DJ suggestions please

[gotrich]

I am using it now and it sems to be ok.. I just like the search engine... I can type artist, genre, is has a rating for what I think the song is, last time played save playlist, corss fader, tempo changer, key changer...does both...Hoster is still better for karaoke Winamp for dj.. I used music match and winamp and they are just not as user friendly

[capnvic]

I use WMP for some of my shows, and a cross fader, with two laptops to switch between Hoster and WMP. Or I go with the light and fast mode with WMP and Hoster. I go through WMP and make my playlists well ahead of time. I also have used Videos from DC Promo and play them on one laptop and crossfade between my Hoster system and my other laptop....

[bryant]

Originally Posted by capnvic

I use WMP for some of my shows, and a cross fader, with two laptops to switch between Hoster and WMP. Or I go with the light and fast mode with WMP and Hoster. I go through WMP and make my playlists well ahead of time. I also have used Videos from DC Promo and play them on one laptop and crossfade between my Hoster system and my other laptop....

I do a very similar thing except with Virtual DJ. Sometimes play videos with WMP. VDJ is very touchy with alptops and video use.

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by bryant

VDJ is very touchy with alptops and video use.

Apparently with key switching too.

[JNS02]

I also use Winamp with no problems at all, I just run it in window shade mode on top of screen until I need it. Have a play list loaded and just run it.

[volvo350]

i use clubdjpro-2 its easy to use doesnt conflict with hoster but it does cost about $150 but i do recommend it to any dj

[Flipeoke]

I'll chime in here and reccommend MixMeister. I prefer it over all the others I have tried, (have tried many but not all, so there may be something better, but I have not found one yet IMO, kinda stopped looking when I started using MixMeister)

Flip

[Skybird74]

Originally Posted by volvo350

i use clubdjpro-2 its easy to use doesnt conflict with hoster but it does cost about $150 but i do recommend it to any dj

I was reading up on that software & it sounds like a fun addition. Are you sure it doesn't conflict when using Hoster? Have you tried that a lot during shows?

[mgrowolski]

As I said before PCDJ FX is def the way to go if you want to DJ inbetween songs
I use a DAC3 with it and this definately does not interfere with hoster in any way shape or form
My system is a 2u Rackmount with Studiomaster Fusion Mixer and DAC3 unit to control PCDJ and a Gigaport AG sound card all built in to a Gator Case and a fold away LCD mount that fits under the gator top cover the whole lot weighs less than 60LBs what more can I ask for lol and it has not crashed in 5years not once

[Skybird74]

I was only asking about 1 particular program.
(thanks for your input anyway.)

[billyo]

Originally Posted by Flipeoke

I'll chime in here and reccommend MixMeister. I prefer it over all the others I have tried, (have tried many but not all, so there may be something better, but I have not found one yet IMO, kinda stopped looking when I started using MixMeister)

Flip

i have mixmeister too, i don't really used it for djing, but i used it to create a mix ( transitions )and burn it to a cd which i take with me, when i do a private djing gig just in case something happens to my laptop, i use either hercules mk2 which you can add effects & pcdj, i used to have the torq, but it won't work with windows media center..

[gpayne]

I use BPM software for the dj side of my show which is a mix between kj and dj. Not all people like to sing. I have tried OTSdj. And the biggest difference I saw funtionally was that the automatic gain control (AGC) in OTSdj did not work that well. It cut off the ends of a lot of lyrics in the music no matter what settings I used. BPS works perfectly although only in auto mode in the version I have. The biggest thing to look for no matter what software you buy is whether you will get audio dropouts if you are doing something at the same time in another program. I found that if I was playing a fill song and doing a search in hoster for a karaoke song it would cause the audio in Windows Media Player or MusicMatch player to skip or drop out. This does not happen with BPM. The folks at MTU told me this was because BPM set their priority level to maximum as MTU does for Hoster. I don't particularly care for the search functions of BPM. They are harder to use than say MusicMatch(Bought out by Yahoo). However, BPM does offer the use of multiple sound cards. I use two and send each to a separate stereo input on my mixer. In use, BPM looks like one or two CD players side by side on your screen and you can cue up a song in each player. Like I have stated, I think the most important thing is whether you will get audio dropouts while adding a customer's CDG to the playlist etc.

gpayne

[capnvic]

That seems to be the problem with a lot of these DJ programs, they do have problems with the automatic gain control. WINAMP seems to work ok in that regard.

