Audio News

You are viewing the archives of dj.

The Stanton SC System is a new revolutionary Digital Control System from Stanton DJ, which provides professional DJs with multiple configuration options, multiple control surfaces and, last but not least, compatibility with existing hardware and software. This digital DJ control SC system from Stanton features an advanced controlled surface SCS.1m mixer and SCS.1d deck; thereby providing an amazingly fresh level of functionality and performance ability to the digital DJ, while maintaining the familiar layout and comfortable feel.

The SC system to come from Stanton is a powerful, high-end sophisticated controller, which is capable of either replacing or complimenting the most advanced DJ software and equipment on the market. There is a very clean line drawn between the functionality of each component (deck and mixer), therefore they can be either used together or independently i.e. standalone. The digital controller system also features a high torque adjustable motor with real vinyl, velocity sensitive pads, motorised pitch fader, control presets for triggers and rotary encoders, built-in Fire wire connections, 4 channel MIDI controller, encoder strip and auxiliary inputs providing maximum flexibility to professional DJs.

It is an undeniable fact that digital DJs are becoming more widespread than ever, due to the increased portability of laptops, massive song storage, processing power and rapid advances in DJ software. Of course, these digital DJs still need some type of special, practical and dedicated control surface, with which they can gain complete control over the music, as well as their performance. This Stanton SC System provides exactly such a control surface, and the digital results clearly rival anything to come from a vinyl Hi Fi Turntable. Stanton has succeeded in creating a palette of comfortable and familiar controls, while allowing the software and end user to grow with the progressing technology.

The DJM-909 is the world’s first professional DJ mixer with touch screen effects and control, combining innovative features with proven outstanding Pioneer quality. Pioneer has always been striving hard to meet all the needs of professional DJs and this DJM-909 DJ mixer is their ultimate solution, which offers a combination of innovative technology and extensive features.

Its extensive features include a customisable and precise crossfader, touch screen control of its built-in effects, sensitive, yet solid, equaliser knob and durable transform switches. This customisable crossfader is extremely durable and features a double fade control which allows for independent adjusting of each half of the fader. The sliding crossfader or channel fader gives the user the convenience to automatically start or stop the playback.

The DJM-909 mixer has a sensitive user friendly touch screen control for utilizing, assigning and tweaking its wide range of 50 built-in effects. The Pioneer DJM-909 possesses a wide range of parameters, which can be further adjusted using a set of additional knobs included in the system. The beat effect effectively synchronises the effects with the beats per minute in order to produce high accuracy effect timing. The DJM-909 sound mixer allows the users to quickly and easily view the tempo of the song using an auto BPM counter.

The DJM-909 mixer is an outstanding DJ mixer with extensive features, an amazing set of 50 built-in effects and a touch screen. It is a must have mixer for any Battle DJ.

Whenever you plan to buy DJ speakers, or for that matter any speakers, one of the best methods for testing the speakers’ quality is to test them with both a poor sounding audio source, like a bad mix tape, and a high quality audio source. All speakers, regardless of their format, type, make or style, will fall into two major categories; namely, either active or passive. Active speakers are those which have a built-in amplifier and do not need any power from the external source. Meanwhile, passive speakers are those which need power from the external source in the form of a power amplifier.

Two major advantages offered by active speakers are less hassle, resulting from not needing long wires to connect the speakers to the amplifiers; and. secondly, better compatibility as the manufacturer can easily match amplifier specifications to the speaker. The passive speakers like the Fohhn XT-2, on the other hand, are lighter, cheaper and last long, but aren’t very flexible, since a separate amplifier is required for each speaker.

The best suited amplifiers for passive speakers would be the ones from the same family. Secondly, the amplifier should have the same RMS rating as that of the speaker and the amplifier’s size should match the speaker size too. It is always advisable to check the power at 4ohms and 8ohms resistance, and the frequency response from at least 20Hz to 20KHz. Also make sure the speaker is capable of handling the power coming from the amplifier.

DJ Needles, most commonly known as the stylus or styli, are some of the most important parts of the turntable. From the end of the tone arm to the vinyl, there are a total of three parts which collectively make up the extension. The first is the head shell followed by the cartridge and then finally the needle. With every turntable a standard pair of needles and cartridges is provided, though you do have a variety of other advanced options to choose from.

