Yesterdays Almost Disaster (Setting Up for A Gig)
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  1. #1

    Default Yesterdays Almost Disaster (Setting Up for A Gig)

    Well yesterday was our schools end of the year festival so I decided to bring my X1, F1 and my USB Mixer just for the heck of it I wasn't featured or anything thank goodness.

    So I get there early (this is the only thing I did right) 1pm Im setting up the speakers, 16ch mixer and mics and a projector I was also trying to direct a crew of 3 to assist me. Ok so I get the sound and video equipment up and running Im off to the side with my gear on a Windows 8.1 machine (first mistake) that I wasn't totally familiar with running Traktor Pro.

    Im trying to figure out where the heck is the music folder in Win 8.1 so I can upload my music via my partially filled usb (second mistake) then messing with the controller manager. Long story short I never played any music and they used an phone loaded with lousy music and I manned the curtains lol.

    Lessons learned come prepared I should have had a Windows 7 machine, my usb drive should have been filled before the gig and you cant do 5 other things while you're trying to set up your own equipment. I should have upload the tsi files that I use so I don't need to search for them at a venue and put them on a external drive with my music (which I will be buying tomorrow.)

    Just passing on my own experiences in order to help others and myself.
    Numark 4 Trak | VCI-400 | Fostex PM0.3 Bookshelf Monitors | The Triple Threat NI-F1, N1-X1-MK2, NI-Z1 | Serato DJ/Flip

  2. #2
    Tech Guru calgarc's Avatar
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    I have multiple partions on my laptop. one of them is strictly for file storage. this allows me to have a folder for all my music that all my operating systems can share. i keep things backed up on external drives, and carry a pre recorded mix on my phone just incase. I also have my music mapped out in both traktor and rekordbox. this tend to eliminate most problems. that and i do not use windows 8 haha

  3. #3

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    Two laptops and external drive two controllers 2 33gb usb sticks rekordbox and serato anaylsed plus iPhone with 6800tracks on iCloud that I have comment edited keys and bpm on...... Needless to say if every ting failed I have traktor on phone or about a dozen mixes on mixcloud that are no more then week old... Call me over prepared but I'm always ready for a diaster

  4. #4

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    Wow Im impressed by a lot of these back up solutions, I'll be using a few of these in the future for sure.
    Numark 4 Trak | VCI-400 | Fostex PM0.3 Bookshelf Monitors | The Triple Threat NI-F1, N1-X1-MK2, NI-Z1 | Serato DJ/Flip

  5. #5

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    I always test my setup and have a backup setup. Last gig I did in an actual club I ended up needing to use it.

    I have a 2009 MBP with 2 internal hard drives (SSD for boot, Terabyte HDD for library/files), a VCI300 for control and a Twister for everything the VCI doesn't do. At the time I had an intricate setup with Mixvibes Cross, the Crossclock mod, Jack Audio and Ableton Live. This worked perfectly during testing but on the night I started getting dropouts and massive latency issues that weren't happening in testing. I tried to reroute audio to fix it but the whole setup went mental, blasted audio at full volume, I lost MIDI and had to kill the apps by hand.

    On the offchance I had issues I had imported my playlists into Serato DJ as a backup, and mapped the twister to the effects. I didn't have any beatgrids done so I basically ran for the rest of the night beatmatching manually.

    The people in the venue were actually impressed how well I handled the disaster more than pissed off that it happened in the first place.

    Lessons learned:

    Don't use an overcomplicated setup, keep it simple. I am now running Cross (I prefer it to Serato) with the built in effects instead of Ableton. I ran the processor too hard and paid the price.

    Always have a backup plan. Preferably more than one. I always have an iPad in my handbag. I'm on the lookout for a portable (tobacco tin sized or smaller) audio interface that can also power the ipad in case my laptop dies. All the ones i've seen want you to run off battery power, or are for 30 pin ipads not Lightning, or are large cumbersome docks.

    Another lesson, not learned from the above example, always keep USB sticks with your library for CDJs. I missed the opportunity to play a club because of a no-show, because I lent one a USB stick to my partner who then lost it, and left the other one in my bag which I left behind. Speaking of which I better buy two more USBs...

  6. #6

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    [QUOTE=Stormcaller;711624

    Another lesson, not learned from the above example, always keep USB sticks with your library for CDJs. I missed the opportunity to play a club because of a no-show, because I lent one a USB stick to my partner who then lost it, and left the other one in my bag which I left behind. Speaking of which I better buy two more USBs...[/QUOTE]

    This here is really great example of why I like iTunes Match.... Can goto any computer with iTunes log into my iTunes and grab my playlists from the cloud.... I make s variety of big playlists with say 800-3000 tracks then I drill down further to ones from those with only 50-100...

    So in reality I could pop a sub key into said any iTunes computer dump from the cloud onto it and carry on....

  7. #7

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    I'd still have needed a computer though, and a USB stick to copy on to. If I'd had my laptop with my I could have just used HID mode. Nevermind, I am on Amazon replacing the USBs now.

    I don't like iTunes anyway. I only begrudgingly use it to load stuff onto my iPad. Aside from that I never use it.

  8. #8
    Tech Guru Kwal's Avatar
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    Sounds like preparation was the major issue. Why would you go to a gig like this? lol

  9. #9

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    I hated itunes till I signed up for iTunes Match/plus now I love it but my server is still managed old fashioned way just my gig laptops have itunes managed library

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