So iv got myself a residency at a dubstep night in liverpool and its awesome , I’m djing using TSP2 with an audio 8 and my macbook pro , then with the cdj2000s/djm800 in the club , its all good .
BUT !
I’m constantly scared that if something breaks I’m going to look a tool ! iv got a spare macbook i take with me (overkill i know) and a few cds but i play all night in the main room so if my audio 8 died id be , well in the poo .
SO !
do i buy a spare audio 4 that ill likely never use …
OR !
do i buy a cheap controller … like the mixtrack for less money that gives me the option of being more portable if i ever need to / something to play with / something to customise a bit
To be honest I’d just make sure you have a good CD collection. The likelihood of your setup breaking down is pretty low, but you have CDs to back it up that should be enough. Worst case scenario you end up playing CDs instead.
You could also have a few premixed tracks ready to go on CD to give you time to work out what the problem with your laptop setup might be.
i always take 2 hour long mixes iv made with me burned onto disk just in case but i play 11-4 so if something went drastically wrong id have a nightmare , burning cds would be a good alternative but burning 5 hours worth of music to disk just seems a waste of time when iv got traktor , maybe mp3 disks is a good idea but iv never reli played using them and is in a big club on a funktion one system really the time to experiment ?
i guess, but i think it’d have to be a last last resort
i think part of me would like 2 have a complete spare setup so maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to buy something to play with / have the ability to play anywhere without having to use other equipment / take my cdjs .
True. A second hand iPad is about twice the price of a Mixtrack I think. You can justify it though since the iPad has so many other uses aside from DJing.
You can also use the ipad as another midi controller, already have the audio jack plugged into the mixer so if your setup died you can quickly get our of your midi program of choice and load up a djing software.
Here’s what I do. I have about 2hrs of MP3’s burned on 2 CDs. I also bring my external HD with me and have an about a half dozen hour long mixes on my phone.
Laptop craps out, I switch to CD mode and play off my back up CD. If the CDJs are networked, I plug in external HD
If all goes to pot, CDJ and Laptop, I plug in phone and I have an hour to figure out WTF went wrong and fix it.
A duplicate setup?? Pain in the ass!.. I used to bring an iPod and have it already connected to the mixer just in case of a fuckup… but honestly after 2-1/2 years, I never had to use it.. I’ve been playing without a backup for a year… worst problems I’ve had was a broken styli on the TT… had to play with one deck…
It’s a shame you have to work with 200s…no USB drive.
Record a 15-minute mix of tunes you know you’re not going to play that night and save it to your iPod.
Burn MP3 CDs - make 2 copies of each disc.
Have the iPod cued up for the moment a disaster occurs. If you practice, you won’t have too much dead air on the switch–maybe 5 seconds.
Then throw in MP3 CDs and start mixing on their gear.
I’m doing a club gig on St. Patrick’s Day and the place is going to be PACKED. I don’t have a kit right now… just 4-5 jump drives (color-coded by genre ) and my cans. I haven’t mixed that way in months. Looking forward to it.
id be , well in the poo .