Selecting the right needles or styli and dj cartridge is no big deal, as there are only two types of styli currently available on the market. The needle diamond tip can be either spherical or elliptical, with each one capable of performing a specific function, and the decision is based primarily on preference. Similar to how the decision between vinyl turntables and CD DJ turntables, such as the Technics SL-DZ1200, is based on personal taste and goals. The Spherical styli are best suited for a scratching and battle DJ. The main reason for this is that they stay in the groove of the record much better than the elliptical, thereby having the highest skip resistance and a very high output based application. Elliptical styli, on the other hand, are more suitable for beat mixing and hi-fi systems where the main function is playback. They deliver amazing playback sound quality, which is quite true to the original sound recording, since they have a lower tracking force that is easier on the vinyl.

If you are DJing at clubs and parties, you will need a more durable and robust pair of DJ needles. The selection of your needle will totally depend on the style of music you intend to play and also on the type of DJ you want to be, like a battle or mix DJ.

DJ headphones are probably one of the most important pieces of equipment required by any professional disk jockey. These special headphones allow the DJ to hear to his prepared mix before the actual performance, or before it is audible to anybody else. That way he can monitor what is being played at the turntable and mix the next song accordingly. For this reason it is very important that DJs choose the right pair of headphones with all the necessary features.

The essential DJ headphone should have a swiveling earpiece which allows the DJ to monitor the cued track while the current track is being played. It should have a closed ear design, where the headphone is sealed over the ears, thereby cancelling out all external noise completely. But it should not be too tight either and have just the appropriate cushioning effect, neither too little nor too much, as a misaligned pair of headphones can cause headaches when used for hours on end.

The cord that comes with the headphones should be detachable as well as coiled. This will ensure that in case of any problem, only the wire will be replaced and not the entire headphone set. No doubt the headphones should also be stylish, with a solid construction that will ensure durability. The Audio Technica ATH-PRO700 SV DJ headphones, for example, have a very rugged and tough look, yet deliver spectacular performance. There are a lot of quality DJ headphones available in the market. But as long as they satisfy the aforementioned points, you should be happy with any one of them.

DJ CD players have been available in the market for quite some time now and, gradually down the line as the years passed by, they have become quite DJ friendly. A good DJ CD player would be one which can not only emulate all the features that can be achieved using a vinyl turntable, but also has some additional benefits and features. DJs can choose from the two types of CD players available in the market, rock mount and table top.

A table top CD player is quite similar in function, as well as design, to normal vinyl DJ turntables. As the name table top indicates, they can be placed flat on the table. Pioneer is the leader in the production of these types of DJ CD players, and the Pioneer CDJ 1000 MK3 is at the top of the entire available range. There are also a wide range of quality Denon table top CD players available in the market, such as the Denon DN-S1000 compact CD/MP3 player, Denon DN-S3500 and Denon DN-S5000. The second type of DJ CD players are rack mount. As is clear from the name, they are built to fit into a rack. These CD players are most popular among mobile DJs.

Any good DJ CD player should include all the important features like pitch control, sampler and effects, cue points, support both CD and MP3 music files and should allow scratching if required. This can be accomplished by providing both the platter and jog dial option, and, lastly, it should have a digital output.

The ClubDJ Pro C3 is a complete DJ software application to come from Clubdjpro.com, and allows DJs to completely mix audio, video and visualizations with the speed and accuracy of using a dual deck interface. However, the software is much more affordable than a actual professional deck like the Numark TTX USB. This software’s innovative features, excellent user interface and, most importantly, reliable mixing make it the best available mixer for all professional Club DJs, mobile DJs and Video DJs.

C3 promises to deliver a stable mixing platform, not only for the mixing of real time video, but also for displaying ambient visualizations. An extremely low CPU usage guarantees for hassle free mixing, which will give additional confidence and peace of mind a DJ before any performance.

C3’s excellent user interface, in combination with the sophisticated design, allows any user to operate it without much of a learning curve. The user can easily set cue points, custom looping, add some sound effects, save the selected playlists, do a quick media search and much more. This mixing software application features real time beats per minute detection, pitch and tempo shifting, MIDI controller support, manual beat matching, on screen text messaging, custom looping, sixty ambient visualizations and even more exciting features at the tip of your fingers.

