I know NOTHING about DJ software and need guidance. My daughter has asked for software for Christmas As far as I know she will be mostly using MP3 or 4 formats. She wants to be able to loop, remove voices or instruments and so on. Sorry I cant be more specific. I was looking at Ableton live and Fruityloops but now Traktor Pro and Virtual DJ have caught my eye. If anyone can help guide this clueless mother it would be appreciated. I would like this software to be able to “grow” with her as she learns. She is operating on a MAC and it computer savvy
If she is just starting, has no hardware, and is just going to be using software to mix music (mainly) the easiest solution is Virtual DJ in my opinion. It’s extremely easy and intuitive to use, and requires no hardware what so ever.
I’m sure others will have better suggestions, but a friend of mine has been “DJing” at parties of his with just his software and all he does is mix songs at his parties with Virtual DJ and it works well for him.
Fruitloops you cant dj with. Ableton you can but it takes alot of work and there is alot to learn. You can produce your own music with Ableton. I use Ableton to DJ with now. I was using Traktor pro for a while and it is a great program but I feel I can do more in Ableton. As far as removing vocals and instruments, this cant be done in Traktor however the looping features in Traktor are much better and has a more traditional dj layout. Virtual dj i wouldn scratch. With any dj program you really need a soundcard and headphones to dj and a controller eventually to control functions in the software. If she wants to make music and make her own remixes as well as dj I would suggest Ableton. If she only wants to dj I would go with Traktor
there is a full version of vitrual dj with everything but midi support.
if she is wants to learn how to produce and remix, get her a controller that has ableton lite bundled with it, once she knows how to get where she wants to, get the full verision.
It does sound like production and live remixing is what she is after, based on your question. I agree that finding a controller with Ableton Live Intro would be the best way. What is your budget? Maybe something like the APC20 would be the best option?
This along with the Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ would mean she has Ableton Intro and some basic DJ software along with good hardware.
Removing voices and instruments is not easy and the software used to do that has a pretty steep learning curve. I would recommend something like a Vestax Spin which comes with Djay and is not a bad program to start out with. You can also use the Spin controller with Traktor Pro which is a much better than Djay, but it has it’s own learning curve.
You a good dad for putting this kind of effort into finding a gift for your daughter.
I would say go with the vestax spin. It’s a great deal for the money. And get her some headphones, and she’ll be set.
Well, my big question is how much money are you willing to spend?
This isn’t a cheap hobby, and there are a lot of different options that are pretty much capped by what you want to spend into it.
Personally, I would NOT recommend Ableton to someone just getting into this. Something along the lines of Virtual DJ or Traktor would probably work better. And honestly, if you can afford it, the VCI-300 with ITCH really is a GREAT beginner controller. But it’s not cheap.
What’s your price point? What kind of music will she be mixing? Do you just want software, or are you looking for hardware as well?
There’s a lot of questions left unanswered before I’d jump on any of these above “conclusions”.