April 2016 changes:
RME Babyface Pro sound card
Sennheiser HD-25 headphones
Hercules Stands DG400BB laptop stand
Logitech M705 mouse (if you don’t have a mouse for DJing, I recommend it)
same Electrix Tweaker controller, Bose SoundDock Portable speakers, and Lenovo Z570 laptop. I put the speakers on top of a stack of mostly paperback books to absorb the vibrations of the speakers and it made an improvement to the sound.
Sensaphonics ER-15 earplugs in front of the controller (not in use at home)
In the back left corner is a Hercules (not to be confused with Hercules Stands) P32 controller waiting to be mapped and a Rane SL2 sound card waiting to have a Linux driver written for it
In the back right is a Monoprice 7 port USB 2.0 hub and an LG USB CD drive for those rare gems that can’t be found online in a lossless format.
Original setup July 2015:
Electrix Tweaker controller with CoolorCaps
Native Instruments Kore (just used for sound card, purchased from a moving away sale for $15)
DJ Tech Tools Chroma Cables
Allen & Heath Xone XD2-53 headphones
Lenovo Ideapad z570 laptop (Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive) running Mixxx 1.12 beta on Fedora 22 plus old NEC MultiSync LCD 1810 XtraView monitor (extra monitor not taken out of the room)
Bose SoundDock Portable speakers (the 1/8" stereo jack is broken, so I got an adapter for the iPod dock )
Trader Joe’s green tea
It all fits in that giant REI Mars 80 backpack in the left of the picture, ready for biking. Runs about 50 minutes on battery power before my laptop battery runs out.
Also in this picture:
Raspberry Pi Model B (version 1) with 2 TB Western Digital My Passport USB 3.0 hard drive, both powered by a Monoprice USB hub
ancient Yamaha PSR-36 keyboard for practicing singing scales
Dark Monk fire staff
Big upgrades since my original post:
RME Babyface Pro sound card
Sennheiser HD-25 headphones
Hercules Stands DG400BB laptop stand
Logitech M705 mouse (if you don’t have a mouse for DJing, I recommend it)
same Electrix Tweaker controller, Bose SoundDock Portable speakers, and Lenovo Z570 laptop. I put the speakers on top of a stack of mostly paperback books to absorb the vibrations of the speakers and it made an improvement to the sound.
Sensaphonics ER-15 earplugs in front of the controller (not in use at home)
In the back left corner is a Hercules (not to be confused with Hercules Stands) P32 controller waiting to be mapped and a Rane SL2 sound card waiting to have a Linux driver written for it
In the back right is a Monoprice 7 port USB 2.0 hub and an LG USB CD drive for those rare gems that can’t be found online in a lossless format.
It’s the least worst stand out there right now as far as I can tell. I actually went through two other stands over the course of like a month before settling on it, which was a rather frustrating experience. The newer Crane Stand Elevate/Elite was the first one I tried, but it’s ridiculously finnicky and difficult to set up. The first time I tried playing on it, the top shelf fell down a notch while I was playing. It didn’t fall any further, but I lost the little trust I had left for it when that happened.
Then I ordered the new Roost stand, which is great for what it is designed for, but it’s not designed for DJing. It can’t go very high without requiring the laptop to be opened to a very wide angle, which makes typing awkward and my laptop screen can’t tilt back far enough to be easy to look down at. I love it for sitting at my desk though. I keep my laptop on it normally (I’m typing with it right now).
After that, I got thie Hercules Stands DG400BB. It is sturdy, simple, and packs down small. It’s a little heavier than I’d like and the notch system for the post leaves a little back-and-forth wiggle room, which is a little annoying when typing on it but not a big deal. The notches on the post system is way more secure than the Crane Elevate’s overcomplicated adjustment system though. It’s easy to tighten the top and bottom knobs as well, unlike the Crane Elevate which takes a lot of hard work to crank down. The DG400BB has oddly shaped feet on the top tray for the bottom edge of the laptop. A more sensical shape for those would be a bit more secure, but they’re not insecure. Overall it’s pretty good.
I love that I can easily fit one Xone K2 and my laptop in a small backpack and show people Mixxx with that. I made the mapping so I can change the MIDI channel of the Xone K2 and use a 2 deck + 2 effect unit layout (details on the Mixxx wiki).
