Dont Understand This... - Page 4
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  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by dj matt blaze View Post
    Maxted, if you want to chest puff I can certainly do that. In the 23 years I have been a DJ, playing on vinyl, using cassette decks, using consumer cd players before CDJs, CDJs and now a laptop and a controller, I am very well versed in every medium having used them all extensively, and actually using each of them longer than your 7 year DJ career. Just so you don't think I just started DJing 2 years ago with a laptop and controller and know nothing else. I know them all. Your remark "It is also a guarentee that i can pop in my first track and be mixing away before your laptop is even out of your bag." is out of context to the rest of that conversation. The conversation was about quickly finding a track by just typing it in, loading, and have it playing faster then thumbing through a cd wallet, find the cd, taking it out, loading it in, getting to the track #, and playing it. It wasn't about set up time. Yes, if I go to a club that has equipment and all I gotta do is pop in a cd, yes it would be faster than setting up a laptop, but thats all it would be. Again, the conversation wasn't about set up time, it was about practical application. When I did use CDs, I carried 5 bag/cases holding 60 cds each. I never owned a CD wallet because I didn't like thumbing through books and I wanted to see everything in front of me. Not 1 day has gone by that I have ever missed carrying bags of cds or crates of records.

    CDs being reliable and durable?? I have cds burned from before you started your DJ career that won't play anymore. Not very reliable to me. So get back to me when your cds get a little wear and tear on them. I have records older than me that still play perfectly though. The cd is dying a faster death than vinyl or cassettes.
    My comment wasn't to do with "chest puffing", just making it apparent my view point isn't just because i have cdjs and want to justify them. (Like many do).

    Your point about searching for and loading tracks is no more or less relevent to this topic than my point about setting up, they both fall under practicality. And for me, playing a hour set in a club at peak hour, i know which concerns me more.

    Your point also makes the assumption i don't know what i'm going to play, and would have to search for every track; whether i'm playing with Traktor or cds, i have the music i will need organised and in one place, no searching nessecary.
    As for carrying 300 CDs, i've played all night raves with half that amount of tunes...for the average club set i could take 50 tracks and be more than prepared.
    It's obvious we play different scenes, as i dont handle requests, and already know the music policy i am playing to, there is no need for me to search for tracks.

    If i was playing a bar or wedding etc. then what you say is perfectly justified, but id never dream of using CDs for that kind of gig.

    As for you suggesting vinyl is more durable than CDs, get real please...

    Just because you have some cds that don't work, doesn't mean a properly written and stored CD won't outlive a record. I have CDs from over 10 years ago (burned cds as well, not bought) that play perfectly today.

    You can put up to a 7inch scratch on a CD and it will still play fine, your telling me vinyl will do that? Thats if it doesn't get warped, or wear down..and for that matter how durable do you think a hdd is?

    Ill drop my cds from chest height, you drop your laptop, see who can gig that night.

    And to clarify, i'm not saying CDs aren't becoming obsolete as a consumer medium, but for Djs they still have a long time ahead. Pretty much until all clubs have players that support usb.

    Im not saying CDs are better, but they are what they are, and when the day comes that every club has space for my laptop and controllers and i have someone to carry everything for me, you can guarentee ill be laying down the cd wallet.

  2. #32
    Tech Guru dope's Avatar
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    I don't have time right now to read the whole topic, but i'll add my 2 cents, because I doubt the reason I'm going to give for using CDJs with a laptop has been said.

    In my case :
    I learned on CDJs, and I really like the thing, ergonomy, easy to make it work. Still, as a beginner I didn't want to spend thousands of $/€/£ in a setup.
    Therefore I bought CDJs 350, because they were easy to use, affordable, and just a smaller and cheaper replica of what I would find in venues.

    Still, they don't offer all the features an expensive CDJ would, so after few months, I bought an Audio 10, TSP2, X1, and 2 timecode CDs.


    Now, thanks to TSP2, I have :


    - decent waveforms
    Knowing your track is essential, but having a small waveform can be useful to navigate in the track. (i'm using the small waveform display on Traktor, but that's a personal preference to keep me away from the laptop and rely on my ears other than my eyes)

    - easy library access
    Research with keywords allows me to find a track within seconds, and I don't have to scroll over dozens of tracks on the usb stick with a knob.

    - nice effects
    I bought a DJM 350 along with the CDJs, and the 4 shitty effect drove me nuts after few weeks. Now I have a ton.

    - hotcues
    Only the high end CDJ model from Pioneer offers some, and only 3, and now I have 8.

    - good loop reduction

    If you never used the CDJs 350 you might not get it, but the loop divide sucked, and it wasn't the standard and easy 1/2 1/4 1/8 etc. It choped the bar in a weird and not good sounding manner. Traktor gave me something that sounds good.



    I guess if I spend a bit more time I will find other reasons, but that's the main ones.



    So yeah, retyping this I clearly know why I'm using timecode with CDJs. It has inconveignants (laptop issues, soundcard etc) but it allowed to do so much more than what I was limited to with my cheap setup.
    Now that I'm an "experienced" DJ, I will buy better CDJs one day or the other, and this day I might reconsider ditching the laptop and just show in the booth with USB sticks. Maybe.
    Last edited by dope; 02-20-2012 at 01:50 PM.

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