Hardware system to mix iPod tunes etc?

Diamondmaker

Hi

1st post here.
I use technincs decks for years and now and have only recently seen the light when it comes to iPods and all that new fangled digital music formats.
Im going to Oz soon and while there Id love to be able to do a bit of mixing.

Obviously shipping 10 years worth of vinyl wont be too practical unless I decide to settle in an area for a while. God knows carting them from party to party was always a 'mare!

Wondering has anyone come across a system where by you plug an IPod in or any external digital source and it allows you to mix and manipulate similar to a CD deck only using a single digital source as opposed to 2 no CDs at a time.
I picture it as a 2 "vritual decks like a CD deck that downloads 2 tunes at a time from the Source as you mix as normal.
Something truly portable like a CDJ with no CDs.

does anythng exist to do this? And if not why the hell not!
Is this pure fanatsy?

cheers
DM

Edit
I know the obvious answer is a Laptop to some degree Im looking that still retains some amount of the tactility of touching a turn table of sorts rather than working off lap top.
I admit I know nothing about lap top mixing and I may be misunderstanding how it physically is controlled. I picture clicking and dragging on screen as a control rather than a physical manipulation of an external "tool" that in turn conrols the digital stuff.

deevey

Howya,

I believe this is what you might be looking for simply plug in the usb drive.

Or if you want to go the laptop route you could look at a combo hard / software like traktor and vestax VCI-100 or Kontrol-dj (which i just ordered and should have tues / wed).

There are a few other hard/software combinations around like m-audio torq controller or behringer bcd3000 (wont bother posting a link seeing as its the same as 2000 which everyone rates as dodgy)

Things have come a good way in the last while.

Diamondmaker

Ah thats amazing!

Any opionons on that 1st piece of kit from anyone?

Its perfect as I have a lot of my vinyl on CD also and its not too bad getting it on to the iPod. Ill have fun copying all the 45s though.

Its a lot cheaper than I imagined a piece of kit like that may cost.

Ill try find it in US$ somewhere...

cheers

Scubadevils

I had my mind made up on the BCD3000 before reading this thread! That Vestax looks slick and I have really fallen for the m-audio unit...is it worth the extra cash though? Any opinions on Torq vs Traktor? Equally, any opinions on each of the mixers vs each other?

deevey

Diamond, why are you trying to get it in US$ are you over there ?

I have a sneaking feeling you probably wont get a better deal than thomann on it, not to mention I'v been it with import duty the last 4 things i'v bought from the US.

Back to DJ stuff ... , i had my first brush with Torq last night, only the "LE" version that came with my x-session pro though.

But I was very impressed, the whole layout is very "Ableton", and the fact you can use VST's in the pro version is VERY cool, very fast to load tracks as well. I would definelty like to give the controller a whirl too, although a little "plasticy" looking .

The fact that you dont need any extra kit is fantastic though seeing as soundcards are built in.

Its probably gonna be around 600-800 euro around double the behringer price!

The Vestax was originally my first choice, although some people have noticed a few problems with jog wheels sticking, I have reservations on buying first gen vestax gear too.

I should have my kontrol in a day or two and will post initial thoughts... in the meantime ......Check out youtube for demo video's of all the units

[edit]I ordered my Kontrol-DJ yesterday direct from their site, I got the invoice by mail paid it (paypal) got another reply at 11.30 pm to comfirm payment and he would make sure I got it fast - its been sent this morning at 9.30 !!! so guessing delivery tomorrow Now thats service[/edit]

Whoohoo.

Diamondmaker

deevey wrote:

Diamond, why are you trying to get it in US$ are you over there ?

I have a sneaking feeling you probably wont get a better deal than thomann on it, not to mention I'v been it with import duty the last 4 things i'v bought from the US.


Whoohoo.

Fair point on the duty I got stung before also, you just forget and get stung again!

Are any of the suppliers in Dublin carrying that Numark D2 yet? Place on the quays were I bought my 1210s?

I saw the you tube clip, would like to see it in use rather than what it looks like.

deevey

TBH I havent seen much MP3 / digital dj gear around dublin, I based my purchase on videos and other reviews.(anyone else feel free to jump in)

The place on the quays ? .. isnt that gone .. thought it was turned into a spar or somthing.

Diamondmaker

deevey wrote:

The place on the quays ? .. isnt that gone .. thought it was turned into a spar or somthing.

Yeah Richer Sounds god bless is gone and is a Sparesque shop but Im pretty sure the other place X sounds or something is still there.

Ill have a look this week and see do they carry any f this new stuff.
Im quite excited about this pice of kit as I have so many tunes on CD that I have never mixed and Id say it allows soe other tricks and gimmicks to.

One thing I always wanted was to be able to sample a snippet or killer riff of a classic well known track, put it on a loop, build up some beats on 1 deck and the other to mix in another song.

ANy idea is this possible on that unit?:)

rabbitinlights

I want this:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/TorqXponent-main.html




Looks like just the ticket for my laptop.

S.

deevey

Well I got my Kontrol-dj unit tuesday morning (I only ordered it sunday night).

What a feckin fantastic piece of kit!

first off its really really built like a tank weighs in at about 2.5kgs fully metal and not a small unit - at twice the width of a hercules or behringer unit a full 19' with rackmounting provided.

The jog wheels are around the same size as a cdj500 but actually feel more like vinyl on a slipmat (although a very small vinyl) and totally possible to cue in on beat just like vinyl (yeah I know I could just use the play button)

The faders and pots no doubt will take a LOT of abuse alot of work obviously went into high quality componants, and again feel great, the crossfader looks the same as Ecler mixers, infact even the knob is the same so im guessing ....

The whole thing has a distict handbuilty feel to it (in a good way ... like a ferrari!).

I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I'd like to see what the build quality is like on the Xponant before I pass judgement - it would wanna be a hell of a lot better than the x-session pro and hercules which both feel like .. ummm ... well you know fisher price?

So far it seems manufacturers have been building midi controllers with less durability and tactility than the laptops they plug into! whats that all about :rolleyes:

One thing I always wanted was to be able to sample a snippet or killer riff of a classic well known track, put it on a loop, build up some beats on 1 deck and the other to mix in another song.

You dont even need the mixer controller to be able to do that - just the software

Traktor (my preference) gives you control of 4 onscreen decks

Diamondmaker

deevey wrote:

What a feckin fantastic piece of kit!


You dont even need the mixer controller to be able to do that - just the software

Traktor (my preference) gives you control of 4 onscreen decks

Good to see your enjoying it!

What do you mean the software? I would be hoping to do this on the Numark you linked above and not to be using a LT what so ever.

deevey

Ahhh ok, well yeah the Numark will do the looping / sampling too

In fact you can download the full spec and product manual from numarks website
.

Sorry bout that, thought you were talking about the software solutions.