quote:

Originally posted by Joelheck:
[QUOTE]In Virtual DJ I opened the effects tab, selected an empty effects channel

Hi Joel- Good catch. I did mean "Samples" where I mentioned effects. I corrected the text in my last post. Thanks!

Regarding the DJ2GO controller. I think of it as a quick pack and go midi controller. I couldn't imagine doing all of my gigs with it but for limited space and quick set-up scenarios, it can't be beat if you want the tactile control knobs and levers give. For my style of performance, I personally like the tactile experience of knobs and levers. However, I'm finding that I do use the lappy keyboard more and more these days.

For you fellow aviator types or if your doing an aviation related event or playlist, www.liveatc.net has some archived atc/pilot communications that some of you clever folks can use to create some ear catching (BOSE enhanced) transitions between breaks or format changes.
I've got a few AIRFORCE ONE departure/arrival clearances that I use during my mixes as well as a recording of the Flight Attendant Cabin announcements. Head Turning stuff (In a good way)! Good way to go from dinner time to dance time especially timed as house lights fade down and your DMX lighting effects kick in - Cleared to taxi, line up and wait, cleared for take off, Cue Song!

Bose ya later!

Very cool. What's even cooler (SIC) is that just the other day, I was discussing with my wife ways to keep my performance unique. Her suggestion was to find and use my own unique occasion specific samples to use during various transitions. I'm not a pilot but I am an FCC Licensed HAM Radio operator. I'lll be lookin'

I knew my wife was a smart cookie before. Now I'm sure of it. (Chuckle)

73's

Thanks for the tip.

quote:

Originally posted by For Official Use Only Productionz:
For you fellow aviator types or if your doing an aviation related event or playlist, www.liveatc.net has some archived atc/pilot communications that some of you clever folks can use to create some ear catching (BOSE enhanced) transitions between breaks or format changes.
I've got a few AIRFORCE ONE departure/arrival clearances that I use during my mixes as well as a recording of the Flight Attendant Cabin announcements. Head Turning stuff (In a good way)! Good way to go from dinner time to dance time especially timed as house lights fade down and your DMX lighting effects kick in - Cleared to taxi, line up and wait, cleared for take off, Cue Song!

Bose ya later!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ProfLowery,

A better mix while using VDJ “AUTOMIX”

At the risk of sounding like a novice, I’m going to testify and go out on a limb here. For close to thirty years I have been in the entertainment, training and staff development industries. I have hosted events, coordinated conferences, designed and lead workshops on a variety of topics and I’m also an accomplished Emcee. I’m also a social dancer and dance instructor. I’m also a FCC licensed HAM radio operator. Finally, I still manage a full-time consulting firm and DJ in my spare time, which (By design) I limit to a maximum of 2 gigs per month.

My adventure into the world of Mobile Entertainment is a relatively new one. Since I began, I have learned a lot of useful information off of this forum. At times though, I’ve wondered whether or not my comments might seem a bit naive to the seasoned DJ’s on the forum but then on second thought, I often feel compelled to write to the forum when I have a specific question or when I discover something exciting and “new to me.” Having said that, all of the DJ’s on the forum I’ve encountered have been amazingly forthcoming and willing to selfishly share their thoughts and ideas about ways to use our beloved Bose tools. Like any family, I know there have been moments of tension but in my opinion, the forum admins have handled the ones I’m aware of quickly and professionally. For this, I say “Kudos” to them for making it less intimidating to participate on the forum.

The reason for the long lead in to this post is because having been in the position of training people how to do their jobs better, I am acutely aware of the benefit of practical experience. Unfortunately for me, starting on the path of DJ excellence at the time in my life that I did means that I have to move more rapidly in order to get to a level of DJ competence that may have taken others years to develop through mentoring, practical experience and much trial and error. So far, my plan is working. My DJ practice is thriving to the point that I am as busy as I want to be and am charging appropriate competitive rates based on my local area. Again, kudos to the Bose DJ family for helping me on my journey.

Hence the title of my post “A better mix while using VDJ “AUTOMIX”

In my next post I will share my observations/experience while using VDJ Automix from a “Newbie” perspective and will welcome the comments/critiques of others.

Recently while experimenting with various aspects of VDJ, including “Automix” functions, I somehow inadvertently messed up my mapping configuration. When sliding the volume fader to low volume on deck 2, the song playing on deck 2 would stop and then go back to a que point. If I increased the volume, the song loaded on deck 2 would start playing automatically. Also, if I manually slid the crossfader to deck 1, deck 2 would stop and reset to cue then restart when the crossfader was slide the other way. After trying various remapping’s, I could see that the problem was getting worse and worse as I was trying to find out how to undo the setting. One reason my attempt at remapping didn’t work was because I had a song playing on the decks. Yikes!!!

