Turn Tables or cd ie Vinyl or cd decks

himynameisFionn

Hi its my first post and i wanted to no what would be better to get Vinyl or cd decks iv decieded i wanted to get into dj'ing i want to go along the lines of dj shadow stuff what would be better to get that sound but not like exactly him so its my own music and abit of aphex twin even though he uses a laptop just wanted to know is all thanks
Fionn

Scubadevils

himynameisFionn wrote: »

Hi its my first post and i wanted to no what would be better to get Vinyl or cd decks iv decieded i wanted to get into dj'ing i want to go along the lines of dj shadow stuff what would be better to get that sound but not like exactly him so its my own music and abit of aphex twin even though he uses a laptop just wanted to know is all thanks
Fionn

Interesting. Reminds me a bit of this wee tale.

Melvin and Snodge had set out early for Quaristice in order to catch the best part of the day. At least, that's how Melvin had put it. Snodge was, frankly, amazed that Melvin knew in advance when the best part of the day would be, but seeing as he was a Snodge and Melvin was a person, he paid it no mind.

Melvin was from Barnsley. He wore his Barnsley-ness like a tattoo in the middle of his forehead. When he, for example, ate a boiled egg, he did it in a Barnsley-ish fashion. His socks were pure Barnsley. The man exuded South Yorkshire from every pore, but Snodge had got used to the smell now, and, in truth, sort of liked it.

“Where's Quaristice?” enquired Snodge as he bounded alongside Melvin, the latter's speedy gait clearly a challenge for the stumpy legs of his companion.

“It's over this way, towards Flingflong.”

“Flingflong,” sang Snodge. “Flingflong, flingflong, flingflong.” The word danced out of his drooly maw and tumbled onto the forest path behind him as he trod. “Kworrrr-isss-tissss... kworrrr-isssss-tissssssss... is it like Barnsley?”

“Like Barnsley? Like Barnsley? No it bloody well is not. For one thing, Barnsley hasn't got a great Altibzz sitting in the town centre to welcome you. Look, there it is now,” he pointed, motioning towards a metal structure, strong and solid looking despite the smooth curves of its edges. “It's like that picture I showed you of the Opera House in Australia, but with just one pointy bit instead of several.”

“In Siddinee?” asked Snodge.

“That's right” answered his companion. “And past that you can see the men working at The Plc.” Snodge followed the chipolata of his gesticulatory digit and saw grey-suited men in a pen moving around in a densely synchronised pattern, constantly looking as if they would collide with each other but managing to repulse at the last minute, not unlike repelling particles.

“So why do they live here?” queried the every-curious Snodgulus Minimus. “Wouldn't all the people that live here be better off in a normal village like Charty?”

“I suppose they like it here,” said Melvin. “They don't have to live where we want them to — it's up to them how they go about their business, and if that means living in Quaristice then that's fine by me.”

“I suppose so,” replied Snodge, “even if they do have funny ground here.”

“Funny ground? Funny how?”

“It's all... squoinky” said Snodge. “Sometimes wibble-wobble, and the air is certainly tinkly, but mostly it's squoinky, with a bit of... jongle-bong too.”

“I see,” quoth the always-patient Melvin, “I can see what you mean.”

“That thing there, that, that...”

“Perlence.” prompted his keeper.

“That Perlence sometimes looks like it's going to fall over, but it doesn't.”

“That's right. They've built it so it looks like that, but it'll never fall over, not in a million years.”

“Wow. That's clever.”

They had reached a Simmm, a free drinks dispenser operated entirely by mechanical insects, and gratefully accepted the libation. Melvin always brought a bowl so that Snodge could have a drink midway through their walks. Snodges could get dreadfully dehydrated, owing to their hyperactive saliva glands, and it was common knowledge that there was a causal link between the inquisitiveness of a particular animal and the amount of oral slush produced. Snodge, being a very interested type of a Snodge, was keenly prone to such a hazard.

They ambled on towards a field where Tankakerns hunted rabbits. “Ooh, this is the best part of the day” purred the quadruped as he watched the taut, lean tin animals dash after the hapless leverits, toying with them before pouncing for the kill.

Next came a Rale tree, with gelatinous dark green fronds and a sort of soggy appearance in both bark and leaf, a Fol3 factory where they crushed up old cars and made pretty picture frames from them, and later a kind of exercise bike which, when Melvin pedalled it, emitted the tinny sound which he called '90101-5l-l'.

