DJ Vintage

Unfortunately, as far as I know at least for Traktor and Serato, not compatible = not supported = not authorized = not working!

Where with midi you could go ahead and try to map your own gear if the software allows midi-mapping (not always an easy option btw), this won’t work with Serato for sound cards and controllers nor with Traktor for sound cards.

Mixvibes Cross, I know, lets you do DVS with any kind of sound-card. It happens to be the software I have been using for the last couple of years. At 129 USD/EURO for the most extensive version, including video, HID support for all things Pioneer CDJ and DVS, as well as free upgrades (thusfar), it’s priced very competitively. Also it has a (time-limited, think it’s 2 weeks) full-feature test/demo version.

Not quite sure what the options are for DJay Pro (mac only) or Virtual DJ though.

Last word on eco-systems. With Traktor closing up more tightly the last couple of years and Pioneer clearly favoring RB DJ now they have their own software, don’t expect either to be really willing to put much effort in testing/certifying other vendors gear. Due to “club standards” it seems slightly more likely that Traktor software will try supporting club gear (NOT the controllers!) than that Pioneer will start supporting more software from third-party vendors. Point in case the whole new R-series of controllers. While technically almost identical with the S-series, it seems they won’t work with anything but RekordBox DJ, while the S-series WILL work with RB DJ and most other major software.

Good job, m8!

There are some current posts on building a quick mobile DJ ready that I’d suggest you read. They focus on buying some used (dance) samplers from various era’s. Same goes for Xmas music. I have a sampler with 5CDs (bout 110 tracks) of the most popular Xmas tracks ever. If it ain’t on there, I don’t want to play it. Ripping the Xmas CD’s and prepping the tracks would take me about an hour, tagged and analyzed and ready to go.

Getting 40-track double-CD good “decade” samplers for the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s and the current pop/chart hits that are danceable should get you started imho.

Don’t be mistaken though. One of the traps I have seen club and genre DJs step into before is the sheer underestimating of the necessary skills for mobile DJ-ing. Mobile DJ-ing is not at the bottom of any DJ-ing ladder, but rather a DJ-ing ladder of it’s own. What we consider to be the #1 skill that makes a good DJ “knowing what must come next” is perhaps even more true in mobile DJ-ing, with a much larger palet to choose from.

Another thing to keep in mind that when you play clubs, festivals or other venues, people come for the purpose of dancing. Nobody comes to a wedding for the (sole) purpose of dancing. So getting a floor filled and keeping it filled needs a bit more doing. Not to mention having so many different tastes to cater to and to satisfy.

Good luck with your gigs, it will be a trip!

Almost forgot, the DDJT Wedding DJ course is definitely worth it’s money for your preparation and the playlists they contain.

Only at tradeshows. But they are so different, that I a bit puzzled by what makes you so divided. Either you have use for an integrated drum machine and the DJ808 is your weapon of choice or you don’t and then buying a controller with a built-in drum machine makes no sense as you are paying for something you won’t be using.

And there is a whopping price difference as well.

So if drum machines are not your thing, save your money and go SX2. If you have the budget and a drum machine is a must-have for you, then go Roland.

Just my 3 cents as usual.

If you pick the Thump sub I’d go with the Thump tops (usually best to match sub with tops from same brand and range as they are usually engineered to work well together). You could start with one 18S and two 15’s and add an 18S later if you feel you still need more umph. This would give you a start of 1600W RMS or something I believe. Plenty for your purpose.

To answer your questions:
1) Depending on build quality it could be several things. From plain over-steering them (better speakers have both thermal and signal limiting built-in, but lower end stuff won’t have that) to playing them hard without proper cross-overs. In the latter case, the sub will try to spend amp power to have the BIG speaker move really fast (higher frequencies). As the big speaker can’t move that quicly (too much mass), the coil and magnet at the back can get pretty hot and even burn-out. Where you using the passive or active VRX?

2) RMS is a regulated term and poses certain demands on the testing in order to use it. All other terms “PMPO”, Peak Power, Music Power, Program Power, Total Power and whatever else they come up with are not regulated and everybody just uses those to their own discretion. So really RMS is the only kind of power you can (more or less) objectively compare. On it’s own it’s not all that relevant without also knowing the sensitivity of the speaker, generally reported as SPL. Also interesting is the maximum output before distortion, known as max. SPL.
In short:
* RMS tells you what “continuous” power level the amp can deliver (in the case of an active speaker)
* SPL (Sound Pressure Level) tells you how many dBs of sound you get when 1 Watt RMS of white noise is played and measured at 1 meter distance from the speaker. This is a measure of how sensitive a speaker transfers amp power into audio power. The higher the number the more sensitive it is. So lower RMS but high SPL can lead to the same perceived loudness as high RMS and low SPL. Clearly both high will give you more loudness, both low less loudness.
* Max. SPL is the maximum sound pressure level the speaker can deliver (again at 1 m) before (a certain amount of) distortion occurs. Beware that dB scales are logarithmic. If you double the amp power in a given situation you will only gain 3dB spl. So two comparable speakers, one with a max SPL of 127dB, the other with 130dB. Having the higher one is like having the lower one with TWICE the amp power. So don’t think oh only a few dB max SPL difference as it really adds up.

3) As I said many speakers will have built-in limiting for temperature and signal level. If you run them beyond their safe upper levels the protection kicks in, you’ll hear a click and no more music. Usually after a slight delay (and dropping the signal level) they will click again an come back on.
That said, there are two “rules” in PA that I would try to stick by.
a) 0dB rulez!
b) Red is Bad! (Clipping kills speakers)
Always try to tune your entire audio chain to be 0dB average with +3 to + 5dB at the loud bits (peaks). Generally speaking the first one or two orange lights blinking, the last green one more or less permanently on. And NEVER go into the red. Start with your deck gains, then your master gain on controller/mixer and then on your speakers also set 0dB (depending on what max level is at full you will keep your speakers set at 85-100% when no 0dB marking is present). When you do that, you should never hurt your speakers or cause them to sound distorted (or any other part of the audio chain for that matter).

Just my 3 cents worth.

Nope … have only been in the “battle” variation where you just do your thing. Otherwise just wear the silent disco headset until it’s your time to take over I guess.

While a good question and super good your are not jumping in blind, it’s also a very hard one to answer.

In essence any of the suggested starter controllers would do fine, using the LE/Lite version of software that will usually come with it. A set of monitor or small PA speakers (you can’t use the monitors for small parties as they are not made for that) and a good pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD-201 and only the 201! are a very cheap but great starter pair to help keep the budget down, the next best thing being 4-5 times as expensive) are also needed. Some cables and in case of PA speakers some stands. Also you would need a laptop (windows/mac) preferably just for DJ-ing or at least optimized for DJ-ing.

Another alternative is to get an iPad powered controller, software is cheaper, no need for a laptop.

The Pioneer DDJ-Wego 4 could be a good option there. Read the review over at the main site: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/?s=wego

There is of course the question of budget. Do you have one?

True that. It’s a rather big upgrade for Cross as well (think the fullest full version is about 129 so 80 up), but that is because you also get DVS and HID support for all Pioneer CDJs as well as video support (and a few DVDs with free to use video material to get you started.

Using two softwares in parallel is not something I’d recommend. If there are good mappings for your current software I’d seriously suggest not changing a thing but just getting to know your new controller with the software you already know and love. Something along the lines of “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”.

BTW, I love the MC6000 (even though I splurged and got me an MCX8000 now). It’s a great compact unit geared towards the mobile DJ.