[mgrowolski]

I don't understand why u would use multiple sound cards I use the gigaport ag it has it has 8 outputs or 4 left and right is usb and works great with hoster and any dj programme u can think of

[Skybird74]

I hate to sound really stupid here! But I don't understand the discussion about sound cards. I just take the sound directly from the speaker output of my laptop & go directly into my Yamaha mixer amp! What other way is there?

[gpayne]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

I hate to sound really stupid here! But I don't understand the discussion about sound cards. I just take the sound directly from the speaker output of my laptop & go directly into my Yamaha mixer amp! What other way is there?

Your laptop has an internal sound card and the speaker output is the output from that internal sound card. You could also run an external USB type sound card. The reason to run multiple sound cards or sound cards that have multiple outputs is so that when you are running the dj side of your show, you don't have to wait until a song is finished before you can start the next one. Or you can monitor (listen) to the next song you are going to play while another is playing. You could make the next song start at exactly the place you want by monitoring it and hitting pause on your player as you know some songs have a different lead in such as "Baby Got Back". The first 15 seconds or so of that song is just talking. Singers may want to listen to a song they think they want to sing to make sure it is what they thought it was. If you have multiple sound cards or sound cards with multiple outputs you could let them do that while playing a fill song. I believe in version 4.0 or after, Hoster will allow the use of more than one sound card. At the present time it only allows you to use the default sound card and if you have more than one sound card you can choose which card it uses by setting which sound card is the default. If you have a laptop you can have two sound cards by using the internal card and an external card. I use an internal card and an external Extigy sound card and I have a rackmounted PC not a laptop. Whether you do something like this depends on how versatile you would like to be when you do your shows. I like as much versatility as I can afford. My rack has a mixer (Behringer), peak limiter, equalizer, cd player, dvd player and a tape player. I can play almost any kind of Karaoke music. I do not have a lazer disk player. So, if someone asks me to play their disk, I can play anything but a lazer disk.
Hope this helps!
gpayne

[Skybird74]

THANKS for the detailed explanation. Yes, that helps a lot. I frequently run 2 Hosters at the same time, just so I can look songs up from 1 list while playing from another list. And then pick a song from a different list, because I also do a lot of Shows where I do all the singing (not just karaoke). And I did notice, that if I started a song from 1 list before the other one stopped (to eliminate too much silence) that it would occasionally shut down 1 of the Hosters. Now I understand why this happens.
I'm guessing having a second sound card would also help when using Windows Media Player for fill-ins & break also. So, how do you tell a program which sound card to come out of?

[gpayne]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

THANKS for the detailed explanation. Yes, that helps a lot. I frequently run 2 Hosters at the same time, just so I can look songs up from 1 list while playing from another list. And then pick a song from a different list, because I also do a lot of Shows where I do all the singing (not just karaoke). And I did notice, that if I started a song from 1 list before the other one stopped (to eliminate too much silence) that it would occasionally shut down 1 of the Hosters. Now I understand why this happens.
I'm guessing having a second sound card would also help when using Windows Media Player for fill-ins & break also. So, how do you tell a program which sound card to come out of?

There are always drivers and software to install for any sound card but typically you select which sound card a program uses from the software you are using. I use BPM for my dj side and in the options-audio there are drop down boxes that show what sound cards are available on the system and you can select from what is there. BPM has a double player screen and in the options-audio you can pick which player uses what sound card. I'm not sure whether WMP allows you to select which sound card to use or not. I know that Musicmatch does and Hoster 4.0 was suppose to. The current versions of Hoster does not. If you have software that does not allow a selection but always uses the default sound card, you can change which sound card is the default by changing it from the sounds option in the control panel if you are using XP Professional. I am not sure about Vista.

gpayne

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

I'm guessing having a second sound card would also help when using Windows Media Player for fill-ins & break also. So, how do you tell a program which sound card to come out of?

Some programs (like Hoster) do not have a sound card selectable option. They will always default to the card that the computer is pointed at as default only. Many dj programs are sound card selectable.

[Skybird74]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to explain to me how to use/hook up to sound cards.