the only difference with my 19" rack setup is its about 20cm high, where as a laptop is a lot slimmer, there again I get cheaper upgrades, easier maintenance, cheaper parts, better cooling and well more versatility, for the sake of like 15cm! That was the selling point for me, currently my bottom 2u 19" rack is empty apart from the ATX motherboard, but this is soon to change when our laptop goes.

 

Laptops are still good however, especially if you havnt got the confidence to build or purchase a 19" rack system, at the end of the day the main difference that got me was the sound card dilema, at least a 19" 2u rack case can handle any of the PCI sound cards http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

Just added the picture below, this is roughly the size difference Iam talking off, almost identical depth's and 19" width, just a bit higher than a laptop, easy to carry as it all fits inside a flightcase with open front and top. The TFT flips up when needed and houses a laptop style keyboard/mouse setup which is connected to both PC's and can be switched as needed. The top PC holds the sound and dj software which is left running on tft. the bottom pc is for the DMX lighting control which when complete will connect to an external controller, the computer acting as the memory and the controller as the interface, both machines are also networked together to provide a quicker audio in feed for the second pc. Image below (bits below floppy drives are LCD Temp monitors, only 1 cd on sound pc as the other is used for sound card control. This is the extreme really for this type of use but I work with PC's mainly and hence more of a personal project! haha

 

http://www.mdmroadshows.com/images/Setup.jpg

 

 

Cyas

Mike

Edited June 24, 2004 by Mikeh

[peter p 0]

QUOTE

Hi Peter P As you have a extigy 2 soundcard can you tell if you can que one track up in your headphones whilst playing a mp3, without the public hearing it?

yes that's easily possible by selecting the correct output mode in PCDJ.

QUOTE

Hi Peter P Also do you use the "cue" points in Pcdj red?

No, i mply use PCDJ to play music.

cheers

 

 

[jackwabbit 0]

I have thought many times about building a 19” rack-mount PC for my son to use for Djing, I have probably got enough components lying around the house to build one, all it would require is a LCD screen & the rack-mount case. That is where the problem lies the case, how come you can get a midi tower case for £30 where as a rack-mount case is anywhere from £200 to £600. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/scared.gif Add this to the cost of a LCD screen and you are almost at the same price as a laptop. And while I’m on about pricing, why are flight cases almost as expensive as the equipment that goes in them? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/533.gif

Now if I could find somewhere to get hold of a reasonable priced rack-mount case & 2U flight case’s I may go ahead and build one. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

http://www.ebuyer.com

 

 

Cheaper than £200, theres a couple of 2U cases for around £180 on there. Theres some bigger cases such as 3U and 4u which start from £130 on there too, postage isnt too bad on ebuyer, not the best but certainly not the worst.

 

 

Cyas

Mike

 

P.S Chris said I was allowed to give computer links out.

Edited June 25, 2004 by Mikeh

[born2rave 0]

hi i use a toshiba satellite pro p4 2ghz with 30g hdd 512mb ram, all i use for connection to mixer is stereo to phono from headphone socket using on board sound, and let my mixer sort the rest out as long as u make a good job of converting ur cd stuff 2 mp3 there should b no loss of quality as were talkin '0' n '1s' here, digital, my setup is still pretty basic, and i use a freeware prog called "tplayer", nuthin fancy but u can q the tracks up with autofade etc. i got about 1500 songs on mine using bout 8gig, and yes i agree a clean m/c with just ur dj software is best, but i also got m/soft office and i use it for databasing all music, not finished yet but when u type with one finger its gonna take a while http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/wallbash.gif

QUOTE

b nice especially to the person payin the bill

[YourBigEvent 0]

QUOTE

b nice especially to the person payin the bill

 

But not just the person paying the bill, because everyone is your next potential customer.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

WARNING : > 2u is not big enough to put normal pc parts into !

 

they use a riser card to turn the pci socket round 90^ which can cause problems with sound cards.

 

they also have problems with some types of cooling,

 

some 3U and most 4U cases are standard ATX format.

 

ATX is the layout of the board and sockets and the size of the case.

 

if you dont beleve me come to where I work and ill show you all becuase computers are what i do all day.

 

also how can you guys listen to all that low quality compresed audio? what happend to HIFI. squishing music down makes it sound flat and horrible.

 

 

[joe 0]

QUOTE (Chris_Pointon @ Jun 24 2004, 10:06 AM)

Me thinks Joe has too much money!

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/sad.gif

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

I have to disagree a 2u case will hold normal ATX boards and components! Fit a slimline copper heatsink and a single soundcard for your music and your away, the rise card makes no difference becaause you still have your 2x min of PCI slots free! Not as if we are building a server.

 

Also Id like to point out ALL decent make 19" rack cases take standard ATX boards, its height you have to worry about. Some of the single 1u cases will only take micro ATX to give room for HDD's and PSU to the side of it. The only diff is PCI/AGP/AMR/CMR etc dont go up but use riser cards instead

 

 

Cyas

Mike

Edited June 30, 2004 by Mikeh