The C3 quick search feature lets the user to scan through numerous media tracks in just few seconds. For immediate mixing of the songs you can browse the songs either by artist, album, title, length, BMP or year made. Or you can just create the playlist and save it for future use.

FutureDecks Lite is an affordable DJ mixer for any professional or aspiring DJs. This DJ mixer, specially designed for Mac OS X, grants DJs a unique mixing experience. Any user can mix their collection of songs just like a professional DJ with the FutureDecks Lite software. A classic DJ setup, i.e. two decks, a mixer and a playlist complete the programme and help in providing a highly intuitive user interface.

The FutureDecks Lite DJ mixer features complete automatic mixing, seamless beat-aware looping, beat matching with a single click, an automatic beats per minute counter, eight different effects, a sweep filter and a keylock. This mixer provides a complete manual control over the entire mixing process. The two fully independent decks have special functions for cueing, vinyl simulation which includes scratching, bend, reverse play, spin, and pitch etc., equalizer and gain. You can search and listen to songs stored in the playlist or database using the headphones.

This DJ mixer for Mac OS X has a special unique Automix function which can fully automate mixes using this software. The mixes recorded can then be saved and burned onto a CD, for example. Despite its Mac focus, the software is not restricted to the Apple MacBook PRO or other Mac. In fact, it can be used on either the Mac or PC, or both, making it a cross platform DJ mixing software programme. These FutureDecks Lite DJ mixers also support iTunes Library with extremely fast song searching and previewing qualities. It also features an audio limiter for delivering an outstanding audio quality even at high volume levels. So any Mac OS X DJs should definitely check it out.

Final Scratch is a special type of a kit from Stanton that allows the user to manipulate MP3 songs on a computer using special records from a turntable. Although this concept sounds like rocket science, the way it works is actually quite simple. The special records only carry a time code, not the actual songs they will manipulate.

This time code carried by the records is then translated by the converter into a digital signal, which is then sent to the computer running the included Final Scratch programme. The Stanton Final Scratch programme then uses the digital signal to simulate the effect of scratching on MP3s, and in fact succeeds admirably in this manner. Only MP3 files are mixed or scratched, and no real vinyl records are ever used, even though you mimic the vinyl scratching technique using the specialised turntables. In other words, you will be able to achieve the same effects of scratching a vinyl record on a turntable like the American Audio TTD-2400, but with MP3 files. With this software you do needn’t worry about carrying a record case all the time, all you need is a laptop with all the required songs stored in it.

The Stanton Final Scratch kit includes one scratch amplifier with its power supply, one USB and four stereo phone leads, three final scratch vinyls and one installation CD for your laptop. Everything included in the kit are of a nice build quality, the cable is quite long at around 2 metres, and the amplifier, although quite lightweight and plastic, is quite well designed. The software is quite intuitive and has an amazing user interface.

With good knowledge and proper care of this kit, this software proves to be a very useful tool for any professional or aspiring DJ.

Virtual Turntables, most commonly known as VTT, is the first ever software program for Windows which allows real time MP3 mixing. Virtual Turntables has revolutionised the DJ scene for both professional and hobby DJ players, by supporting the standard MP3 format as a DJing option. This software gives the DJ the convenience of either gathering music from any available source all over the internet, or converting your favourite tracks from a CD.

The Virtual Turntable gives you the power of a professional DJ performance in a single jewel case, or just a notebook computer and a few CDs. Your standard real DJ turntable, like the Vestax Handytrax, is not half as manageable size-wise. It has an amazing user interface and is very easy to use and learn. Whenever any MP3 song is loaded in the program, an interface which is quite similar to the DJ CD deck appears on the screen. Each of the loaded MP3 songs has its own interface which allows the DJ to control the pitch or tempo of that particular song. It gives the DJ the freedom to move the position of the song, either front or back, using nudge buttons.

This software also features virtual Jog Wheels, but if you want to change the option, you can choose from three included skins. The Virtual Turntable is a step beyond the traditional turntables. You can store all the characteristics like cue point, beats per minute, notes and volume for each song initially and later recall them without any effort. In order to give a professional sound, the DSP effects such as echo, equaliser, volume equalisation and reverb can be easily applied. You can either create the playlist or put it into autodj mode for automatic mixing. Last, but not the least, this software can match the BPM between two songs.

To conclude, Virtual turntable is a shareware application which takes you to the next level of DJing.