KVR Audio

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:33 pm

Advanced apology for this being a little off-topic.

Will one of you talented developers here at KVR try to fill a niche for those digital DJs out there like myself. I know we're a small minority here but bear with me.

There is plenty of MP3 DJing software around and some of it is excellent, but most of it misses the mark slightly in terms of price and/or features. I am almost certain one of the great devs here such as Jorgen Aase or Jon from ConcreteFX would be capable of doing a DJ package that would be great and at a reasonable price.

In a nutshell, a great DJ tool would be something like this:

* Upto 4 decks
* 3 band EQ with kills on each
* Simple high/lowpass filter each like on TraktorDJ
* Basic looping, 1/2, 1/4, 1, 2, 4 bars etc
* A handful of stored cues available for each track
* Some BASIC fx e.g. delay, compressor, flanger etc.

Anyway i'm rambling too much here. Point is, a moderately powered DJ package with more than 2 decks avaliable at a reasonable price (£30-£40) still doesn't exist as far as i can tell.

Fill that void and it'll sell like hotcakes! Anybody with me?

Cheers for reading

original flipper · Post by **original flipper** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:47 pm

HI

Somehow 'Q' I can't help but feel what you have described is probably something many remixers would also want and which would probably cost 3 times what you would like it to come in at.

The 4 decks, looping, eq & FX would pretty well put it into an 'almost a host' category.

Intreating though.

Flipper.

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:55 pm

original flipper wrote:HI

Somehow 'Q' I can't help but feel what you have described is probably something many remixers would also want and which would probably cost 3 times what you would like it to come in at.

The 4 decks, looping, eq & FX would pretty well put it into an 'almost a host' category.

Intreating though.

Flipper.

I know what you're saying about the possibly heavy feature set, but if you look at TraktorDJ version, thats about 35 euros for a download version i think. If they squeezed the interface in a bit tighter, and had 4 decks instead of 2 at twice the price, i'd buy it right now!!

Point is not the functionality really, but my curiosity as to the surprisingly few DJ tools that have only 2 decks. I know thats the classic setup, but if all sequencers stuck to a "classic" design there'd be no EnergyXT and no Ableton Live. Know what i mean?

Maybe i was a little optimistic on price!

Megazoid · Post by **Megazoid** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:31 am

look's like this is what you are after :

http://www.djdecks.be/

Has almost EVERYTHING you mention (more than two decks) and VST effect plugin support with midi automation. Not to everyone's tastes but a great application all the same.

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:06 pm

Thanks a lot for the suggestion megazoid.

I've checked that out before, and in theory its a very good tool for the money. Sadly its still a bit shakey in its beta state, it crashed loads when i tested it, plus the interface is pretty ugly.

Cheers though, i'll keep an eye on it for the future.

P.s. before anyone points out the obvious, i kow i should be posting this stuff on a DJing forum, but to be honest a lot of them are full of irritating vinyl purists(and plain smug twats) who'll just take the piss, plus i've always gotten sterling advice from the folks here.

haydxn · Post by **haydxn** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:13 pm

where the buggering sod have you been, the quince?

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:18 pm

haydxn wrote:where the buggering sod have you been, the quince?

Just been busy me old mucker. Moved house, didn't have net for ages, stopped writing music and started MP3 DJing more, got a new girlfriend, got a job after graduating etc. It all adds up to less time here!

How are you anyway the haydxn?

soma · Post by **soma** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:22 pm

The major missing feature for DJ software like Traktor is VST hosting of inserts and sends.

My solution: make Traktor a multi out VST! you could load several at once and sync them together. Add individual outputs for master mix, post x-faded chan. 1 and post- xfaded chan. 2, add a few sends and you have a true playground for mixing!

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:42 pm

soma wrote:The major missing feature for DJ software like Traktor is VST hosting of inserts and sends.

My solution: make Traktor a multi out VST! you could load several at once and sync them together. Add individual outputs for master mix, post x-faded chan. 1 and post- xfaded chan. 2, add a few sends and you have a true playground for mixing!

Thats a bloody good idea, and i hope someone does something decent like that.

However, it kind of adds complexity needing to use a host. I just think that although there are great DJing tools out there, there is a niche for a mid-price, mid-feature mixer with multiple decks.

Still i very much hope someone does what you suggested, that would be a remixers dream

jmh · Post by **jmh** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:13 pm

There's always Live 5 with its DJ oriented crossfading A/B output thing

But yeah, we've been toying with the idea of having something like Traktor as a VSTi over here for a long time (often when we're sitting at someone's place, somebody takes control of the host's computer and entertains the others with Traktor, way more interesting to listen than straight playlists in a media player).

JMH

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:41 pm

jmh wrote:There's always Live 5 with its DJ oriented crossfading A/B output thing

But yeah, we've been toying with the idea of having something like Traktor as a VSTi over here for a long time (often when we're sitting at someone's place, somebody takes control of the host's computer and entertains the others with Traktor, way more interesting to listen than straight playlists in a media player).

JMH

Yeah Live is brilliant, and basically the most powerful DJ tool there is in terms of features and sheer mind-blowing capabilities. But its just not designed for DJing and the interface is awkward for Djing at best.

On a positive note, i got a cut-down version of live with my soundcard years ago and ableton release updates for it so i have a trimmed verion of live 4 which is ENTIIRELY capable of decent DJing, isn't time-limited and cost me nothing. So here's a big thanks to those wacky germans

Megazoid · Post by **Megazoid** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:03 am

glad to hear things are going well for you quincy.

I agree about djdecks, it does seem a little unstable at this stage, if their is application i like, in most cases i will wait till natural evolution of the application occurs and make's it to a final version (maybe version 1 or 2) then start using it. I tend to stay clear of beta for live usuage purpose (for obvious reasons!).

I've actually put togther pretty good mixes using Acid 5. Have you seen mixmeister? This is a multitracker designed for live DJ usuage, it take's a big of getting used too but the results are good (and it supports VST/DX + Inserts/Sends in the pro version).

soma · Post by **soma** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:35 am

Acid/Vegas is Great! for making non-realtime mixes.

lawapa · Post by **lawapa** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:49 am

I would second that Acid/Vegas rec. In fact I'd think Acid would do the job well with tricks galor to enhance the mix or play with the beat.

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:55 pm

Soma/Lawapa - thanks for the suggestion but i'm looking for realtime DJing tools here. Still, bloody good point that those tools are great for mix "production" if thats the right word.

Anyway keep the suggestions rolling in folks, i'm damn sure i'm not the only one here who's partial to some MP3 warping fun

Developers - Heed this call