Let's be honest, how many of you would be completely screwed without a laptop?

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Originally Posted by Frank112916

I don't really get this question for a few reasons:
...Asking this to someone who needs to use a laptop, it's like asking "if you broke the styli on your technics, and didn't have an extra one, would you be able to play?"...

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This is actually a really good point. I was playing at a rooftop party once that got temporarily shut down due to the wind blowing one of the slip mats off the 12 story building. We fashioned a make shift one out of cardboard after a few minutes of silence and someone ran out to try to find it but never did.

My point - stuff equivalent to busted lap top used to happen before digital DJing - especially at underground parties and raves. Generator blowouts, speaker failures, mixer crap outs, or just authorities coming in and shutting it down. To this day I've seen very experienced DJs have their rig crash in the middle of a set. I don't hold it against them. It could happen to anyone.

why does it matter if someone is screwed without a laptop? all the vinyl djs out there would be screwed without vinyl right? a laptop is a tool of the trade like everything else is.

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Originally Posted by Quiggers

Djing is more about the music you play rather than how you play it.

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Any body else disagree with this, or is it just me?!?
You give 3 dj's the same bunch of tunes to play and I would hope that NONE of them play them the same way. And that's the way it should be. For me, it's all about the way you play the music you play. That is what should set you apart from everybody else. If it's just about what you play, stick an ipod on and save the fee you would have paid the dj.
I've been playing out with a box of records on a regular basis for the last (near on) 20 years. I love it, however, i'm also a fan of turning up with my laptop and playing dvs. You ask me which I prefer? Depends on how drunk I am:D

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Originally Posted by guiltyblade

but still laptops do crash, and a lot of the younger djs out here would be totally screwed, at from what I take from it.

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Exactly, what I'm saying is that a lot of people wouldn't be capable of mixing on a pair of cdjs or turntables even if they had their whole library on vinyl, cds, and a flash drive, they just wouldn't know what to do.

I think in the era of people learning exclusively on controllers a lot of people have gotten so far away from the routes of DJing so much that they are clueless if you put them in front of an industry standard setup without a laptop.

the industry standard needs to change, things are progressing.

one day itll get to the stage where you bring your harddrive and plug it into some "pioneer" all in one solution thats loaded with traktor and rock the shit outa the place!

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Originally Posted by ranzerox

the industry standard needs to change, things are progressing.

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You don't think a professional DJ should be capable of mixing without waveforms, beatgrids, and a phase meter?

Well heres the thing vinyl can warp, and cds can break or screw up. But the beauty of it is that you just get another cd out, or track out the crate. If a laptop dies, you whole mixing and tracks are gone.

Its not a ridic question, it happens ALL the time. It literally happened to me 3 days ago and I mixed on the cdjs instead of my timecode and laptop. The laptop is a great great tool to use, its so damn convient and easy and versatile. That being said, if it all crapped on me, I could still kick it old school and get myself out of a jam. I've done it many times. Many would be boned if say you hardrive crashed, or you comp crapped out. Or your controller or sound card.

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Originally Posted by guiltyblade

Well heres the thing vinyl can warp, and cds can break or screw up. But the beauty of it is that you just get another cd out, or track out the crate. If a laptop dies, you whole mixing and tracks are gone.

Its not a ridic question, it happens ALL the time. It literally happened to me 3 days ago and I mixed on the cdjs instead of my timecode and laptop. The laptop is a great great tool to use, its so damn convient and easy and versatile. That being said, if it all crapped on me, I could still kick it old school and get myself out of a jam. I've done it many times. Many would be boned if say you hardrive crashed, or you comp crapped out. Or your controller or sound card.

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Yep. The point I'm making is that it has become acceptable in some circles to be 100% reliant on software and not possess the skills to DJ without a computer.


I think the extreme end of the problem is it has allowed a lot of DJs to get by and call themselves a DJ without learning much of anything about DJing or being any good at it and get gigs just because they can bring a bunch of assholes in the door.

Imagine if we stopped teaching children how to write by hand in school and instead just taught them how to type. They could get by fine and exceed people handwriting but would be fucked if they ever got into a situation with no computer around or their laptop died.