Cable management for the OCD DJ

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SoundInMotionDJ
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Cable management for the OCD DJ

#1 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:14 am

Just in case you hate having to mess with a nest of cables when you setup in the booth....

I have a custom snake that connects the laptop, controller, soundcard...but the box is a nice upgrade.

The Sterlite container is really prone to cracking when broken, so round holes are better. Or, a slightly more durable box can be used.

http://robcifre.com/2013/02/08/the-octo ... o-cheaply/

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trev
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#2 Post by trev » Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:29 pm

Clever. I hate dealing with the spaghetti monster.

Surreal
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#3 Post by Surreal » Tue Mar 10, 2015 8:21 am

Interesting new audio device with built-in usb hub... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioHub24

turntables
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#4 Post by turntables » Sat Mar 28, 2015 9:00 am

nice ideas, the quicker everything is wireless the better.

SoundInMotionDJ
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#5 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:20 am

turntables wrote:nice ideas, the quicker everything is wireless the better.
It will be a VERY long time until wireless takes over the wires inside a DJ booth.

If nothing else, there will be a power supply running to the laptop and mixer and even more to the remainder of the PA system. While I can run on a laptop battery for a limited amount of time...it would never be "plan A" for me. And I have not seen any battery powered mixers.

There are no wireless interconnects that come anywhere near USB 2 capability for driving a sound interface.

I know of no DJ mixers that will use a wireless connection from a laptop as a channel input. And even if I did...I would be terrified to rely on that at a gig.

There are no wireless based MIDI controllers that I have seen on the market. While not a lot of DJs here seem to use them, MIDI controllers are quietly taking over DJ booths (especially for "mobile DJs") all over the world. The capability offered at the common price points is hard to resist.

For the people who use external input devices, there are good bluetooth options for mouse & keyboards (assuming someone with a laptop would even bring an external keyboard to a gig). Even in the case of a mouse, I prefer the wired option....but I suppose I'm a bit of a Luddite that way. :shock:

lipi
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#6 Post by lipi » Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:11 pm

SoundInMotionDJ wrote: There are no wireless based MIDI controllers that I have seen on the market.
That you've seen, maybe, but that's because you haven't looked, not because they're not there. :) Googlification trivially yields, for instance:
http://www.amazon.com/Source-Audio-Hot- ... B00F9UWMXO
I have no idea whether it's any good, but there it is, and it's not the only one.

Out of curiosity, what do you think USB (or USB2) can do that wireless cannot when driving a sound interface? I'm not arguing--just curious.

philippecrhk
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#7 Post by philippecrhk » Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:07 pm

The main problem with wireless for audio signal is that even if it cuts out for a very short time it will affect the gig.

Wireless transmission to speakers is more common but usually only for those where one of many speakers would lose connection at one time so it could be acceptable.
The main reason for wireless speakers would be cost and loss of signal over distance ( but the new generation of speakers use ethernet cabling for digital transmission to resolve this issue)
As for wireless audio transmission from source to the mixer it makes little sense as it is short distance and the DJ needs the mixer controls anyway.
I highly recommend stereo bluetooth speakers for home use though .

SoundInMotionDJ
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#8 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:02 am

lipi wrote:
SoundInMotionDJ wrote: There are no wireless based MIDI controllers that I have seen on the market.
That you've seen, maybe, but that's because you haven't looked, not because they're not there. :) Googlification trivially yields, for instance:
True. I did only check Native Instruments, Pioneer, Akai, Numark, Denon, Behringer, and a few others. A "toy" controller is not a replacement for a MIDI keyboard (piano style), an "all in one" controller, or even a bunch of buttons to mash for the DJ.

Still, I do acknowledge that there are wireless based MIDI controllers in existence.
lipi wrote:Out of curiosity, what do you think USB (or USB2) can do that wireless cannot when driving a sound interface? I'm not arguing--just curious.
A wire provides an amount of reliability in the connection. While I am generally distrustful of the physical USB connector (given the lack of any latching mechanism), once established the connection is very stable in practice. That is something that bluetooth, wifi, and other RF based technologies can't yet claim.

A wire provides an amount of protection from cross-talk and interference. Wireless mics are good, but are still subject to drop outs and pops and interference from other transmitters in the local area. Given the limited protections offered to "consumer" level wireless frequencies by the FCC, this is not likely to improve significantly in the near term.

A wire provides a predictable amount of bandwidth. I use a four stereo channel external sound interface. I am actively driving four signals into that sound interface and mixing them externally. The available wireless technoloiges can not support the bandwidth needed to accomplish that without dropouts, etc. If I were using "control vinyl" or some other scratch interface and had four stereo inputs coming in at the same time, the bandwidth would be even more stressed.

A wire provides much lower latency than current bluetooth or wifi. The Windows OS has about 35-40ms of latency (on my computer, etc) to handle a MIDI note and produce the effect, the sound interface (with it's buffering) adds another 15ms to that. The USB 2 connection adds about another 5ms to that. My final "button push" to "sound out the speakers" latency is in the 55-60ms range. That is fast enough to allow for "finger drumming" or other controllerist techniques or for scratching with control vinyl. Bluetooth and wifi have about 150-200ms of latency (plus the OS, plus the sound interface). That is entirely too slow to allow for any "fine grain" control of the music.

Surreal
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Re: Cable management for the OCD DJ

#9 Post by Surreal » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:05 pm

I think going wireless is viable for a swingdj who doesn't need midi or really much of a mixer at all. I'm thinking a simple setup with not much more than drag 'n drop playlists on a laptop, and control volume digitally. Right now I can set up my phone to access my laptop's library to play music. If I lose connection, the cache keeps going for about 5 songs. In my current setup I don't have control over playlists (or maybe I haven't figured out how yet...), but I'm using a free app with limited functionality. I'm sure there are more powerful options out there.

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