TIP: Decks need to be clear for keyboard mapping to take effect. A small but important point.

Solution, in Config/Mappers, I reset VDJ back to factory settings. I did this fully expecting to have to recreate a lot of settings. To my surprise, the reset didn’t touch my file system and/or database settings. The reset did restore certain basic VDJ commands and it cleared one of my midi controller mappings. However, the restore got rid of the fader problem. All of my keyboard mappings stayed and I only had to reactivate my favorite skin.

Whoo hooo!!! I feel smart… (LOL)

For a quick minimalist set-up with VDJ Pro using headphones:

This is a set-up using only your laptop soundcard:

Gear:
*Laptop (Ipod, ipad, CD player, MP3 player, etc.)
*Head phones
*Bose L1…..whatever
*Microphone (I run through Compact)
*Griffin Ipad/Ipod splitter (The main and headphone ports are clearly marked)

In Config:
*Setup
*Inputs= None
*Outputs= Master Left Channel / Headphones: Right Channel
*Soundcard= Mono Separated

I’ve used this setup with single and dual compacts...sounds great!

Pros: Quick set-up for impromptu, smaller gigs, Light weight, great for practicing mixing etc. Example: Gigging in a large city with limited/no parking or when gigging in a sketchy venue and you want quick load in/outs.

Cons: Sound isn’t stereo, and the lappy sound card isn’t best suited for this.

Note: For more punch, I’ve used a Creative THX USB soundBlaster card USB. It’s not flexible sound card but works good in a pinch. Of course, a Gigaport, Maya44 will definitely do the trick as well without adding too much weight and size to your pack. Of course, the VDJ Config setup would need be adjusted to reflect this.

Griffin Splitter



Creative Soundblaster Sound card

Here's a great skin you should take a look at. It's the skin for the Numark Mixtrack Pro Controller. Even if you don't used The Mixtrack, give the skin a closer look because it has a few nice features.

Pros:

1. Clean Bold Lines
2. Very Stable
3. Audio and Video Options
4. EQ Kill Buttons
5. Option to re-size the screen FONT SIZE on the fly from within the skin ([Very Nice feature)
6. Auto Playlist preview of upcoming song (This feature alone is worth the price of admission.) (Chuckle)
7. Clean, clear Rhythm and scratch wave forms
8. Visual volume meter,
9. Cross Fader and Volume Level color visuals. The designer really gave some thought to making it easier to focus your eyes to the right part of the screen.
10. The time remaining countdown timers blinks so as to call your visual attention to this fact. Timer starts blinking last 30 seconds of the song.

Cons:

1. No timer option on clock (Only switches from Standard to Military time).
2. No visual beat match graphic I don't use this feature often but it would be nice to have)
3. No Auto mix button (Not a problem, I just use a keyboard mapping to my "A" key for this). Get it " A" for "Automix" Cheesy, I know.
4. No " Clear Deck" Button. (No problemo, I've mapped "<" key to clear/eject the left deck and the " >" key to clear/eject the song on the right deck. Easy....
5. No Swap Decks button. No Problem, I've Mapped my "M" key to Mix between decks. Get it...the M key for....okay, okay, enough already. I'm feelinin' smart again. LOL

Bottom line: I really like this skin a lot for simple gigs. It's clean and very easy to use and doesn't look so "VIRTUAL DJish".

I think that this is my favorite skin right now. Here's a bigger updated graphic:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ProfLowery,

Fact or Fiction??

Found this on the VDJ Forum:

Virtual DJ v8 is gonna be awesome! I hope this is true.

Check it out: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2...rtual-dj-8-revealed/

Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...4O0k&feature=related

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ProfLowery,

Here's a nice skin for VDJ. It has all of the usual suspects as far as controls and features but is missing an "Auto Play" button. However it has a lot of other features that make this a really nice skin.

It has several skin sizes and one of them has a large font for those of us "Visually Challenged" DJ's. It also installs with a daytime skin that make using VDJ in sunlight a little easier.

Skin Name: Dark Default

Need more volume in your head phones?

Many of you may already know this but given that I haven't seen this posted anywhere on the net, and the fact that I just discovered this, I though I'd include a comment here for all of us Bose VDJ users.