The two bounced along a pathway made of Theswere (“You see? Squoinky!” cried Snodge in delight as he bobbed up and down) before eventually completing their circuit of the town via Outh9x, the wide street made entirely of old wooden shops, all of which had drips coming off them on the roof corners. They walked very slowly, as Melvin told Snodge that otherwise they risked upsetting the big toads that lived underneath each premise.

---

Once they had returned home, Mama served up a piping hot soup based loosely on the carrot. “Well then,” she broadcast in her northern brogue as Melvin noisily cleaned his boots in the background, “Did you have a good time in Quaristice?”

“Well,” replied Snodge, “I could answer your question, Mama, but really, just cause I like it doesn't mean you would have.”

“But still, you must have had a good time, or a right stinker, or summat?”

“I had a seer-eeeez of im-presh-unz, thank you Mama,” said Snodge, scooping the last of the soup from the foot of the bowl and scampering off to play.

“Did you indeed,” said Mama. “Sounds a bit bloody arsey to me, like.”

ah I'm buzzin with you, had a few mid-week beers. Welcome, and go digital. :pac:

Zascar

Loads of previous posts on this mate... two in the last few days even, have a search

dopefarmer

himynameisFionn wrote: »

Hi its my first post and i wanted to no what would be better to get Vinyl or cd decks iv decieded i wanted to get into dj'ing i want to go along the lines of dj shadow stuff what would be better to get that sound but not like exactly him so its my own music and abit of aphex twin even though he uses a laptop just wanted to know is all thanks
Fionn

definately go with cd decks i got some turntables, but its so hard to get vinyl especially the good stuff. at least wit cd decks you can get whatever songs you want off the internet and stick them on a cd. also youll get more djing gigs (if your into that) wit cd decks as you can get what ever music ppl want quick. instead of ****ing around wit record shops which is expensive and time consuming. RAVE ON.
love dj shadow,

JoeSchmoe

Hi its my first post and i wanted to no what would be better to get Vinyl or cd decks iv decieded i wanted to get into dj'ing i want to go along the lines of dj shadow stuff what would be better to get that sound but not like exactly him so its my own music and abit of aphex twin even though he uses a laptop just wanted to know is all thanks
Fionn



you do realise that when you DJ you are not creating your own music, you just play other people, you can create your own style and sound but not your own music.

perhaps you are more interested in production, getting reason or fruity loops or something like that.

Anyway if it's DJing you mean, CD would sound a lot pretty for your purposes

VinylJunkie

I have both but only buy vinyl TT's if your goin to use a dvs system such as Torq www.torq-dj.com or Tractor or even serato.

Reason being you can control your digital files using control vinyl!! Vinyl is to expensive for me as im a broke ass student so a tune on Beatport costs 2euro or whatever compared to 7euro for a record.

PurpleBerry

http://www.geminidj.com/cdt.html



ftw!

dSTAR

MP3's killed the black beauty.

seannash

Neesa wrote: »

http://www.geminidj.com/cdt.html



ftw!

****ing rubbish deck,its a sub par cdj and a sub par turntable

PurpleBerry

seannash wrote: »

****ing rubbish deck,its a sub par cdj and a sub par turntable

I hope nobody reads this and thinks that its true.

The CDT05 is not made by Technics. That doesn't make it in any way inferior.

FLYNN-DOG

Gemini are traditionally cheap kit for beginners tho, youd never see something like that in a decent club

seannash

Neesa wrote: »

I hope nobody reads this and thinks that its true.

The CDT05 is not made by Technics. That doesn't make it in any way inferior.

It doesn't matter that its not built by technics.the job it sets out to do it doesn't do well.as a cd deck its not as good as Many of the options out there,as a turntable its not as good as the many other options out there.
its
Gemini are(as has been mentioned)a beginners deck.you won't tend to find them in a club

ironclaw

Hi there (Getting back on topic)

I had the same delema about a year ago. If you want to get gigs, go CDJ. Its simple economics really. A good set of CDJ's will set you back well under €1000. However, if you go digital you need a very good laptop and a controller which could go over €1000. Don't DJ with just a laptop. I've been in crowds and also with other DJ's and when we see just a laptop it ain't DJ-ing - Its Juke Boxing. People generally arn't so generous when you turn up with iTunes and press Play.

