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Computer DJ Software,
brings you the resources you need, to stay on top of the DJ
industry! The best DJ mixing software, MP3 ripping software, and DJ
software tools
available. Plus smart articles on Computer DJ'ing in
general, to help the Digital DJ.
TOP SELLING COMPUTER DJ SOFTWARE
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Using Computer DJ Software can greatly enhance
your show, and make your job much easier to do. The days of carrying
crates of vinyl or CDs, are long gone, and a large majority of
mobile and club DJs, have already made the switch to a computerized
DJ system.
Most DJ Software programs can handle an unlimited
number of songs, and make finding those tracks easier than ever. In
the days of past, disc jockeys had to meticulously organize their
records and CDs, in order to be able to quickly locate a particular
song. Using software, one simply types in a few letters of a title,
artist, etc., and the software either brings up a list of matching
tracks, or quickly bring you to the song in a list. Most software
also have options to easily organize your music into folders,
playlists and other easily navigated hierarchies.
A modern five pound laptop computer, can easily
hold tens of thousands of songs, and have more than enough
horsepower for playing audio with effects, etc. (if you will be
doing video mixing, you will want to insure that your computer has a
good graphics processor, which can handle rendering video,
transitions, etc.). You can easily organize your songs into
playlists, and most of the software packages have auto mixing
capabilities, for when you want to run a set for cocktail music,
dinner, etc., and the software does the mixing transitions for you.
Choosing what software to use, can sometimes
seem a daunting task, but can be made much easier, by just
sitting down, and thinking about how you currently DJ.
Are you a mobile DJ, that mainly does
weddings, anniversaries, corporate parties, etc.? If so, you
will probably want software that is simple to use, stable, and
easily configured. You will want a good auto mix feature for
running cocktail and dinner music, and the ability to quickly
send a preconfigured playlist into the auto mixer. The search
engine in the software should be robust, and easy to locate and
use, so you can quickly locate requests, and have them cued and
ready to go.
Are you a club DJ, that spends a lot of
time beat mixing? If so, you will want to look at the
packages designed specifically for that use. Some of the
packages allow you to use time coded vinyl, to simulate the
experience of using dual turntables, and get the same type of
scratching effects and more. These packages are generally higher
priced, and require some tweaking to set up exactly the way you
like. They require more computer and technical knowledge.
Above all, you will want to try several
packages you are interested in, no matter what type of DJ you
are. Most software companies have trial versions of their
software, which you can try out for x number of time or days,
prior to purchasing. That is another big benefit of using
software, because using hardware solutions, usually requires you
to either find someone who already has that hardware, or spend
lots of time in music stores, so you can try out the equipment.
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MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, what's it all mean to me?
These are some of the different
audio formats in use today by computer dj software. They all
compress your CD music in one way or another to take up less
disk space, and less bandwidth while downloading or moving
from drive to drive. With the exception of FLAC, the other
formats are what are called "lossy". This means that some of
the audio information is lost when encoding standard CD
audio to the respective format. The loss occurs in the range
not audible to humans for the most part. A quick explanation
of the main formats used:
MP3: The most popular
format around today by far. Shows no signs of letting up, as
there is no copyright protection built in, and files can be
moved around easily. This is the format you will find most
prevalent on the internet, and is what most DJ's still rip
to. Almost all DJ software will play MP3 files.
WMA: This is Microsoft's
format, which includes digital copyright protection.
Licenses must be obtained for the files to be able to play.
There are many obstacles to it being a preferred format, and
it is linked closely to Microsoft's operating systems
architecture, so developers are not always keen on it. Some
pay per download sites like Napster, etc. use this,
and DJ's are having to go through a lot of bother to burn
them to CD, and then re-rip them into MP3 format. Seems like
more trouble than it's worth.
OGG: This is becoming
more popular these days because it is a free format
(developers do not have to pay royalties on this format),
and it sounds a little better than MP3. Look for some big
advances, albeit slowly as it takes on more market share. It
is supported by programmers who do it on a volunteer basis,
and is a good bet for the future, as it should lower
software costs.
FLAC: This is a lossless
compression format, similar in style to zipping a regular
file. The file sizes are still large though, and it is not
easily streamed across the net due to that. It is more
suited to the audiophile than the DJ, because of the high
noise floor at a DJ event.
WAV: This is a fully
uncompressed version of your CD music. WAV produces the largest file
size of all the formats here, but is an exact digital duplicate of
what is on an audio CD. WAV files also have no easy way to hold tag
information (there are ways to do it, although most software will
not read them), which makes them more difficult to work with, and
usually requires creating large filenames with the tag info
embedded. Although great for the audiophile who may not care about
the tag information, MP3 files usually work better for the digital
DJ, who needs to find songs quickly and easily.
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Many DJ 's are
starting to use laptops now, as both the prices are coming
down, and the features and quality are improving at an
amazing rate. Also, the advent of USB and PCMCIA sound cards
that rival traditional home audio equipment in sound and
specs, has made it easy now to add a laptop to your arsenal. Many die-hard computer DJ 's
will prefer a rack mounted system for various reasons,
especially if they want to tweak their system internals, but
for most, the laptop seems to be the wave of the future.
We've seen some complaints
about laptops being harder to fix as parts aren't as readily
available, but with today's quick shipping and on-site
service plans, it is getting harder and harder to justify
that argument.
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