Posts Tagged ‘dj’

Abletonlife.com is a great little site. If you’re into Ableton Live in any of its forms, be sure to check it out. But for now, just check out this great “screencast” done by the folk(s) at Ableton Life: an intro to DJing in Live.

If you need help building a Live DJ rig, be sure to check out my article about the subject here.

Part 2 after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Hercules is rolling out a couple of new products. The first being the Deejay Trim 4&6 which is a new USB audio interface aimed at the DJ centered crowd.

• 4 channel inputs with VU metering
• Two different I/O configs: 4/4 allows for 4 line/phono and 4 -10dBv RCA outs while 2/6 allows for 2 inputs and 6 outputs
• Integrated USB 2.0 hub for external hard-drives and other USB devices
• Microphone input with “talk-over” function
• Headphone output
• Sturdy, steel body

The Trim 4&6 is available now for $249.99 and is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, and XP (32-bit and 64-bit) as well as Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5.

The next new product is the Hercules Scratch Starter Kit which includes the Deejay Trim 4&6 interface as well as two timecode vinyl/CD, VirtualDJ 6 LE TC software, as well as all the necessary cables needed to use all that fine hardware. The Scratch Starter Kit with the Deejay Trim 4&6 will be available in mid-December for $299.

Hercules portable DJ controllers have always looked slick, and their newest addition is no exception.

The MP3e2 is a USB desktop mixer that’s smaller than a laptop and will run for $129.99 starting in October from your favorite online music retailer (Musician’s Friend, zzSounds, and much more).

It can loop, beat match at the push of a button, control  your mp3s inside your selected program, and just about everything else you can expect it to do. No word on it’s ability to work with more popular software like Traktor, but I bet it works to a point.

• User-friendly automation for beginners
• Cue point suggested by DJ software during audio file analysis (Included software: VirtualDJ® DJC MP3 e2)
• Track synchronizations with 1 push of a button
• Automatic loops on 1, 2 or 4 beats
• Lighter & smaller than a laptop
• Compact DJ control surface
• USB powered – no extra power supply needed

• 2 Mixing decks
• 3-Level equalization per deck for producing big sound
• 2 jog wheels to navigate tracks
• 1 Cross fader and 2 volume faders
• 4 Buttons to browse music lists
• 2 Buttons to load tracks
• Alter your music files with your own effects
• Save your mixes as your own music files
• Non-slip pads ensure perfect stability

So there you go. It works with both Mac and PC and seems to be optimized to work with the packaged VirtualDJ software. It’s obviously aimed at beginner DJs, but it looks solid enough to be used by anyone.

Native Instruments has just announced the AUDIO 2 DJ, which, to me, looks like the finest little DJ interface out right now.

It’s bus powered, about the size of a deck of cards (that’s pretty small), and offers support for 96kHz/24-bit audio, as well as an output that offers +9.7dBu of output. Drivers for both OS X and Windows (XP and Vista) offer support for Traktor users on both platforms.

It connects to your machine via USB 2.0 and offers dual stereo RCA inputs and 1/4″ outputs for going from your interface to your mixer.

The AUDIO 2 DJ will begin shipping in September 2009 for $119.

Mixcloud has launched a new version of the site and among the new features is their widget! Finally, you can share your mixes on your blog, Myspace, etc.

Anyhow, I recently DJ’d a party at a local art museum for the opening of a new art exhibit. The theme was spacey, etheral, other-wordly, so here’s my mix. It’s almost two hours long and was performed inside Ableton Live 7. Comment if you like it and follow me on Mixcloud!

P.S. The widget is damn good looking.

White As Paper by Ben Versluis on Mixcloud