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DJing software for Mac OSX

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:23 am
by laffs4sale
Hi, I'm deejaying on a Macbook with OSX and can't find deejay software. I use iTunes, but it won't let me cue or crop songs. Can anybody recommend free or inexpensive deejay software for Mac OSX? Thank you.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:42 pm
by keither

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:29 pm
by trev
Actually, if you just want to crop off the start or end of a track, you can do this in iTunes by opening the Options tab on a track and changing the Start Time or Stop Time. The edit isn't permanent so you can always change it back later.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:34 pm
by CafeSavoy
keither wrote:http://www.mixxx.org/
How do you like it?

Re: Music software for Mac OSX

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:36 pm
by CafeSavoy
laffs4sale wrote:Hi, I'm deejaying on a Macbook with OSX and can't find deejay software. I use iTunes, but it won't let me cue or crop songs. Can anybody recommend free or inexpensive deejay software for Mac OSX? Thank you.
It's not free, but Traktor is available for the mac ( http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/ ... aktor-pro/ ). And sometimes you can find it on sale.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:39 pm
by keither
Hey Rayned,

I don't have a Mac. I use a combination of Traktor and J. River Media Center on the PC.

Mixxx is the only free DJ software that I know of for Mac OS, so I thought I'd pass it along. I have no experience with it at all.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:06 pm
by Haydn
DJay isn't free, but pretty cheap at $50 ...

http://www.djay-software.com/

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:03 am
by straycat
Megaseg isn't cheap, but for this kind of DJing, it's far and away the best DJ software I've ever used.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:20 am
by Rob
I'm in a similar situation and have been doing a fair bit of 'research' about what is out there. I've only been dj-ing about 6 months and have been using i-tunes (through the itunes-dj bit to cue up tracks) with the cross fade turned on at 2 seconds. If only Apple added a 'monitor' channel to i-tunes I'd be sorted....

So...names to plug into the web - I'm pretty sure they all have a demo download version so you can try them out:

DJ-1800 - cheap, essentially cd deck emulator, no 'auto' cross fade but seems nice and stable.

Virtual DJ - more expensive, slightly clunky crossfade, seems to be better suited to beat mixing / dance music

MegaSeg - Seems to be really good for setting up playlists but expensive

Disco XT - Again, seems to have good playlist function + good (v adjustable) autocross fade + is relativly cheap. Only thing stopping me from buying it is my G4 dosen't seem to be able to cope with it

Mixxx - No crossfade and IMHO a bit clunky and ugly - but free!

Radiologik - Actually software for putting together internet radio but no reason why you couldn't use it to DJ. I quite liked it although I was having problems importing my itunes in / managing playlists which has put me off a bit - but relativly cheap if it floats your boat.

DJay - Cheap, seems to do fairly good crossfade + playlist function, a bit 'gimicky' + there seems to be an intermittent problem with not being able to run a USB soundcard as a monitor channel which they don't seem to have sorted out properly. If they do I might think about it...

Traktor - Expensive, didn't play about with it much - they do cheap LE versions but only for Windows.

Phew....I think that's about it - although all of the above have their own little idiosyncrasies to look out for when importing your music from iTunes.

At the moment I'm sticking with iTunes + DJ1800 to monitor tracks before adding to the playlist (although if I can get my 'mixing' a bit more steady might start moving onto DJ-1800 full time.)

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:19 pm
by SoundInMotionDJ
I looked into Mac DJ software two years ago...and ultimately decided to stick with a PC for now.
Rob wrote:MegaSeg - Seems to be really good for setting up playlists but expensive
MegaSeg was my #1 choice. If I'd gone Mac, this is what I would be using.
Rob wrote:Disco XT - Again, seems to have good playlist function + good (v adjustable) autocross fade + is relativly cheap. Only thing stopping me from buying it is my G4 dosen't seem to be able to cope with it
Many of the local DJs I see are using DiscoXT. DiscoXT is available on both Mac & Windows. The integration with iTunes playlists seems to be above average. Overall as a DJ platform this software is reasonable.

I am a little unsure about multi channel sound card support with Disco XT - I prefer to have a monitor channel, and separate channels for Player A and Player B. MegaSeg does support this.

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:47 am
by Haydn
Rob wrote:have been using i-tunes (through the itunes-dj bit to cue up tracks)
Sorry but what do you mean by 'the itunes-dj bit' ?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:49 am
by Rob
Sorry but what do you mean by 'the itunes-dj bit' ?
On the left, under playlists you should have iTunes DJ. It's sort of a dynmaic playlist which will automatically keep a set number of tracks in the queue (although I set it to 0).

I just find it a bit easier to shift tracks into and around it when I'm mid-set and picking tunes. Right-click on any track in iTunes and you can see the add options.

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:38 pm
by Haydn
Rob wrote:On the left, under playlists you should have iTunes DJ. It's sort of a dynmaic playlist which will automatically keep a set number of tracks in the queue (although I set it to 0).
Which version of iTunes are you using?

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:49 am
by Rob
Haydn wrote:
Which version of iTunes are you using?[/quote]

9.0.3

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:23 am
by Rob
Found another couple of potential strong contenders:

Futuredecks Lite - V. cheap (£20)

UltraMixer - Range of license options (free - £179)

Only had a quick play with both of them but itunes import quirks aside both look very promising for playlists / decent editable auto-crossfade......

Anyone know either of these?