The advanatage to CDJ's is as mentioned before the MP3, up to date factor. Certainly bring a laptop so the more obscure tracks can be played but don't rely on it. CDJ's and TT's allow for great control and mix-ability. Digital just ain't there yet.

Start with a set of "cheapish" CDJ's and use all the money you get from that to buy the better gear. I'm currently on Vestax CDX05's but will soon be on Pioneer CDJ's.

Don't buy cheap, Go CDJ

EDIT: DJ Shadow? Is that like DJ Rankin? And yes, there is a difference between DJ Production and DJ-ing. You can't really use CDJ's for production. Its a whole different ball game and price bracket.

seannash

ironclaw wrote: »

Hi there (Getting back on topic)

I had the same delema about a year ago. If you want to get gigs, go CDJ. Its simple economics really. A good set of CDJ's will set you back well under €1000. However, if you go digital you need a very good laptop and a controller which could go over €1000. Don't DJ with just a laptop. I've been in crowds and also with other DJ's and when we see just a laptop it ain't DJ-ing - Its Juke Boxing. People generally arn't so generous when you turn up with iTunes and press Play.

The advanatage to CDJ's is as mentioned before the MP3, up to date factor. Certainly bring a laptop so the more obscure tracks can be played but don't rely on it. CDJ's and TT's allow for great control and mix-ability. Digital just ain't there yet.

Start with a set of "cheapish" CDJ's and use all the money you get from that to buy the better gear. I'm currently on Vestax CDX05's but will soon be on Pioneer CDJ's.

Don't buy cheap, Go CDJ

EDIT: DJ Shadow? Is that like DJ Rankin? And yes, there is a difference between DJ Production and DJ-ing. You can't really use CDJ's for production. Its a whole different ball game and price bracket.

man you cant tar every laptop dj with the same brush just because youve had one bad experience.
the majority of laptop djs wont just show up and press play on itunes.maybe if you took the time to understand what there actually doing you wouldnt be so quick to dismiss it.
what about serato,you still gotta beatmatch,same with traktor(although there is a sync function alright but some choose not to use it)

L1011

ironclaw wrote: »

EDIT: DJ Shadow? Is that like DJ Rankin? And yes, there is a difference between DJ Production and DJ-ing. You can't really use CDJ's for production. Its a whole different ball game and price bracket.

DJ Shadow is a sort of electronic hip hop producer/sampler. Best known here for 'the O2 ad music' (Blood On The Motorway) and a track called "Stem/Long Stem". His first album was 100% samples of others peoples music / comedy performances / whatever he could find. He's really quite respectable, unlike DJ Wankin'

ironclaw

Oh, believe me I use a laptop. And I would never Tar anyone. Not at all, so please don't take my post that way. If you just use a laptop i.e. No Controller or anything, it "just doesn't look professional" - Not my words but a promoter I was talking to.

I used VirtualDJ for a while but I just found CDJ's allow for great control, crowds love them (When someones goes "There well cool mate" it just makes your nite) and they are designed specifically for a single task. There are no laptops made specifically for DJ-ing. With the exception of some very over priced models from PCDJ I think or Apple Macs. If a company builds a unit for a single task then it will out do anything that is made to try achieve the same task. CDJ's will out perform a Laptop hands down.

seannash

ironclaw wrote: »

Oh, believe me I use a laptop. And I would never Tar anyone. Not at all, so please don't take my post that way. If you just use a laptop i.e. No Controller or anything, it "just doesn't look professional" - Not my words but a promoter I was talking to.

I used VirtualDJ for a while but I just found CDJ's allow for great control, crowds love them (When someones goes "There well cool mate" it just makes your nite) and they are designed specifically for a single task. There are no laptops made specifically for DJ-ing. With the exception of some very over priced models from PCDJ I think or Apple Macs. If a company builds a unit for a single task then it will out do anything that is made to try achieve the same task. CDJ's will out perform a Laptop hands down.

how can you say a laptop isnt made specifically for djing.its all about what you chosse to run on it.even if its purposebuilt you still need an operating system(windows,osx,linux)but after that its up to you if you want to use it for djing and nothing else.
ive dj,d with a laptop,i didnt enjoy it so went back to cdjs but i wouldnt criticise people for doing it.
to say someone is not professional for using a laptop is totally ridiculous.id say not even 1% of laptop djs would attempt to dj without some sort of a controller.if you dont agree with the promoters point of view dont quote it.
im a promoter and i say it is professional,quote that.:D
as for someone saying cdjs look cool making your night,well thats a bit silly,for most of us it aint about being cool,or looking cool.
and what will a cdj outperform a laptop hands down on?:D

