SwingDJs

main_stem wrote:

kitkat wrote:Sellout.

Well, if DJing from a laptop is selling out then count me in. I made the transition last month; it's much nicer than the old CD route.

Ditto...I find it much more simple and flexible than CD's. Although I do like the DJ'ing from CD's because it makes me feel like an old timer DJ. DJ'ing from a laptop has proven good and very effective for me thus far.

Nima

Welcome aboard, all of you.

I was just ahead of my time...

Beyond the laptop, what is in your digital DJing kit? What kinds of cords, adapters, etc do you carry "just in case"?

The following equipment is *always* with me:

1 Laptop (plus power adapter)
1 USB 40Gig External Drive with 10,000+ songs on it
1 USB MP3+ External Sound Device
1 USB Cordless Mouse
2 Audio Cables (just in case one stops working right)

Sometimes I carry the following if I'm being overly cautious.

2nd Laptop
1 120Gig Harddrive in external enclosure
1 Set of Backup DVD's containing most of my collection

I used to carry a portable CD player with me, and my entire CD collection. I haven't had any serious laptop issues that I wasn't able to resolve, so I've stopped doing that.

In addition to laptop, power supply I carry:

• External Sound card
  Wireless USB mouse
  "good" headphones
  3 meter stereo phono cable
  3 meter 1/8" headphone to phono cable (i run it into another channel on the mixer and monitor thru the main system, if available)
  1/8" headphone(M) to stereo phono adapter(F)
  1/8" headphone(F) to stereo phono adapter (M)
  1/8"(F) to 1/4"(M) adapter
  1 Meter 1/8"(M) to Stereo Phono(M)
  1/8"(F) to 1/8"(F)
  1/4"(F) to 1/4"(F)
  3 Meter 1/8"(M) to 1/8"(M)
  Stereo Phono(F) to 1/4"(m) Mono
  Stereo Phono(F) to 1/4"(m) Stereo
  90 degree 1/4" to 1/4" (for tight places)
  Penlight
  small flashlight (i'm old and can't see in the dark so good)

I tried to think of all the different situation I might run into when I am using someone elses system

It is probably a good idea to keep some CDR compilations in your car or on you. Not many, just enough to be a suitable back-up in case something bad happens.

Sometimes laptops have problems.
Nathan

Besides the spare connectors and what not, two things that are essential in my mind - a Windows XP CD and my iPod ...

LindyChef wrote:Besides the spare connectors and what not, two things that are essential in my mind - a Windows XP CD and my iPod ...

I'm with you on the iPod, but...what would you do with the Windows XP CD?

In case a reinstall or repair is necessary, the xp cd would be needed.... something else I generally carry with me.

I've seriously been considering keeping an IPOD with a playlist around in case of failure. I could plug it in and let it play while I repaired any laptop problems I was having. Don't own an ipod, however.

During the LindyBooty weekend, my iPod saved my ass, actually. My laptop froze, but was still playing a song, however I couldn't choose my next one. Cued up a good long song on the iPod and was able to reboot and get my groove back ... very slick

Does anyone bring any RCA/XLR hybrids (adapters)?

I learned the value of at least one spare or backup alternative cable for every one you do use last week. The U club rents a Passport system from the students union (cheap rental). The tip was busted off the phone plug on one of the speaker cables with no spare, discovered right before the lesson I was about to teach. One of the other DJs was there and went home for a spare cable. The left channel on the passport was also not working so we had only dual-mono sound, I spun mostly mono recordings, no one noticed.

Im a sellout too and have been djing off of my laptop for 6 months now.

I have never had any problems with freezing, or having to reboot or anything crashing. Of course, I use a powerbook g4.

I think I might be looking at biting the bullet and caving in to the laptop craze. I *really* hate schlepping my CDs through the airport.

I have been djing off of my laptop for over a year and a half now. I really like it because I can tag all of my songs so I know which ones are good and can also make comments on how many people dance to it/enjoy it. I use BPM Studio, which is great because people always ask me about "that song I played last week" and BPM keeps your playlists for you!

This is on its way to me and will be my first legit venture into laptop DJing. (I added an 80GB hard drive and some extra memory). I'm tired of hauling around CDs and I love having tags to help me out in a pinch. Adding an imic and PCDJ Red will be my first setup.