If you've ever wondered why you can't hear your cue with enough volume while using VDJ, make sure you adjust the main volume of your laptop because when you split the output into two channels (One for mains and the other for cueing), VDJ creates two mixing consoles in order to give you independent control over the two channels. On my Toshiba, in the Windows volume control panel, the right "Mixer" console controls the main volume of the laptop and the left "Mixer" console controls the Cue channel. When I turn up the cue channel I have all the volume I need for cueing.

Ive also discovered that while my software controller will allow me to manipulate the cue gain, I've notice that the software controller max gain is predetermined by the systems control setting as mentioned above. On windows machines, you access the volume control settings via the task bar at the bottom of the windows screenscreen. Of course you have to minimize the VDJ screen to acres this. Mac users must have a similar interface.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and whether or not you have found a solution or workaround.

Sometimes when running VDj, if I minimize the window, the VDJ Icon shows up in the systems tray below the Windows home screen but when I click on the VDJ icon, the program won't maximize. I've visited the VDJ forums (http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/153251/General_Discussion/VDJ_not_maximizing_from_minimized.html?search=Maximize&page=1)the suggestion was to change the screen resolution. Tried this but no luck.

On my main Laptop, I can get the program back by opening a copy of VDJ LE then everything works fine until I minimize again. On a newer laptop I can't get the program to maximize at all. It's a newer clean machine so no extra copies of Virtual DJ to try the previous solution. If I accidently minimiz my screen while gigiing, OMG!!!

By design, I'm taking the entire month of July off from gigging. During that time, I'm planning to buy a MacBook Pro. To those of you that use a MAC,

I have a few questions:

Do you like it? Any must know tips on making the transfer from PC to Mac as far as VDJ is concerned, settings, etc? What about transferring your music? If you had it to do all over again, would you make the switch?

Good question. Particularly the "recurse" feature PC has Mac doesn't. How does one put a large library into a Mac for easy searching like PC has.

I see that VDJ supposedly does Mac, but don't see that it is the same. Any tips MAC users?

It's been written about before on this thread but worth noting again.

Keep an eye on the CPU meter when running some of the after market VDJ skins. I'm finding that some skins use an alarming amount of CPU resource.

Also, for months I had been having problems when using an external drive with VDJ. In the middle of a gig sometimes the program would freeze for a few moments. Once I needed to re boot VDJ completely. (I have plenty of RAM and my internal HD is 60% empty).

Had I read my lappy manual like I normally do, I would have realized that in order to get maximum performance from an external HD, a few things should be taken in to consideration:

1.If your lappy has a 3.0 USB port, always plug your HD in to this port. 3.0 USB is much faster than 2.0.

2. Upgrade your external HD to a 3.0 compatible HD. You will immediately notice dramatic improvement. The Geoflex 1.5 TB are all 3.0.

3. If you are using an older powered USB adapter, upgrade to a 3.0 compatible powered USB for the same reasons.

To cut down on the resources need during a gig I figured I'd go ahead and analyze the music on my internal HD with Virtual DJ (Scan for BPM). I Just finished and it took 24 hours to scan 180 Gig of music. I guess I wont be analyzing/scanning my external HD any time soon.

Just an important reminder:

If you shuffle your music files around on your laptop or on your external HD, make sure you rescan your music directories in VDJ. While I love VDJ, it is similar to itunes in that it will not be able to located playlist songs once you move the original to an different location. This means that if you have a favorite playlist that you frequently go to "House music mix" if you move one or more of these song from their original location, VDJ will still list the song in the playlist but wont know where to find it.

Appreciate any solutions to quickly re-build discombobulated playlists in VDJ. I can manually do it pretty quickly but wish there was an automatic way of accomplishing the task.

Hi ProfLowery,

Have you checked out the following utility from Virtual DJ - Tools:


Playlist Fixer

BINGO-

That's exactly what I need.

Joelheck,"U da man"

Thanks for the find bud.

i just purchased a new American Audio VMS4.1 as my main mixer and absolutely love it. The sound quality is amazing and the thing is built like a tank. Even though I have and will still use the T1 for my weddings, etc. The VSM4.1 is much more practical for my club gigs and for the quick in/out dance parties where I have the freedom to play around with the music presentation a bit more.

The reason for the post though is, I'm having a challenge getting VDJ to send the "Pre-listen" to my headphones. Are there any other Bose VMS4 users on the forums?

I've already spoken to a tech at American Audi and they took me as far as they can go and suggest that i now explore options with VDJ. Still waiting to hear from them.