L1011

seannash wrote: »

and what will a cdj outperform a laptop hands down on?:D

Not crashing (CDJs can still but far rarer) and not spilling out electronic noise that needs shielding from audio gear (like nearly every laptop charger ever made)...

seannash

MYOB wrote: »

Not crashing (CDJs can still but far rarer) and not spilling out electronic noise that needs shielding from audio gear (like nearly every laptop charger ever made)...

yeah but we can back and fourth on minor details like a cd can skip,im more interested in his hands down cdjs outperform a laptop comment:D

jtsuited

this laptop versus cdj argument is completely retarded.

cdj's are great. laptops can be great provided

a) it's a mac
b) you know what you're doing
c) you use a controller

the whole "cdj's are built for a specific purpose" argument is silly as most music you hear nowadays is made on computers that aren't necessarily built for the sole purpose of making music.

It's like saying a Studer 2 inch tape machine is better than an 8-core Mac Pro for making music because an 8 core Mac Pro isn't designed specifically for it.

silly argument.

L1011

seannash wrote: »

yeah but we can back and fourth on minor details like a cd can skip,im more interested in his hands down cdjs outperform a laptop comment:D

An mp3 on a laptop can skip also, CPU or memory starvation for one thing... nothings perfect unless we go back to wax cylinders (which break :P:)

franklyshocked

The classic DJ debate of what equipment do I use?
You'll always have the purists who say anything but Vinyl is not DJing.
To give you a side story they used to shout "Judas" at Bob Dylan when he picked up the electric guitar.
My advice is learn your craft.
Do you want to be a DJ or a producer. Both is possible but you'll have to take one route and learn it well to start with. I love Vinyl. I've spent a fortune on it over the years. My lower back would be in better shape if I hadn't been carrying a heavy record bag all the times I've played.
In recent years I've picked up a CD deck. The quick access to music from the internet just made more sense although I still pack a couple of decent Vinyls in the bag.
I've even played gigs with Ableton live recently. There's a lot of set up and editing involved if you want to do something interesting so to sum it all up, regardless of what technology you use to entertain people, You get out what you put in. Best of luck man. Nothing better than playing to a good crowd

ironclaw

To each DJ his own

I prefer CDJ's and that just me. Used a laptop with controller and just couldn't rely on it.

As regards the original poster, is cost your main factor? If you wanted the best of both worlds you could go for the Cortex Range:

DMIX 600:



Pretty solid piece of kit and you have the half CDJ / half digital idea. They also come in around the same price as a decent laptop and controller, if not less. This also has Phono Lines so you can attach a laptop, CDJ's or TT's in the future.

Ddisco

Use Vinyl - you'll look cooler!!

hans aus dtschl

You guys all give incredibly bad advice.


A pre-requisite (Sp) for DJ'ing is to like music.
If you like music, you probably already have some. Stick with the format you currently use to PLAY music, and branch out after. Nothing's to stop you going each and every route, when money allows, but the important thing is that you be able to play your music. If people listen to that music, you're dj'ing.

If you like DJ shadow, you may fit into a scratch-dj mentality, and want vinyl.
Perhaps you like the sampling aspect, though, and a cheap cd player, a cheap turntable and your PC would be plenty, to get into music PRODUCTION.
Shadow, as a DJ, now uses vinyl, cd, samplers, effects, etc, so I think perhaps that's a little bit out of your reach.

This nonsense of buying the kit & being the dj must end. You either play music or you don't. If you don't, you aren't a dj, and maybe never will be. If you do, you already know what format you need. Liking, and listening to music is the critical thing. Forget the format, for now.

And that's coming from a vinyl enthusiast.

