Djing Digital or CD?

[Myfirstcasio]

Well it looks like there is only one option here. But its an option I really cannot afford unless I put it off for another 3-4 months (if not longer as I have to save for a new computer too!). I might just get the Nocturn (already have an audio interface, even though its not ideal for djing as the dedicated headphone output uses the same channel as the primary monitoring outputs) for some interactivity with my production work and use it casually for Djing until I get the money saved for decks.

The other option would be the BCD3000, £150 is not that much. But I have definately made up my mind to get some CDJ's in the future if I decide to upgrade.

Do either of these options sound like a big load a poo?

[Myfirstcasio]

sorry, quoted myself instead of editing my last post!

[damagedgoods]

If I were you I'd get the BCD3000 - it feels cheap and flimsy, but for the money it's a pretty convincing deal, and you want to upgrade anyway. It has 4 audio outs, so you can either mix internally or have two stereo outs into a real mixer.

This way, the clear upgrade path is to get a real mixer first (you'll notice that the knobs and faders on the Behringer are kinda sluggish); then when you've got some money, you can decide whether to go CD, vinyl or stay digital with the decks. And in the meantime, your kit might not be great but at least it resembles two decks and a mixer in layout. Nocturn may well be a better controller but it's not set up for DJing at all.

The advantages of the BCD setup are this - you can afford it now, it's an all-in-one solution, and apart from the unit itself, which is only 150 or so, at no point do you have to buy anything that you'll later discard. Otherwise you either have to wait and save up to buy a proper set of decks, or later realise that the Nocturn (etc) isn't really what you need for DJing and have to buy something else to replace it.

BTW, unless you want to play with Ableton, a soundcard with more than one pair of outputs is unfortunately absolutely mandatory for DJing, otherwise you have no monitor...

[BigPoe]

Ah man, this is a really interesting topic. I really don't get why everyone is still using CDs! It just seems like they're the industry standard when it would make a lot more sense to to have mp3 decks.

I bought this Numark D2 director jobby a couple of years back. It's not really that great in terms of mixing but the concept is perfect. You just plug in your USB stick and away you go. Not sure what's on the market these days but it's so much better to load tunes onto a pen drive than burn endless CDs. And if you lose your pen drive it's not the end of the world.

[damagedgoods]

Ah man, this is a really interesting topic. I really don't get why everyone is still using CDs! It just seems like they're the industry standard when it would make a lot more sense to to have mp3 decks.

Actually, you'd be surprised. In the UK, sure - the vast majority of DJs play CDs, certainly in techno anyway. But in Berlin it's almost always vinyl or Traktor. When I moved over I was actually pretty surprised at how many of the smaller clubs either don't have CDJs or don't set them up because nobody uses them. They're considered to be toys, almost. Consequently I've started buying a lot more vinyl because I don't really want to start laptop DJing and equally don't want to have to deal with showing up at a club and not being able to play half of my stuff.

Frankly I'd rather play CDs and be able to flick through a CD bag than play scratch vinyl and have to browse on a screen, but there's no accounting for taste...

[BigPoe]

Yeah, I know there's the whole traktor scratch thing as well, which again I don't really understand unless you want to pretend to play vinyl. (Having said that, I have DJed a bit with it and it's pretty good fun).

What I'm advocating is like a CD deck but one that uses USB drives instead of CDs. To me that seems like the most logical option for digital.

This is what I've got at home: http://www.numark.com/d2director#

It's pretty tacky but the concept is great, I just don't think it really ever took off. If you had something like this in clubs all you'd need to take as a DJ would be a pen drive. No laptop, no CD case.

[damagedgoods]

Yeah, I know there's the whole traktor scratch thing as well, which again I don't really understand unless you want to pretend to play vinyl. (Having said that, I have DJed a bit with it and it's pretty good fun).

Well, it's all the advantages of laptop DJing without the lack of tactile control. It's yet to convert me, but I can certainly see the appeal for those who don't mind looking at a screen in a club or taking their laptop out gigging.

What I'm advocating is like a CD deck but one that uses USB drives instead of CDs. To me that seems like the most logical option for digital.

This is what I've got at home: http://www.numark.com/d2director#

It's pretty tacky but the concept is great, I just don't think it really ever took off. If you had something like this in clubs all you'd need to take as a DJ would be a pen drive. No laptop, no CD case.

I think the two main issues with this plan are:

1) Browsing - you need a good user interface and one that's fairly consistent with whatever the DJ has at home, otherwise they'll get to the club and be very confused about what all the buttons do. Not only that, but realistically a comfortable-to-use unit will need a screen at least the size of a tabletop CDJ. Major expense.

2) Possibly more important - standardisation. It'll never take off until it's already taken off enough that loads of DJs and clubs already use it. By which point it's already taken off. Know what I mean?

[BigPoe]

Yeah, I know there's the whole traktor scratch thing as well, which again I don't really understand unless you want to pretend to play vinyl. (Having said that, I have DJed a bit with it and it's pretty good fun).

Well, it's all the advantages of laptop DJing without the lack of tactile control. It's yet to convert me, but I can certainly see the appeal for those who don't mind looking at a screen in a club or taking their laptop out gigging.

What I'm advocating is like a CD deck but one that uses USB drives instead of CDs. To me that seems like the most logical option for digital.

This is what I've got at home: http://www.numark.com/d2director#

It's pretty tacky but the concept is great, I just don't think it really ever took off. If you had something like this in clubs all you'd need to take as a DJ would be a pen drive. No laptop, no CD case.

I think the two main issues with this plan are:

1) Browsing - you need a good user interface and one that's fairly consistent with whatever the DJ has at home, otherwise they'll get to the club and be very confused about what all the buttons do. Not only that, but realistically a comfortable-to-use unit will need a screen at least the size of a tabletop CDJ. Major expense.

2) Possibly more important - standardisation. It'll never take off until it's already taken off enough that loads of DJs and clubs already use it. By which point it's already taken off. Know what I mean?

1) Yep, I definitely agree that browsing is an issue but I don't see that it's an expense issue. When you're spending thousands on mixers, decks etc. the price of a decent screen would be relatively cheap, and actually you'd have the ability to organise your tunes much more easily that juggling records/CDs.
Also, the USB deck could have exactly the same format as a CD deck, you'd simply have access to many more tunes. Granted, you'd have more scrolling to do. But you'd just be scrolling instead of flipping CDs.

2) Agree, this is one of those catch 22 situations, nobody will buy it until enough people have already bought it that it makes sense to buy it.

I still think, if somebody produced the right product (and it wouldn't need to be that cheap) CDs would soon be phased out in favour of USB drives.