Neurojazz

I just got an mp3 mixer (Kam cheapo, but fun) - just stick a couple of usb sticks in and your off.... perfect for what i need

I'm making music and can now compare music against current trends in seconds... - makes backing up music if i go live real easy... i can just have masses of tunes duplicated on the sticks... awesome - it plays the 48k 320 bit mp3 back no problem

Joy.

pallepille

seannash wrote: »

man you cant tar every laptop dj with the same brush just because youve had one bad experience.
the majority of laptop djs wont just show up and press play on itunes.maybe if you took the time to understand what there actually doing you wouldnt be so quick to dismiss it.
what about serato,you still gotta beatmatch,same with traktor(although there is a sync function alright but some choose not to use it)

True true, am using traktor at the moment and wouldnt touch dat terrible fcukin sync button, hav one of dem new hercules dj controllers, its cool (for the price i got it for) but yea im thinkin serato is the one to go for at dis stage. Have to say tho, couldnt really fault traktor much (i used 1210's/cdjs previously), the loop functions are very friendly, when you get used to them you can practically re-edit your tracks live which can bring a lot more creativity to the plate (and less complex as opposed to maybe using the sampler on a djm600 or whatever). Fx are nice aswell (just make sure ur controller has a section which the effects can be assigned to) cant really use to them to their full ability by just using laptop controls i found)........ OP if you already have a PC/Laptop id recommend getting your hands on Traktor or something like that first, if nothing else it will give you a good idea/feel of what its all about and would be cheaper then maybe shellin out a grand straight off the bat (just my opinion tho).

hans aus dtschl

buy the kit - be the dj

Executive Steve

dopefarmer wrote: »

definately go with cd decks i got some turntables, but its so hard to get vinyl especially the good stuff. at least wit cd decks you can get whatever songs you want off the internet and stick them on a cd. also youll get more djing gigs (if your into that) wit cd decks as you can get what ever music ppl want quick. instead of ****ing around wit record shops which is expensive and time consuming. RAVE ON.
love dj shadow,

mate i've never touched a cd deck and i've probably done more gigs than you've had hot dinners...

Executive Steve

franklyshocked wrote: »

My advice is learn your craft.

that's all that matters, frankly.

hans aus dtschl

Whatever happens, don't buy your music. There's much better ways to get it, these days. And you can even get films at the same time. Which is brag-worthy.

And especially don't buy vinyl. It's for luddites, and people who believe that their favourite labels can't be got digitally.

Executive Steve

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Whatever happens, don't buy your music. There's much better ways to get it, these days. And you can even get films at the same time. Which is brag-worthy.

And especially don't buy vinyl. It's for luddites, and people who believe that their favourite labels can't be got digitally.

:pac:

francois

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

And especially don't buy vinyl. It's for luddites, and people who believe that their favourite labels can't be got digitally.

You jest I presume. Some vinyl is very collectable by the way, MP3's are not

Can we have a sticky for this thread, as a rather tiresome analog-v-digital debate crops up with tedious regularity

hans aus dtschl

On the point in question; Mr C is selling his entire collection of 15,000+ records for 75kstg.

Bit pricey, but apparently there's a lot of collector's bits in there.

Anyway, yes I was joking. I only play vinyl myself. Some day I'll go down the digi-vinyl route when serato gets better (cos it's an awful bastard at times) and the online shops don't sell total plink-plonk ****e. Or possibly when bunker signs an online sales deal....hmmmm....

Jev/N

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Some day I'll go down the digi-vinyl route when serato gets better (cos it's an awful bastard at times).

I can assure you Serato is brilliant already

hans aus dtschl

I can assure you it most certainly is not.



Just offhand; no power-less thru, only two turntable manipulation, dodgy against feedback, dropping tune-crates, have all marred recent sets I've helped set up.

It will get to the stage where I'm happy with it. But for now, I'll wait.

Jev/N

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

I can assure you it most certainly is not.



Just offhand; no power-less thru, only two turntable manipulation, dodgy against feedback, dropping tune-crates, have all marred recent sets I've helped set up.

It will get to the stage where I'm happy with it. But for now, I'll wait.

I understand thats your opinion but I've never had any of those issues - have a power plug which I don't think is too much extra to bring, i don't need any more that 2 turntables (cds and sampler if needed), feedback and grounding can be sorted in the settings and I've never had issues with crates or losing tunes.

In 2 years it's only once crashed on me and that was down to a dodgy mp3 - TBH there's no better option that Serato for vinyl emulation in my opinion, anyone I know into their turntablism uses Serato so that's saying something

hans aus dtschl

I agree with the majority of that, believe it or not; Of all of the systems, Serato would be my choice, by far, right now.
But really all I was saying is none of the digital/vinyl setups are quite ready, for me. When there's more than two turntables, and they sort out a dead-unit "thru" (and bunker is online!!!!) I'll be buying one, I reckon. It's definitely the way of the future, though not without its problems.